Man Sues Middletown School District, Alleging Sex Abuse

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — An adult man has filed a lawsuit against the Middletown school district, alleging a history teacher at Thorne Middle School sexually abused him from about 1978 to 1983.

The lawsuit was filed July 13 in the Monmouth County Superior Court system.

The man making the allegations is 55 and currently lives in Lindenhurst on Long Island.

The teacher he accuses is Floyd Guillandeu, who would currently be 82, who no longer works in the district. However, he lived on Harmony Road in Middletown in the early '80s when the abuse is alleged to have occurred, according to the lawsuit. Several Middletown residents said that Guillandeu has since passed away.

The Middletown school district did not reply when Patch asked for a response to the lawsuit, but a lawyer for the district, Bruce Padula of Cleary, Giaccobe, Alfieri and Jacobs in Matawan, told the Asbury Park Press:

"The District is in receipt of the complaint. We are preparing a responsive pleading and will be zealously defending the District. We have no further comment at this time."

The man filing the lawsuit said the abuse started in 1978 when he was 13-14 years old and a middle school student at Thorne Middle School in Port Monmouth. Guillandeu was his history teacher in 8th and 9th grade.

"From approximately 1978 to 1983, Dan, while still a minor, was sexually abused by Floyd Guillandeu on hundreds, if not thousands, of occasions," read the lawsuit. "The sexual abuse occurred multiple times per week during those five years."

He said the teacher first made a sexually inappropriate comment to him on a field trip, on the bus when the teen boy was holding a cardboard tube between his legs; Guillandeu made lewd sexual comments to him about the tube, the lawsuit says. Shortly thereafter, the history teacher started grooming him, telling the student to call him Floyd "under the guise of 'friendship' and 'mentorship,'" to earn the teen's trust, according to the lawsuit.

The plaintiff said shortly after that field trip comment, Guillandeu asked him to wash his car, a Blue Chevy Impala, at the teacher’s house on Harmony Road. He agreed and washed the car, and Guillandeu paid him $5.

After washing the car, Guillandeu invited him to his home for orange juice, to watch TV with him, and go to Burger King, the lawsuit said. He said the teacher tried to hide the fact that he was driving around with the young teen, for example picking him up around the corner from his family home in Port Monmouth, not directly in front of his house, according to the lawsuit.

Guillandeu also had the teen wait with him after school at Thorne Middle School until the parking lot was empty and no one was left at the school, the suit alleges.

Once everyone had departed, Guillandeu drove the teen boy to Guillandeu’s house, the suit said. At Guillandeu’s house, the plaintiff said the teacher showed him heterosexual pornographic movies.

The lawsuit alleges extremely graphic sex abuse, including oral sex and anal penetration. The plaintiff said Guillandeu also paid for oral sex, on most occasions, giving him $10 to $20.

"This sexual abuse typically took place during weekdays after school, as well as on the weekends, multiple times per week, and occurred most frequently in Floyd’s house or in the rear parking lot of the Middletown Township Public Library," read the lawsuit.

"The sexual abuse by Floyd Guillandeu as described above occurred from the time [plaintiff] was approximately 13-14 years old until he graduated from Middletown High School North at age 18. Even after high school, [plaintiff] was so groomed and gaslighted by Floyd Guillandeu, he could not resist Floyd’s sexual predation. [Plaintiff] felt as if he was within a cult-like relationship with Floyd, unable to free himself from Floyd’s relentless pressure and incapable of liberating himself from this dysfunctional dynamic," read the lawsuit.

"The sexual abuse by Floyd Guillandeu continued after high school dozens of times over the next several years until approximately 1986-1987."

Victim said he developed a drug/alcohol addiction

The man suing said he was finally able to mentally confront the abuse and break free when he became an adult.

However, he said battled addiction issues as he turned to drugs and alcohol abuse because of the alleged abuse. He said he encountered enormous problems being intimate in his relationships with women, suffered PTSD, anger and anxiety, and could not hold down jobs.

He said in his lawsuit that as a result of the sex abuse he says he suffered, he "has felt enormous shame, humiliation, embarrassment, and self-loathing, and was extremely confused and conflicted about his sexuality and the role of sex, love and intimacy in his life."

He said he continues to feel bouts of extreme anger, especially when it comes to intimacy and romantic relationships with women.

He says Middletown schools failed to take action

In his lawsuit, he also said that administrators in the Middletown school district were aware of complaints made against Guillandeu and that the school district failed to take action or protect students at the time.

"Middletown Township Public Schools/Thorne Middle School failed to take appropriate actions to protect plaintiff against sexual harassment/abuse, despite having actual notice of the past lewd/inappropriate conduct and/or sexual abuse/assault by defendant, Floyd Guillandeu," read the lawsuit.

"During and/or before 1978, defendants, Middletown Township Public Schools/Thorne Middle School, knew and/or had reason to know that defendant, Floyd Guillandeu, posed a risk to students and other male students and yet permitted him to serve as public school teacher in their school system," it continued.

His lawsuit also suggests there may be more victims.

"Middletown Township Public Schools, Thorne Middle School knew or should have known that Floyd Guillandeu sexually abused children and/or was not fit to serve as an employee," it read. "Middletown Township Public Schools, Thorne Middle School knew or should have known that Floyd Guillandeu had been and/or was abusing plaintiff and/or other children at Middletown Township Public Schools and/or Thorne Middle School."

He said the Middletown school district at the time failed to "properly investigate complaints of sexual abuse, inappropriate behavior and/or other abusive behavior; provided "cover" or rationalizations when complaints were made and minimized, ignored or excused complaints students made against teachers."

Even though the alleged abuse happened years ago, the Long Island man was able to file his lawsuit under a change in New Jersey law in 2019 that allows sex abuse lawsuits to be brought decades after the alleged abuse occurred. The state changed the law to allow victims to make sex abuse lawsuits against the Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts. Victims of alleged childhood sex abuse now have until they are 55 years old to file these types of lawsuits.

The man suing is represented by John Baldante and Mark Cohen, of Levy, Baldante, Finney and Rubenstein, a law firm in Haddonfield. He is seeking punitive cash damages from Guillandeu and the Middletown school district.

The Asbury Park Press was the first to report the lawsuit had been filed.

*This story has been edited and updated to reflect Guillandeu's death.

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