METUCHEN (NJ)
WABC [New York City NY]
May 28, 2025
MIDDLESEX COUNTY, New Jersey (WABC) — A teacher working at a Catholic high school in Edison, New Jersey has been accused of creating child porn.
Axel Palomares, 50, a Spanish teacher and girls’ soccer coach at Saint Thomas Aquinas High School, has been arrested and charged with creating and possessing child sexual abuse material, child endangerment, and invasion of privacy.
Detective Ken McGarry of the Internet Crimes Against Children Unit opened an investigation into Palomares after receiving a tip from one of the apps police say the suspect was using to share his illicit exploits.
The warrant alleges that from April 2022 to at least March 2025, Palomares sexually abused students and taped said abuse in his classroom. Police claim that Palomares secretly photographed and filmed images of unaware undergarment-clad children and students in compromising positions at the school and at stores and restrooms at Bridgewater and Short Hills malls.
On Tuesday, Palomares was arrested without incident at his Morristown home.
Police also entered the school campus to investigate, and the school is cooperating with authorities, the Catholic Diocese of Metuchen says.
“We are devastated to learn that some of our students’ privacy may have been violated by this sickening conduct,” the Diocese said in statement, adding that counseling will be available to students and the school plans to work with law enforcement to better protect its students.
Family members of students at the school say justice needs to be served.
“Somebody just doesn’t do this out of the clear blue. This has been going on … of course, they didn’t catch it, and so this is what we’re faced with,” said Jacqueline Casey, whose granddaughter attends the school.
Palomares is being held at the Middlesex County Adult Correctional Facility, pending the results of a pre-trial detention hearing.
Police say the investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is encouraged to call Detective McGarry of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at 732-745-3140.