The baseball coach sexually abused him just once, Philip Repaci said, an incident that took place more than 20 years ago. But the scars left that night at a summer home on the Jersey Shore by the Nazareth Regional High School coach have lasted a lifetime, Repaci said.
The former cop blames the incident for the alcoholism and hair-trigger temper that ended his career with the NYPD. He says he became distant and distrustful with his parents, and he has been unable to establish meaningful relationships with women.
Repaci said he will talk about the scars he said were inflicted by his former coach, Robert Mistretta , at a news conference this afternoon outside the Brooklyn Catholic high school, where Mistretta still works.
It is about protecting people. A woman who answered the phone at Mistretta's home declined comment. Nazareth principal Barbara Gil said the school will conduct "a full review of these allegations and take all necessary and appropriate actions for the protection and well-being of our students.
Repaci and the other alleged victim say they have no plans to file a lawsuit, although Repaci said he has not ruled litigation out. Repaci remembers Mistretta, who is also a science teacher at the school, as a friendly adult who organized an after-school floor hockey program, invited students to his home near the East Flatbush school and took boys to Islander games.
