According to the Suffolk County DA, 76-year-old Thomas Bernagozzi of Babylon has been named in 45 individual civil lawsuits under the New York State Child Victims Act.
A spokesperson for the DA's office said the complaints were initially filed against the Bay Shore School District and the district countersued and brought Bernagozzi into the claims.
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Robert Hubbard filed one of them. He says he was a student of Bernagozzi's in 1976.
Hubbard said Bernagozzi would fondle him in the classroom and at baseball games. He said Bernagozzi should be behind bars.
Jenny Rossman with Herman Law represent Hubbard and 42 other men, most of them former students of Bernagozzi, who have filed child victims act complaints.
"Bernagozzi operated with a clear modus operandias a trusted teacher in the lives of these boys. He used his position of authority to gain compliance from children, who, at the time of the abuse, may not have even understood it. He silenced these children by making them promise to keep the abuse a secret. He was a serial predator who was given unfettered access to young boys through his role as a teacher in the Bay Shore School District," said Rossman.
The Suffolk County District Attorney is not pursuing criminal charges involving Hubbard's claim, because it happened outside the statute of limitations.
But he is with two other claims.
Prosecutors say in those claims Bernagozzi is accused of sexually abusing a student from 1989 through 1991 and another student between 1997 and 2000.
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Suffolk DA Ray Tierney said in a statement to Eyewitness News, "The sheer magnitude of what this defendant is alleged to have committed is astounding. This defendant allegedly betrayed the trust of his students, their families and their community."
But for some people, who fondly remember Bernagozzi as Mr. B, they're having a difficult time believing the accusations.
Robert Corozza is one of them.
"I was student of his in 1986 and 1987," said Corozza. "I just can't imagine this ever happened, I just can't.... When I was in his class, nothing untoward ever happened."
Corozza said Bernagozzi was the 3rd grade teacher everyone wanted.
He was engaging, creative and cared deeply about his students.
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"This human being is one of the nicest human beings I've ever met, and I feel like his name is being dragged through the mud and shredded," Corozza said.
Suffolk County Police say their investigation is continuing.
Eyewitness News reached out to Bernagozzi's attorneys Friday but did not hear back from them. They also went to Bernagozzi's house in Babylon, but no one came to the door.
Anyone with information about Bernagozzi is being asked to call the department's Special Victims Section at 631-275-2302.
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