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Editor’s note: This story includes descriptions of sexual assault.

Former Syracuse University Residence Hall Deputy Director Conrad Mainwaring pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of sexually molesting young boys while working at Camp Greylock — a sports camp in Becket, Massachusetts — in the 1970s.

In Berkshire Superior Court, Mainwaring pleaded guilty to 12 counts of indecent assault and battery on a child over 14 and four counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14. The charges only considered incidents in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, including Camp Greylock.

The incidents involved nine victims, but there are over 400 men across two continents for over 50 years who have reported abuse by Mainwaring, said John Shapiro, who filed a Child Victims Act lawsuit in February 2020 against SU and its Board of Trustees, along with Camp Greylock, for negligence.

“Mr. Mainwaring could have been stopped several times by several institutions. Syracuse University had a chance to stop him but turned a blind eye,” Shapiro said in his victim impact statement.

Mainwaring, a participant in the 1976 Olympics who assisted with the SU’s track and field team, was also accused of molesting multiple students on SU’s campus, where, in the 1980s, he worked as the deputy director and dorm counselor of Brewster Hall. At the time, Brewster Hall was an all-male dormitory. In the hearing, Mainwaring was accused of abusing his positions of power to “get boys to do what he wanted to do” at the Massachusetts camp.

Tym De Santo, who met Mainwaring when he was 12 years old, visited Mainwaring at SU in the fall of 1980 for a weekend of “focused coaching.”

“It was soon after that visit to Syracuse that I recognized the abuse for what it was, and ended the coaching relationship,” De Santo said.

Sgt. Stephen Jones of the Massachusetts State Police detective unit began an investigation into Mainwaring shortly after an August 2019 investigation by ESPN, which uncovered 41 allegations of molestation. In June 2019, Mainwaring was arrested in Los Angeles on one count of sexual battery by fraud against a then-20-year-old student at UCLA. His last job coaching was in February 2021, said Saul Wolf, an attorney helping represent Mainwaring’s alleged victims.

Wolf, who works for law firm Manly, Stewart & Finaldi, is also working on cases against SU and the Syracuse City School District related to Mainwaring’s alleged abuse. Robert Druger, one of Wolf’s clients, alleged in a 2020 lawsuit that Mainwaring had abused him in the former Olympian’s Brewster/Boland/Brockway dorm room. According to the lawsuit, the abuse started when Druger was 17 and continued until he graduated from SU.

Druger told The Daily Orange that Thursday’s guilty plea is a step in the right direction but that it was “small progress” considering the many other alleged victims of Mainwaring’s abuse.

“I never feel good about any of this,” he said. “It’s been quiet for a while but it comes in waves. But I don’t want to be involved with this. I hate it and it sucks so that’s really how I feel. And I shouldn’t be in this position, but I am so I’m making the best of it.”

Another client of Wolf’s, Joe Kriesberg met Mainwaring while he was a student at Nottingham High School, according to a 2021 lawsuit. At SU, Mainwaring allegedly sexually abused Kreisberg, massaging his genitals under the guise of it being therapy to become a better runner.

“I’m trying to determine whether it feels like some form of closure or not. I don’t know yet,” Kriesberg told The D.O. after the hearing. “To hear Conrad (Mainwaring) acknowledge that all of this happened, including the events on campus at Syracuse … to hear his voice actually say it out loud was affirming.”

Several victims of Mainwaring’s abuse, who ranged from age 13 to 19 during the time they were abused, testified at the hearing. Many experienced the abuse at the camp, where they reported “disturbing” grooming and sexual abuse that resulted in years-long mental abuse.

Shapiro said he and other victims still continue to suffer from suicidal thoughts, depresssion, anxiety, an array of addiction problems as well as anger, trust and intimacy issues.

“In our society, we are taught to trust adults, and I did. Trauma from that has caused my life to be full of darkness, sadness and devoid of hope,” Shapiro said.

Victim David Sweet, who was 13 when he was abused by Mainwaring, said he tried to contact the FBI and SU after he came to terms with the abuse, but his efforts “didn’t really get anywhere at that time.” Sweet mentioned the civil cases against SU and encouraged the consideration of federal charges because of the other incidents at college campuses.

“I hope they keep Conrad (Mainwaring) locked up for a long, long time,” Sweet said. “I personally don’t think he can ever be trusted around boys or young men.”

Three of the nine lawsuits filed under the Adult Survivors Act that listed SU as a defendant were related to Mainwaring. When asked about Thursday’s hearing, a university spokesperson told The D.O. that SU does not comment on active litigation.

Wolf said Thursday’s hearing is not the end of the story for Mainwaring’s victims.

“Mainwaring has taken responsibility … (and) at least in part, finally admitted to what he’s done,” Fox said. “In my clients’ minds, we intend to make these entities — Syracuse University, Camp Greylock and the (Syracuse City) School District — step up and actually take some responsibility as well.”

Published on February 8, 2024 at 10:14 pm

Contact Kyle: kschouin@syr.edu | @Kyle_Chouinard