Joe DeLuca, a high school basketball coach at Christ the King High School in Middle Village, was arrested on drugs and weapons charges. Facebook photo.
A girls basketball coach at Christ the King high school was arrested earlier this month after police found a large stash of drugs in his Maspeth apartment.
Joe DeLuca, 26, who played four years of basketball with Christ the King, most recently worked there as an assistant coach for the girl’s Junior Varsity team. Last year, he helped take the team to a city championship.
The bust occurred on October 2 around 8 p.m, when police discovered two ziplock bags of cocaine, ecstasy pills and over 20 grams of marijuana. The report also stated that police found a 12-gauge shotgun on the second floor, where DeLuca lived. Several scales, balances and zip lock bags with drug residue were also discovered at the scene.
Before coaching at the Middle Village school, DeLuca was an assistant at Bishop Ford High School in Brooklyn. He is also listed as a coach with the NYC Warriors – a woman’s traveling basketball team.
DeLuca was arrested along with three other defendants – Frank Martinez, 32, Hugo Morales, 30, and John Cutignola, 32. According to the police report, Cutignola lived on the first floor of the apartment.
When police first walked into the apartment, a pit bull met them at the door. Cutignola’s 13-year-old daughter, who was there at the time, brought the dog into the bathroom, according to the police report.
Police also found a 15-gram bag of marijuana on the coffee table upon entering the apartment. And saw one of the defendants, Frank Martinez, throw a lit marijuana cigarette to the floor.
The four men were charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree; criminal use of drug paraphernalia; endangering the welfare of the 13-year-old daughter of one of the defendants; knowingly possessing or selling gelatin capsules, glassine envelopes, or other materials suitable for packaging; possessing scales and balances used for the purpose of weighing or measuring controlled substances and criminal possession of more than 25 grams of marijuana.
DeLuca was arraigned on October 4 and released without bail. His next court date is October 25.
According to a report in the Daily News, Christ the King high school will not renew DeLuca’s contract for the 2012-2013 season.
Several calls placed to Christ the King principal Peter Mannarino were not returned by press time.
By Ryan Lavis
