The chairman of the Merillon Athletic Association said Tuesday he filed a complaint with the Nassau County District Attorney’s office against a coach and officer of the athletic organization for allegedly embezzling $12,000 to $14,000 intended to send a team of 12-year-old baseball players to compete in a tournament in Cooperstown last month.
Anthony Camilleri, Merillon Athletic Association chairman of the board, said on Tuesday he filed the complaint with the DA’s office Tuesday against Vincent Carreca, who Camilleri said he fired from his position as coach and vice president of the New Hyde Park-based athletic association on Aug. 27
“I’m devastated. I’m with this league 36 years,” Camilleri said. “It’s terrible. How do you steal money from children?”
A parent of one of the players on the Merillon Sharks travel team who was to make the trip to Cooperstown had already filed a complaint with the D.A.’s office, Camilleri said.
Tams Sharek, a spokesman for Nasssu County District Attorney Kathleen Rice’s office, confirmed Tuesday that a criminal investigation is being conducted into Carreca’s alleged misuse of the funds intended for the Cooperstown trip.
“We got a complaint about this individual and we are investigating,” Sharek said.
Efforts to reach Carreca for comment were unavailing.
Paul Linzer, an attorney representing Carreca, said in a statement released Tuesday that Carreca is seeking to make restitution to the parents of the players, who included his son.
“Mr. Carecca faithfully served the community and the Little League as a volunteer to many years, and regrets the tremendous strife felt by the involved families, including his own, because the team was unable to participate in the Merillon Little Cooperstown Tournament,” Linzer said. “As I stated in my general letter to the parents, Mr. Carreca is handling this matter with the utmost seriousness and remorse, and will completely and fairly resolve the claims of the Little Leaguers’ parents in an expeditious fashion.”
Linzer sent a letter to parents on Sept. 5 saying that they would be repaid, according to published reports.
Camilleri said Linzer also told him one week ago that he was seeking to obtain a release from the parents who had given Carreca money for the trip by repaying them.
“He said there was $10,000 in an escrow account to make restitution to these parents,” Camilleri said.
Camilleri said the first sign that something was amiss when a parent of one of the young ballplayers contacted Dreams Park in Cooperstown and discovered the Merrillon 12-year-old team wasn’t registered for the tournament in the last week of August.
Parents of the ballplayers selected by Carreca to play on the team paid up to $1,200 apiece for their sons to make the annual trip to Cooperstown. Camilleri said.
“When he collected the money, we assumed everything was in order. He never gave any indication to the contrary. The parents didn’t smell anything,” Camilleri said.
The athletic association paid a $1,000 deposit last October – as it done over the past dozen years – for the trip, Camilleri said.
He said he found out on the Tuesday before the team was to leave for Cooperstown that Carreca had not made the two subsequent payments as he was supposed to have done.
Camilleri said he fired him on Wednesday and said Carreca offered no explanation for his behavior or what he had done with the money.
“I’ve never seen anything like this in 24 years as the chairman,” Camilleri said. “I sat down with him and fired him immediately and we’re in the process of notifying leagues in the area so this doesn’t happen again.”
Camilleri said his primary concern is for the players, including Carreca’s son, who lost their only chance to play in the Cooperstown tourney against teams from around the country during the weeklong trip.
“This is what hurts the most, that these kids won’t ever be able to do this again,” he said.
