Coach is accused of groping players

Brookline High School's freshman girls basketball coach pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges he inappropriately touched four players during a practice session last week.

Jonathon Alsop, 48, of Brookline faces three counts of indecent assault and battery and one count of assault and battery. Alsop was arrested at his home last week and released on the condition he stay away from the four alleged victims and avoid unsupervised contact with any children younger than 18.

Alsop, who is due back in Brookline District Court on Feb. 13, had no comment yesterday, and his lawyer could not be reached for comment. Members of the basketball team leaving practice yesterday refused to comment, saying that school administrators had instructed them not to talk to the news media.

Alsop is also a widely published specialist on wines, maintaining an online site called In Vino Veritas, as well as writing about wine for numerous newspapers and magazines, according to his website. He wrote ''Fodor's Dining Guide to Boston, Cape Cod, and The Islands" from 1994 to 1999. Alsop also has taught wine, food, and writing classes at adult education centers in Boston, Cambridge, Newton, and Brookline.

Alsop, who is not part of the Brookline High faculty, has been placed on indefinite leave with pay and faces a disciplinary hearing at the school next week. The school said it would hire an interim coach this week.

The case began Thursday, when one of the four alleged victims told school officials that she had been groped during practice. As school officials interviewed other players on the team, they concluded that the allegations were serious enough to contact police.

''In the day and age we live in, any time we have an allegation that involves touching that can be inappropriate in any way -- and this had those characteristics -- we're going to err on the side of bringing in the police," said Bill Lupini, superintendent of schools.

Lupini said Alsop's suspension did not indicate that the school district had yet concluded he was guilty of the allegations.

Three other players subsequently came forward, also saying that Alsop had groped them last Wednesday, said Brookline school officials. All the alleged assaults occurred during that same practice, according to Brookline police.

Neither Brookline school officials nor police would detail how Alsop allegedly assaulted the players. Brookline High School headmaster Robert Weintraub described it as ''inappropriate touching." The girls were not injured and have since undergone counseling, he said.

Weintraub said nearly the entire freshman girls basketball team witnessed the alleged assaults and corroborated the players' stories during one-on-one interviews.

''I came to the same conclusion" as Brookline police, Weintraub said. ''It was courageous for the girls to come forward," he said. ''He did some things that were totally wrong."

Weintraub sent Brookline High faculty an e-mail yesterday informing them of the alleged incident, writing: ''The evidence that led to his arrest was provided -- late last week -- by the courageous girls on the team . This coach is not a member of the BHS faculty, and he has been indefinitely suspended, pending a disciplinary hearing with me."

Globe correspondent Emma Stickgold contributed to this report. Raja Mishra can be reached at rmishra@globe.com.