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	Brookfield Lawyer Wins $10M for Abuse Victim By Karen Ali The News Times [Bridgeport CT] November 23, 2005 BRIDGEPORT — A Brookfield lawyer won a $10.9 million verdict on behalf of a former Bridgeport man who says he was abused by a landscaper at St. Theresa's Church in Trumbull more than 30 years ago. Helen L. McGonigle, the lawyer who represented 47-year-old Michael Powel, called the judgment "wonderful." Yet she is not sure whether she will be able to collect the money from the landscaper, Carlo D. Fabbozzi. "It's certainly validation for Michael Powel. It's just going to be a question of what we can get," McGonigle said. Fabbozzi, who did not show up for his Superior Court trial, has claimed he has a small checking account, has exhausted his savings, and is living off Social Security and odd jobs. The jury agreed with Powel's claims he was repeatedly molested by Fabbozzi when Powel was between age 9 and 13. Fabbozzi, now 78, was in his mid-40s at the time. The abuse took place in the late 1960s and early '70s on church property and nearby, the victim claims. McGonigle said Powel repressed his memories of the abuse until 2000, when he was recuperating from an operation for a malignant brain tumor. At trial, Powel's account of the molestation was corroborated by the testimony of two other male victims, McGonigle said. Fabbozzi was a landscaper and maintenance man at St. Theresa's Parish and elementary school in Trumbull, McGonigle said. He was fired by the diocese in the spring of 2002 while working as a night janitor at St. Theresa's elementary school, she said. The jury's verdict came down in July. That month, it awarded $5 million to Powel and last week Superior Court Judge Edward Stodolink handed down the rest, which is about $6 million in punitive damages and interest fees. If Powel is able to collect from Fabbozzi, he intends to establish a sexual abuse treatment center in the name of his older brother, Luke Powel. Luke also worked with Fabbozzi on the church grounds, was also sexually abused, and later died of AIDS, McGonigle said. "I just want to spare other children from the horror of being sexually abused," said Powel, who lives in Florida. "I hope this judgment sends a strong message to sexual predators and those that conspire to protect them that in the end they will be held responsible for molesting and failing to protect kids." Joseph McAleer, director of communications and diocesan spokesman, said Fabbozzi is not, nor has been, an employee of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport. "As owner of his own landscaping company, Mr. Fabbozzi was contracted by several parishes beginning in 1971 to mow the lawns and perform other general maintenance work," according to a diocesan statement. "From 1981 to 1986, Mr. Fabbozzi was contracted by St. Theresa Parish in Trumbull to serve as a general maintenance worker. In 1986, he left to pursue other work. In 1997, Mr. Fabbozzi was contracted by St. Theresa's as the night janitor, cleaning up the buildings after hours." Though church officials don't place Fabbozzi at St. Theresa's until the 1980s, Powel insists the abuse occurred on the church property in the late 1960s. Several witnesses testified that Fabbozzi was working on the church property in the late 1960s, McGonigle said. The diocesan statement said that on April 10, 2002, Michael Powel called Msgr. Laurence Bronkiewicz, then chancellor, who is now at Saint Mary's in Ridgefield, and made a complaint that Fabbozzi had abused him in the late 1960s. "The Diocese offered counseling services to Mr. Powel to assist him in his own healing process," according to the diocesan statement. After meeting with Fabbozzi, Bronkiewicz had him fired from his job at St. Theresa's. "Furthermore, it has been directed to all parishes, schools, and institutions in the Diocese of Bridgeport that Mr. Fabbozzi is never to be employed or contracted," according to the statement. Bronkiewicz could not be reached on Monday. Fabbozzi, who is reportedly living in Bridgeport, also could not be reached.
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