Crime & Safety
New Milford Man Charged with Endangering Welfare of Child in Fort Lee
Police said a 22-year-old New Milford man allegedly engaged in inappropriate conduct with a minor at Fort Lee High School, including transmitting obscene images.
A New Milford man was arrested Tuesday at and charged with endangering the welfare of a child and promoting obscene material, both third degree crimes, Fort Lee police said.
According to police, Matthew Levey, 22, a food service worker from an outside contractor, allegedly “engaged in conduct with a child under the age of 16, which would impair or debauch the morals of a juvenile.”
“It involves the transmitting of images,” said Capt. Keith Bendul of the Fort Lee Police Department.
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“Our school resource officer (SRO), who was in the school, received information from the school district of an incident,” Bendul said. “The SRO immediately launched an investigation, which led to the arrest.”
Levey was arraigned in Fort Lee Municipal Court by Judge John R. DeSheplo and released on $5,000 bail, police said.
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“The safety of children is always the top priority of the ,” Bendul said. “We work with the school district, and this is the way the system is supposed to work. They get information, they let us know and we launch the investigation.”
School officials said Thursday they would release a statement on the school district’s website soon.
The case is being referred to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, police said.
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