Stamford man charged with groping girls on school trip to New York City [The Stamford Advocate, Conn.]

Jun. 4--STAMFORD -- The 35-year-old city man arrested Wednesday in New York City on charges he groped six 10- and 11-year-old girls during a Stillmeadow Elementary School fifth-grade field trip was a familiar presence who walked to school to pick up his own child and had chaperoned previous field trips, according to school officials.

Stillmeadow Principal Michael Sanders, who was on the trip, said he spoke with Tomas Manzano, of 163 Cold Spring Road, Stamford, about lemurs, coffee, the men's restroom, "normal stuff" during the first stop, at Central Park Zoo.

"This is someone who had a significant change in behavior," Sanders said.

Around 11:30 a.m., the 97 students and 40 chaperones, including parents and school staff, boarded double-decker buses for a tour before lunch. During the bus ride, two teachers confronted Manzano separately about a change in his behavior, and he became belligerent, Sanders said.

Sanders said he was alerted by a student, and entered the bus's lower portion to find a group of upset girls.

At no time were the students left alone with Manzano, Sanders said.

The bus arrived at the restaurant Mars 2112 on Broadway, and Sanders said he pulled seven girls off the bus, and asked a mother and a female teacher to speak with them. Sanders said when it became clear Manzano had inappropriate contact with the girls, Sanders called 911.

Manzano then confronted him, Sanders said.

"He was a little irrational and combative," he said.

Manzano was arrested at 2:23 p.m, at 1633 Broadway, near Times Square, said New York City Police Officer Doris Otero.

Otero said the girls reported they were inappropriately touched by Manzano. When police interviewed him, he appeared intoxicated and was combative with officers, she said.

Manzano was taken into custody and brought to Bellevue Hospital for evaluation, Otero said.

He was charged with two counts of sexual abuse of a child under age 11, four counts of sexual abuse of a child under age 14, six counts of endangering the welfare of a child under 17 and one count of resisting arrest.

Three of the seven girls were also taken to Bellevue for evaluation, but doctors found no marks or physical injury, Sanders said.

"Bad things happen in good places," he said. "This is a good, successful school that is all about preparing kids for the 21st Century and keeping kids safe."

While this was obviously a serious incident, he said, "It's important for people to put this in perspective and to see how adults responded to the situation."

Parents can volunteer to be chaperones of school trips, and their names are checked in the state registry for sex offenders, Vice Principal Lisa Saba-Price said. Manzano is not listed on the registry.

She said the school would examine the policy on chaperones, but there were likely limits to the amount of screening that could be done.

Stillmeadow parent Odalys Delarosa said a family member was among the six girls whom Manzano allegedly groped. She declined to discuss details.

While believing the school administration handled the situation quickly and "in the right way," Delarosa said she would like to see more oversight on field trips. "We should have more involved parents, I think more staff should be involved."

Delarosa's daughter, Kayla, and her husband, another trip chaperone, were on the same tour bus as Manzano.

"She is just trying to be a normal girl," Kayla said about her relative. "We are really trying to go back to how we were before."

Teresa DiSalvo, the mother of two Stillmeadow students, was a chaperone on Wednesday's trip, but on a different bus.

"Honestly, from the bottom of my heart, Dr. Sanders and the staff handled it perfectly. I am so happy my kids go to the school," she said. DiSalvo noted that many students finished the trip "unscathed" with no knowledge of what had happened.

"The school handled it as best they could," said Dorothy Griffin, another chaperone. "I spoke to my daughter, I didn't pull any punches, I told her what happened, and she understood."

Her daughter, Riley, said news of the incident was "spreading around" Thursday.

"Pretty much everyone in fifth grade knew what was going on," she said.

The school's administration sought to dispel rumors, which Saba-Price said included at least one inaccurate post on Facebook.

Sanders met with fifth-grade parents Thursday morning. A district psychologist and social worker spoke with students during the day, and a staff meeting was planned after school, Sanders said.

City Editor Jonathan Lucas contributed to this report. Staff Writer Wynne Parry can be reached at [email protected] or 203-964-2263.

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