ALBANY (NY)
Times Union [Albany NY]
September 8, 2025
By Raga Justin
Sandy Domalewicz said her brother-in-law abused her for years. Decades later, she was able to tell her story in an Albany courtroom.
An Albany County woman who alleges she was sexually abused as a child by her brother-in-law, who is a businessman from Guilderland, was awarded $270,000 in damages by a jury recently. It’s one of many such cases that are beginning to reach resolution through New York’s landmark Child Victims Act.
The woman, Sandy Domalewicz, accused her older sister’s husband, Paul J. Madelone, of having inappropriate sexual contact with her for years beginning when she was 11 years old.
Madelone, 78, who denies the allegations and is appealing the verdict, is a longtime Albany resident who has held executive positions in several large companies in the region. He previously served as a co-chairman of a committee for the region’s Center for Economic Growth, was vice chairman of the Capital District YMCA, and had been chairman of the local American Heart Association branch.
Domalewicz is one of thousands of people who filed claims under the Child Victims Act, a 2020 law that temporarily suspended New York’s statute of limitations for two years, allowing victims of childhood sexual abuse to file civil claims against their alleged abusers.
Many of those cases were ultimately directed at large, deep-pocketed institutions like the Catholic Church and Boy Scouts of America. But in some cases, like Domalewicz’s, a single individual known to the victim has been found liable for childhood sexual trauma.
For thousands of people over the last five years, the law has brought some sense of closure. Domalewicz, now 68, said she is one of them.
“All the pain and the hard work and preparing for trial over the last few years — for the jury to rule in my favor, I feel this is the start of justice to prevail long and hard,” Domalewicz said. “I spoke the truth, not only for myself, but for others. And it was the right thing to do.”
Domalewicz said she was inspired to pursue a case against Madelone after her father’s death in 2019 and the subsequent passage of the Child Victim’s Act. She tracked media reports on the law but never thought she would be one of the plaintiffs taking advantage of it.
Her case went to a jury trial in July in state Supreme Court in Albany. Madelone was ultimately found liable by a jury for $270,000 in damages for pain and suffering stemming from sexual battery, as well as medical expenses.
Madelone’s appeal of the verdict is pending. His wife Anne Madelone, who is Domalewicz’s oldest sister, was unable to testify on his behalf in court due to an illness. Madelone blamed the verdict against him partially on the unwillingness of the court to delay the trial to allow his wife to testify, which he contends would prove he did not abuse his sister-in-law.
Anne Madelone also denied the claims against her husband and said she and her other sister have a tense relationship with Domalewicz stemming from past family disputes that caused a deep rift. Domalewicz’s other sister, Rosemarie Gullo, also testified on Madelone’s behalf during the trial.
Domalewicz, who is married to Albany County Legislator Gary W. Domalewicz, alleges the sexual harassment began around 1968, early on in Madelone’s relationship with her oldest sister. Madelone was 21 years old at the time. She claims Madelone would repeatedly expose his genitals while touching himself in front of her at the family’s home on Homestead Avenue in Albany. That soon escalated into Madelone allegedly forcing Domalewicz to touch and perform oral sex on him during car rides, she testified.
Madelone told her that if she told family or friends, nobody would believe her, Sandy Domalewicz said.
“My fear kept me quiet. It actually paralyzed me within my own self, just that fear,” she said. “Honestly, my life has been molded by that abuse.”
A New Hampshire gynecologist who testified for Domalewicz at the trial told jurors that as a result of childhood trauma, Domalewicz has suffered from sexual dysfunction and has been unable to have children, as well as a struggle with anxiety, depression and shame.
Madelone has repeatedly denied sexually abusing Domalewicz. Court documents indicate Madelone exposed himself while in a robe on at least one occasion in the period between 1968 to 1971, while living at his wife’s childhood home. He said it was accidental and not meant for onlookers to witness.
He and his wife also pointed to frequent and close contact they had with Domalewicz for decades, pointing to that history as demonstrating that Domalewicz was not uneasy around Madelone.
“She said I did it. I said I didn’t,” Madelone said, adding that he believed the case stems from a personal vendetta over childhood grudges. “There’s no proof, and there’s not a person on this earth that can say they either saw me or knew me doing anything to (Domalewicz) ever.”
According to court documents, three women and a man had alleged prior inappropriate behavior by Madelone, but were not allowed by the judge in the civil case to testify during the recent trial.
Madelone said he did not know any of those individuals personally.
Madelone said he could not afford an attorney during the early July trial and represented himself. Domalewicz was represented by the Albany law firm Dreyer Boyajian.
The judgment was relatively small compared with similar cases that have concluded in recent years, often with large amounts awarded in damages to victims of childhood sexual abuse.
And other consequences will also linger past the verdict. Domalewicz and her sisters are estranged. Madelone said he has lost a financial consulting job and suffered a blow to his reputation. The appeals process is ongoing.
But Domalewicz said the case was not about the money or about her family. Rather, she said, it represented a chance to speak out about the events that derailed her life at an early age.
“I spoke what was on my heart, my mind and my soul for decades,” Domalewicz said. “There’s no amount of money that would take this pain away. There’s not a dollar sign on what a victim feels from sexual abuse. I just hope that some day, I will be able to help someone else who’s going through this. That is my goal.”