Mayor’s Daughter Charged For Having Sex With Teenage Student

A school teacher, whose father was the mayor of Lodi, New Jersey, was arrested and charged with exchanging explicit photos and videos and having sex with a minor, acting Bergen County Prosecutor Dennis Calo said Monday.

Stephanie Carafa, 32, was a teacher at Thomas Jefferson High School in Bergen County. She was arrested Saturday on charges of child endangerment and aggravated criminal sexual contact in connection with her relationship with a 16-year-old.

Emil Carafa Jr., her father, was the mayor of the township where the school is located, a report in the New York Post said.

The investigation into the case was conducted by the Prosecutor’s Office and the Lodi Police Department. Officers received information about the incident which said she had a relationship with a juvenile under the age of 16, Calo said.

The mayor told the northjersey.com his daughter was the “love of my life, as is my family.”

“There is a process in this country, and that process is the court of law,” he said. “I know that people in their human nature are inquisitive, and I understand that. I respect their inquisitiveness, but my main concern right now is my daughter.”

When approached by the northjersey.com, Mike Nardino, Carafa’s cousin who was also a Board of Education trustee, said he could not comment on the incident as it was a personnel matter. The report said he referred all the questions to the Prosecutor’s Office.

Carafa, who was hired in 2012 and earned $49,281 a year, according to state pension records, was scheduled for a detention hearing in Hackensack on Friday.

In an unrelated incident, a Montgomery Township, New Jersey, high school teacher was arrested Oct. 5 and charged for sending explicit pictures of herself to a 17-year-old student with whom she had inappropriate conversations.

Somerset County Prosecutor Michael H. Robertson said Michelina Aichele, 29, of Hillsborough, was arrested after police were notified of the incident by the boy Oct. 4. He told officers the teacher had been sending him nude pictures of herself for months. He also said they had sexually explicit conversations on social media and through email.

She was charged with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, was held at the Somerset County Jail. She was suspended and removed from the high school as well. Aichele was a teacher in the district for three years, state pension records said.

"The teacher's suspension shall be continued pending a resolution of the criminal charges, and the District will continue to cooperate with the Somerset County Prosecutor and the Montgomery Township Police Department,” a letter from Nancy Gartenberg, Superintendent Montgomery Township Schools, said.