Prosecutors will seek to use testimony of additional accusers at sex abuse trial of ex-Bay Shore teacher Thomas Bernagozzi

The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office will seek to introduce testimony from additional accusers at the criminal trial of a former Bay Shore teacher charged with sexually abusing a pair of elementary school students decades ago, prosecutors said in a court filing Monday.

Assistant District Attorney Dana Castaldo wrote that investigators believe retired third grade teacher Thomas Bernagozzi abused "scores of children" during his 30-year career, but prosecutors were only able to seek charges in December 2023 related to two alleged victims due to the statute of limitations. 

Prosecutors will soon ask acting Supreme Court Justice Karen Wilutis to allow testimony from additional former students alleging abuse by the teacher, including one whose genitals were exposed in photographic negatives found during the execution of a search warrant at Bernagozzi’s Babylon home, court records show.

Monday’s motion seeks to consolidate the initial indictment, which charges Bernagozzi with sodomy and course of sexual conduct for the alleged abuse of two students from 1992 to 2000, with a child pornography indictment related to the negatives, which were among tens of thousands of student images prosecutors allege were found in the home.

"The child depicted in the [negatives] is not one of the two victims contained within the original indictment," Castaldo wrote in the filing. "That child does, however, allege that he was sexually abused by the defendant."

Combining the two cases would allow for a more timely and less expensive judicial process while also preventing witnesses from having to testify multiple times, Castaldo argued in her motion.

Attorney Steven Politi, of Central Islip, who is representing Bernagozzi in the criminal cases, said he will oppose the motion to consolidate the two indictments and will also challenge any attempt to introduce uncharged acts at trial.

"The evidence to prove one of the cases, which I don’t think they have, is not even similar to the evidence they need to prove the second case," Politi said of the two indictments. "What they’re trying to do is cumulatively convict my client. They’re trying to use a lot of very bad, weak evidence to say ‘Look how good the evidence is.’"

Politi said allowing uncharged acts to enter a criminal trial is "always dangerous."

"It’s evidence of a nature that tends to prove something my client isn’t charged with," Politi said.

Suffolk Police and prosecutors opened the investigation into Bernagozzi after 45 former Bay Shore students filed Child Victims Act claims alleging the retired teacher sexually abused them between 1970 and 2000. Most of the civil lawsuits, which were allowed under a look-back window included in the same 2019 New York State law that opened up the possibility of criminal charges, involved 8-year-old boys who were students in his classes at Gardiner Manor and Mary G. Clarkson elementary schools or participated in an after-school sports program he ran.

Of the civil cases brought against the district involving Bernagozzi, 17 have been settled by Bay Shore schools for a total of $55 million, according to attorneys for the district. An additional case resulted in a jury awarding a former student $25 million in damages from the district, which a Suffolk judge later reduced to $4 million.

Bernagozzi, who has denied the allegations, is being held at the Suffolk County Jail. Politi said a trial could be held this fall.

By Grant Parpan

grant.parpan@newsday.com@GrantParpan

Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.