Volunteer Assistant Scoutmaster charged with endangering welfare of a minor

A twenty five year old Volunteer Assistant Scoutmaster in the Boy Scouts of America from Hazlet is charged with endangering the welfare of a child after exchanging sexually explicit messages with a young boy. 

Joseph Palermo was released after his first appearance before Monmouth county Presiding Municipal Court judge James M. Newman on Friday. The conditions of his release include no unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18, no contact with the victim and must report to pretrial services in person once every other week and by phone every other week.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Shawn Murphy of the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office at 732-431-7160 ext. 7032 or Detective Darrin Simon of the Middletown Police Department at 732-615-2100.

Every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until found guilty.