Maplewood School Employee Sentenced For Exposing Himself To Kids – Maplewood, NJ Patch

MAPLEWOOD, NJ – Jefferson Elementary School employee Kenneth Palmer has been sentenced to 10 years in New Jersey State Prison for masturbating in the hallways of the school and taking an inappropriate photograph of a student, according to Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens II.

Palmer, 22, of Randolph was arrested on Sept. 28, 2017 at a Shop Rite in Succasunna in a different case. During that investigation by the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office, authorities discovered on his phone videos of Palmer masturbating in front of children, authorities said.

It was later determined the conduct took place in the hallways of Jefferson school, where he was employed. He also took an “upskirt” photo of a little girl at the same school, officials said.

It was unclear whether children saw his conduct, but the law does not require that they observe him. He was charged in Essex County with sexual assault for engaging in an act of criminal sexual contact with himself in view of children younger than 13, said Assistant Prosecutor Deborah Freier, who handled the case.

Palmer entered a guilty plea on Oct. 15, 2018 on multiple counts of sexual assault by contact and one count of endangering the welfare of a child for taking the “upskirt” image of the child.

The Honorable John Zunic, Judge of the Superior Court, sentenced Palmer to 10 years, seven of which are subject to the No Early Release Act.

“New Jersey law protects children under the age of 13 from being subjected to sexual conduct like this, regardless of whether they saw or understood it,” Freier said.

After Palmer’s initial arrest interim South-Orange Maplewood Superintendent Thomas Ficarra sent a letter to parents, noting that the hiring of Palmer was done through an outside contractor.

“It should also be noted that, as required by State Law, the paraprofessional was cleared to work by the NJ Department of Education Criminal History Review Unit prior to being assigned to work at Jefferson,” Ficarra said.

Palmer also worked previously at the Randolph Community School from October of 2015 through January of 2017 before resigning. After his arrest, the Randolph School District sent out a release noting that the alleged offense did not occur while Palmer was a Randolph employee.

“There were no allegations of inappropriate conduct while he worked in Randolph,” the release said.

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