$30 Million Verdict Against Newark Public Schools and City of Newark for Decades of Silence on Student Abuse

Starting in third grade at Ann Street School K-8 in Newark, a child enrolled in an after-school recreation program run by a district aide named John Cantalupo. Beginning around 1991, when the student was approximately ten years old, Cantalupo used that position to commit serial sexual abuse that escalated over four years, from kissing and touching to rape, occurring multiple times weekly in secluded areas of the school and in his vehicle.

The abuse continued until 1995, when another boy reported Cantalupo to law enforcement. Cantalupo died by suicide that same year after police contact. The student, now in his mid-forties, was left with a PTSD diagnosis and decades of lasting harm.

A central finding at trial was that the abuse was not entirely hidden. When the plaintiff disclosed what Cantalupo was doing to a teacher in the program, that teacher, Gene Foti, failed to report it. The district and city ran the after-school program with no meaningful oversight or supervision of Cantalupo, allowing the conduct to continue even after a complaint was raised internally.

Vincent Nappo of Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala (PCVA) tried the case alongside Matthew Bonanno of co-counsel firm Rebenack Aronow Mascolo LLP. Following a two-week trial before Judge Jeffrey Beacham, eight Essex County jurors deliberated for less than two hours before returning a $30 million verdict on January 27, 2026.

The jury allocated fault at 70 percent to Newark Public Schools, 20 percent to the City of Newark, and 10 percent to Cantalupo's estate, the last share being practically unrecoverable. The city stated its intent to appeal. The school district declined to confirm whether it would do the same.