Of Rinaldo Frignani
The long investigation was triggered in 2020 after the report of collaborators of the same company who had noticed the attitudes held by the technician. The man already sentenced to two years for the same crime in 2015
He invited underage players, even fourteen, to the guest house of a Roman basketball club, the Stella Azzurra in Corso Francia, one of the most famous in the capital, with the excuse of giving them therapeutic massages, administering drugs or reviewing the game schemes. Instead, on several occasions at least one of the young people, who was 13 at the time of the events, was subjected to sexual abuse. A 55-year-old basketball coach, Paolo Traino, was arrested by the police on Tuesday night at the end of a long investigation that began in 2020 after the report of collaborators of the same company who had noticed the attitudes held by the coach with some underage players.
The investigations by the agents of the IV section of the Flying Squad, specialized in gender crimes and against minors, made it possible to collect a series of elements for which the prosecutor asked the investigating judge to issue adetention order in prison which was performed against the coach. In the past, the man had already been sentenced in Perugia for similar crimes: then with abbreviated procedure the judges had decided on a two-year sentence, but after a period under house arrest, the 55-year-old was released again. It was reported by two boys from a basketball school, an academy always connected to the Blue Star.
The technician was tracked down by the police and returned from a trip abroad and taken directly to Regina Coeli. In the next few days you will appear before the investigating judge for the validation hearing. From the investigative findings it emerged that the man, now accused of aggravated and continued sexual assault, took advantage of the fragility of the victims not only because they were minors but also because they were guests of the basketball club’s facilities, where they lived far from their families. In some cases the technician, who before being sentenced for the first time had always denied any accusation, would have threatened the young victims telling them that if they didn’t keep silent about the abuse they suffered they would never play again.
But the police investigation is not over yet. In addition to the identification of other victims of the 55-year-old, to understand there is also why Traino, despite his precedents for violence against minors, continue to attend the Roman campus, where there are dozens of guest athletes and hundreds more residents of the capital, and above all to train. Among the last interviews one of him in June 2022 after a trip to Verona with the Blue Star. For this reason, it is not excluded that the judicial authority may order a supplementary investigation precisely to shed light on this aspect and also on the behavior of the managers of the company who employed him. At the moment, Traino’s name and photo have been removed from the Roman team’s web page. In recent months it seems that the 55-year-old, perhaps due to the development of the investigations against him, had been assigned to other duties.
If you want to stay updated on Rome’s news, subscribe to the free newsletter “The Seven Hills of Rome” by Giuseppe Di Piazza. Arrives every Saturday in your inbox at 7am. Enough click here.
February 08, 2023 ( change February 08, 2023 | 1:49 pm)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED
