NY- Sex offender at odds with school

New Paltz campus at standstill

5-9-2008 New York:

NEW PALTZ - A private school has all but shut down following a revelation a sex offender is living on campus.


Administrators at the Discovery Institute said the school has been trying to get Thomas Wanning, who was convicted of first-degree sex abuse against an 8-year-old boy in 1994, to leave school grounds. But he refuses and it will be months before legal action might resolve the issues, school founder Frank Crocitto said.

Wanning, a former student at the school, did not return several messages left at his home Wednesday and Thursday.

In the wake of the controversy, nearly every teacher has quit, excluding one of Wanning's step-children and the principal, Crocitto said.

Before his arrest in 1994, he took a massage therapy job for physically disabled children, and was caught performing sexual acts by one of the boys' mothers, Crocitto said, adding he warned Wanning not to take the job because of his propensity. After Wanning served time in prison, he went to the Discovery Institute looking for a place to live.

"There are (current and former) students who live on the property, and they pay a monthly lodging fee. ... He wanted to be here for the rest of his life," Crocitto said. "At least here, people are here to protect you and love you and help you."

Wanning met his wife, who is also a former student, and started living with her and her children in the house. He gave the school $100,000 of the $180,000 mortgage for the home. He was paying his lodging fees in advance.

Crocitto said there was no signed lease agreement, but rather a verbal understanding he was able to live there.

"I never sign leases," Crocitto said. "Everything I operate on is I give my word and people here give their word. No one has a written lease month to month."

Wanning donated $40,000 to create a Montessori school called Maria's Garden after he inherited money, Crocitto said, adding the school has since reimbursed Wanning.

After a series of unexpected requests for additional property, Wanning asked to be able to sublet it, even though the house is for students, Crocitto said.

Once parents caught wind of Wanning's presence about two years ago, Crocitto told Wanning he had to leave the property. He looked for homes in the $450,000 range, but then started asking to be paid to leave, he said.

"He got a lawyer who sent a letter asking the institute for money - over $200,000," Crocitto said. "We got lawyers and he was presented with an eviction, but then his lawyer countered with this concocted suit that, even though (a lease) was not signed, he has a right to this house."

The next court date is in October, which is not enough time for the school to rekindle its relationship with parents for the school season.

Jay Kaplan, Wanning's lawyer, has not returned phone calls.

Wanning's name cannot be found on the state or national sex offender registry Web sites because of a 1996 court injunction regarding those convicted of sex crimes and assigned a risk level prior to Jan. 21, 1996. His case is up for review.

Challenge halts registry

"Basically, it related to the (fact that) people that were classified believed they were incorrectly classified, so the state's going in the process of giving everybody hearings to see if their classifications are just and proper," New Paltz Police Detective David Dugatkin said.

The injunction is the result of a lawsuit filed against former Gov. George Pataki in 1996, in addition to other state crime agencies and their heads. It alleged the state Sex Offender Registry Act was unconstitutional. Wanning is a level 2 sex offender, meaning he poses a moderate risk. ..more.. by Christine Pizzuti at cpizzuti@poughkeepsiejournal.com or 845-437-4882.