Middletown Scout Master Charged With Sending Lewd Texts To Boy

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — An assistant Boy Scout leader in Middletown, who lives in Hazlet, was arrested and charged Friday with exchanging multiple sexually explicit messages with a young boy.

The shocking allegations were announced Saturday morning by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, who investigated the case along with the Middletown Township Police Department. Joseph Palermo, 25, is a volunteer Assistant Scoutmaster in the Boy Scouts of America and lives in Hazlet. He is charged with third degree endangering the welfare of a child.

Palermo was released after his first appearance before Monmouth County Judge James M. Newman on Friday, December 15. The conditions of his release include no unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18, no contact with the victim and a requirement to report to pretrial services in person once every other week and telephonically every other week.

If convicted, he faces a sentence of three to five years in prison. Palermo is pictured above in a photo provided by the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Shawn Murphy of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office at 732-431-7160 ext. 7032 or Detective Darrin Simon of the Middletown Police Department at 732-615-2100. Anyone who feels the need to remain anonymous but has information about a crime can contact Monmouth County Crime Stoppers confidential telephone tip-line by calling 1-800-671-4400; can text “MONMOUTH” plus their tip to 274637; or, they can email a tip via the website at www.monmouthcountycrimestoppers.com.

Palermo is represented by Ryan Clark, Esq. of Freehold.