WHITE PLAINS – Next Wednesday, August 14, the recently passed Child Victims Act will officially open a one-year window for previously time-barred victims of childhood sexual abuse to file civil suits in New York court.
Richard Cardillo, 61, who was born and raised in West Harrison, is one of the more than 500 former childhood victims who will be filing lawsuits through the Marsh Law Firm. He was sexually abused twice by a brother of the Irish Christian Brothers when he was 16 and 17, while attending the Iona Prep School operated by the Irish Christian Brothers under the auspices of the New York Archdiocese.
Cardillo informed a superior clergyman, who told him never to mention it.
As an adult, he joined the Irish Christian Brothers for 14 years and later met a man with whom he had an 18-year relationship, which ended when his partner took his own life.
Money is not the reason Cardillo is filing his lawsuit against Iona Prep.
“My feeling is now at the age of 61, I want to make sure that I am part of a solution that it doesn’t happen to anybody ever again,” he said.
Jennifer Freeman, a partner in the Marsh Law Firm, which is representing hundreds of those victims, said unfortunately, the problem still exists.
“This abuse still continues. This problem of ongoing victimization and sexual exploitation of children continues,” she said.
She echoed Cardillo’s desire to make sure that no one else is ever abused as a child.
