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Friday, May 17, 2024
Vol. 99, No. 20
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Ex-G.N. doctor convicted
REBEL ROBOTICS
Guilty of sexually abusing patients BY C A M E RY N O A K ES
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE GREAT NECK SCHOOLS
The South High School Rebel Robotics Team won first place for the Engineering Inspiration Award at the 2025 FIRST World Championship.
G.N. school election set for Tuesday Ballot features Toch, Chen in uncontested race, $282M budget, capital reserve BY C A M E RY N O A K ES Great Neck and New Hyde Park residents will be heading to the polls Tuesday to vote in the Great Neck School District election, featuring a ballot that includes two unopposed Board of Education incumbents, the district’s budget and a proposition to establish a capital reserve fund.
Great Neck Board of Education Vice President Grant Toch and Trustee Steve Chen are running in an uncontested election. Toch was elected to the board in 2021, rounding out his first term, and Chen was appointed to the board in September to fill the vacancy left by long-serving trustee Barbara Berkowitz, who had resigned in July.
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A former Great Neck urologist was found guilty Wednesday on federal charges of sexually abusing five minors and two adults after prosecutors presented evidence showing he utilized his medical position to commit the abuse. Dr. Darius Paduch, 56, worked at Northwell Health in Great Neck and Lake Success from 2019 until his arrest and subsequent termination in April 2023. He previously was employed at Weill Cornell Medicine in Manhattan for 16 years. “As a unanimous jury has just found, Darius A. Paduch leveraged his position of trust as a medical doctor for his own perverse gratification,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said. “For years, patients seeking needed medical care, many of them children, left his office as victims.” Paduch was convicted on six counts of inducement to travel to engage in unlawful sexual activity and five counts of inducing a minor to engage in sex. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 19. Paduch’s lawyer, Michael Baldassare, told Newsday in a statement that Paduch has maintained his innocence and an appeal will be filed. Continued on Page 37
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This will be Chen’s first election since being appointed about eight months ago. The election is for a three-year term on the board, which would begin July 1 and end June 30, 2027. Toch and his wife moved to Great Neck in 2005 and have three children. Two of his children are still enrolled in the school district with the third at-
tending college. Toch, a financial service company investor and former tax lawyer, was elected to the Great Neck Board of Education in 2021 and currently serves as its vice president. Prior to joining the board, Toch was the chair of the United Parent Teacher Council Budget Committee for about nine years. Continued on Page 38
LAST WEEK TO VOTE! VOTING ENDS MAY 24 WINNERS ANNOUNCED JULY 5, 2024! https://theisland360.com/bonscontest/