D’Angelo Sues Three for Defamation After ‘False’ Claim He Was ‘Convicted’ of Rape; Says More Lawsuits to Come

 

By Frank Parlato

Nicholas D’Angelo, the Niagara Falls attorney who is being sued civilly for rape by a former client, is now suing three individuals who accused him of being convicted of rape in the past.

D’Angelo was managing editor of this publication and has taken a leave of absence following the civil lawsuit.

The three people he is suing are Niagara Falls area residents Elena DePaolo, Cathy Hooper, and John Restaino. Restaino is Mayor Robert Restaino’s estranged brother [click on name above to see filed Complaint against each defendant].

D’Angelo alleges each of them published false statements on social media, contending that D’Angelo was a “rapist” or that he “plead guilty to rape.” 

D’Angelo attached screenshots of social media posts or comments where the statements were allegedly made in the complaint filed with NY State Supreme Court. 

 These statements, detailed at length in the complaint, are alleged by D’Angelo to be false.

 “Plaintiff D’Angelo has never pleaded guilty to rape,” D’Angelo wrote in the complaint. 

 “The statements made by defendants DePaolo, Hooper and Restaino would be considered ‘defamation per se’” said D’Angelo.

 D’Angelo also alleges that each defendant was aware of their statement’s falsity, that he was defamed and suffered damage to his reputation as a member of the community and as an attorney practicing in the community.

Attorney Nicholas D. D’AngeloD’Angelo was placed on unpaid leave at his job for Niagara County Social Services following the announcement two weeks ago of his being sued in civil court for an alleged rape of a client in 2019.

The civil rape case has not gone to trial and D’Angelo denies the allegations of his former client.

According to sources, the former client has filed a criminal complaint against D’Angelo and the matter is under investigation.

The accuser’s attorney Lindy Korn declined to comment on the civil rape lawsuit against D’Angelo other than to refer this writer to the allegations contained in the complaint.

The three individuals D’Angelo is suing are not referring to the recent civil suit alleging rape of a former client.

D’Angelo had a prior conviction when he was 16; the alleged victim was 14. D’Angelo was accused of raping a girl under a stairwell at Niagara Falls High School and was charged with felony rape when the teen girl alleged he forced himself on her.

D’Angelo denied he was guilty at the time [2009] of raping the teen girl in high school and also denies the present civil suit alleging he raped a client in 2019.

In the 2009 alleged rape of a high school girl, when D’Angelo was also in high school, a forensic examination, made the day of the alleged rape, suggests she was not raped. This includes a medical finding that there was no evidence of any sexual activity. 

A previous lawyer of D’Angelo, Richard Saraf, provided a copy of the medical examination of the teen girl to his client, who shared it with the Reporter.

Saraf wrote to his client, in an email shared with the Reporter, “As you can see, SANE testing was performed on [name of alleged victim redacted] at the hospital. These tests appear to have resulted in all negative findings. There is no specific ‘rape testing Kit’ per see, but the tests that were taken were negative…. [the alleged rape victim’s] records from the hospital all proved negative.”

With the forensic examination showing no evidence of rape, D’Angelo was offered a plea deal to a misdemeanor sexual misconduct charge and the felony rape charge was dropped.

While D’Angelo professed innocence, claiming he never sexually accosted the girl, and that she fabricated the story, he accepted the plea deal, avoided a trial and over $40,000 in attorney fees, and admitted in court to having consensual sex with the girl.

Because they were both under the age of consent, as part of the plea deal, he was afforded youthful offender status, a sealed record and, because of that, D’Angelo has no criminal record.

It was also stated on the record that the sexual misconduct was due to age and not due to force.

To say he was convicted of a rape, as the defendants in his lawsuit allegedly stated, is false, D’Angelo says, because he did not plead guilty to rape and has no conviction for rape.

Meantime, D’Angelo is fending off the civil lawsuit by his former client and says he is planning to file multiple counterclaims against the plaintiff.

“I emphatically deny all her allegations,” said D’Angelo. “This is the second time I have been falsely accused. Unlike eleven years ago, the truth will come out this time.” 

The Reporter is told that D’Angelo plans to bring additional defamation lawsuits.  

 

See also  Reporter Investigates Rape Lawsuit Against Former Managing Editor