• Victims are calling for civil lawsuits to be brought against the school
• New York Police Department scrapped investigation because claims happened too long ago to prosecute
  

By Tara Brady

PUBLISHED: 07:35 EST, 23 April 2013 | UPDATED: 07:53 EST, 23 April 2013

A former pupil of an elite school in New York has spoken for the first time about being sexually abused by staff when he was 13-years-old. 

Ron Klepper, 48, and five other alleged victims attended a press conference yesterday where they called for civil lawsuits to be brought against Horace Mann School, in the Bronx.

They were joined by attorney Gloria Allred who is representing them in the case.

The men are now in their 40s and 50s and want the Child Victims Act bill to be passed.

At the moment adults who were sexually abused as children cannot file claims after they turn 23. 

The New York Police Department scrapped its investigation against Horace Mann because the claims happened too long ago to prosecute.

But according to the New York Post, Mr Klepper, 48, said: 'The effects of that abuse on my life have been profound.

'School was no longer a safe place to learn, but turned into a frightening place where a predator lurked.

Another victim, Jon Seiger, 51, accused eight faculty members of using him as a 'sex object and personal plaything.'

'Instead of a safe, nurturing place that would educate me, Horace Mann ended up providing a perfect storm of childhood sexual abuse'. 

He says he was first raped and forced to give oral sex to headmaster Inky Clark when he was 14. 

While Daniel Shapiro, 57, now an attorney in New Jersey, says he was first assaulted when he was 15.

All alleged abusers named by the victims are dead.

Past pupils have hired a former sex-crimes prosecutor Leslie Crocker Snyder to lead an independent investigation but they are calling for the school to carry out its own.

Last year the school released a statement on its website which read: 'These allegations are highly disturbing and absolutely abhorrent.

'Horace Mann School has in place clearly articulated and enforced rules, regulations, policies, procedures, and expectations concerning appropriate behavior within our community.'