East Brunswick School Board Member In Prostitution Arrest

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ — A member of the East Brunswick Board of Education resigned Friday in the wake of revelations that he was caught in a sting at a Hazlet massage parlor that police say was secretly operating as a prostitution business.

Robert Cancro, 66, was arrested by Hazlet police at the New Look Spa on Feb. 16, Hazlet police said. He was charged with one count of engaging in prostitution.

Cancro told Patch he pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct offense, and paid a $1,000 fine. He also told Patch that he did not engage directly with prostitutes at the spa, but Hazlet police said he did indeed pay for sex.

Cancro, who met with Patch on Thursday evening, expressed regret over his actions, which he says happened when he was emotionally distraught soon after his divorce and the mass shooting murders in Florida.

"It was a bad decision. It was a moment of stupidity, weakness and craziness," Cancro said. "I view it as a failing on my part, and I am embarrassing the people I care about the most. Nothing really happened. I was in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and I made a bad decision."

Cancro said he decided to resign from the school board because he "let people down." He submitted his resignation Friday morning, East Brunswick schools Superintendent Dr. Victor Valeski confirmed to Patch. The board will vote whether to accept his resignation at their next regularly scheduled meeting this Thursday, April 26. Valeski said he was confident the board would accept the resignation.

Cancro was one of three local men arrested at New Look Spa, which Hazlet police have been quietly monitoring since January. Hazlet police started investigating the "spa" at 1222 Highway 36 in January of this year after they said they received numerous complaints about the business.

Hazlet police made multiple surprise visits to New Look during the months of January and February. On Feb. 16, Cancro was arrested as he was driving away from the spa, police said.

When contacted by Patch about the arrest, Cancro asked for an in-person meeting.

"In January, my marriage of 42 years ended in divorce," he said. "To say it was a difficult time is putting it mildly. It doesn't excuse anything, but it just puts it in perspective. It was Feb. 16, two days after Valentine's Day. And two days after the Parkland shooting. Valentine's Day was not the best of days for me. I was feeling out of it, down."

He paused to collect himself, clearly emotional.

"I often just drive to Sandy Hook, to the beach, to feel better. It's always been a happy place for me to clear my head. So I got in my car that day and just drove. I guess that's where I was headed," he said. "I was just driving down Rt. 36. I have a friend who does that kind of thing ..."

He trailed off, referring to the massage parlor. "And he told me this is an easy way to release what's in your head."

Cancro said he pulled into the parking lot at New Look Spa and sat in his car for 15 minutes before going in. He said he walked in, talked to the staff for a bit and then walked out.

"I left and sat in the car again," he said. "I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I was so upset and confused."

It wasn't until he was driving back down Rt. 36 again that he was stopped by a Hazlet police car.

"He asked, 'Did you make any stops here?' And then he said, 'Don't lie to me, I know what you did.' I told him where I had stopped, and he asked if I knew what went on in there. I told him yes. And he arrested me," said Cancro.

But Hazlet Deputy Police Chief Ted Wittke says that Cancro admitted to the arresting officer that he had paid for sex at that location.

Cancro said he stands by his account of what happened that day. He hired a lawyer, who wanted to fight the charge. But he said he just wanted to make the whole thing go away as soon as possible, so he pleaded guilty to a disorderly persons offense.

Two more alleged johns were arrested at the spa on Feb. 27: Elliot Roche, 26, of Old Bridge and Murat Turkyilmaz, 48, of Keyport, were both charged with engaging in prostitution at New Look.

On Thursday, March 15, Hazlet police raided the spa with a prostitution search warrant. One employee, Mei Shu Jin, 47, of Brooklyn, was arrested and charged with prostitution.

Cancro is a long-established part of the East Brunswick school community: Before he was elected as a board member, he was an East Brunswick public school teacher for years, as well as an administrator in the district. School board members are elected to unpaid terms; Cancro and the other eight Board members oversee the East Brunswick public school budget of $149 million.

Past Patch reporting: Hwy. 36 Spa In Hazlet A Prostitution Front, Police Say

Photo of Robert Cancro from the East Brunswick Board of Education website.