Teacher charged with child porn passed background checks, school officials say
A Middletown man charged last week with child porn had just started teaching middle schoolers at a private Catholic school roughly five months ago.
Todd Philip Napolitano is now on administrative leave.
The Archdiocese of Philadelphia said in a press statement the seventh- and eighth-grade teacher at St. Charles Borromeo School had passed all of his background checks and child abuse clearances before he began working at the school in September.
"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," the statement reads in part.
The Bucks County District Attorney's Office said Napolitano was sharing and downloading child pornography in November.
He was arraigned on Friday on felony charges of possessing child pornography, disseminating photography of child sex acts and criminal use of a communications facility. He was sent to Bucks County Prison on $1 million bail.
Woman charged in overdose death:Bensalem woman charged with giving drugs that led to overdose death in Warrington
Teen charged in killing:Bensalem teen sent Instagram video asking for help after killing teen girl, 13: court documents
For subscribers:Retired Bensalem cop is working to solve cold cases, and fund new DNA technology
The charges against Napolitano are allegations; he has not been convicted of any crime in this case.
A Bensalem detective monitoring use of a specific file-sharing program discovered 19 images of child pornography in mid-November, according to Napolitano's criminal complaint.
Investigators tracked the IP address of the computer to the teacher's home, police said. While serving a search warrant at the home Friday, Napolitano told authorities he used the program to download files, court documents state.
He told investigators he did download the files that contained child pornography, but then deleted them, Bensalem police said.
The Archdiocese and the DA's office said the alleged activity did not involve any students.
Napolitano was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the case, according to the statement.
A message left for his attorney seeking comment Tuesday was not immediately returned.
Napolitano's preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled for Jan. 26.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: St. Charles Borromeo School teacher charged with possessing child porn
