Ex-School Employee Sexually Assaulted NJ Teen Several Times: Officials

RINGWOOD, NJ — Officials accused a Ringwood man of sexually assaulting a teenager several times, and have also charged him with manufacturing and possessing child pornography.

On March 7, Ringwood Police alerted the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office of multiple reports that a teen girl had been sexually assaulted between January and February of this year. The alleged victim is between the ages of 13 and 15 and the reported assaults took place at a home in West Milford, officials said.

After an investigation, authorities identified Scott Volpe as the person responsible and arrested him on Wednesday morning, the prosecutor said.

Patch learned that a man by that same name was recently employed by the Lakeland Regional School District as a custodian, and has reached out to the district for further comment. In a letter sent to families on Thursday, Superintendent Hugh Beattie confirmed that a district employee had been arrested "in connection with a crime that occurred over the past few months involving a minor child in another town."

Beattie said that employee "will not be returning to Lakeland," and that the district is cooperating with local police and the county prosecutor, according to a copy of the letter sent to Patch.

Volpe, 39, faces charges of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, second-degree sexual assault, third-degree aggravated criminal sexual contact, and fourth-degree criminal sexual contact along with third-degree counts of hindering apprehension and tampering with physical evidence. He was also charged with first, second, and third-degree counts of child endangerment related to the manufacturing and possession of child pornography, officials said.

His attorney information was not immediately available. Prosecutors have asked a judge to keep him detained in the Passaic County Jail pending trial.

Anyone who may have more information about this case is asked to contact the Prosecutor's Office tips line at 1-877-370-PCPO.