NJ school coach, teacher’s aide busted on child sex-abuse image charges

🔺 NJ school staffer arrested
🔺Paraprofessional and wrestling coach
🔺Accused of having child sex abuse images

A 52-year-old middle school teacher's aide who also has coached wrestling in Somerset County has been accused of having child sex abuse materials.

On Tuesday, Nicholas Cringoli was arrested and charged with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, for possession of items depicting sexual exploitation and/or abuse of a child.

Law enforcement carried out a search warrant at Cringoli’s Raritan Borough home after 6 a.m., Somerset County Prosecutor John McDonald said.

Cringoli has worked as a paraprofessional at Franklin Middle School-Sampson G. Smith Campus, as well as a school wrestling coach.

The public school district includes seven elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school, serving 7,352 students in pre-K through 12th grades.

School administrators said it appeared that the allegations were not connected to school.

A question about Cringoli's employment status was not immediately answered, as the school cited the ongoing investigation.

Read More: NJ middle school teacher accused of sharing child sex abuse files

Detectives from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Computer Crimes Unit were notified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children of an upload of images of child exploitation or abuse of a child.

Cringoli’s electronic devices were seized and an initial forensic examination revealed multiple such images.

He was being held in Somerset County Jail on Wednesday, pending a court hearing.

Anyone with information relating to the investigation was urged to contact the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Computer Crimes Unit at 908-231-7100 or the Raritan Borough Police Department at 908-725-6700 or via the STOPit app. The STOPit app allows citizens to provide anonymous reports including videos and photos.

Information can also be provided anonymously through the Somerset County Crime Stoppers’ Tip Line at 1-888-577-TIPS (8477).

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