Haunted for Decades by ‘sex Abuse’ Nightmare at School for Deaf

By Julia Marsh
New York Post
May 10, 2013

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/pretend_to_be_asleep_he_start_to_WmpYypNFZ06HR3cHHrrxlN

t was a pedophile’s paradise.

That’s how Marlene Hodge, now 52, remembers the girls dorm at a New York boarding school for deaf children, where she and nearly a dozen former students allege a staffer molested his charges at night for almost 20 years.

“I would pretend to be asleep hoping he would eventually go away,” Hodge told The Post, saying the alleged assaults by dorm dad Joe Casucci at the New York School for the Deaf in White Plains have been seared into her memory.

She said the married Casucci, now dead, would prowl the 25-girl dormitory under the cover of darkness looking for victims.

TORMENT: Marlene Hodge uses sign language at her home in California (above) to tell of her days as a girl at the New York School for the Deaf in White Plains, where she says she was sexually abused night after night by dorm supervisor Joe Casucci.

TORMENT: Marlene Hodge uses sign language at her home in California to tell of her days as a girl at the New York School for the Deaf in White Plains, where she says she was sexually abused night after night by dorm supervisor Joe Casucci.

“He would start by French kissing me and eventually move down to play with my vagina. I hated his stinky breath, a heavy smoker’s breath,” she recalled.

She was 7 years old at the time.

The Westchester County district attorney has declined to investigate the sex-abuse allegations because the case is too old.

So now Hodge and the other former students, who claim Casucci molested them in the 1960s and 1970s, have come together to build a civil case against the nation’s second-oldest institution for the deaf.

They’ve retained Manhattan attorney Eric Richman to represent them.

“We want answers,” Richman said. “This guy preyed on, not just children, but deaf children.”

Hodge, of California, told The Post about the alleged abuse using a sign-language interpreter.

Another alum, Damita Jo Damiano, 52, of Colorado, claims Casucci molested her off and on for years, from age 4 to 10.

“A few victims had tried to tell their parents or talk to the principals. But no one would listen to us. We were shut out,” Damiano said, adding that she herself never had the courage to come forward until now.

“Talking it over with the other girls, I realized it’s about time the truth comes out and the school should acknowledge that something did happen.”

She still worries that revealing her secret may ruin the institution, which she has a deep admiration for despite the painful memories.

“It’s a wonderful school,” she stressed. “He was just one sick individual.”

Joe Casucci lived with his wife, Marie, in an apartment adjoining the girls dormitory. Both were paid by the school to supervise the dorm.

Hodge said she was encouraged to come forward after a group of Wisconsin men sued the Catholic Church for sex abuse they suffered at the hands of a priest in the ’50s.

She believes the New York School for the Deaf was aware of the abuse for “a long time” because she says her classmates reported it to staff. She said she regrets not telling anyone at the time, including her own mother, who was the PTA president.

“I was afraid to tell my parents because, for some reason, I thought they would be mad at me,” Hodge explained.

She added that given their handicap, many of the girls couldn’t communicate easily with parents or law enforcement.

“We couldn’t really do anything. Deaf people in the past were hugely oppressed. We were viewed as inferior, lying, making things up. It’s definitely a different culture now,” she said.

After she posted her story on Facebook, fellow graduates came forward with similar sordid tales.

But one former classmate, who says she was also abused by Casucci, threatened Hodge that going public would bring shame to her and her family.

“Just drop the case. Or else,” she warned.

Richman has brought attorney Kevin Mulhearn onto the investigative team. Mulhearn recently won a landmark case against Poly Prep Country Day School in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, for 12 men who say they were molested by a football coach.

“My impression is this abuse was pretty endemic,” Mulhearn told The Post. “This man was clearly a serial child abuser, and these young girls at the time were in a completely powerless position to do anything about it.”

In declining the case, the Westchester DA’s Office cited the statute of limitations, which is five years after the alleged crime.

“What [Hodge] said happened to her at least 30, 35 years ago is definitely way past the statute of limitations,” a spokesman said.

Also known as Fanwood, the school was founded in 1817. The nonprofit serves elementary, middle and high school students.

Richard Stelle, 62, a former dean of students at Fanwood, was ultimately responsible for removing Casucci from the school. He said two 14-year-old girls came to him in 1979 to report the abuse, at least six years after they were allegedly molested.

He immediately told his superiors, who removed Joe from the dorm and dismissed the Casuccis about a week later. He doesn’t know whether the couple retired with a pension, and he confirmed that the authorities were never notified.

“Ideally, they should have contacted the police,” Stelle said.

“When you think about the possible number of girls that were affected, it’s really astounding.”

Casucci died of a heart attack more than 10 years ago, Marie, 93, told The Post from her Florida retirement home.

When asked about the abuse allegations, she said, “We’re good people, my husband was a good man. The past is in the past. Why are you bringing this about now?”

She denied Casucci molested the girls.

In a statement, Fanwood director Janet Dickinson said, “We intend to investigate as best we can, because we take these allegations very seriously.”

jmarsh@nypost.com