Report Cites 4 People Who Claim Sportswriter Bill Conlin Sexually Abused Them

Another child sex abuse scandal has emerged from the sports world, this one involving a famed sportswriter.

Per a report from the Philadelphia Inquirer, Hall of Fame baseball writer and now-former Philadelphia Daily News columnist Bill Conlin has been accused of sexual assault by three women and one man. The four of them claim that Conlin molested them when they were children.

Conlin promptly retired from the Daily News on Tuesday.

Through what the Inquirer describes as "vivid" accounts, the four accusers allege that Conlin groped and fondled them and touched their genitals in the 1970s. At the time, the four accusers were between the ages seven and 12.

The accusers say they are speaking out now because the recent developments at Penn State involving alleged child molester Jerry Sandusky reminded them of their own troubled pasts.

But just like in the case involving former Syracuse assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine, the issue with the accusations against Conlin is that the statute of limitations effectively bars accusers from prosecuting. Conlin's accusers say they are hoping to call attention to the unfairness of the law.

Kelley Blanchet, one of the alleged victims, is Conlin's niece. She claims that Conlin's misdeeds were kept a secret not by just the victims themselves, but by their families. Blanchet claims that she and the other victims informed their parents, but they settled for issuing their own warnings to Conlin rather than contacting the police.

A woman named Barbara Healey, whose son and daughter both told her they had been molested by Conlin, expressed regret at not doing more.

"I'm really sorry that I didn't do something more at the time," she said, according to the Inquirer. "Call the police is what I should have done." 

Conlin himself had no comment, but his lawyer, George Bochetto, did issue a brief statement.

"Mr. Conlin is obviously floored by these accusations, which supposedly happened 40 years ago," Bochetto said, according to the Inquirer. "He has engaged me to do everything possible to bring the facts forward to vindicate his name."

Conlin was awarded the J.G. Taylor Spink Award in 2011, and is recognized in an exhibit at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.