Stephen Pamon has a history of bankruptcy, casino gambling, child abuse and sexual harassment allegations.
Posted on 12/18/2007 4:24:35 PM PST by bamahead
A Big Ten football officiating team that came under scrutiny for its performance in two conference games last month was led by a crew chief with a history of bankruptcy, casino gambling, child abuse and allegations of sexual harassment, a Yahoo! Sports investigation has revealed.
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Public records, news reports and interviews with several people who know the longtime college football referee revealed the following:
• He and his wife filed for bankruptcy in 2002 after the couple amassed $429,407 in liabilities, and two of the creditors were casinos.
• He allegedly has gambled at casinos as far back as the 1980s, and a sister-in-law said gambling losses incurred by Pamon and Pamon's wife led to the couple filing for bankruptcy.
• In 1997, he was charged with repeatedly beating three of his girlfriend's four sons with an electrical cord. He told authorities he beat the boys three times.
• He allegedly was fired by the Chicago Police Department in 1996 after two female officers accused him of sexual harassment, according to reports that cited law-enforcement officials as sources.
Pamon and his present wife declined to comment when contacted at their residence...
Pamon and the seven-man officiating team he oversees came under fire after a series of controversial calls during a game between Penn State and Purdue on Nov. 3.
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The embattled crew prompted more criticism for a call in that game that led to Illinois' first touchdown in a 28-21 victory over No. 1-ranked Ohio State, the Buckeyes' only loss of the season. The loss dropped Ohio State to No. 7 in the Bowl Championship Series rankings...
(Excerpt) Read more at collegefootball.rivals.com ...
ping
Whoa, that’s all public record stuff. Where the heck is the league security office on this? Heads should roll.
He can always get a job refereeing in the NBA.
I take it the NBA didn't have any openings available for referees.
Damn it you beat me by like 90 seconds!! ;)
Maybe they should take a look at Terry Porter...
they should look into the guys who threw the flags in the West Virginia /Pittsburgh game. It looked like they were trying to give the game away.
I DO HOPE that this ref is not sent to Charlotte, NC to work on the Meeke Car Care Bowl that is hosting UConn/Wake Forest. UConn has worked so hard this season to get to where it is to have a questionable ref to try to “fix” the game on December 29th, 2007.
Merry Christmas and Go UConn!!!!
Mountaineer backer here, but you are 100% correct about the officiating in that game!
It would not suprise me if some of the officiating of that game lead to why UWV went down, in which the Moutaineers are still reeling, plus added the decision of the head coach to go to Michigan. I have heard on my local sports talkradio show a few nights back of the “voice of Mountaineer football” of this decision it has gotten fans and the whole state of WV upset bigtime.
There are all kinds of rumors going around about why he left....and when! If WVU had beaten Pitt, the move would have at least been delayed if it came about at all.
There are big problems between the elitist admin and the athletic dept. Alumni and boosters that contribute millions to the school are in revolt, but the key players in this melodrama are not talking.
“...of this decision it has gotten fans and the whole state of WV upset bigtime.”
You have no idea how upset folks are here at either Coach, WVU or both.
I'm still fuming over that call.
It would be interesting to see if any of those were convictions -this article doesn’t actually say he was convicted.
True, gambling isn’t technically a crime if you do it in a casino so there would be nothing to convict. For a sports official though, it’s a definite conflict of interest and filing for bankruptcy because he owed a casino $$$ is a telltale sign that he ain’t quite straight on that.
As far as the Chicago Police harassement thing goes, that sounds like they gave him an out in exchange for not pressing charges...
Innocent until proven guilty for sure - but this guy has a lot of evidence lining up against him and I’m guessing the Big 10 considers him a liability at this point.
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