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A former head wrestling coach of Mount Saint Joseph High School who was the only person indicted as part of the Maryland attorney general’s grand jury investigation into the Archdiocese of Baltimore is not guilty of charges that he sexually assaulted a young man, a Baltimore County judge ruled on Friday.
Circuit Judge Dennis M. Robinson Jr. acquitted Neil Adleberg, 75, of Reisterstown, of sexual abuse of a minor, sexual solicitation of a minor, second-degree rape and attempted second-degree rape at the end of a bench trial. He was the head wrestling coach of Mount Saint Joseph High School in the 1970s and returned as an assistant coach for the 2014-15 season.
Read more coverage on the trial of Neil Adleberg
Robinson said sexual assault cases are difficult for a variety of reasons. That’s because they often involve personal and sensitive information, he said, and that there are inherent issues with proof because of delayed reporting, suppressed memories and purposeful concealment of actions on the part of the perpetrator.
He said he understood that disclosure is a “process, not an event” and “more likely to occur when a victim has a supportive environment.” His goal, he said, was to “get this right from a strictly legal standpoint.”
At trial, Robinson noted that there was inconsistent testimony related to the allegations of a sexual assault in 2014. Adleberg, the judge said, called numerous witnesses who spoke about his history of mentoring, coaching and supporting young wrestlers as well as his character and reputation for truthfulness. Their testimony consisted of “nearly half a century of interactions with and observations of the defendant in a wide range of contexts.”
“It is not an understatement for me to say that these witnesses were among the most credible witnesses I’ve ever observed on the witness stand,” Robinson said.
Meanwhile, Robinson said, he reviewed the voluminous amount of text messages and emails in the case, which revealed a relationship that involved friendship, mentorship, manipulation and micromanagement as well as inappropriate references to sexual activity. “To be clear,” he said, “many of these emails and text messages are troubling, inappropriate and downright creepy.”
He pointed out that an acquittal would not necessarily connote that the young man is a liar. Instead, Robinson said, it would mean that prosecutors had not met their burden of proof.
“The defendant is not on trial for being overbearing, manipulative, creepy, obsessive or a micromanager — because those aren’t crimes,” Robinson said. “The state has not presented sufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the crimes charged.”
Speaking to reporters outside the Baltimore County Courts Building, Joe Murtha, Adleberg’s attorney, said he believed that the Maryland Office of the Attorney General hastily indicted his client after having nothing to show for its investigation into the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
“What is very disturbing is that they made that decision before having credible and meaningful evidence and pursued this case without an investigation that would support the conclusion that they reached,” Murtha said. “Fortunately, the judge saw through that and made the decision that Mr. Adleberg was not guilty.”
Later, Murtha described the move to charge his client as a “politically-based decision by a prosecutor who had been heavily involved in politics.” He was referring to Del. Elizabeth Embry, a Democrat from Baltimore.
Embry worked on the investigation and was elected in 2022 to the Maryland House of Delegates.
In a statement, Embry said she stands with the young man and his family. “The verdict is a disappointment but does not negate the bravery of the victim in coming forward.”
Meanwhile, Adleberg thanked his family members and friends as well as the judge for his “attentiveness to the facts of the case and trying to get to the truth.”
Adleberg said some of his most important qualities are integrity and character. He said he’s helped thousands of young wrestlers over the years and had to turn down requests from people to testify on his behalf as character witnesses.
“The support from my family and friends, and from Joe Murtha, made this all happen,” Adleberg said.
Adleberg reconnected with the young man at a wrestling tournament called “Beast of the East” at the University of Delaware in 2013. He was 17 at the time and a senior and member of the wrestling team at Perry Hall High School.
The Baltimore Banner does not identify people who report that they are survivors of sexual assault without their permission. He is now 27.
In his closing argument, Murtha said Adleberg was not guilty of the charges, declaring that the state had not sustained its burden of proof.
“Right now, you have conjecture and suggestion,” Murtha said. “There is uncertainty. And uncertainty amounts to reasonable doubt.”
He said the young man lied at trial and embellished information to benefit himself. Though Murtha could not give a definitive answer as to why the young man would make up the sexual abuse allegations, he suggested the motive might have been retaliation.
“He is swirling down the drain of life,” Murtha said. “He knows that Mr. Adleberg has the financial wherewithal to actually have to pay if an allegation is made.”
Murtha said “these things are taken very seriously” in today’s world. He noted that his client has helped countless young athletes but never faced an accusation of sexual abuse in the past.
Meanwhile, the young man sent an email to Adleberg on June 3, 2020, that, in part, read, “All of your hard work, dedication, and love has helped me get to this point. As well as the opportunity to excel in the business world and to build a family with unconditional love where my kid’s dreams have no limit.”
“You have a series of misrepresentations for reasons that I may never fully understand,” Murtha said. “Sometimes, desperate people do desperate things.”
Adleberg testified in his own defense and denied the allegations, stating that he had a “platonic kind of love” for the young man.
But Assistant Attorney General Nancy Frigo said in her closing argument that Adleberg “systemically skewed the facts throughout the course of their relationship and the course of this trial so he could control the narrative of his abuse.”
Adleberg, she said, met the young man when he was “effectively homeless” with a “broken-down car.” The only person who was a constant in his life was his younger brother, Frigo said.
Next, Adleberg, she said, started to shower the young man with gifts and eventually met “the bulk of his needs.” Frigo read various portions of an email that Adleberg sent on Aug. 15, 2017, which she characterized as “not anything other than a love letter.”
“I am perfectly comfortable that I love you too,” Adleberg wrote in the email. “I know it’s not completely acceptable by society to go where it’s completely gone, but I don’t have any regrets. You’ve often said that you don’t either.”
The grooming, she said, continued when the young man went off to college. Adleberg created an email address, opened a joint bank account, added him to a phone plan and switched the address on his driver’s license, increasing the level of control, Frigo said.
Adleberg, she said, emailed him the link to a story with the headline, “93 Percent Of Straight Men In This Study Said They’ve Cuddled With Another Guy.”
“He wants you to believe that this was simply a platonic, fatherly love,” Frigo said. “The evidence outlines a romantic obsession.”
In one text message on Sept. 18, 2019, the young man wrote, “When you chose to try and be sexual with me and sexually touch me when you clearly knew it was unwanted our friendship became unsustainable.”
“You’ve mentioned that before and I am very sorry for doing anything inappropriate,” Adleberg replied. “Anything done was out of feelings for you, and I never thought anything was forced but I never would want to hurt you in any way. I am sorry.”
Frigo said Adleberg was consumed 24/7 with the young man after he graduated college, tracking everything from his social media posts to his bank transactions.
In a statement, Attorney General Anthony Brown said the outcome of the trial “does not diminish the courage of the survivor in this case,” adding that “it takes remarkable strength to break the silence and confront pain and trauma of the past.”
Brown encouraged survivors of sexual abuse to come forward as his office continues to investigate the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Archdiocese of Washington and Diocese of Wilmington.
“To the survivor, your voice matters, your story deserved to be heard no matter the outcome of this trial. We continue to stand with you; we believe you,” Brown said. “The path to justice may be arduous, and today’s acquittal does not define the validity of your experience.”
dylan.segelbaum@thebaltimorebanner.com
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Dylan Segelbaum is the courts reporter at The Baltimore Banner.
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