Connecticut State Senator Gennaro Bizzarro said he was a child victim of sexual abuse in the Catholic church school system, according to The New York Post.

Bizzarro, 44, told The Post he is one of 11 men who have filed a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of New York and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church and School. Bizzarro alleged coach Rudy Tremaroli abused him from the time he was 9 years old through age 12.

Tremaroli died in 1992 at the age of 59, but spent around 30 years in the Catholic school system. In the 1960s, Tremaroli was originally hired as a janitor at Our Lady of Mount Carmel. After gaining the trust of parishioners and church officials, Tremaroli was allowed to oversee a youth program, summer camp and a community center. He eventually was named assistant basketball coach and facilities manager for both the school and church, which earned him his own office where kids allegedly were abused in the 1970s.

According to The Post, court documents allege Tremaroli molested hundreds of kids. Despite the fact Tremaroli was not a clergyman, he allegedly has a place in the sick history now known as the Roman Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal.

The Post said court documents indicate one boy told the community center’s secretary at the time about the abuse in 1974, but she told the boy to “stop lying.” His abuse went on for at least two more years.

Bizzarro’s Claims of Abuse in the Catholic Church

Bizzarro said as the child of Italian immigrants in the Bronx in the mid-‘70s, Tremaroli’s community center and gym provided him and his friends with a place to gather after school. Bizzarro told The Post he’s disgusted that the Archdiocese never appeared to care what Tremaroli was doing to children.

“The school and the church literally gave this predator the keys to a vault filled with hundreds of potential victims, and then they replenished that pool every year. He had unfettered access to all of his victims,” said Bizzarro, who said he was abused into the early 1990s.

According to the Hartford Courant, Bizzarro’s lawsuit alleges, “Rudy Tremaroli, once a beloved member of the community, was one of the most prolific pedophiles in the history of the Archdiocese of New York.”

Bizzarro filed his lawsuit under the new Child Victims Act, a New York state law that allows victims of child sexual abuse a limited look-back window to file a lawsuit even if the previous law mandated that a statute of limitations had expired. The law also allows the survivor to file suit against an entity that harbored the sexual predator.

According to the Hartford Courant, the lawsuit alleges Tremaroli took nude pictures of his victims and shared them with James Irwin, who was the principal of Our Lady of Mount Carmel School at the time. Irwin was arrested in 2000 and pled guilty to possession of child pornography.

Bizzarro’s lawsuit also alleges school officials snuck in to Tremaroli’s home after he died to destroy his collection of child pornography.

Bizzarro was elected to the New York state Senate in a special election in February 2019.

On Dec. 27, the Associated Press released a report alleging more than 900 clergy members who were accused of committing sexual abuse in the Catholic church have been left off lists published by church officials in charge of the places where they served.

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.