***CVA Suit Filed Against Camp Gan Israel. Rabbi Shmuel Posner and Motti Sandman Named as Alleged Abuers in Suit.***
In 1992 Plaintiff was 9 years old and was attending Gan Izzy sleepaway camp in Parksville, NY. According to the complaint, Shmuel Posner, then 17 and employed by Gan Izzy as a counselor of a neighboring bunk to Plaintiff’s, sensed Plaintiff’s vulnerability and began to groom him for sexual abuse. The complaint alleges that these overtures were masked in the guise of friendship.
According to the complaint Posner began sitting on Plaintiff’s bed at bedtime to keep him company, at first stroking him over the covers but then eventually stroking the plaintiff under the covers. Later Posner escalated to touching plaintiff’s penis under his pajamas, and placing Plaintiff’s hand on his penis and using it to pleasure himself. In the complaint Plaintiff describes dreading nights at the camp, feigning sleep but being awake and panicked. Posner would allegedly wait until the other counselors had left and the lights were out and then make his way to Plaintiff’s bed to abuse him.
According to the complaint there was no actual supervision of Posner even though the camp did employ an overnight director whose job it was to check in periodically on the bunks. Plaintiff alleges that he never saw the overnight director during the whole time he was being abused by Posner. The complaint further alleges that the counselor of his bunk actually did walk in on Posner abusing Plaintiff one night and rather than react he simply turned and ran out of the bunk. It doesn’t seem that this counselor reported what he saw.
After Plaintiff returned home he told his father what had happened to him. According to the complaint, Plaintiff’s father confronted the camp director about the abuse and urged him to implement policies to prevent such abuse from happening in the future. Despite this warning from plaintiff’s father, the director allegedly did nothing to update Gan Izzy’s protection policies, and instead covered up the allegation. The complaint alleges that no parents were notified about the alleged abuse, and counselors were still allowed to have unrestricted access to campers with no supervision.
In the summer of 1994 Plaintiff returned to Gan Izzy. He was now 11 years old. In 1993 his father had died and he was still grieving. That summer his counselor was Motti Sandman. According to the complaint, one night when the campers were sleeping in sleeping bags near a camp bonfire Sandman approached Plaintiff while he was sleeping and started stroking his hand. He then allegedly moved to stroking Plaintiff’s genitals under his pajamas for a brief time.
The complaint alleges that Sandman began escalating the abuse, one night approaching Plaintiff while he was sleeping on a top bunk and putting his finger in Plaintiff’s anus. He then allegedly began climbing the ladder to join Plaintiff in the top bunk, but Plaintiff, terrified, pushed him away.
Excerpts of the complaint as well as pictures of the alleged abusers are included below.
Link to full complaint:
https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/ViewDocument?docIndex=lUcrhVbdHdDt21slhuzOpA==
A third-party complaint has also been filed by Gan Izzy against Posner and Sandman claiming that they are solely responsible for the abuse and that Gan Izzy should not be held responsible.
Link to third-party complaint:
https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/ViewDocument?docIndex=6QDL3zT1FCOgpx1REl9j1Q==