Just over one year ago, former Immaculate Heart of Mary teacher and coach Edwin “Ted” Gaynor confessed to sexually assaulting two former students in the 1960s, a bombshell admission he made to lawyers while being sued under the Child Victims Act.
Those confessions, made public in court documents filed last February, served as a flashpoint for what is now 32 cases filed against the former teacher and his employers, which—despite coronavirus-triggered delays and Gaynor’s reluctance to participate in court proceedings—have widened greatly in scope since the initial claims were made in 2019.
California resident David B. Fox was the first to come forward with claims against Gaynor, filing a lawsuit with the Supreme Court of the State of New York on Nov. 7, 2019. In his suit, Fox alleged that Gaynor had used his position as a physical education teacher and coach at IHM in Scarsdale to molest him between the years of 1962 and 1965, the abuse beginning when Fox was just eight years old.
Over the course of the next month, 12 more former students filed suits with similar claims against Gaynor, prompting the former teacher to send handwritten responses to Lowey Dannenberg P.C., the law firm representing the accusers. In the letters, he denied many of the accusations but appeared to admit to molesting two of the plaintiffs, David Pisula and “R.L”, who filed his suit under a pseudonym to protect his anonymity.
These early lawsuits were filed predominantly by men who had attended IHM school in the 1960s and allege that Gaynor’s actions were an “open secret” among school-aged children at the time. Several of the accusers claim to have informed church officials—including then-Monsignor William Little—about Gaynor’s misconduct, only to have their complaints ignored until 1967, when Gaynor was suddenly fired from his post. He would be hired as the youth basketball coach at the Holy Rosary School in Hawthorne shortly thereafter.
Gaynor would continue at Holy Rosary throughout the 1970s, during which time he operated several youth sports camps in the area. He returned to coach CYO basketball at IHM in the early 1980s.
To date, three accusers have alleged abuse against Gaynor stemming from his time at Holy Rosary while two more claim that Gaynor molested them during his second stint at IHM.
Gaynor’s longtime affiliation with area parishes is an integral component of the 32 lawsuits that have been filed, which allege that the Archdiocese of New York, as well as IHM, Holy Rosary, St. Bernard’s in White Plains and the Sisters of Charity—a Catholic organization that was in charge of staffing at IHM during the 1960s—were negligent in their failure to act on the allegations against Gaynor.
Dan O’Hare, a former colleague of Gaynor who took over as IHM’s basketball coach following his dismissal, testified on June 25 that a parish priest had informed him that Gaynor had been let go after admitting to “an incident of impropriety” with a student in 1967. Neither O’Hare nor IHM administrators voiced any concerns when Gaynor was then hired by Holy Rosary and continued to return regularly to the IHM campus as a youth basketball coach.
“I didn’t think it was my business,” he said. “No one ever asked me.”
As co-defendants in the case, both IHM and the Archdiocese have sought to distance themselves from Gaynor. In July, both parties filed cross claims against Gaynor, contending that any financial penalties imposed as a result of the court’s decision should fall solely upon the 85-year-old Ossining resident. In August, they also sought to have Gaynor’s written confessions stricken from the record on the grounds that they would prove prejudicial. The motion was denied by New York Supreme Court Associate Justice Hon. Steven M. Jaeger.
Gaynor himself has been reluctant to speak to the court under oath, a matter complicated by shutdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Initially, Gaynor was scheduled to be deposed by March 27, but the pandemic prompted a two-month adjournment beginning on March 16. When the trial resumed, Gaynor refused to appear—either in person or remotely—for a deposition. He ignored a July 2 subpoena compelling him to testify on Aug. 7 and another, delivered on Nov. 23, that ordered him to appear by Dec. 3.
The judge has twice found Gaynor to be in contempt of court for his refusal to appear. On Nov. 20, he levied a $250 a day fine against the defendant until Gaynor agrees to be deposed. Retired Mount Vernon Detective Paul Puccini, who served Gaynor with the subpoenas, wrote in an Oct. 12 affidavit that Gaynor declared that he would refuse to comply with the court order.
“Mr. Gaynor stated to me that ‘they can put me in a dungeon or whatever,’” Puccini’s affidavit read. “I can’t be there on any date and I can’t show up.”
Counsel for the plaintiffs have filed a motion with Jaeger requesting that, should Gaynor continue to ignore the court order, he be placed under civil arrest by the Westchester County Sherriff’s office on Jan. 14 and be held in custody until the deposition is completed.
