Westport Football Coach's Motive and Confession

It's easy to believe word got to the authorities after nearly 40 football players on the Staples High School freshman football team were aware the

After a student reported hearing two freshman guys talking about the website in health class last Tuesday afternoon,  Assistant Principal James Farnen interviewed both students. One of the individuals admitted he heard from another player that former coach Michael Pickering and Norwalk resident, had given the password out, but said he did not receive it. Farnen spoke with the player who informed that student, who explained the password was handed to him from a teammate, according to a police report by the Detective Bureau.

Farnen then spoke with the student who passed off the password, who indicated the teams’ initial knowledge of the password stems from a conversation where Pickering asked the team about an absent player during a football practice. Some of players made jokes regarding what their teammate might be doing, at which point the conversation turned to “porn.” Pickering told the team he had the password to a specific pornographic website, adding they could “watch full movies as opposed to 30 second previews,” the police affidavit states.

Pickering approached a player in the locker room following the practice and handed him a white folded up piece of paper with the account name and password written on it. The player held it up to the entire team and some players took pictures with their cell phones, according to the police report.

Farnen and Staples High School head varsity Coach Marce Petroccio asked Pickering if he provided the password to players during a conversation last Tuesday afternoon. The affidavit indicates Pickering replied “yes.”

“The team was having some issues and he wanted to fit in with them and be one of the boys,” the warrant states.

One player explained that on the bus ride back to Staples High School after the Nov. 3 victory against Fairfield Warde the team chanted, among multiple chants, “It’s All Gravy 2,” which was the password to the website.

One team member said that most of the team, which consists of about 40 players, was aware the coach had provided the account information.

After Pickering’s conversation with Farnen and Petroccio he was terminated from coaching in Westport and was put on a leave of absence in order to avoid contact with students. The report states Pickering was a member of the Westport Board of Education since July 2001 and an HVAC (heating ventilation and air conditioning) technician for the school maintenance department. In addition, he coached freshman football for nine seasons and freshman lacrosse.

A member of the Westport Police Department Detective Bureau contacted Pickering and he referred the detective to his legal counsel, Attorney James A. Saraceni, who said Pickering would “not submit to be interviewed about the incident.”

Saraceni, an attorney for the law offices of William A. Pelletreau LLC in Norwalk, is out of the office until Nov. 28, and was unavailable for comment Friday. Pickering is scheduled to be arraigned on three courts of risk of injury to a minor, a felony charge, at Norwalk Superior Court Nov. 28 and remains at liberty on a $50,000 bond.