A disgraced ex-Lengthy Island college trainer would take boys as younger as 4 on subject journeys to ballgames, seashores and swimming pools — and molest them whereas claiming he was serving to them change garments, prosecutors stated in court docket Tuesday.
Thomas Bernagozzi, 78, of Babylon, is now on trial in Suffolk County for allegedly molesting three of the kids — who’re among the many dozens who’ve claimed they had been as soon as fondled and sexually abused by the failed trainer.
“The job of a dad or mum is to guard your kids,” Assistant District Legal professional MacDonald Drane stated throughout opening statements at Bernagozzi’s trial on Tuesday. “Whenever you ship your little one to highschool you place your religion within the academics — and that ought to’ve been the case.
“However that’s removed from the reality in terms of Thomas Bernagozzi,” Drane stated. “As a substitute, he noticed a possibility to benefit from younger boys.”
The creep is charged with molesting three younger boys whereas he was instructing, who had been between the ages of 4 and eight when the alleged abuse started.
Prosecutors stated Bernagozzi would take the scholars on twisted journeys to parks and seashores exterior of college hours, the place he would allegedly take them apart to “assist them change.”
In actuality, they stated the trainer would allegedly totally wash the boys in public showers and rub child powder throughout their genitals and buttocks earlier than performing oral intercourse acts on the youngsters, based on prosecutors.
He would inform them it was all a part of washing them, Drane informed jurors.
“He was utilizing the cleaning soap to masks his true intentions,” the prosecutor stated.
On at the very least two events, the boys went to New York Mets video games with their fathers and the trainer — with the dads rising involved when their sons sat on Bernagozzi’s lap as if it was regular.
The trainer additionally positioned one of many younger victims, a third-grader, within the lead for a college manufacturing of “Peter Pan,” an honor usually reserved for fifth-graders on the college.
Bernagozzi was a third-grade trainer at Mary G. Clarkson Elementary Faculty and Gardiner Manor Elementary Faculty between 1970 and 2000, and labored for the Bay Shore Faculty District till 2003.
A well-liked determine on campus, he directed college performs and coached sports activities — “the cool trainer that every one the children wished,” Drane stated in court docket.
However a “twisted” darkish aspect emerged after state lawmakers handed the Little one Victims Act handed in 2019, which allowed victims of kid intercourse abuse to file civil claims that had been as soon as restricted by a statute of limitations.
Because the regulation was enacted, 45 victims filed fits towards Bernagozzi and the varsity district.
The previous trainer is barely charged with molesting three of the alleged victims as a result of a statute of limitations nonetheless exists for felony instances within the Empire State.
Following his arrest, investigators stated they discovered 20,000 photos and 11,000 negatives, a lot of younger boys partially dressed or in sexually provocative poses within the ex-teacher’s dwelling.
He was arraigned on a number of counts of possessing a sexual efficiency by a baby, sodomy, and course of sexual conduct towards a baby in January 2024.
In court docket Tuesday, Bernagozzi’s lawyer, Steven Politi, claimed his shopper has been wrongly accused.
“They’re horrible allegations, however they’re additionally false, and fabricated — and had been used to sue the Bay Shore Faculty District,” he informed the jury. “These crimes by no means occurred,” he stated.
“My shopper vehemently denies these expenses with each fiber of his being.”
