NORTHAMPTON — A former volunteer Amherst High School assistant varsity boys basketball coach pleaded guilty Wednesday to multiple child abuse charges in Hampshire Superior Court, including rape and abuse of a child under 16.
The charges all relate to a female victim whom Anthony Florio Jr., 35, of Amherst, was first introduced to when she was 14 years old.
The plea agreement was accepted by Judge Karen Goodwin
Florio pleaded guilty to enticement of a child under 16, for which he was sentenced to three to five years in state prison, with the judge recommending that he serve the time at the Hampshire County Jail and House of Corrections, over the objections of the prosecutor and individuals supporting the victim in the case.
Florio was also sentenced to six years probation on the child rape charge, as well as six years probation on each of the three counts of disseminating obscene materials harmful to a minor. The probation sentences will all be served concurrently, and some of the conditions of his probation include having to register as a sex offender, being subject to GPS monitoring and having no contact with individuals under the age of 16 without supervision, with the exception of his son.
Attorney Alfred Chamberland represented Florio, while Assistant District Attorney Anne Yereniuk represented the commonwealth.
Florio was originally indicted on 13 counts in the case, and Yereniuk indicated that the plea agreement was reached in large part because the victim expressed a preference for the case to not have to go to trial.
“This plea was not taken lightly,” she said.
Yereniuk said Florio first met the victim at a college party that she and other Amherst Regional High School students were attending in the fall of 2016, and where the 33-year-old Florio was also in attendance. At the party Florio and the girl exchanged information on the social messaging application Snapchat.
Yereniuk went on to say that Florio and the victim became closer. The victim was being bullied by members of the basketball team that Florio coached, and Florio shared with her problems he had in his marriage. Yereniuk said their chats became sexual in nature.
In April of 2017, when the victim’s parents discovered that she was getting into a car with an unknown adult male, she initially refused to give information about him. A phone was later discovered that the victim refused to unlock. She said the same man had given it to her, although she refused to identify him at that time. Amherst Police, however, determined from its SIM card that its account was associated with Florio.
During the investigation, Florio came by the victim’s mother’s house unannounced with coffee and doughnuts, and told her that he had been talking to her daughter because of the bullying issue. The mother was disturbed by this and asked him to leave.
The victim eventually revealed to police the sexual nature of her messages with Florio, before agreeing to unlock the phone for police. The police subsequently found two videos and a picture of a male masturbating that Yereniuk said was Florio. The victim also revealed to police that she and Florio had had vaginal sex in his car.
Florio was arrested on May 9, 2017, after which he was barred from participating in any school activities.
While the victim in the case chose not to have her victim impact statement read aloud in the courtroom, her mother’s statement was read by the prosecution.
“This man took control of her phone, her social media and tried to isolate her from us,” read the prosecutor. “All of this ended with him assaulting her.”
“There are sleepless nights and days where I see myself comforting my child from the horrible nightmares and thoughts that attack her, because she is afraid of him and what he is capable of,” the statement continued.
Yereniuk commended the victim in the case, who she said had become a survivor over the course of it.
Chamberland said that his client had expressed the desire for some time to take responsibility for the case.
“His primary motivation for that, your honor, is that he doesn’t want to put the victim through a trial, he doesn’t want to put the victim’s family through a trial and he doesn’t want to put his own family through the rigors of going through a trial,” said Chamberland.
He also said that when his client read the victim impact statement aloud he got emotional.
“He was choked up while he read it,” he said.
At this, one of the women on the victim’s side of the courtroom shook her head.
As the sentencing was concluding, Chamberland asked that the judge make a recommendation that the defendant serve his sentence at the Hampshire County Jail and House of Corrections, because of the travel hardship of having his 12-year-old son travel to a facility in the eastern part of the state to comply with the visitation ordered by the probate court.
“He’s been a model prisoner at the House of Correction,” Chamberland said.
“We are asking for state prison,” said Yereniuk, in objecting to this. “We believe a more secure facility is appropriate.”
The judge however, made the recommendation for jail. The victim’s father rose to speak for a state prison sentence, but was told to stand down. The ultimate arbiter of where he will serve his sentence, however, will be the state Department of Correction.
Florio will be credited with 617 days time served
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.