Witness cries on stand at Thomas Bernagozzi's sex-abuse trial

A former Bay Shore student cried on the witness stand Friday when asked to identify for a jury the third grade teacher he allegedly watched abuse his younger brother nearly four decades ago.

The witness said he saw Thomas Bernagozzi touch the 8-year-old's private parts as he changed and showered him during time spent together outside of school.

"His hands were always touching him," the older brother said, adding that he also witnessed the teacher kiss his sibling on the lips.

Newsday is not naming the siblings because one is the alleged victim of a sex crime and the other has alleged in civil court that he was also abused by the teacher. The older brother's testimony was limited to the allegations regarding his brother, a complainant in the criminal case, following a pretrial ruling by acting Supreme Court Justice Karen M. Wilutis.

Bernagozzi, 77, of Babylon, is charged with sodomy, criminal sexual act and five counts of possession of a sexual performance by a child for allegations relating to three former students from his 30-year career with the district.

Five of the images shared with the jury, which were allegedly taken by the teacher in August 1987 and show the younger sibling in shorts with his private parts visible, led to the possession charges. Prosecutors have alleged Bernagozzi posed the boy and adjusted the angle with each successive frame to get a better view of his private parts.

"That's [him] in the front and I'm in the back," the older brother said when showed the last of the five images. "He's fully exposed ... everything showing."

Suffolk police witnesses testified that the images were taken from negatives located in Bernagozzi's Babylon home during the execution of a search warrant in December 2023, more than two decades after he retired. They were among 11,500 photo negatives police employees digitally cataloged, department photo technician Carolyn Wright-Chierico told the jury.

Wright-Chierico said she and a fellow civilian employee transferred each of the images from the negatives to be stored digitally, a process that took about four months. She said many of the photo negatives included images of students.

"Male and female," she told the jury. "More of the boys and sports," she added upon further questioning from Assistant District Attorney Dana Castaldo.

Images shown to the jury also depicted adults and included events not related to Bernagozzi's role as a teacher, though many also showed shirtless boys at the beach or playing sports.

Prosecutors have alleged Bernagozzi sexually abused male students at Gardiner Manor and Mary G. Clarkson elementary schools who participated in extracurricular programs he ran. The clubs also involved theater and writing, witnesses said. He took students to swim with him at athletic clubs and local beaches, and to Broadway shows and sporting events, according to trial testimony. Playbills and Islanders and Mets tickets were among the items removed from his home and shown to the jury this week.

Defense attorney Steven Politi attempted to downplay the significance of the evidence during cross examination of the witnesses, pointing to the large volume of images removed from the house and the relatively few charges related to them, and questioning if any of the items showed children completely nude.

In opening statements Tuesday, Politi told the jury his client liked to photograph events at the school and share the developed images with kids. Items found in his home that prosecutors suggested were kept as "almost mementos" of his alleged crimes were dismissed by the defense attorney as common keepsakes. He said Bernagozzi was a popular, caring teacher who helped students in need.

Politi also questioned if the film rolls that produced the negatives would have ever been developed if they contained actual questionable materials. He asked Wright-Chierico if in her past experience developing rolls of film in the type of commercial photo labs that once existed if employees were required to report sexual images to police.

"If noticed," she said. "We weren't trained to look for it."

The jury is expected to hear from an alleged victim for the first time shortly after the trial resumes Tuesday. That former student's father took the stand before court was adjourned for the weekend, but his testimony was cut short due to an apparent medical issue that delayed the completion of direct examination. He will complete his testimony first on Tuesday.

The earlier witness Friday told the jury he was very close with his younger brother as children but they are currently estranged. He said his brother is now homeless and was recently revived by Narcan after suffering an opioid overdose.

Politi questioned the appropriateness of the older brother testifying when prosecutors have not yet said if they will call the younger brother to the stand to speak to his alleged abuse.

The judge allowed the testimony, saying the older brother is in the photographs and is a direct witness to the alleged abuse of his brother.

Bernagozzi was arrested on Dec. 21, 2023, after Suffolk police and prosecutors opened an investigation following Child Victims Act claims filed by 45 former Bay Shore students who alleged the district was negligent in allowing the retired teacher to sexually abuse them.

All three complainants in the criminal case have since settled their lawsuits with the district or its insurers.

By Grant Parpan

grant.parpan@newsday.com@GrantParpan

Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.