MIDDLETOWN, N.J.(1010 WINS) -- Officials charged a student-teacher at a New Jersey high school with trading images and videos of child pornography online, prosecutors announced.
Matthew Natale, 22, was charged Tuesday and faces three counts of endangering the welfare of a child and tampering with evidence for possessing and distributing child sex abuse images and videos, the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office announced Friday.
An investigation into Natale was launched after a tip was sent into the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, prosecutor Scott Coffina said.
"The investigation revealed that Natale was using email to trade images and videos of pre-pubescent boys," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
Natale, who worked at Middletown South High School, was released from custody on Monday following his initial court appearance last week.
Since his arrest, Natale was barred from returning to the campus and his employment was terminated following the charges, Middletown Township Public Schools Mary Ellen Walker said.
The allegations did not involve any "students, staff or the community" connected to the school where Natale was hired as a student-teacher at the school in fall 2020, the Asbury Park Press reported.
"The district takes the safety and security of our school community very seriously," Walker said in an email. "Upon being informed of this matter, we took immediate action to ensure that this individual is no longer permitted on district premises and that his student teaching assignment was terminated."
Natale, is also reportedly attending Monmouth University was banned from using a smartphone or accessing the internet unless he's attending college classes online or searching for a job, Coffina said.
According to district officials, Natale was also prohibited from having unsupervised contact with children and is no longer allowed to work as a student-teacher at the Monmouth County school.
There have been thirty people charged in the ongoing investigation dating back to May, Coffina said.
