Friday, December 28, 2012

Secrecy Persists as Posh Dyker Heights Prep School settles lawsuit claiming its football coach had sexually abused hundreds of boys going all the way back to the 1960s

Terms of settlement involving Poly Prep were not disclosed  —  each of the victims had been seeking $20 million in damages  —  Case was “settled” after Federal Court let case go forward after stripping school of statute of limitation defense that local State Senator Martin Golden has long fought to keep in place


According to a December 26th Daily News article entitled “Poly Prep settles lawsuit claiming football coach Phil Foglietta sexually abused hundreds of boys,”  the Poly Prep Country Day School had been accused of turning a deaf ear to charges that the school's longtime football coach, Phil Foglietta, had sexually abused hundreds of boys over a 25-year period, putting the school's reputation and fund-raising efforts ahead of student safety.  [ttp://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i-team/poly-prep-settles-sex-abuse-suit-article- ... ]

The New York Times report on the settlement of the case made these very important observations: “[The plaintiffs’] case was almost blocked from going forward because of the statute of limitations. Indeed, a similar suit against Poly Prep in 2004 over the abuse was dismissed because the statute of limitations had been exceeded. ***  Survivors of sexual abuse that occurred while they were children must file a case by the time they are 23. But a federal judge, Frederic Block, ruled earlier this year that the school had actively covered up the abuse and that those actions had prevented the plaintiffs from bringing the case sooner.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/28/nyregion/sexual-abuse-case-at-poly-prep-in-brooklyn-is-settled.html

Legislative attempts to get around exactly this kind of problem have repeatedly been blocked by the Republican leadership in the New York State Senate. State Senator Martin Golden, in whose district Poly Prep is located, has been one state senator who’s been steadfast in blocking reforms like the Margaret Markey “Child Victims Act” that would assist victims from bringing lawsuits just like this one.

Earlier this year the Daily News reported that, “[The Margaret Markey ‘Child Victims Act’]... has passed the Assembly four times but has yet to clear the State Senate. ***  The bill would extend the statute of limitations by five years, until victims turn 28 years old, in civil and criminal cases. The bill would also suspend the civil statute of limitations for a one-year period to give victims a window to file suit against abusers, no matter how long ago the abuse occurred. State Sen. Andrew Lanza (R-Staten Island) has introduced similar legislation in the State Senate.”   http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i-team/sexual-abuse-victims-voice-support-assembleywoman-margaret-markey-child-victims-act-article-1.1030288#ixzz2GK5S3iE3

State Senator Marty Golden has consistently opposed all of the Markey sex abuse victims' bills.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Poly Prep pays out millions of dollars but says they admit no wrongdoing. If thats so why pay the millions?

Anonymous said...

Marty Golden has only been consistent about being inconsistent. He's a democrat one year next year a republican. Hes a cop on disability but he claims to be the hardest working senator.

Galewyn Massey said...

Poly Prep and Foglietta is a small-scale and local version of the Penn State and Sandusky scandals. There is a key difference, in the Penn State scenario there was zealous criminal prosecution of the offenses; needless to say that would not be the case involving any politically influential person, group or institution in Brooklyn.

That is not the case wrt Poly Prep. Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes' tenure as DA parallels a significant portion of the cover-up by the Poly Prep Administration found by Federal Judge Block. If Hynes were a zealous prosecutor of sex crimes against children and their institutional over-up, he'd have used Block's findings as a lever to pry open the can of worms at Poly Prep. Predictably, he has not.

DA Charles Hynes has been a key facilitator of all the institutional cover-ups of child sex abuse in various Brooklyn communities since he took office more than twenty years ago.

Galewyn Massey said...

BACKGROUND: Connection between Poly Prep Football Coach Foglietta and Penn State’s Jerry Sandusky had been discussed on Dr. Phil Show early in the Fall of 2012. However, the person who made those allegations in that show, Greg Bucceroni, is notorious himself and has been described by many Pennsylvania officials as “spectacularly unreliable.” However, that doesn’t mean what he says isn’t so.

For more coverage of an alleged Poly Prep – Penn State sex ring see:
Joe Teutonico’s 10/10/12 “Bay Ridge Odyssey” Blog
http://www.bayridgeodyssey.com/2012/10/philly-poly-prep-accuser-sandusky-victim-shows-up-on-dr-phil/ ; and
Christian Red’s 9/28/12 Daily News Article, “Alleged victims tell 'Dr. Phil' of abuse by Jerry Sandusky and pedophile ring involving ex-coach — Greg Bucceroni also has linked Sandusky to Poly Prep abuse scandal”
[http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i-team/alleged-victims-dr-phil-abuse-jerry-sandusky-pedophile-ring-involving-ex-coach-article-...].

Anonymous said...

What has never been reported is the Marty Golden, Joe Hynes connection that got Marty his million dollar house on Shore Road. Hynes stole the house from a junkie who claimed to be a victim of Poly Prep coach. Marty bought the house on an insider deal. One hand washes the other. Lots of dirty hands here.

Galewyn Massey said...

That's your version, not mine.

It is close to something that I heard about a while back. It sounds like it's about the same key players, kind of similar background circumstances, but a different sequence of events, financial transactions and legal proceedings.

I need the details about what you've got if it's any more than rumors. Email to galewynmasban@gmail.com