James “Jimmy” Collins is accused of sexually abusing at least 16 victims over 50 years
Village of Mt. Kisco and Boys & Girls Club Still in the Case -11 Victims Seek to Tell Stories to a Jury
By Dan Murphy
NYS Supreme Court Judge Alexandra Murphy rejected motions filed by the Village of Mt. Kisco and the Boys & Girls Club to remove themselves from lawsuits filed by 11 alleged victims of James “Jimmy” Collins. Collins, now in prison, is accused of sexually abusing 16 boys over a period of 40 years, starting in the 1970’s in his role as a coach, counselor and janitor for the Village of Mt. Kisco, the Boys Club of Northern Westchester and Chappaqua School District.
In a 10-page opinion, the Court rejected arguments that the Defendants had no reason to know of Collins’ propensity to engage in sexual misconduct with children before allegedly abusing the plaintiffs. The Court also denied Defendants’ claims that things such as masturbation sessions, smacking of testicles, nipple twisting, bear hugs, wrestling, and requiring participation in a masturbation contest, do not fall within any crimes enumerated under the Child Victims Act. Lastly, the Court denied defendant Boys and Girls Clubs’ arguments that Collins’ alleged abuse did not occur on their property and therefore it was not liable. Click here for Court Decision and Order
The pending civil lawsuits allege widespread and serial acts of sexual abuse by James Collins, a former employee of the Village of Mt. Kisco, the Boys and Girls Club of Northern Westchester, and Chappaqua Central School District when the victims were minors. They were filed under the New York Child Victims Act which opened a window in the statute of limitations allowing victims of past child sexual abuse to bring claims.
The lawsuits also allege that adult employees of the Village of Mt. Kisco, the Chappaqua Central School District and the Boys and Girls Club of Northern Westchester County witnessed Collins’ inappropriate and abusive behavior with young boys including the victims and took no action to stop him or report him to law enforcement.
50 years after he began his sex abuse against young boys, Collins was arrested in November of 2023. One of the charges was for paying for sex with an underage boy in the bathroom of the Chappaqua Library. Collins later admitted to New Castle Police to the illegal act with the 15-year old.
After being released on bail, Collins attempted to meet up with the boy again, communicating on Snapchat. But this time, undercover agents arrested him and he is now behind bars, likely for the rest of his life.
The question that many with knowledge of Collins acts has is how was he able to stay out of the hands of law enforcement for decades? And how did he stay out of jail once the sex abuse lawsuits were filed, starting in 2020?
Collins was the owner of “Jimmy’s” Bar in Katonah. The bar was recently sold and demolished. He is charged with one count of attempting to entice a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, as well as one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. Collins is currently incarcerated in a federal facility.
“I am grateful to the Court for allowing me and other victims of Jimmy Collinsto continue our journey to justice. Collins started abusing me when I was 13 years old and has been alleged to have sexually abused children for nearly five decades. He would never have met many of these children if the Village of Mt. Kisco and the Boys and Girls Club had not employed him, given him access to kids and ignored many red flags. All of them will now be held accountable in court,” said Collins’ victim Greg Ardanowski.
“This court’s decision makes it clear that the defendants will not be able to twist the intent of the Child Victims Act to excuse the despicable conduct of Jimmy Collins. A jury will now be allowed to hear the evidence and not only hold Collins accountable, but also his enablers, the Village of Mount Kisco and the Boys and Girls Club of Northern Westchester,” said the victims’ attorney Saul Wolf.
New York Attorney Larry Krantz, also representing the victims, said, “I was very gratified by the court’s ruling, and that the defendants will now be held accountable for their alleged misconduct at trial.”
In one complaint, the John Doe victim alleges that Collins sexually abused him when he was 11 years old. “Plaintiff was approximately eleven years old to fourteen years old during the time Collins sexually abused, harassed, and exploited him. The incidents alleged in this Complaint occurred in and around 1982 to in and around 1986, when Plaintiff participated in camps, town sports and/or attended schools in Mt. Kisco, New York.
“Defendant Collins sexually abused, harassed and exploited Plaintiff on, and around the following locations: (i) Camp Iroquois at Leonard Park in Mt. Kisco, (ii) Camp Iroquois at Leonard Park Pool in Mt. Kisco and (iii) Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester (previously known as the Boys’ Club), as well as out-of-state in New Hampshire,” the suit alleges..
From the complaints: “Incidents alleged herein occurred on the property of Camp Defendants and BGC where Defendant Collins was working, at various times as a coach, counselor, mentor and supervisor and therefore possessed care, control, and had unfettered access to minor male children.
“Indeed, what transpired with dozens of children, including Plaintiff, from the 1970s through the 1990s throughout Mt. Kisco and surrounding towns is something out of a long-running horror story,” according to the complaints.
