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Michael Macaluso, 48, of Elmwood Park admitted in court in Hackensack on Monday that he hugged the girl around the waist and touched her buttocks over her clothing last March.
Macaluso was arrested by East Rutherford police and detectives from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Special Victims Unit after the girl told school personnel what happened.
Besides the fondling, Macaluso also pleaded guilty to child endangerment and to witness tampering for asking a friend to try and persuade the girl’s family to drop the charges.
Under questioning by his attorney, Macaluso admitted writing his friend a letter asking him to talk with the girl, her father and her mother.
The father alerted police after the friend approached him, authorities said.
In addition to the 18 months in state prison, Presiding Superior Court Judge Liliana DeAvila-Silebi told Macaluso that he must submit a sample for the state DNA registry.
He will also be under Megan’s Law registration requirements and parole supervision for life and will be evaluated at the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center at Avenel.
“If you’re found to be repetitive and compulsive you will go to Avenel for counseling and not the regular prison system,” the judge explained.
She set sentencing for Sept. 12.
STORY: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter / MUGSHOT: Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR
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