Lawsuit Alleges Marist Brother Raped Former St. Mary’s HS student

MANHASSET, NY — A former Long Island man is suing the Marist Brothers alleging he was raped by his guidance counselor at St. Mary’s College Preparatory School in Manhasset in the 80s, his attorneys announced on Wednesday.

Steven Gormley, 53, of Connecticut, filed a complaint yesterday in Nassau County alleging Brother Robert Ryan repeatedly raped and sodomized him along with other boys, including with sadomasochistic objects. The suit alleges that the Marist Brothers of the Schools, Province of the United States of America, which oversees St. Mary’s, were negligent in the hiring, retention, and supervision of Ryan, who died in 2017, because he was “a known sexual predator.”

The suit was brought under New York’s Child Victims Act which extended the statute of limitations for people to file a lawsuit seeking damages for childhood sexual assaults.

Ryan was assigned as an assistant principal at Marist High School in Eugene, Oregon and in the 70s, and “upon information and belief,” he engaged in “highly inappropriate behavior and illegal sexual misconduct” with the boys, including having “sexually explicit conversations” about masturbation, the lawsuit states. He also forcibly kissed and performed oral sex on numerous minor boys, according to the lawsuit.

A lawsuit was filed in 2020 by a man alleging he was sexually abused at the high school by Ryan between 1975 and 1977.

Ryan was “quietly transferred” to a school in Chicago, IL in the late 70s, and his abuse became more “violent” before he was transferred again, this time to St. Mary’s, the lawsuit states. At St. Mary’s, Ryan sexually assaulted Gormley at least twice a week, a total of about 75 times between 1981 and 1983, according to the lawsuit.

Ryan would also force Gormley to take alcohol or sedatives to make him compliant in the assaults and his academic performance began to suffer, according to the lawsuit. Gormley was left with permanent injuries from Ryan’s sexual assaults and later developed an addiction to alcohol and drugs, his lawsuit states.

“Upon information and belief” Ryan abused at least three other boys in Gormley’s grade, as well as numerous boys in other grades, and was known among students as “Brother M-Bomb” for his “obsession with masturbation.”

Gormley went back to the school in the 90s to warn its officials about Ryan because he was worried that the son of a family friend would suffer the same fate as him, and he was asked to protect the church and not to escalate the situation and by meeting with the press or otherwise publicizing his account, the lawsuit states.

Attorney Kevin Mulhearn, of Orangeburg, said Gormley’s “case cries out for a long overdue reckoning” because he was abused “horrifically” and “behind the imagination” when he was a “pre-pubescent boy.”

“Years later, when he approached Marist Brothers to warn others of Brother Ryan’s predations, he was again manipulated and exploited,” he said. “He is entitled to his day in court.”

Mulhearn described Gormley as a strong person emotionally and very brave for coming forward publicly.

He described Ryan as having a slick modus operandi in the way he chose and manipulated victims, of which he believes there are many more.

“This is a guy whose appetite was not confined to one boy,” he said.

Attorney Jon Norinsberg, of Manhattan, said he and Mulhearn also believes there are many other victims who were sexually abused by Ryan.

“We are hopeful that they will now come forward on Mr. Gormley’s behalf, to relate their own personal experiences, and hold Marist Brothers and St. Mary’s responsible for Brother Ryan’s brutalizing acts of sexual abuse,” he said.

Gormley, Mulhearn, and Norinsberg are holding a news conference on Friday in Manhattan to discuss the details of the case.

Marist Brothers of the Schools communications director Erin Gilbert was not immediately available for comment.

Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre communications director Sean Dolan did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Gormley’s case.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.