Poly Prep Coach Sexually Abused Student But Still Has Job: Suit

BROOKLYN, NY — An elite Brooklyn school plagued by sexual abuse complaints has been sued again, this time by a former student who claims a tennis coach still working at the school abused her for years starting when she was just 14.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Brooklyn Supreme Court, accuses Poly Prep Country Day School of covering up years of abuse in the 1980s by William "Bill" Martire, a tennis coach who lawyers say is still working at the Dyker Heights private school.

It is the latest in a string of sexual abuse scandals surrounding Poly Prep, including a case filed in November against a former teacher that Martire's victim, identified by the pseudonym "Jane Roe," says motivated her to come forward.

"Roe saw the article in the newspaper and reached out to me," said her attorney, Eric Lewis, who also represented the student in the November case and went to Poly Prep himself. "We’re looking at a blind-eye culture and a culture of impunity where all of these things are out there and nobody wants to recognize it or take any action. This is a matter of accountability."

Roe's suit, like the November case, was filed under the Child Victims Act, which opened a one-year window in August for survivors to bring legal claims previously precluded by statutes of limitations or notice of claim requirements.

The lawsuit also isn't the first time Martire has been wrapped up in complaints against the school. In 2015, a tennis teacher hired at a raquet club by Martire was arrested for having sex with a 15-year-old student from Poly Prep, according to the New York Post.

Roe's alleged abuse also happened at the same time that former football coach Philip Foglietta was working at the school. Poly Prep settled a multi-million-dollar lawsuit with a dozen victims who claimed Foglietta raped and groped boys on campus, according to the Post.

Roe says her abuse began when she joined the tennis team at Poly Prep her freshman year.

Martire — who students told Roe was a "pervert," "scumbag" and "creepy," according to the lawsuit — started commenting on Roe's body, groped her and eventually forced her to perform oral sex on him in his car on a school trip, the lawsuit claims.

The assaults would continue in Martire's office or car for years as Roe developed an eating disorder and, filled with shame, desperately tried to hide the abuse from her friends and family, the lawsuit said.

"She was terrified, frightened, disgusted, and ashamed," the suit reads. "She could not imagine, then or now, what her family would think."

Roe eventually quit the tennis team her junior year when Martire told her he wanted to take her to a hotel and have sex.

"In that moment, something snapped in Roe," the suit says. "She was terrified that Martire would overpower her as he had done before and rape her."

Roe would later tell a classmate about the abuse and has since told her college counselors, therapists and her husband, the lawsuit said.

Lewis said that, like the Foglietta case, he expects the school knew, or at least should have known, about Roe's abuse as it was happening.

At least one staff member, who Lewis said was the same staff member that knew about Foglietta's abuse, nearly walked in on Martire and Roe during one of the assaults, the lawsuit contends.

"He saw this young woman who was maybe 15 in a locked room with this coach," said Lewis, who is a senior partner at Lewis Baach Kaufman Middlemiss. "It's very rare that people say, 'Oh my goodness, I never would have imagined.'"

At the very least, Poly Prep became aware of Martire's alleged conduct when Lewis' firm notified them of the complaint shortly before it was filed, he said.

Even so, Martire is still coaching at the school and working at other Brooklyn tennis programs, Lewis said.

A representative for Poly Prep and Martire did not immediately return a request for comment, but Martire was still listed on the employee website as of Thursday afternoon and an operator at the school said he coaches there part-time.

"This case is equally about the many adults in positions of power at Poly who were aware of, tolerated and covered up rampant sexual abuse at the school," the lawsuit says. "Martire’s conduct was hiding in plain sight; there were numerous red flags, but he was protected, because he won tennis matches."

Lawyers said Roe hopes that by coming forward as an adult, she will be taken seriously by the school and can help break the pattern of abuse at Poly. She believes she was not Martire's only victim, according to the suit.

"Like so many victims, she wanted the memory and the pain to go away," the suit reads. "Men like Martire – who remarkably is still employed by Poly – and schools like Poly count on those feelings to avoid the consequences of their unconscionable actions. But no longer."