A retired elementary school teacher in New Jersey who worked as a part-time Santa Claus has been arrested on charges of possessing and distributing child sexual exploitation material.
Mark Paulino, 64, a resident of Hamilton Township, New Jersey, was arrested on charges related to child sexual exploitation material, according to the New York Post, NJ.com and other local media outlets Friday.
Police said Paulino is accused of secretly filming a child in a bedroom and sending the footage to another person via email.
Paulino, who retired from teaching elementary school in 2021, operated a website called "Santa Mark," where he dressed as Santa Claus and participated in various events to meet with children. The website features photos of him in Santa costume along with a description introducing himself as "Santa Mark from the North Pole."
Through the website, he offered photo sessions and event appearances, as well as video call services with children using the video conferencing platform Zoom. He reportedly engaged in activities such as giving gifts to children while dressed as Santa, singing songs together, and telling Christmas stories.
Paulino, who has been married for more than 20 years, has a spouse who is also a teacher, and the couple has two children. Police searched his home before the arrest and seized multiple pieces of evidence.
According to a criminal complaint obtained by the media, Paulino has been charged with possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material, endangering child welfare, abandonment, abuse and neglect, and fourth-degree child abuse.
This is not the first crime committed by someone dressed as Santa. In 2024, a man in North Carolina who had long served as Santa Claus for local residents was arrested on child abuse charges. In 2019, a man dressed as a Salvation Army Santa in New York was arrested on prostitution charges.
In mid-November, a neo-Nazi extremist was arrested in New York for attempting to distribute poison-laced candy to Jewish children while dressed as Santa. The man, a Georgian national, was accused of plotting a mass casualty attack by distributing candy coated with ricin, a natural toxin, to Jewish children while wearing a Santa costume.
