'Hope so,' janitor reportedly said of whether kids would get sick at South Jersey school

BRIDGETON — An elementary school custodian bragged in an online chat group he repeatedly exposed cafeteria food and equipment to bleach, his bodily fluids, and his feces in order to sicken children, according to testimony Thursday in Cumberland County Superior Court.

County Assistant Prosecutor Lindsey Seidel introduced as evidence screenshots of imagery and messages purportedly created by Giovanni A. Impellizzeri, a custodian at Elizabeth F. Moore School in Upper Deerfield Township since 2019.

New Jersey State Police arrested Impellizzeri on Oct. 31 based on information from an anonymous source. Judge Cristen D’Arrigo on Thursday rejected a recommendation to release Impellizzeri, ordering he stay in jail as a serious risk to public safety.

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'Not my problem,' defendant posted of sick kids

Seidel described one chat room screenshot as showing Impellizzeri, wearing a Woodruff School shirt, with his hand in a container of cucumbers. The custodian used the encrypted phone application Telegram to access the chat room.

“He states, ‘Honestly. I put bleach in their food before. They were fine, just a little sick. Oh, well. Not my problem,’” Seidel said, reading from the post. “He also indicated, ‘I’m very (expletive) sick in the head. I admit that.’”

Continuing, she said, “And he indicated, ‘They had taco meat before, and I put some … poop in there and mixed it in and nobody knew the difference. They ate the (expletive) right up.’”

Seidel said one video shows the defendant setting up a phone to record in the cafeteria as he unwraps a cucumber container. He then allegedly uses a bottle of Clorox Clean-Up to spray the cucumbers.

“He mixes the spray into the cucumbers, spits in the cumbers, and then sprays some more,” Seidel told the court. “He then looks at the camera and says, ‘Oh. They smell just like (expletive) bleach, dude. They’re going to get so (expletive) sick off this (expletive). They’re going to get so (expletive) sick, dude.’ He then proceeds to put the plastic wrap back on the container of cucumbers.”

Seidel said the investigation so far indicates the alleged acts occurred both while Impellizzeri was alone in the school and while it was in use. But authorities are unsure about a time period. At least some alleged incidents are believed to have happened this October.

Seidel disclosed two new charges were filed Wednesday against Impellizzeri, bringing the count to eight. The defendant now also is alleged to have committed offenses while off work at a tanning salon.

Impellizzeri, a 25-year-old Vineland resident, was jailed initially on five charges and a sixth charge was added the next day.

Judge: No way defendant qualifies for jail release

On Thursday, Impellizzeri appeared by jail video link for his probable cause and pre-trial detention hearings. Two Public Safety Assessments done for the pre-trial detention hearing scored the defendant as eligible for release.

D’Arigo, though, rejected release.

“It runs its algorithms, and it generates a recommendation. But it’s just that. It’s a recommendation. And the reason we have these proceedings is because we have not yet come to the point where computers run every aspect of our lives.”

Seidel also disclosed Impellizzeri calls himself a satanist and noted his messages state that he is always doing the “devil’s work.”

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “satanism,” a term dating at least to the mid-1500s, as “innate wickedness” or an “obsession with or affinity for evil, specifically: worship of Satan marked by the travesty of Christian rites.”

“Because of these fetishes and compulsions, as he already has expressed via his messages to others, there is a high probability that he will continue to place the public at risk of contaminations by bodily fluid anywhere that he goes,” Seidel said. “If he can’t control himself in an elementary school setting full of children, what is to stop him from attempting similar things in a McDonald’s or in a grocery store.”

Public Defender Emily Bell told the court Impellizzeri has “a long history of mental illness.” His release from jail would facilitate further treatment, she argued.

“When I heard these charges, when I saw this and when I’ve continued to see what the state is providing, what screamed out to me is 'mental health, crisis, mental illness,’” Bell said. “This guy’s going off the rails. He’s screaming for help.”

The initial charges filed were: One count of third-degree aggravated assault; two counts of third-degree food tampering; one count of third-degree endangering the welfare of a child; and one count of third-degree attempted endangering of the welfare of a child. One count of second-degree official misconduct was filed Nov. 1.

The charges filed Nov. 8 are second-degree endangering the welfare of children and third-degree possession of exploitive child sex materials.

Seidel said troopers searching the defendant’s phone found videos involving child abuse.

“One of the videos involves an infant child, and the other involves pre-pubescent boys,” Seidel said. “And detectives were able to determine the defendant had shared at least one of those videos with others during the month of October.”

Criminal charges are not proof of guilt, only the start of the court process.

Joe Smith is a N.E. Philly native transplanted to South Jersey 36 years ago, keeping an eye now on government in South Jersey. He is a former editor and current senior staff writer for The Daily Journal in Vineland, Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, and the Burlington County Times.

Have a tip? Reach out at jsmith@thedailyjournal.com. Support local journalism with a subscription.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Giovanni Impellizzeri wanted kids to get sick, video claims