A New Jersey elementary school janitor is accused of performing sexual acts with school objects and contaminating food and cafeteria utensils with bodily fluids and bleach.
Giovanni Impellizzeri, 25, is accused of contaminating food and kitchen utensils in the Elizabeth Moore School cafeteria with saliva, urine and feces. He also sprayed bleach into a container of food that was later served to kids “with the intention of harming the students,” according to an affidavit of probable cause.
“I covered my mouth and started crying,” Bianca Pierce, a parent to a student at the school, told NBC Philadelphia. “I had no words. I mean, what can you say to a situation where somebody was doing those disgusting things in the school where your child’s supposed to be safe? I felt like I was stabbed in the heart.”
Authorities at the school in Upper Deerfield Township contacted the New Jersey State Police last Monday to report numerous anonymous tips about lewd social media posts by Impellizzeri, Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae said in a news release.
According to the affidavit, Impellizzeri was posting “extremely disturbing videos of himself while at work” on a Telegram group thread. The state police received multiple screenshots and videos from a social media account that appeared to show Impellizzeri “performing sexual acts with inanimate objects at the school,” officials said.
The posts showed Impellizzeri “doing things that would endanger the well-being of the students at the school,” the criminal complaint said. He contaminated even more items in another area of the school with his bodily fluids, as well, officials said.
Authorities said that they determined that Impellizzeri performed the acts while he was employed at the school, where he has worked as a custodian since September 2019, but that they were unsure whether the acts were committed recently or further in the past.
Impellizzeri, of Vineland, was arrested Tuesday and charged with aggravated assault, tampering with food products, endangering the welfare of a child and attempted misconduct, investigators said. He was also charged Thursday with official misconduct and is being held in the Cumberland County Jail.
Authorities are collecting samples of bodily fluids to determine whether there is a health risk for those who have consumed food from the school’s cafeteria.
The Upper Deerfield School District placed Impellizzeri on administrative leave, NBC Philadelphia reported.
A phone call to the public defender’s office was not immediately returned Sunday night.