Huntington High School band director Brian Stellato sued for sexual assault
Brian Stellato in the 2009 Huntington High School yearbook. Credit: Huntington High School
A Huntington High School graduate has filed a lawsuit against the Huntington school district and teacher Brian Stellato, alleging the band director sexually assaulted her in and outside school when she was a student there 14 years ago — allegations Stellato denied through his attorney.
A complaint was filed Dec. 18 in Suffolk County Supreme Court, seeking unspecified monetary damages. Electronic court records show other paperwork filed as early as Nov. 17, just days before the Adult Survivors Act expired. The act created a yearlong suspension of the usual time limit to sue over an alleged sexual assault.
In the complaint, the plaintiff alleges Stellato sexually abused her during the 2009-10 school year, when she was a senior. The complaint alleges that the abuse took place in the band room, at Elwood Park and in a hotel room during a school trip to a music conference in Rochester.
Stellato allegedly began grooming her when she was a freshman in 2006, according to the lawsuit, and the alleged sexual abuse continued after she graduated in 2010.
“Between 2006 and 2010, Stellano sexually assaulted and forced Plaintiff into sex acts, numerous times,” the woman’s attorney, Thomas P. Giuffra, with Manhattan-based Rheingold Giuffra Ruffo & Plotkin LLP, wrote in the complaint.
“During this entire period, Plaintiff was coerced and manipulated by Stellato to engage in sexual activities based on his position as a teacher,” Giuffra continued. Giuffra did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
Newsday is not naming the accuser because she's an alleged victim of sexual assault.
Stellato’s Hauppauge-based lawyer, Jack Piana, said his client denied the allegations.
“Brian unequivocally denies any inappropriate interaction with any former or current student,” Piana said in a statement. “Brian is a respected educator and member of the community. These allegations are outrageous and Brian will fight to clear his name for as long as it takes.”
The lawsuit names the school district, the school board, the high school and Stellato as defendants.
District Superintendent Christian Bowen said in an email Wednesday that Stellato has been “reassigned to home.”
Stellato, 42, of Huntington, came to Huntington High School as a band director in the fall of 2006, according to a district announcement. He directed the junior symphonic high school band, comprising freshmen and sophomores, the high school wind ensemble and the Blue Devil marching band, for many years.
He was promoted to position of Huntington’s director of fine and performing arts in December 2022. His salary is $160,282, according to minutes of a December board meeting in which the board members approved his promotion.
The lawsuit alleges the student’s mother alerted the district after she found Stellato calling her daughter “numerous times” when the student was at a sleepaway camp in 2009. The suit does not name the mother and does not specify how she contacted school officials.
The lawsuit contends the district was negligent when it failed to investigate and discipline Stellato after the mother complained.
Gary J. Intoccia, a New Jersey-based lawyer representing the Huntington school district, said in an email on behalf of the district Wednesday: “We do not comment on active litigation.”
Newsday reported last month that two dozen Long Island school districts have paid a combined $28.8 million to settle 37 lawsuits by former students who say teachers, administrators and fellow students sexually abused them. About 150 similar lawsuits are ongoing.
Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.
