Teacher accused of having child with N.J. student is released from jail

A teacher in Cape May County was released from prison on Tuesday after being accused of sexually abusing a pupil who lived in her home for four years.

During a roughly 45-minute detention hearing, Superior Court Judge J. Christopher Gibson declared that Laura Caron is not a flight risk and will be released with restrictions while her case is pending.

Caron, 34, of Middle Township’s Cape May Court House neighborhood, was told not to speak to the now-adult alleged victim or his family. The judge further mandated that Caron only interact with her daughter, who is five years old.

According to authorities, the student Caron is accused of sexually abusing is the father of the 5-year-old.

The judge stated that Caron has no criminal background, but he did call the accusations against her worrisome and despicable. Additionally, the judge ruled that there was no proof Caron tried to impede the inquiry during the weeks between her arrest on Wednesday and her administrative leave from her position as a fifth-grade teacher at Middle Township Elementary School No. 2 on December 17.

During the hearing, Caron sat silently behind her lawyer, John Tumelty, wearing an orange jumpsuit from the Cape May County jail, her wrists and feet cuffed.

Tumelty contended that there is insufficient physical evidence to implicate Caron and that DNA testing on Caron, the alleged victim, and Caron’s daughter has not been finished. He went on to say that before Caron was indicted, her record as a teacher and community member was flawless.

According to an affidavit of probable cause in the case, Middle Township School District Superintendent David Salvo received an anonymous report on December 12 that suggested a teacher may have sexually assaulted a student, sparking the start of the Caron investigation.

According to the affidavit, the report to the police was based on a Facebook post made by the student’s father, who noted that Caron’s 5-year-old child resembled both him and his son.

According to authorities, Caron’s child was born in 2019 at the age of 28, while the claimed victim was 13 and residing in her house. Earlier this month, the adolescent admitted to police that he is the father of the kid of his former instructor.

According to the boy’s father, Caron taught the accused victim and his sibling in the fifth grade. According to the court filings, the parents started letting their kids stay at Caron’s house after the boy’s mother grew close to the teacher.

The boys eventually became full-time residents of Caron’s home. Between 2016 and 2020, Caron allegedly sexually molested the youngster roughly twice a week, according to the authorities.

Caronis faces charges of second-degree sexual assault, first-degree aggravated sexual assault, and endangering a child’s welfare.

During the hearing, Tumelty stated that Caron’s 89-year-old grandmother lives next door and that she has lived in the house with her mother for many years. According to the lawyer, Caron looks after her grandmother.

According to her lawyer, Caron grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and has three siblings. Before relocating to Cape May County to begin her teaching career, she played basketball for four years at Carrini College in Radnor, Pennsylvania.

On February 25, Caron has a pre-indictment conference set.

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You can contact Jeff Goldman at [email protected].