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A retired judge in the Hudson Valley has been named in a new lawsuit under the Child Victims Act that he sexually abused a teen during the 1970s.
The suit, filed last month in Orange County Court by a Pennsylvania woman, alleges that Judge Jeffery Berry, who retired in 2015, sexually assaulted her while she was a student at Cornwall Central High School, according to multiple reports.
The suit, obtained by News 12, says the judge began grooming the victim when she was 16-years-old while he was a teacher at the school.
The suit alleges the two had sex for two years in Berry's car in parking lots and in his bedroom.
The suit says the abuse continued until Berry left to attend law school in 1972.
The Cornwall Central School District is also named in the suit, saying employees were aware of the allegations against Berry while he was employed until he left to attend law school in 1972.
Berry served the Orange County Court from 1991 until his retirement.
The Child Victims Act extends the statute of limitations for a survivor of child sexual abuse in criminal and civil cases in New York.
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