Crime & Safety
Former Concordia Baseball Coach Filmed Sex Acts with Player: Lawsuit
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, claims that Spiro Lempesis promised the player major league baseball connections in exchange for sex.
A former Concordia University baseball player claims he was forced to perform sex acts on his coach in exchange for the promise of connections with major league scouts, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court.
Anthony Collaro, who pitched for the Cougars from 2008-2011, alleges in the complaint that former Coach Spiro Lempesis videotaped between 20-30 sexual encounters.
Concordia fired Lempesis in September 2010 over allegations of sexual misconduct. The university announced in October 2012 that it would conduct an independent investigation into the claims.
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Lempesis told Collaro that he planned to sell the tapes to a California-based pornography company, according to the complaint. He said he had secured professional baseball careers for two previous Concordia players through a similar deal.
“This man took my life and turned it upside down,” Collaro said in a statement. “He treated me like a piece of garbage. I trusted him. All he did was lie to me. Nobody has been held accountable for what this man has done.”
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Lempesis told ABC 7 that his relationship with Collaro was consensual. He said he didn’t promise the pitcher any professional connections.
"I made a real poor decision with getting involved with a player,” he said. “That's my fault. I cannot hide that. I cannot regret that. I mean I do regret it, but I can't do anything about it. But how much more do I have to pay. I've lost everything."
Concordia is named as a co-defendant in the lawsuit.
“Concordia University provided no supervision of Lempesis’ activities on its own campus,” said Collaro’s attorney, Antonio Romanucci. “Lempesis acted with supervision, trust and authority and breached that trust and asserted undue influence upon an impressionable young and talented baseball player whose career was broken and interrupted by the University’s failure to do anything to stop a sexual predator on its own campus.”
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