Unnamed Girl - Age withheld/ Accused: Paul Theisen - Voorhees NJ

Posted on Sat, Apr. 9, 2011

Cherry Hill man charged in sexual assault of girl he babysat

A Cherry Hill man was charged Friday with sexually assaulting a Voorhees girl he babysat the previous weekend.

Paul Theisen also was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and possession of child pornography, according to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office. Theisen, 23, is a day-care worker employed by the Cherry Hill School District.

The cache of child pornography found in Theisen's home after his arrest Thursday offered no initial indication that other local children had been abused, said Capt. Marc Nicholas of the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.

"We're relatively confident nobody else was involved and this was an isolated incident," said Nicholas. "We've gone through most of it, but it's pretty voluminous. At this point, it looks commercial, stuff off the web."

On Friday, Theisen was suspended by the school district, where he worked in the day-care program for elementary-school students. He took babysitting jobs on the side with a number of families around Cherry Hill and surrounding towns, Nicholas said.

"He was well-liked within the community," he said.

News of Theisen's arrest was just beginning to spread Friday afternoon as parents arrived at James H. Johnson Elementary, one of the schools where he worked, to pick up their children.

Some were furious. Others wondered how he had been hired in the first place.

"They need to screen who they hire," said Myron Briscoe, whose granddaughter attends the school. "That's terrible, because that's something that you really can't stop . . . [when] somebody's sneaking through the cracks."

The school district posted a letter on its website Friday afternoon alerting parents to the arrest.

"At this point in the investigation, there is no indication, nor any allegation, of inappropriate behavior involving Cherry Hill students,"
read the letter from Superintendent David Campbell.

Theisen underwent a background check when he was hired in 2006. He is believed to have had a clean criminal record until his arrest Thursday, said a district spokeswoman.

In the charges announced Friday, Theisen had been hired by a Voorhees couple to watch their daughter while they went out last Saturday evening. The next morning, the girl, whose age police did not release, told her parents she had been sexually assaulted.

Theisen also worked this year in the day-care programs at Clara Barton and Joseph D. Sharp Elementary Schools. In past years, he worked at other schools, according to the district.

He also worked as a camp counselor at the Tall Pines Day Camp in Monroe Township, which he began attending in 2001 as a camper, said Andrew Yankowitz, owner of the camp.

"At this time, we have no reason to believe that any inappropriate behavior has ever occurred at the camp," Yankowitz said in a statement, "but you can be assured that he will no longer be involved at Tall Pines Day Camp in any way."

Theisen is being held at the Camden County Correctional Facility in Camden on $200,000 bail.

Anyone with information related to the case is being asked to contact investigator Terry King with the Camden County Prosecutor's Office on 856-225-8400.