St. Charles Borromeo Teacher Charged With Child Porn Possession: DA

BUCKS COUNTY, PA —A Bucks County teacher has been charged with possession of child pornography, authorities said.

Todd Philip Napolitano, 39, of Middletown Township, was charged and arrested Friday with the dissemination of photos or film of child sex acts, possession of child pornography, and criminal use of a communication facility, the Bucks County District Attorney's Office said.

Napolitano is a teacher at St. Charles Borromeo School in Bensalem and began working there in September. A call seeking comment to St. Charles Borromeo School was left by Patch Friday afternoon.

He was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Michael W. Petrucci who remanded Napolitano to Bucks County Correctional Facility under $1 million bail, 10 percent.

Conditions of his bail include having no contact with minors and no access to computers.

The investigation began on Nov. 16 after a Bensalem detective working an undercover operation to monitor computer activity discovered a computer user downloading and sharing child pornography. The detective was able to download 19 images from the user’s computer.

Those images were reviewed and identified as depicting child pornography.

The detective then tracked the IP address to a home in Middletown Township, which belongs to Napolitano.

A search warrant was served at Napolitano’s home in the 100 block of Bateman Road on Friday.

There are no known local victims at this time, and the images did not involve students from St. Charles Borromeo School.

“These developments are both serious and deeply disturbing. Mr. Napolitano has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of this criminal matter,” said Kenneth A. Gavin, chIef communications officer for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. “The school, parish, and Archdiocese are cooperating with law enforcement. Prior to beginning service at Saint Charles Borromeo Parish School this September, Mr. Napolitano produced criminal background checks and child abuse clearances, neither of which showed any prior misconduct. In addition, current ACT 168 documentation indicated that he had not been involved in improprieties with minors at schools where he taught previously.”

“There was no prior indication that Mr. Napolitano was potentially involved in activity of this nature and no allegations of inappropriate behavior had been lodged against him during his brief time at Saint Charles Borromeo Parish School,” Gavin said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Middletown Township Detective Kevin Platenecky at kplatenecky@mtpd.org, or 215-750-3861.

This case was investigated by the Bensalem Police Department and Middletown Township Police Departments. Chief Deputy Kristin M. McElroy is assigned for prosecution.