SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – A retired elementary school teacher from Long Island was arrested Thursday after two former male students alleged he sexually abused them between the late 1980s and early 2000s, the Suffolk County Police Department said.
The Special Victims Section detectives with Suffolk County PD began an investigation after the two former students accused Thomas Bernagozzi, 75, of sexual abuse.
Bernagozzi, of Babylon, was charged with first-degree course of sexual conduct against a child and first-degree sodomy, police said.
The defendant retired from teaching in 2003 and used to work in the Bay Shore School District, officials said.
At the time of the abuse, police said the alleged victims were enrolled at Gardiner Manor Elementary School and Mary G. Clarkson Elementary School, both within the Bay Shore School District.
In a statement released by the Bay Shore School District, Superintendent Steven J. Maloney wrote that the district was informed of Bernagozzi’s arrest on Thursday.
Maloney noted that the defendant has not been with the school system since 2000, and that the district has no further information on the matter.
“In accordance with District practice, we fully cooperate with the Suffolk County Police Department on law enforcement matters. We remain committed to ensuring the health, safety, and well-being of our students,” the statement read.
Bernagozzi is set to be arraigned Thursday afternoon in Central Islip.
This news comes weeks after 45 former elementary school students filed separate lawsuits against the Bay Shore School District, with each lawsuit accusing the district of failing to protect them from Bernagozzi’s sexual abuse, according to court documents obtained by Newsday.
The defendant would repeatedly expose himself and molest students aged five to 13, with allegations spanning three decades and ending in 2001, per the lawsuits filed in Suffolk Supreme Court viewed by Newsday.
Newsday said that court papers show Bernagozzi denied allegations.
The lawsuits, filed between July 2020 and August 2021, are ongoing and accuse the district of condoning Bernagozzi’s behavior.
In all 45 suits the Bay Shore School District filed counter suits against Bernagozzi, claiming that he should be held responsible for the crimes, Newsday said.
The lawsuits were all filed under the Child Victims Act, which allowed a temporary window (closed August 2021) for victims of child sexual abuse to file suits regardless of the statute of limitations.
Attorney Jeff Herman, who represents 43 of the former students who filed suits, told Newsday that his clients are relieved by the arrest.
“It's a long time coming, and they're very happy that this many years later the authorities are hearing them,” he said. “It's one piece of seeking justice for these clients.”
Attorney Josh Sibler represents the other two former students who filed, and told Newsday that “While this is certainly a start on the path to justice, it reminds us of the Bay Shore School District’s decades long attempt to protect the abuser rather than the students in their care. A school’s primary mission is the safety of the children placed in its care, and Bay Shore completely ignored this responsibility.”
Anyone with information on Bernagozzi is asked to call the Special Victims Section at 631-275-2302.