HARTFORD, Conn. _ Connecticut state Sen. Gennaro Bizzarro filed a lawsuit Monday claiming the Archdiocese of New York and a New York City Catholic school failed to stop a basketball coach from sexually abusing him in the 1980s.
Bizzarro, R-New Britain, alleges in the 11-page lawsuit filed in state court in New York, that for four years he was repeatedly sexually assaulted by Rudy Tremaroli, who worked for Our Lady of Mount Carmel School, starting in 1984. Bizzarro was 9 years old when the abuse started.
"I have been hiding and repressing these memories for decades and it's about time to do something about it," Bizzarro told News 12.
The lawsuit, filed in the Supreme Court of New York, accuses the Archdiocese and Our Lady of Mount Carmel of negligence because the officials had "direct knowledge" that Tremaroli was abusing children but he was permitted to continue working at the school.
"For me, it's about letting the people of this community know that there was a predator in their own backyard," Bizzarro told News 12.
The lawsuit said that Tremaroli, who has since died, abused and molested hundreds of boys while working at a Catholic community center before leaders moved him to work exclusively at the school. The abuse continued once he was working for the school, according to the lawsuit.
"Rudy Tremaroli used his role within the Archdiocese of New York and Our lady of Mount Carmel to gain access to the community's most vulnerable citizens," the lawsuit reads. "Rudy Tremaroli groomed these young men, became incredibly close to them, gained their trust and subsequently performed vile and heinous acts of sexual abuse."
Other men have filed similar suits against the archdiocese and school for abuses by Tremaroli.
The lawsuit alleges that school and church officials knew of the abuse on other boys as early as 1974 when a victim reported it to a secretary working at the community center.
Among the abuses noted in the lawsuit, Tremaroli allegedly took nude photographs of his victims. The lawsuit said that the principal of Our Lady of Mount Carmel School was arrested with child pornography after receiving photographs from Tremaroli.
The lawsuit also alleges that school officials removed and destroyed nude photographs that were in Tremaroli's home when he died.
The Archdiocese of New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit is among scores of others filed after New York state enacted a measure allowing a one-year window for suits claiming decades-old sexual abuse that fall outside the statute of limitations. Bizzarro seeks unspecified damages.
