Jan 032013
 
Photo: Brian Hedden/Bay Ridge Odyssey

Photo: Brian Hedden/Bay Ridge Odyssey

Here’s a news item from while we were on break that our readers may have missed:

Poly Prep Country Day School [9216 7th Ave], known as one of New York City’s most prestigious private schools, has agreed to settle a milestone lawsuit claiming its longtime football coach sexually molested hundreds of boys during a career that lasted a quarter century – and that administrators covered up the crimes for decades, as reported by Michael O’Keeffe for Daily News.

The settlement between the school and 12 plaintiffs – all of whom say they were abused by now-deceased football coach Phil Foglietta, “closes a case with all-too-familiar allegations of abuse shielded by power and prestige,” the NY Times poignantly observed. Continue reading »

Oct 102012
 

Philadelphia native and the latest accuser in the Poly Prep scandal Greg Bucceroni appeared on the “Dr. Phil” TV program late last month alongside Travis Weaver, another alleged victim of Penn State Defensive Coordinator Jerry Sandusky, as reported by the NY Daily News’ Christian Red.

Buceroni, a 48-year-old man connected to a previous sex abuse case against deceased Philadelphia businessman Ed Savitz, “claims to have been paid to have sex with former Poly Prep football coach Phil Foglietta in 1979 as part of an alleged pedophile ring that included Jerry Sandusky.” Continue reading »

Sep 202012
 

Yesterday the Daily News’ Christian Red reported that Greg Buceroni, a 48-year-old Pennsylvania man connected to a previous sex abuse case against a now-deceased Philadelphia businessman, “claims to have been paid to have sex with former Poly Prep football coach Phil Foglietta in 1979 as part of an alleged pedophile ring that included Jerry Sandusky.”

On Monday, Bucceroni sent an email to several Poly Prep administrators – including current headmaster David Harman – detailing the allegations.

That morning Bay Ridge Odyssey also received an email from Bucceroni, which contained the following statement: Continue reading »

Aug 292012
 

In what Daily News reporter Michael O’Keeffe has described as a “startling court order that could be a watershed moment for survivors of childhood sex abuse,” U.S. District Court Judge Frederic Block told those gathered in a federal courtroom on Tuesday that he would allow a lawsuit brought by several alumni to proceed against Poly Prep Country Day School. At the same time, Judge Block threw out all but two RICO claims made against the school by plaintiffs.

Judge Block wrote that he was giving the case the go-ahead because school officials may have been lying when they claimed to have no knowledge of a longtime football coach’s molestation of students before 1991. The sexual abuse by coach Phil Foglietta, which is alleged to have went on for decades, has been compared with revelations brought to light during the recent Penn State scandal. Continue reading »

Jun 182012
 

Poly Prep officials – while maintaining that they would like a “fair resolution” to a lawsuit filed by dozens of former students who say administrators covered up decades of sexual abuse – have also signaled that they have the legal wherewithal to defend the school should the case go to trial, writes Michael O’Keeffe for the Daily News.

On Friday school officials retained Mary Jo White – who was the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1993 to 2002. White oversaw the prosecution of “Ramzi Yousef and others” convicted  in the 1993 World Trade Center bombings. Continue reading »