Main Line Basketball Coach Fired After Drug Dealing Revelation

Testimony in a federal corruption trial against Philadelphia police officers has cost a Bryn Mawr private school basketball coach his job following testimony that he sold drugs three years before his hiring.

According to Philly.com, Robert Kushner, 32, testified on Tuesday about his past as a drug dealer, selling thousands of dollars worth of marijuana in the years prior to his 2010 hiring as the boys varsity basketball coach for Jack M. Barrack Hebrew School in Bryn Mawr. By Wednesday, the school announced that Kushner would not return to his position, according to Main Line Media News.

Kushner took the stand in federal court to offer testimony against six Philadelphia police officers on trial over corruption charges that accuse the officers of stealing drugs and thousands of dollars from suspects. Philly.com says that Kushner described a 2007 traffic stop where three of the indicted officers allegedly took $81,000 and seven pounds of marijuana from his car.

The incident eventually ended with Kushner receiving a probationary sentence and the record expunged, according to reports. He also confirmed on the stand that he was arrested in 2011 by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office and charged with possession and intent to deliver. He pleaded guilty and received four years probation.

Officials at Barrack Hebrew School denied knowledge of Kushner’s past, telling Main Line Media News that he passed background checks prior to his 2010 hiring.

The officers, Thomas Liciardello, Brian Reynolds, Michael Spicer, Perry Betts, Linwood Norman and John Speiser, have been charged with RICO conspiracy, conspiracy to deprive people of civil rights, robbery, extortion and related charges.