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The “voice of Iona College basketball” has been hit with “deeply disturbing” child pornography charges, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Rich Leaf, 72, a retired teacher and a member of the Westchester County Sports Hall of Fame, is accused of receiving lewd images of minors by creating at least a dozen screen names in an online chat room, the US Attorney’s Office in the Southern District said in a press release.
He is charged with one count of receiving child pornography, prosecutors said.
“As we allege in this case, Mr. Leaf used Skype to chat with his victims,” FBI Assistant Director William Sweeney said in a statement. “I’d like to stress to parents that, although these contacts may occur in a virtual world, they harm your children in the real world.”
According to a federal complaint, Leaf used the name “Alex Bronson” to convince a 15-year-old boy to send him nude and shower photos — among nearly a dozen images the FBI says it found on his computer at his home in Somers.
Leaf has been involved in Westchester County high school athletics for decades, and is a longtime announcer for the Iona College Gaels — identifying himself on his Twitter page as the “Voice of Iona College Basketball.”
He is a retired Harrison middle school social studies teacher.
In a statement, Iona Director of Athletics, Matthew Glovaski, called the allegations against Leaf “disturbing.”
“Iona College has learned of disturbing allegations involving an individual who was contracted to announce basketball games for the past several years,” Glovaski said. “At this time, none of the allegations have any association with the College. Iona takes all allegations of misconduct seriously, including against vendors.”
Leaf did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post on Wednesday.
However, he told lohud.com that he did not know how the images landed on his computer and suggested that he had been hacked.
“They stem from a hacking of my computer,” he told the news outlet. “I really don’t know how it was done.”
But asked if he had posed as a teenager online, he said “there is some truth in it, yes.”
Leaf was released on a $100,000 bond, prosecutors said.
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