Somerset Firefighter Guilty Of Child Sex Assault, Jury Finds

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, NJ — A computer repairman who once served as a volunteer firefighter and fire commissioner in Franklin Township was found guilty Tuesday for multiple sex crimes he committed against children across Middlesex County.

Thomas Canales, 39, of Somerset, sexually assaulted four victims, three of whom were children, in towns ranging from Highland Park to New Brunswick and North Brunswick. The other victim was a 32-year-old woman who said he groped her on a playground in Edison last summer.

A jury found him guilty Tuesday of seven criminal counts including three counts of sexual assault in the second degree, three counts of endangering the welfare of a child in the third degree, and one count of sexual contact in the fourth degree.

Canales owned a computer company known as “Scope It Out." He ran his business out of his home, which was located in the Somerset section of Franklin. He is still facing criminal charges in a case in which prosecutors say he installed a surveillance system in a client’s home and then watched her through his computer and cell phone.

He has been charged with sexually assaulting children before, but was acquitted: In 2013, Canales was charged with sexually assaulting two young girls over a five-year period. One of the girls said the abuse started at a camp ground in New York when she was 10 years old. At one point when she was visiting his home in Franklin Township, she said she wasn’t feeling well and Canales offered her cough syrup, NJ.com reported.

When she became drowsy and was drifting in and out of consciousness, Canales sexually assaulted her, she said.

However, in January of 2016, a jury found him not guilty in those two instances. Canales and his wife, Teresa, wept in court that day.

"I'm completely thrilled and thankful to the jurors, who did the right thing," his defense attorney, James Wronko, told NJ.com when his client was found not guilty. "I'm also saddened Mr. Canales had to be put through this. I can give him his freedom, I can give him back his good name, but I can't give him back what he and his family has endured since September 2013 when these allegations were made. It took part of his heart out. I can't fix that."

However, Canales was arrested anew later that same year, after more victims came forward. As Patch reported at the time, he was arrested Sept. 1, 2016 at his home in Somerset and hit with a slew of new charges.

During the new investigation, prosecutors say that Canales exposed himself to a seven-year-old girl in New Brunswick on July 3, 2016. He also was charged with criminal sexual contact for improperly touching a 32-year-old woman at a playground in an apartment complex in Edison on August 25, 2016.

He was also charged with exposing himself to an 11-year-old girl in North Brunswick on April 19, 2016 and improperly touching a 11-year-old girl in Highland Park on August 28, 2016.

His trial started in November of 2017 and a jury found him guilty Jan. 2, 2017. Canales is facing a prison term of up to 31 and a half years when he is sentenced in New Brunswick on May 11. He will have to register as a Megan’s Law sex offender and also be placed on Parole Supervision for Life upon his release from prison.

Canales served as a commissioner for the volunteer Franklin Township Fire District 3 between 2011 and 2012.

Detective Bill Coleman of the New Brunswick Police Department, Detective Dominick DeCarlo of the Edison Police Department, Detective Mark Morris of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, Detective Sean McGraw of the Highland Park Police Department, Detective Michael Braun of the North Brunswick Police Department and Detective Mark Morris of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office all investigated Canales in these latest charges.

Photo of Canales provided by the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office