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Lorenzo Puertas, the executive director of Psych-Ed Services Inc., was taken into custody following an investigation that began with a tip to the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office from the state Division of Child Protection and Permanency, Acting Bergen County Prosecutor Dennis Calo said Wednesday.
Puertas, who is married, is charged with sexual assault by contact and child endangerment at his Commanche Lane home in Franklin Lakes, where his company is located, records show.
Members of Calo’s Special Victims Unit and Franklin Lakes police arrested Puertas on Tuesday.
He remained held in the Bergen County Jail pending a first appearance Thursday in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack.
Puertas also served as a member of the Child Study Team for the Paterson Board of Education for more than 26 years, beginning in 1980. He's operated Psych-Ed Services the past 14 years.
Its literature says Psych-Ed Services, Inc. “was established in 1982 with the purpose of providing bilingual/bicultural Psychological and Educational Services, including bilingual child study team evaluations to private and public schools.
“Psych-Ed. Services is also a source of mental health services (EAP) for employees and their families in the private sector,” it says.
“Psych-Ed. Is also a source for staff development, program development and program management,” the company description adds. “We are an approved clinic by the New Jersey State Department of Education to provide psychological and educational services to public and private educational institutions.”
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