Papa indicted in Bergen

Vernon - A Bergen County grand jury on Oct. 23 handed down an indictment charging former Vernon Township School administrator Thomas Papa with luring and attempted endangerment of the welfare of a minor. If convicted, Papa faces five to 10 years in state prison on the luring charge, which is a second-degree crime, and three to five years on the attempted endangerment charge, which is a third-degree crime. Conviction would also mean that Papa would have to register as a sex offender, said Brian Sinclair, assistant prosecutor and chief of the computer crimes unit in Bergen County. Papa was 45 years old when he was arrested on April 25, 2008, in Bergen County when, it is charged, he showed up at a site to meet an undercover detective from that county’s prosecutor’s office who had been posing online as a 14-year-old girl. The sting was part of a joint investigation of Sussex and Bergen County into allegations that Papa was using the Internet to contact 13- and 14-year-old girls to arrange liaisons. Papa was also arrested in Sussex County and charged there with endangering the welfare of a child. That case was moved to Bergen County, where the computer crimes task force of the prosecutor’s office still has it under investigation. On April 30, 2008, the Vernon Township Board of Education unanimously voted to fire Papa from his $143,658 per year job. Papa posted bail of $75,000 in Bergen County and $15,000 in Sussex County and remains out on bail. He is prohibited from using the Internet and being in contact with any children other than his own. Papa is married and has three children. A pre-arraignment hearing for Papa has been set for Nov. 12. He is being represented by Leonard M. Bitterman.