These Plaintiffs also allege: “Typical of most pedophiles, Collins targeted boys from broken homes, single-parent households and/or those that were otherwise vulnerable and susceptible to grooming by giving them special attention, preferential treatment, taking them to sporting events, buying them treats, candy, and/or plying them with alcohol. These warning signs, grooming behaviors, inappropriate time spent alone with Plaintiff and not respecting boundaries with children were ignored by Entity Defendants, thus, creating the opportunity for abuse, resulting in failures to enforce proper boundaries and, instead, allowing Collins access to abuse children, including Plaintiff.”
The suits allege that Collins “proceeded to sexually harass, abuse and exploit multiple young boys, including, but not limited to, massaging their bodies, fondling their bodies and genitals, masturbating the boys to ejaculation, orally copulating boys, forcing boys to orally copulate Collins, forcing boys to masturbate Collins, forcing boys to unknowingly consume his semen in beverages, and forcing boys to masturbate in his presence.
“More specifically, upon information and belief, Plaintiff alleges that several employees of BGC witnessed and/or knew of Collins’ grooming and/or sexual misconduct towards children, including BGC employees who oversaw the swimming facilities, the secretary for BGC, and the BGC director of athletics.
“More specifically, upon information and belief, Plaintiff alleges that Collins had been arrested and/or charged for sexual misconduct; however, certain individuals within the Bedford Hills Police Department (“BHPD”) assisted Collins in avoiding public scrutiny for these charges.
Collins has continued to maintain access to children, including with his roles as a janitor and bus driver at Cedar Knolls School in Hawthorne.
A different lawsuit by another victim claims that Collins met him when he was 7, which was when he began to groom John Doe at little league and bowling practice-games, by going to the movies, and watching pornographic movies in the basement of BCG.
“Thereafter, on at least four to six occasions, Collins would force five or six boys at the BGC, including Plaintiff RCVAWCD-DOE, to undress and masturbate in the BGC pool, in front of Collins. Collins would often undress and masturbate as well, in the presence of these minor boys, including Plaintiff RCVAWCD-DOE.
Five of the 16 plaintiff victims have settled their suits for an undisclosed sum; 11 plaintiffs remain, and are ready and willing to go to trial and testify if necessary. One case remains against the Chappaqua School District.
Judge Murphy’s decision references the testimony of Charles Pieragostini, one of Collins’ supervisors, and Leslie Carey, a camp counselor at the time of the abuse. Pieragostini testified that before hiring Collins, he did not call any references to inquire about him, including a school that previously employed him IPieragostini Tr. pp. 68, 89], nor did he ever interview Collins personally before Collins was offered a position with the Mt. Kisco Recreation Department [Pieragostini Tr. pp. 68-69]. Furthermore, Pieragostini did not know if Collins was ever interviewed by anyone [Pieragostini Tr. p.69] before being hired. Dating back to 1974-1975, Pieragostini learned that Collins had been caught by the police for drinking alcohol on a pool deck on Mt. Kisco property with underage minors and was ultimately released by the police [Cotlins Tr. pp. 155-163, 325].
Carey testified that she observed Collins and his behavior dating back to when she was 15-I 6 years old working as a carmp counselor. The behavior consisted of Collins openly hanging out with chitdren, not only during camp hours, but also after hours, which is something she routinely noticed [Carey Tr. pp. 63, 65,67-68). Collins would allow campers in his personal car in public vieu.on multiple occasions over the time span of years, which is behavior that both stood out to Carey and confused her [Carey Tr. pp. 68-70]. Carey also testified that Collins’ behavior was brazen and that Collins was never reprimanded by his supervisors [Carey Tr. p. 7l]. Carey also testified she personally observed Collins place his hands on multiple children when she was both a camp counselor and a lifeguard [Carey Tr. pp.72-7a). Carey also witnessed Collins holding the bodies of various children close to him [Carey Tr. p. 75]. On one specific occasion, in 1980, she observed Collins put his hands inside and down the bathing suit ofone boy in the pool.
She further testified that, about two days later, she told Pieragostini what she saw in detail and that Pieragostini admonished her that she should “mind (her) own business” [Carey Tr. pp. 79-83, 86-871. Carey specifically recounted that she became angry and told Pieragostini that Collins “…molested that kid.”
What is not publicly known is whether the Village of Mt. Kisco and the Boys Club have insurance coverage for what could be multi-million dollar verdicts against them, or will the taxpayers of New Castle have to pay?
Also unknown is what if anything of value does Collins have left to his name that could be collected in a successful lawsuit. Read our prior story here: https://yonkerstimes.com/after-50-years-of-sexually-abusing-young-boys-james-collins-of-westchester-finally-behind-bars/
