Parents Horrified After Janitor Accused of Tainting Food With Bodily Fluids

Parents in a New Jersey school district were horrified following the arrest of a custodian accused of tainting food and other items with bodily fluids and spraying bleach on food while working in an elementary school.

Giovanni Impellizzeri, 25, of Vineland, was charged with third-degree aggravated assault, two counts of third-degree tampering with food products, third-degree endangering the welfare of a child, and third-degree attempted endangering the welfare of a child and second-degree official misconduct.

The charges relate to alleged conduct by Impellizzeri while working as a custodian at the Elizabeth Moore School, an elementary school in Upper Deerfield Township, the Cumberland County Prosecutor's Office said in a news release.

According to court documents, the school received multiple anonymous tips about "alarming posts" that Impellizzeri allegedly made on the messaging app Telegram.

One person reported that Impellizzeri texted and posted videos of himself "performing sexual acts with items from the school, as well as doing things that would endanger the well-being of the students at the school," police wrote in a probable cause affidavit.

Impellizzeri was "seen masturbating and urinating on pillows and kitchen bowls," the affidavit said.

Video also showed him "spraying bleach in a container of cucumbers, that was later served to children at the school, with the intention of harming the students," it added. "Video showed Giovanni Impellizzeri utilized multiple pieces of bread to wipe his penis, testicles, and anus, as well as spitting on the bread, before putting the bread back into the container to be later served to children at the school."

The prosecutor's office said detectives recovered items matching or resembling those seen in the videos.

Authorities are working to determine if the alleged conduct occurred recently or sometime in the past, the prosecutor's office added. Impellizzeri has been employed by the Upper Deerfield Township School District since September 2019.

Parents of students at the school were outraged and demanding answers. More than 500 people have signed a petition calling for the resignation of Upper Deerfield Township Schools Superintendent Peter Koza.

"The administration knew since [October 30] and all parents have received [as of 11/03] was a robo-call recorded message saying children were not directly involved," the petition says.

"Children potentially ingesting food contaminated by bodily fluids and bleach is certainly direct contact and the affected children are victims of a sex crime. Counselors and therapists should have been brought into the school....The schools were not closed for deep cleaning and no guidance was given as to how to mitigate potential health affects. It is unimaginable children were required to eat in the cafeteria were these crimes took place all week."

In an update on Monday, the petition said the school was cleaned by a professional cleaning company over the weekend, but others in district were not.

"Our children should not have been allowed in the schools until this cleaning had been done and these services were in place," the post said. "We should not have had to fight for this common sense response but it seems we will have to do just that every step of the way. We know the janitor had access to all three schools."

In a letter sent to parents, Koza said an independent contractor "conducted a thorough cleaning and sanitization of the entire Moore school over the weekend."

"All schools will continue to be cleaned and sanitized daily following strict protocols," Koza wrote in the letter, provided to Newsweek.

Koza said additional counselors will be on site at the district's schools starting this week. "We also are arranging additional support for health-related questions," he said.

Newsweek has reached out to the prosecutor's office via email for comment.

Dawn Gillard, whose 11-year-old son goes to the school, told NJ Advance Media that she was outside the school with other parents on Friday waiting to speak to Koza.

"I feel appalled. I just feel like the school hasn't given us any information," Gillard said, adding that parents had only received an automated call on October 30

"We were told that the subject had been apprehended and arrested but no children had been harmed. That is the vague, robotic message. It wasn't even a live person, it was a robotic message."

The school district is working with the Cumberland County Department of Health to ensure food preparation, serving utensils and surfaces have been properly sanitized and any food products in question discarded, according to the prosecutor's office.

Authorities are also taking steps "to collect bodily fluid specimens from the defendant to determine if there is any potential for infectious disease transmission," the prosecutor's office said. "Once a determination is made, notification and next steps will be provided by the health department to ensure the health and safety of those involved."

The health department recommends that individuals contact their health care provider if they suspect any illness, the prosecutor's office said.

Update 11/8/23, 4:10 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with details from a letter sent to parents from Upper Deerfield Township Schools Superintendent Peter Koza.