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A former New Jersey elementary teacher who retired to dress up as Santa Claus for the holidays was arrested on child porn charges.
Mark Paulino, 64, of Hamilton Square, was investigated by the New Jersey State Police’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit after he allegedly uploaded multiple files of suspected child sexual abuse onto the internet.
Authorities said the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children got a tip on December 3 from Yahoo that someone had uploaded child pornography.
The former educator allegedly filmed a child in a bedroom and sent it to himself or someone else via his Yahoo email account, according to a criminal complaint obtained by the Daily Mail.
Prosecutors said Paulino filmed a Zoom recording of a 10-year-old girl. She was sitting in her bedroom during a virtual class back in 2020, when schools had gone remote during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Paulino faces second- and third-degree child sex abuse material charges, as well as one count of endangering the welfare of a child.
A SWAT team surrounded his property on December 5, seizing multiple items as evidence and taking him into custody without incident.
In 2021, Paulino retired from as an elementary school teacher in the Hamilton Township School District, where he was known as ‘Santa Mark’ for just how often he donned the St Nick getup.
Mark Paulino, 64, of Hamilton Square, New Jersey, was arrested and charged with a slew of child sex crimes
He was an elementary school teacher for decades and when he retired in 2021, he became a Santa-for-hire. He dressed up as old St Nick for events
Paulino appeared in court on Friday in an orange prison-issued jumpsuit. The judge released him under the condition that he doesn’t interact with any children
After his retirement, he became a Santa-for-hire, dressing up as the cookie-eating and milk-drinking character for events. He even did lectures on the history of Christmas, his website said.
‘Due to his active engagement with young children in that role, detectives worked around the clock to obtain a search warrant,’ the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office said in a press release.
Paulino started working with children in 1984 as a substitute teacher and a swimming instructor, before becoming a special education teacher that taught various age groups.
‘Now I’m pursuing my lifelong wish to be Santa Claus,’ he wrote on his website.
He even visited Finnish Lapland in the Arctic Circle, which is known as the home of Santa Claus. The father-of-two made the trip with his youngest son.
‘We saw the northern lights (twice!), rode on a reindeer-pulled sleigh & dog sled, and did plenty of snowshoeing,’ he wrote.
Paulino appeared in court on Friday in an orange jump suit, after prosecutors filed a motion to detain him pending trial.
The judge allowed him to be released on the condition that he has no contact with any children while his case is ongoing.
Paulino is a father-of-two who had visited Finnish Lapland in the Arctic Circle with his youngest son
Paulino is pictured at a No Kings protest in a Facebook photo. After a Friday court hearing he was released on the condition he does not have any contact with children while the case is ongoing
Paulino, who could face at least two decades in prison if convicted, is not the only man to allegedly use a Santa Claus costume as a cover to get close to children
The Daily Mail has reached out to the Paulino family and the school district for comment.
Paulino’s attorney, Robin Kay Lord, denied all the charges against her client and asked the community to ‘avoid rushing to judgment.’
‘My client has devoted years to portraying Santa Claus in local communities, spreading joy to children and families during the holiday season. He categorically denies the allegations made against him and maintains his complete innocence,’ she said in a statement to CBS News Philadelphia.
‘These charges do not reflect who he is, what he stands for or how he has lived his life. We urge the public to remember that in our justice system every person is presumed innocent,’ she added.
At the hearing where her client was released, Kay Lord pointed out that one of the cyber tips that allegedly implicate Paulino came from the Bronx in New York City, about 76 miles away from where he lives.
‘This is probably the saddest case of a rush to judgment that I’ve ever seen in my 40 years of practicing law,’ Kay Lord said. ‘They got a cyber tip, so they know that somebody out there on the World Wide Web has alleged child pornography. They have yet to connect it to this gentleman.’
Paulino faces at least two decades of prison time, given that second-degree crimes in New Jersey carry five to ten year sentences, as well as fines up to $150,000.
Paulino is far from the only man to allegedly use a Santa Claus costume as a cover to get close to children.
A 78-year-old Santa impersonator in North Carolina was arrested and charged with 13 counts of child abuse last year, the New York Post reported.
As far away as Australia, a convicted pedophile tried to enter a daycare center while dressed as Santa.
The man was convicted in 2007 of sexually abusing a child. He served eight months behind bars and was prohibited from engaging in any child-related work.
