Massapequa district failed to protect student who alleges he was groped by a janitor, lawsuit says
A Massapequa High student was allegedly groped by a janitor in a bathroom, according to a lawsuit filed by the student. Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa Loarca
A teen is suing the Massapequa school district for allegedly failing to protect him from a janitor who he said forcibly kissed and groped him in a high school bathroom.
The male student, then 18 and a senior, said Michael Sodano, 48, was to buy earbuds from him and asked to meet in the bathroom near the teen’s physical education class on Feb. 12, according to the student’s complaint, filed in state Supreme Court of Nassau County in July.
Sodano allegedly locked the bathroom door with his janitorial keys and blocked it with his body, preventing the teen from leaving, according to the plaintiff's complaint.
Sodano "bear-hugged" the teen, pushed him against a wall and kissed his face, the student’s Manhattan-based attorney, Matthew B. Lefkowitz, wrote in the complaint.
The student’s lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages. Lefkowitz declined to comment. He said his client also declined to comment. It is unclear if the student has graduated.
Newsday is not naming the student since he’s an alleged victim of sexual abuse.
Sodano, of Massapequa, was arrested the day after the alleged incident and arraigned in March on charges of forcible touch of intimate parts and third-degree sexual abuse. He has pleaded not guilty on both charges and is due back in court on Friday.
Sodano’s Mineola-based attorney, Michael Langer, did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Sodano said in a text message to Newsday that he was "wrongfully accused."
Langer has said in court papers his client denies the allegations and asked that the complaint be dismissed.
Massapequa schools Superintendent William Brennan said in a statement Tuesday Sodano is no longer an employee of the district.
In court papers, Lefkowitz wrote the district “knew or should have known of the sexual offensive/harmful touching tendencies” of Sodano and “owed a duty to plaintiff to keep him and other students like him free from unwanted physical attacks by its employees.”
But in his statement, Brennan said, “All necessary background checks were conducted and passed in accordance with [New York State] law. The district does not comment on confidential student matters or those pertaining to litigation.”
Carmen T. Rodriguez, a Manhattan-based attorney for the district, wrote in court papers filed in September that the district “did not have any notice or awareness of any propensity on the part of any employee” to commit alleged acts and those acts were “outside the scope of authority and employment” of the district.
Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.
