Islanders say foster dad abused them, too
Islanders say foster dad abused them, too
District Attorney William Murphy is investigating 4 new complaints against former Tompkinsville man who has been charged in Pennsylvania
Author: HEIDI SINGER and MICHAEL SCHOLL; ADVANCE STAFF WRITERS
The sexual abuse case involving a former Tompkinsville foster dad spread from Pennsylvania to Staten Island yesterday, as prosecutors began investigating complaints from Islanders who claim that Thomas Cusick molested them as children.
The office of District Attorney William Murphy has received numerous telephone calls about Cusick from Islanders who learned the Port Richmond native was arrested Tuesday for sexually abusing five boys in his care.
Murphy's office is now investigating four new complaints from Islanders who said they were abused by Cusick, according to Murphy spokeswoman Marlene Markoe-Boyd.
Cusick, formerly of the 100 block of Tompkins Circle, was a career foster and adoptive father who cared for 28 children - 24 of them boys - over a span of three decades.
The vast majority of boys came to him at age 8 or 9, said Alan Rubenstein, district attorney for Bucks County, Pa.
Cusick moved to Bucks County from Tompkinsville in January 1998. Advance records show Cusick lived in several other Island communities, including Travis and Annadale, before settling in Tompkinsville in 1996.
One of Cusick's adopted sons, 17, accused him of sexual abuse last month, and four other boys gave police similar accounts. Cusick surrendered to Pennsylvania authorities after police in Middletown, Pa. obtained a warrant for his arrest.
News of Cusick's arrest stunned residents of Tompkins Circle, a picturesque hilltop community with homes that have spectacular views of New York Harbor and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.
"I'm in shock," said Lester Figueroa, a former neighbor of Cusick.
"I just find it hard to believe," added Catherine Sihr, another Tompkins Circle resident.
Cusick, who was active in Staten Island's theater community for years, had received glowing profiles in newspapers and a commendation from Borough President Guy Molinari for the unusually large number of boys he raised, beginning when he was only 18.
But several of his claims to newspapers have proven inaccurate.
He did not, according to United Nations officials, win a 1981 Year of the Child Award. The song he claimed to have written for pop superstar Ricky Martin does not exist. And a Disney spokeswoman said yesterday that Cusick is not under contract with the company to produce a musical score for his play "G.I. Joey."
Former neighbors on Tompkins Circle said the Cusicks abruptly moved out of their rented two-story ranch house last year. One neighbor said Cusick gave the impression he made his money as a playwright and composer and wasn't receiving checks for the care of his adopted and foster sons.
The boys were placed in the Cusick home by Downey Side, a Massachusetts agency hired by New York City to find homes for difficult-to-place children. Neither Downey Side nor city officials would comment on the case, so it was unclear whether Cusick was being paid to raise the boys.
Thirteen children living with Cusick were removed from his home in the wake of the sex abuse allegations, and placed in other homes.
Cusick and his companion, Donna Robertson, recently moved out of their stately seven-bedroom home in Langhorne, Pa., and into a basement apartment in a nearby community. His lawyer, Kevin Zlock, said the move was due to circumstances beyond Cusick's control.
Several neighbors and friends said Cusick had done a remarkable job raising boys from troubled backgrounds. Many of the boys arrived on Cusick's doorstep with physical, emotional and psychological disabilities.
Ms. Sihr said she was well-acquainted with three of Cusick's charges. Two of the boys would come to her house to play with her son, who is now 10 years old. She also hired a third boy, who was about 17, to do gardening on her property.
"They were good kids, well-behaved," she said.
Ms. Sihr added that the boys seemed to get along well with Cusick, and they appeared to be well cared for. Cusick's charges never said anything about being abused by their surrogate father, according to Ms. Sihr.
"I really can't say anything bad [about Cusick]," she said.
Other residents also said they were unaware any sexual abuse going on in the Cusick house. But some neighbors thought it was strange that a man would want to raise so many foster and adopted children.
"I thought he was a screwball," said Herbert Maletz, a Tompkins Circle resident.