Coach Bart’’ McInerney trial news 2010

Two more witnesses tell of sexual talk with former St. Rose coach

By CHARLES WEBSTER
STAFF WRITER
A former St. Rose High School baseball coach advised one of his players to go home and measure his penis and report back the number, the former player identified in court as Victim No. 5 told jurors today.
He also testified that his coach advised him to use condoms when masturbating and invited the boy to bring a used condom to him.

”I thought it was the strangest (request) yet,’’ he said in court.

Bartholomew ”Coach Bart’’ McInerney, 43, of Spring Lake Heights, a well-known, well-liked, longtime baseball coach at St. Rose High School in Belmar, is standing trial on 12 counts of endangering the welfare of a child, involving sexually explicit conversations about masturbation and other topics he allegedly had with a dozen boys between the ages of 15 and 17 from 2001 to November 2007, when he was arrested. All but one of the boys was a player on McInerney’s St. Rose baseball teams. The parents of a 13th boy believe their son was too a victim and committed suicide over the scandal.

Victim No. 5 said he took a used condom to his coach inside an envelope. He said McInerney then held the condom up and explained the semen inside was what was going to get the boy in trouble. The victim said McInerney then disposed of the item.

Under cross-examination from defense attorney Charles Uliano, the former player said McInerney spoke to him about semen volume and what was normal for a boy his age.

He also testified McInerney gave him a video camera to videotape himself masturbating and his facial expressions while performing the act. The boy said McInerney put the camera in a brown paper bag and handed it to him, but he never used the camera. Later, when McInerney asked him about the video camera the boy told him he had done what his coach suggested, and they destroyed the tape together.

Another witness, dubbed Victim No. 2, also took the witness stand today. He was not a player on McInerney’s team, but played on his brother Tim McInerney’s soccer team at St. Rose.

That boy said Bart McInerney brought up masturbation and the boy’s sexual activity during a two-hour drive to Brick from Belmar. He said he was ”pretty taken aback’’ and ”extremely uncomfortable’’ with the conversation.

”It seemed like he really wanted to know the answers and find out what I had to say,’’ he told the jurors.

Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Peter Boser asked the boy if Tim Mcinerney ever did anything wrong to him.

”Absolutely not,’’ he shot back.

"Did you feel confident to tell Tim about the conversations?’’ Boser followed up.

”I couldn’t. I felt he would have been crushed. I would have lost a friend, and he wouldn’t believe me,’’ Victim No. 2 said.

Boser also asked why he didn’t tell another adult about the conversation and subsequent conversations with Bart McInerney.

”He was an authority figure and a coach at school – his brother was my soccer coach. I figured it was a good idea to keep my mouth shut and get through this awkward situation,’’ the witness said.

He also told jurors how Bart McInerney paid his way on a trip to North Carolina, with several other boys from the school supervised only by the coach, and attended other outings to baseball games in Boston and a baseball team trip to Hawaii.