Perth Amboy Magnet carpentry teacher charged with criminal sexual contact

By Alvin Wu
Domestic Affairs
Perth Amboy Magnet carpentry teacher charged with criminal sexual contact

Emblems of the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office and Perth Amboy Police Department, the law enforcement agencies investigating this case. MCPO, PAPD/Emblems

Dec. 23 (ZFJ) — Edward White, 56, of Tinton Falls, N.J., was arrested on charges of inappropriately touching students on Dec. 13, announced Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone and Chief Lawrence Cattano of the Perth Amboy Police Department.

In a statement on Dec. 14, a Thursday, Middlesex County Magnet Schools Superintendent Jorge E. Diaz said that the school district became aware of an “alleged incident involving a teacher and a student” on Dec. 8, a Friday. The district immediately reported the teacher to the police, placed him on administrative leave, and banned him from school grounds.

In one criminal complaint, the police said that one student said that the teacher had slapped and grabbed her buttocks with his hand in carpentry class on Nov. 15, 2023, and had previously made comments about her body.

The student told police that, on Nov. 16, 2023, White kept her for a few minutes after class and apologized to her for touching her.

Another student was present during this apology and also gave a witness statement. Detectives searched her phone with her consent and found text message conversations with the first student from Nov. 15 about the day’s incident.

In a second criminal complaint, a detective wrote that another student told police that the teacher had touched her buttocks with his hand at the end of her junior year between January 2023 and September 2023. The student also said that White had poked her buttocks with a broom in carpentry class and made comments about her body and how her pants fit.

White surrendered to Perth Amboy police on Dec. 13 and was charged with two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual contact and two counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child.

Public records show that White has been employed by Middlesex County Magnet Schools, formerly called Middlesex County Vocational and Technical Schools, since September 2015 and was paid $80,107 a year.

Authorities are asking anyone with information to call Detective Olivia Ankudowicz of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit at 732-745-8083 or Detective Reymond Nolasco of the Perth Amboy Police Department at 732-324-3879.

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