Police, Schools & Coach Kept Nathan Bruno's Father In The Dark

PORTSMOUTH, RI — Last December, when Portsmouth High football Coach Ryan Moniz was pestered with crank calls and text messages, he called the hometown police. The Jamestown detectives started an investigation. By early January, the police informed Moniz they had a suspect, a 15-year-old Portsmouth High student, Nathan Bruno. Later, they would tell the coach two other people should be added to the list of suspects who made hang-up calls and crank calls. But Nathan's father said nobody informed him about the situation until Feb. 1, almost a month later.

Richard Bruno told Patch he learned about his 15-year-old son's trouble with the police and the coach over crank calls only five days before his son took his own life.

"I'm sorry if I sound angry," Bruno said. "I am angry. My son is dead." Not only did the school do nothing to help him, Bruno said, but officials also kept the one person who could best help him, his father, in the dark. Bruno feels his son's stress grew through January based on the fact the rumors were circulating among kids at school that Nathan had made the calls. Some of the rumors reached the coach's ears, according to the school committee.

Bruno told Patch he complained to the school department because he didn't want the same thing to happen to another family. In his opinion, if the coach started with police, he should have stuck with that plan and let the detectives do their job. And as Nathan's father, he should have been notified as the police knew. But according to the school department's separate investigation, the coach took the matter into his own hands by holding a team meeting sometime in January and telling the football team.

Moniz allegedly asked his football players to find out the names of any other people who made the crank calls. According to the school department's investigation, which is confidential, two players went to Nathan's house on Feb. 6 and told him they feared the coach would quit. They needed to know who else was involved. The boys stayed about 20 minutes. They weren't rough with Nathan, and they didn't hurt him, Bruno said. But he feels their visit blew the whole situation up, made it seem bigger than it was and something that couldn't be solved.

"Nathan took on the blame for the coach quitting after he had already done his job, gone to the police and cooperated to make things right," Bruno said. "Nathan also bought a gift card with his own money to give to the coach, but his apology was rejected."

The matter was aired publicly this week at a school committee meeting at Coach Moniz's request. Although the meeting could have been held behind closed doors (under the open meeting law exception for personnel matters affecting a person's reputation) the target of an investigation may request a public meeting. Moniz asked to take it public. His lawyer said the reason was because the coach wanted the facts to come out, and the school committee wouldn't allow Moniz or his attorney to state their side of the story in an executive session.

"I'm a private person," Bruno said. "I wouldn't have done any of this in public, but I didn't have a say. It's out now by their choice. I am grateful, though, to have been Nathan's voice at the school committee. I was able to clear up some rumors that came out the first month after Nathan's passing. I was able to hold up the toxicology report which stated no drugs or alcohol in Nathan's system when he died. I was able to hold up the psychological evaluation form last summer that stated no depression, no anxiety, no suicidal ideation and no social difficulties. I was also able to state why I was there, which was to make changes in the school system as a community."

Among the changes, he said, the most important is to make a distinction between and "outside school" issue and an "inside school" issue.

"In Nathan's case, both were combined with the addition of being interrogated both inside and outside school," Bruno said. "One interrogation was by an administrator without my permission or my being present." The administrator reported back to the coach, he said. "Nathan was being pressured, bullied and socially ostracized," his father said.

"Shortly after Nathan's passing, I asked two school administrators about the difference between an outside issue and an inside issue," he said. "They both replied, 'I don't know.' I think as a community we should work on knowing and applying while also providing a school safety net, which Nathan did not have and was not offered."

The meeting dealt with the death investigation, which the school committee launched after Bruno made a complaint. The investigation, by Providence lawyer Matthew Oliverio, concluded the coach's actions had contributed to Nathan's death. Attorney Jeff Sowa, who represents Coach Moniz, disputes that finding and said there is no link between what happened to Nathan and anything the coach did. But the school committee on Tuesday voted 6-0 not to reappoint the coach. He will continue to teach at Portsmouth High, Sowa said.

Jamestown police Chief Ed Mello would only confirm there was an investigation. He declined to say more because "juveniles" are involved. He would not confirm police failed to notify Nathan's parent.

Bruno said besides the police, other school administrators supposedly knew Nathan had been making calls and sending text messages to Moniz. As of the first team meeting, the whole team knew.

Once his father found out, he tried to help his son do the right thing. Nathan went to the police and cooperated with their investigation.

"Nathan owned up to everything he did," Bruno said. He didn't make all the hang-up calls, so he didn't take responsibility for all those. He did acknowledge the ones he had made.

"Nathan took full responsibility for all the text messages that came from his phone, although there were other influences by what was said by other kids," he added.

Bruno said the texts were correctly characterized by Sowa as "disparaging" about Moniz's coaching abilities. Some also made disparaging personal remarks.

"Nothing violent," Bruno said.

Patch asked if there was any sexual innuendo.

"No," Bruno said. He doesn't know why Nathan started pranking Coach Moniz. Nathan played football freshman year, but didn't sign up for sophomore year. He was mysteriously transferred to another gym class in mid-January before he was supposed to have Moniz. Nathan's guidance counselor was never apprised of the change in his schedule, Bruno said. Neither was his father.

"This was another missed opportunity to tell me what was going on and to tell support staff in the school," he said. He only found out the night Nathan died that Moniz had requested Nathan be moved to a different class. But it was all done behind the scenes.

"What's hard to understand is (to the best of my knowledge) no other kids were discovered or came forward for their part; and if the coach so vehemently threatened to quit, why hasn't he resigned? I believe a good part of the community would accept his resignation. If he and other administrators didn't do anything wrong, why didn't they continue their witch hunt for other kids? Everything stopped the morning of Feb. 7, the day Nathan died. Now, four months later everything is ok? It doesn't make sense to me.

"No kid should ever have to feel what Nathan felt; no parent should have to go through what I'm feeling," he said.

His son had reported to the police and attempted to apologize to the coach.

"It should have ended there," Bruno said.

Related Story: Portsmouth High Coach Removed, Will Continue Teaching

Courtesy Photo