Rick Pitino has an ally in defending his honor against rape charges. His name is Tim Sypher, the ex-husband of the woman on trial for extortion, in connection with the rape charges.

Pitino took the stand on Thursday for a second day and withstood cross-examination by Karen Sypher’s attorney, He was reported to have lost his composure when trying to describe how it felt to have his private indiscretions aired in public.

Louisville’s courier-journal.com reported Pitino told defense counsel, “It has been extremely embarrassing. The most difficult thing was telling my wife and children.”

What he was forced to tell them was that he had a brief sexual encounter in 2003 with Karen Sypher, then known as Karen Wise, a woman he had only met the night they had relations. The details of that are contained in the original story, found here.

He also had to confess that the woman claimed she got pregnant as a result of the sex with Pitino, had an abortion and in 2009 said she was raped that night in 2003, for which she was seeking money to keep it all on the down low.

That is where Tim Sypher comes in. Sypher was on Pitino’s coaching staff, in 2003, he served as the Louisville Cardinals’ equipment manager.

He met with Karen Wise, a woman he didn’t know, at the request of his boss. Rick Pitino then asked him to be part of a 2003 meeting with the two of them to discuss the pregnancy. From there it gets a bit weird.

Sypher testified that he drove his future wife to an abortion clinic in Cincinnati, only days after the meeting. They began a romantic affair and within six months they were married. They had a child together in 2005.

It wasn’t until early 2009 that Tim Sypher says, he first heard rape allegations from Karen. He told the court he found them surprising and troubling.

More disturbing to him was the fact that a man, not him, had left voice messages for Pitino about the rape claim.

In conjunction with making claims of rape, Karen Sypher started to demand things from Pitino. Tim delivered a letter to his boss containing a laundry list of of wants and desires. Somehow, no one thinks Tim was in agreement with Karen on how she was going about all this.

According to the courier-journal.com “She started saying I want this, I want that,” Sypher said. The letter to Pitino “… included a demand for money to pay for college for her four sons, a ‘car of my choice’ and a house paid off, according to the one-page, handwritten letter introduced in court.”

Tim Sypher characterized the rape charges against Pitino as “craziness”. He and his wife separated after she continued to insist on receiving compensation and the couple is now divorced.

In the coming days there will be more testimony about how her demands got her charged for extortion.

How will Pitino face parents of recruits after this?

Used with permission of the author.

Paula Duffy is a national sports columnist for Examiner.com and the Huffington Post and regularly comments on sports/legal matters for radio affiliates of ESPN and Fox Sports. She founded the sports information site, Incidental Contact, is the author of a line of audio books designed for sports novices and in her spare time practices law in Los Angeles. 

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