Ex-coach found guilty of stealing from club

Boston Globe

A former Chelsea High School football coach was convicted of larceny yesterday for withdrawing thousands of dollars from the team's booster club account to pay for personal expenses, according to the Suffolk district attorney's office.

A Suffolk Superior Court jury found James Atkins, 43, of Revere guilty of five counts of larceny over $250 and one count of larceny by check, Daniel F. Conley's office said. Atkins was acquitted of a sixth charge of larceny over $250.

His sentencing is scheduled for 9 a.m. today.

Prosecutors showed that Atkins, a Chelsea police sergeant suspended from duty and a former Medford High School football coach, used his position as coach of the Chelsea team and president of that team's booster club to withdraw nearly $10,000 from the team's bank account between 2004 and 2007.

Withdrawal records indicated that Atkins withdrew $500 at an ATM across from a Revere strip club; made three-figure withdrawals near the Foxwoods casino in Connecticut and the Seabrook Greyhound Park dog racing track in New Hampshire; and paid a $634 bar tab at the Champions Sports Bar at the Marriott Copley Place hotel in Boston.

In January 2007, at a meeting with Chelsea High School parents and the school's athletic director, Frank DePatto, Atkins agreed to repay the $8,200 in installments, prosecutors said. Instead, Atkins later asked for a charitable donation from a respected community member to put toward his outstanding debt, prosecutors said.

"It is always difficult when a police officer is found to have violated the law," Chelsea Police Chief Brian Kyes said in a statement.

Atkins's lawyer, Douglas Louison of Boston, maintained his client's innocence.

"I think every witness who testified said they were proud to know and be involved with Jim Atkins," Louison said. "No justice is done by convicting him of stealing money from the booster club he created and funded with his own personal monies. He put in over $50,000 of his own money into the program. It defies logic to say he stole money from the program."