Teacher sex abuse case goes to Suffolk jury after prosecution says Thomas Bernagozzi was driven by 'deviant sexual interest'

Jurors have begun deliberating in the sex crimes trial of a former Bay Shore schools teacher after a Suffolk County prosecutor told them Thomas Bernagozzi was driven by "deviant sexual interest" in the boys he is accused of abusing.

Over roughly two hours, Assistant District Attorney Dana Castaldo in her closing argument sought to portray the 77-year-old Bernagozzi as a calculating planner whose behavior toward alleged victims was revealed in the thousands of photographic images he’d taken and stored. Many of them showed shirtless young boys, some with spots of white powder on their bodies.

That was not coincidence, she told jurors: "It’s part of his MO, because it’s an excuse to touch their genitals in a way they or another child might not recognize was wrong. ... Is it surprising to you that these children believed him wholeheartedly? ‘I’ve got to help you clean off, we’ve got to get some powder on you so you don’t chafe.’"

Multiple images showed shirtless boys in classrooms, sometimes posing muscle-man style, one in underwear, an apparent rebuttal to the defense attorney’s summation earlier in the week that described the images as harmless fun and gave the setting for many of them as the gym or beach.

"In what world should you have a child in your classroom in his underwear?" Castaldo asked the jury. At another point, commenting on images she said lewdly depicted a boy’s penis, she said: "There should be exactly zero photographs of a child’s penis in his home, he should have taken exactly zero photographs of a child’s genitalia."

In one image she showed the jury, a boy’s covered crotch was visible, partially framed by a table, a vantage that she said showed almost artistic attention to detail by the photographer. "He’s either bent over or he’s squatted down to take these photographs," she said. "It’s lewd because of the progression of the photographs. ... He’s crafting sexual images of this 8-year-old child."

At one point, Castaldo showed a series of images that did not depict children, but Bernagozzi’s shirtless adult male neighbor mowing the lawn, taken voyeur-style from between the slats of a fence, or showing Bernagozzi’s mother in the foreground and the man in the background. Bernagozzi was using the same lens, "literally," for the children and "his neighbor who he was clearly photographing for sexual gratification."

Bernagozzi has pleaded not guilty to charges of sodomy and sexual conduct against a child in connection with the alleged abuse of two former students, both of whom attended Bay Shore elementary schools but were assigned to other teachers in third grade, the level he primarily taught between 1970 and 2000.

One of the former students testified he was 4 years old when the abuse began in the 1980s. The other said he was 7 when he met Bernagozzi nearly a decade later. He has also pleaded not guilty to five counts of possession of a sexual performance of a child.

Weeks of testimony have covered alleged abuse at a fitness club, beaches and other locations and a trove of photo negatives the teacher took of his students.

Bernagozzi’s lawyer, Steve Politi, has sparred with the prosecution and even with the judge on the case, acting State Supreme Court Justice Karen Wilutis, who has shown clear frustration with some of Politi’s tactics. She took the unusual step earlier this week of permitting the government to reopen its case after the prosecution argued that Politi misleadingly referred to testimony by some witnesses.

Prosecutors returned only one witness to the stand, the brother of one of Bernagozzi’s alleged victims. Newsday is not identifying the alleged victims of sex crimes.

Why, Castaldo asked the man, had he not told anyone about the abuse of his brother he allegedly witnessed when they were children?

“Because I was ashamed I couldn’t protect my brother," he said.

What was happening to you, when the defendant was abusing your brother? Castaldo asked.

"The same thing was happening to me as well. Everything that happened to [him] happened to me prior. That’s why I could never say anything or tell anybody ... he would have us do it in front of him ... my brother and I touch one another," he said.

Where did it happen? Castaldo asked.

"Sunken meadow locker rooms, the Amritraj [health club] ..."

How often did it happen? Castaldo asked.

"It was relentless. From the school plays to being picked up at the house, going out to the beaches," he said.

Politi, who presented the bulk of his closing argument earlier in the week, attempted to raise doubts about the testimony when he addressed jurors, reminding them that the brother had admitted smoking crack cocaine on at least one occasion. "Where is anyone to corroborate what he's saying?" Politi asked.

Once jurors left the courtroom, Politi told the court that Wednesday's testimony had been "far more damaging than anyone could have imagined," suggesting it was grounds for a "mistrial with prejudice."

Wilutis did not declare a mistrial, but did later warn jurors that the brother’s testimony could not be "considered as evidence the defendant had a propensity" to commit a crime.

By Nicholas Spangler

nicholas.spangler@newsday.comspanglernewsday

Nicholas Spangler is a general assignment reporter and has worked at Newsday since 2010.