Ex-Bay Shore teacher Thomas Bernagozzi saved pictures of children after he retired, detectives testify

Suffolk police investigating decades-old sexual abuse allegations against former Bay Shore teacher Thomas Bernagozzi discovered he saved images of children and student classwork at his home long after he retired, detectives testified during the first day of witness testimony at his criminal trial in Riverhead Wednesday.

Prosecutors allege the items, which police said include Playbills and tickets to sporting events, corroborated statements made by former students who said they were abused by the third grade teacher when he kept them after school for extracurricular programs and brought them for outings to a local gym, parks and New York City.

"Some of [the school work] was now over 30 years old and was kept in pristine condition," Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney MacDonald Drane told the jury during opening arguments Tuesday. "Almost as if it served as a memento."

Suffolk Police Det. Kevin Ford told the jury police arrived at Bernagozzi’s Babylon home on Dec. 21, 2023, to arrest him and search for evidence regarding allegations of abuse. He said he was given names and dates to look for on items kept within the Strong Avenue home.

Fellow Det. Ryan Doherty said police searched the split-level ranch for 13 hours, leaving with dozens of boxes of potential evidence that included photo negatives found in a dresser drawer next to the only bed in the home. Prosecutors have said later testimony at trial will show that some of the negatives include images of the three students named as complainants in the case, including five photos that depict the genitalia of an 8-year-old boy who was a student in Bernagozzi’s third grade class in the late 1980s.

While prosecutors have alleged more than 11,000 negatives were seized from the home, Doherty stopped short of assigning an amount to how much photographic evidence was collected. Ford’s testimony in the trial before acting Supreme Court Justice Karen Wilutis will continue Thursday.

Bernagozzi is charged with sodomy, sexual conduct against a child and five counts of possessing a sexual performance by a child for allegations by three former students from the late 1980s to 2000, when he retired after 30 years with the district. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Defense attorney Steven Politi, of Central Islip, dismissed the evidence as items his client kept to remember his proud career as a teacher and not evidence of abuse. He said Bernagozzi photographed events throughout his career and shared the images with the students.

"If you're taking photos of your students in third grade, that's normal, especially in the 1980s and '90s," Politi said, speaking outside of court. "I don't see any significance or that these images prove anything."

Politi noted that testimony showed images of students were found in rooms throughout the home and not just a dresser near a bed, where prosecutors have focused attention. He told reporters Bernagozzi did not sleep in that bed.

The police investigation into Bernagozzi’s alleged conduct while teaching at Gardiner Manor and Mary G. Clarkson elementary schools began after 45 former students filed civil complaints against the Bay Shore school district alleging it was negligent in allowing the abuse to happen. The three complainants in the criminal case were among the district students who filed lawsuits, and all have since settled their claims with the district or its insurers.

Newsday is not naming the complainants because they are alleged victims of sexual abuse.

The former students associated with the abuse charges in the criminal case were 4 and 7 years old when the alleged abuse began, prosecutors have said.

The trial’s second day started with more than 60 minutes of contentious legal arguments, as both sides suggested the other made remarks during opening statements that violated the judge’s pretrial ruling regarding allegations of uncharged abuse.

Wilutis ruled last month that allowing testimony from 36 accusers whose alleged abuse is not part of the criminal case would create a "tsunami of prejudice" against Bernagozzi and should not be allowed at trial.

Prosecutors first said Tuesday that the defense "opened the door" for the judge to reverse her decision and allow that testimony when Politi asked the jury to consider the likelihood that no mothers of Bernagozzi’s students ever noticed "mounds of talcum powder" inside their child’s underwear. Prosecutors had told the jury the teacher stripped his students naked and touched them by applying powder to their private areas. Politi said he was only speaking of the mothers of the three students in the indictment.

Politi countered Wednesday morning by alleging that it was prosecutors who ran afoul of the judge’s order when they referenced thousands of photo negatives seized from Bernagozzi’s home showing shirtless boys in what they described as sexual poses. The defense attorney argued that by doing so, prosecutors were referencing more than just the three students whose allegations are the basis of the criminal case.

Wilutis ultimately determined neither side had violated her order.

"I will put both sides on notice that you are both at the door, but no one has opened the door as of yet," the judge told the attorneys before bringing the jury in to hear the start of witness testimony.