‘Twisted’ former Long Island teacher molested young boys on field trips to beaches, pools: DA

A disgraced ex-Long Island school teacher would take boys as young as four on field trips to ballgames, beaches and pools — and molest them while claiming he was helping them change clothes, prosecutors said in court Tuesday.

Thomas Bernagozzi, 78, of Babylon, is now on trial in Suffolk County for allegedly molesting three of the youngsters — who are among the dozens who have claimed they were once fondled and sexually abused by the failed teacher.

“The job of a parent is to protect your children,” Assistant District Attorney MacDonald Drane said during opening statements at Bernagozzi’s trial on Tuesday. “When you send your child to school you put your faith in the teachers — and that should’ve been the case.

“But that is far from the truth when it comes to Thomas Bernagozzi,” Drane said. “Instead, he saw an opportunity to take advantage of young boys.”

The creep is charged with molesting three young boys while he was teaching, who were between the ages of four and eight when the alleged abuse began.

Prosecutors said Bernagozzi would take the students on twisted trips to parks and beaches outside of school hours, where he would allegedly take them aside to “help them change.”

In reality, they said the teacher would allegedly fully wash the boys in public showers and rub baby powder all over their genitals and buttocks before performing oral sex acts on the children, according to prosecutors.

He would tell them it was all part of washing them, Drane told jurors.

“He was using the soap to mask his true intentions,” the prosecutor said.

On at least two occasions, the boys went to New York Mets games with their fathers and the teacher — with the dads growing concerned when their sons sat on Bernagozzi’s lap as if it was normal.

The teacher also placed one of the young victims, a third-grader, in the lead for a school production of “Peter Pan,” an honor typically reserved for fifth-graders at the school.

Bernagozzi was a third-grade teacher at Mary G. Clarkson Elementary School and Gardiner Manor Elementary School between 1970 and 2000, and worked for the Bay Shore School District until 2003.

A popular figure on campus, he directed school plays and coached sports — “the cool teacher that all the kids wanted,” Drane said in court.

But a “twisted” dark side emerged after state lawmakers passed the Child Victims Act passed in 2019, which allowed victims of child sex abuse to file civil claims that were once restricted by a statute of limitations.

Since the law was enacted, 45 victims filed suits against Bernagozzi and the school district.

The former teacher is only charged with molesting three of the alleged victims because a statute of limitations still exists for criminal cases in the Empire State.

Following his arrest, investigators said they found 20,000 images and 11,000 negatives, many of young boys partially dressed or in sexually provocative poses in the ex-teacher’s home.

He was arraigned on multiple counts of possessing a sexual performance by a child, sodomy, and course of sexual conduct against a child in January 2024.  

 In court Tuesday, Bernagozzi’s lawyer, Steven Politi, claimed his client has been wrongly accused. 

“They’re terrible allegations, but they’re also false, and fabricated — and were used to sue the Bay Shore School District,” he told the jury. “These crimes never occurred,” he said.

“My client vehemently denies these charges with every fiber of his being.”