#NY child sex abuse victims running out of time to go to court

Time is running out for childhood sex abuse victims in New York to get justice.

The legal window opened by New York’s Child Victims Act, which permits old claims to be brought to court, closes Aug. 14.

More than 5,100 cases have been filed so far in the state, with nearly half, 2,392, filed in the five boroughs, according to the Office of Court Administration.

The 2019 legislation originally lifted the statute of limitations on such cases for a year, but the deadline was later extended.

The most prolific church-related abuser in New York identified so far may be a Bronx coach believed to have molested an entire generation of kids, according to attorney Jeff Herman, who has been contacted by more than 60 accusers so far, and filed lawsuits on behalf of 44.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel basketball coach Rudy Tremaroli, who died in 1992, started out as a janitor and later ran a youth program, summer camp and community center, where he hosted movie nights.

Tremaroli’s victims may be the second most in New York, behind only to Rockefeller University’s Dr. Reginald Archibald, Herman believes.

“Rudy was a serial predator who sexually assaulted, I believe, hundreds of little boys in the Mount Carmel community — at the church, at the school, at the community center. He was also a prolific creator of child porn using these little boys,” Herman told The Post. “There’s a lost generation of little boys who fell victim to this.”

What’s especially striking in Tremaroli’s case: the coach was never removed from the community, school or church, despite years of victims reporting the alleged abuse.

“He was protected,” Herman said.

Multiple victims have also come forward alleging chilling abuse at the Children’s Village, a century-old Westchester child welfare agency, according to court papers.

At least 28 alleged victims from the Children’s Village have come forward to one Manhattan law firm, said attorneys Rob Greenstein and Michael Barnett.

The alleged victims describe brutal attacks from older, stronger kids at Children’s Village, as well as staffers, including being groped, beaten, forced into oral sex and anally raped, according to the lawsuits already filed against the organization from those claiming they were abused in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s.

One victim was abused so violently they were sent to the hospital for an injured penis, according to court papers.

Scott Sartory, 42, went to Children’s Village when he was 5 and was later adopted by one of his abusers, he claims in court papers. He fled the adoptive parent’s home at age 12, preferring to live on the streets.

“Children’s Village was a nightmare,” he told The Post. “I was incarcerated in 1998. Prison was easier in my lifetime than the Children’s Village.”

Sartory doesn’t think there should be a deadline for victims to file the such claims.

“This happened when I was 6 years old,” he said. “It was dying with me. It took me over 30 years to make that decision [to come forward].”

Juan Nazario was just 8 when he went to Children’s Village. The 49-year-old filed his lawsuit after his son told him about the Child Victim’s Act.

“That was a door I didn’t want to open,” he said of his decision to go public.

“Every child deserves and needs to feel safe, secure, and supported,” a Children’s Village spokesman told The Post. “We take significant and wide-reaching steps to ensure that’s what every child in our care can count on every day.”

For Chynna Valentin, who was sent to the all-boys institution at age 9 in the 1970s and later transitioned to being a woman, the lawsuit is about protecting children.

“I didn’t come forward for some kind of monetary gain,” she insisted.

Valentin, now 58, cried as she spoke. “If just one person, if just one child can hear what we’ve been through and come forward to stop this from happening to one more child, that’s it. That’s all I want.”