Richie Parker is a basketball player from

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. He began his sport career at Manhattan Center high school in

East Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem, or , is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City, north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, Fifth Avenue to the west, and the East and Harlem Rivers to the eas ...

and became considered one of the top 50 senior basketball players in the nation. During his time there he committed a sexual assault on a minor and lost scholarship offers from

Seton Hall Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizab ...

and the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

. In January 1994, Parker and a schoolmate, Leslie Francis, while attending Manhattan Center, committed a sexual assault on a 16-year-old freshman girl. Parker and Francis were arrested at the scene, and convicted of first-degree sexual abuse in January 1995. Subsequently, Parker spent one year at a junior college in Arizona, then moved to

Long Island University Long Island University (LIU) is a private university in Brooklyn and Brookville, New York, United States. The university enrolls over 16,000 students and offers over 500 academic programs at its main campuses, LIU Brooklyn and LIU Post on Long I ...

where he graduated in May 2000. He played briefly for the Atlantic City Seagulls and appeared in television commercials. From 2002 Parker worked with the Stay Strong Foundation, which offers mentoring for troubled young people in New York City.

References

Living people Atlantic City Seagulls players Basketball players from New York City LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds men's basketball players Long Island University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-basketball-bio-stub