Editor charged with sexually assaulting four girls

Morristown, N.J. n A grand jury earlier this week indicted Mario Palomo, the former managing editor of two sister publications to The Warwick Advertiser, on 16 counts of sexual assault and endangering the welfare of minors. Palomo, 45, was arrested last summer and accused of sexually assaulting his niece since 1999. The indictment handed down Tuesday charged him with also having sex with three other young girls under the age of 13 between 1993 and 2002. At least one of the three newly named victims is related to Palomo. The Morris County Grand Jury charged Palomo with five counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, five counts of second-degree sexual assault, five counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child and one count of third-degree sexual assault. The penalty for the top count n first-degree aggravated assault - carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. Palomo, a native of El Salvador, was suspended without pay as managing editor of The Township Journal and The Sparta Independent following his arrest by Mount Olive Township Police on Aug. 24, 2006. He has remained in Morris County Jail since then on $1 million bail. Assistant Morris County Prosecutor Meg Rodriguez said Wednesday that Palomo was acquainted with all the girls although she said she could not disclose those relationships. Rodriguez, who is part of the sex crime child endangerment unit of the prosecutor’s office, added that authorities knew about a second alleged victim at the time of Palomo’s arrest last August but chose to initially move forward only with the one case. The third and fourth victims, now in their early 20s, came forward after reading press reports about the case. According to the charges, Palomo had “a legal duty” or had “assumed the responsibility for the care” of each of the four girls. “The charges in this indictment, if anything, are even more disturbing than those at the time Mr. Palomo was arrested and come as a continuing shock to us, said Jeanne Straus, president of Straus Newspapers Inc. which owns The Township Journal, The Sparta Independent and seven other weeklies in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. “We had no knowledge until reading the indictment that there was more than one alleged victim. Mr. Palomo remains suspended without pay.” Palomo began work at Straus Newspapers in December 2000. 1993-1995 The indictment alleges sexual abuse beginning in 1993 in Asbury in Hunterdon County with two children who are now in their early 20s. Palomo is accused of sexually assaulting the two girls in what appear to be separate incidents between Jan. 1, 1993, and Dec. 31, 1995. The girls are identified by their initials and their dates of birth; one would have been seven years old in January 1993, the other eight. The indictment gives no indication of how Palomo knew the children, nor where the abuse may have taken place. He faces a total of six charges involving these two young women. Rodriguez said the young women “are doing as well as can be expected.” 1999-2002 Counts eight through ten of the indictment involve a fourth child, a relative, who was born in the fall of 1990. Between Jan. 1, 1999 n when the child would have been less than nine years old n and Sept. 1, 2002, Palomo is accused of sexually assaulting her, when he was living in Frelinghuysen Township in Warren County. 1999-2006 In 1997, Palomo’s eight year old niece came to live with him in the United States to attend school in this country. Police described Palomo as the victim’s biological uncle, although they said that “he represents himself as her father.” The indictment includes seven charges covering alleged episodes from Jan. 1, 1999, until Aug. 24, 2006, in Frelinghuysen Township in Warren County and then in Mount Olive Township in Morris County. The niece, who is now 17, returned to her family in El Salvador, according to what Palomo’s aunt told the newspaper last summer. Rodriguez said she expects Palomo to be arraigned within three to five weeks. Palomo pled not guilty when he was arrested last summer. Public Defender Michael Fletcher declined comment Tuesday, saying he had not yet seen the indictment. He said he last saw Palomo about a month ago.