Basketball announcer Rich Leaf, a 2017 inductee to the Westchester Sports Hall of Fame, was arrested on Tuesday, Feb. 23 on child pornography charges following a months-long investigation by the FBI, federal documents show.
Leaf, 72, was released on bail the same day on a $100,000 bond.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Leaf has been accused of receiving and possession videos and images containing child pornography and posing as a teenager online to solicit explicit sexual material from a 15-year-old boy.
In May of 2020, FBI agents interviewed Leaf at both his Somers residence and at an FBI field office. Over the course of those interviews, Leaf admitted to being sexually attracted to teenaged boys and allowed agents to search his personal computer. Federal law enforcement officials recovered 10 files depicting child pornography on the hard drive.
Leaf also admitted to using several pseudonyms, including “Alex Bronson,” to pose as a teenaged boy online and solicit sexually explicit material from minors. Among the files found on Leaf’s computer were a nude image and pornographic video of a 15-year-old boy with whom Leaf had been communicating via Skype. The youth in question, labeled as “Victim-1” in the case against Leaf, was interviewed by FBI agents in August 2020 and the boys’ age was confirmed by his mother.
“A non-explicit version of the image Victim-1 sent to “Alex” was shown to Victim-1’s mother,” read the report filed by FBI Special Agent Andrew S. Kearns. “She confirmed the identity of the awards, posters, and other decorations in the background of the image, which used to be present in Victim-1’s bedroom.”
The news came as a shock to many in the area, given Leaf’s status as a former teacher in the Harrison Central School District and as a local sports fixture. Leaf had been a youth soccer official since the 1980s and was employed by Section I as the public address announcer for the high school basketball championships at the Westchester County Center for nearly four decades. He was currently employed as the announcer for Iona College basketball games, and conducted weekly interviews with high school students for the “Con-Edison Scholar-Athlete of the Week” award, which aired on WHUD radio.
He also served as a volunteer public address announcer for basketball games at both Scarsdale and Mamaroneck High Schools. The day before his arrest, Leaf was in Mamaroneck’s Palmer Gymnasium, calling a varsity contest between the Tigers and Harrison.
Although representatives from the Mamaroneck Union Free School District would not comment on the arrest, Tigers Athletic Director Bari Suman confirmed that Leaf has been barred from the Mamaroneck campus and that administrators have met with Mamaroneck’s student-athletes to explain the situation and address any questions or concerns the students might have.
The FBI is currently investigating any other instances in which Leaf might have used a phony identity to target underaged victims and has asked that anyone with information contact the bureau at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
“As our society continues to become more reliant on technology, more of our children are exposed to the most despicable predators—those searching out young children to sexually exploit them. As we allege in this case, Mr. Leaf used Skype to chat with his victims,” said FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. “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.”
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