Cameras hidden in clocks in bedrooms, old Polaroid pictures of naked boys and surveillance video of children engaging in sex acts were among the 44 items recovered from the home of a veteran East Orange cop accused of dozens of child sex crimes since the 1990s, prosecutors said during a detention hearing Thursday.
A judge allowed Sgt. Edward Giles to leave jail for house arrest and electronic monitoring, and ordered him to have no contact with any minors, following a three-hour hearing that revealed graphic details about how the 59-year-old suspect allegedly sexually assaulted children.
Giles, a 30-year police officer who also worked as a youth football coach, sat in front of Judge Lara K. DiFabrizio in Superior Court in Union County in a brown jumpsuit while his defense lawyer Wolodymyr Tyschenko and Assistant Prosecutor Caroline Lawlor argued the validity of the various child sex assault and endangerment charges he faces.
Giles maintained his innocence Thursday and was supported by a dozen family members who sat through the hearing, which was postponed from Oct. 17 while authorities consolidated his charges.
The Roselle resident was arrested on Oct. 11 at his home after two men claimed he assaulted them nearly 20 years ago. After authorities executed a search warrant in his home, they retrieved several electronics that led them to more victims — and they’re still looking for more, Lawlor said in court.
Giles will return to court on Dec. 4 for a hearing in front of Judge Joseph P. Donohue.
Over the hearing, Tyschenko fiercely defended his client as a model cop with ties to the community, as a foster parent who took in 53 children over several years and a leader in East Orange’s Police Athletic League (PAL) who served the needs of nearly 2,000 children.
But those traits were what fueled his predatory behavior, as he met vulnerable children and took them under his wing, Lawlor emphasized. Some of the victims ranged from boys he took into his home, to boys he met at school to boys he let sleepover in his home after football, while their parents worked late, she alleged.
“Those very positions are exactly what allowed him to have access,” Lawlor said. “He used that position to have a sense of trust not just with those kids, but also with their families.”
East Orange police Sgt. Edward Giles
Authorities say the first victim came forward in March claiming that while Giles coached the East Orange Wildcats football team, Giles sexually assaulted the boy from 1998 to 2000, while the victim was 11 to 13 years old. And another boy admitted he was also sexually assaulted from 2002 to 2003 when he was between 12 and 13 years old. They led to the first 16 criminal charges.
One of the victim’s mother struggled with addiction and Giles, his school resource officer at the time, would bring him gifts like sneakers or pay for his lunch. Eventually, Lawlor said, Giles asked the 12-year-old boy to pose for nude photos in exchange for photographs.
When interviewed by detectives earlier this year in a correctional facility in California where he was convicted of burglary, the boy said Giles took Polaroid pictures of him.
Tyschenko attacked that victim’s extensive criminal record, deeming him “ridiculous” as a witness whose accusations were previously unfounded when investigated in 2009 by the state Department of Child and Family services.
Investigators found a collection of Polaroid pictures of semi-nude and nude children under the age of 18 when they executed a search warrant at Giles’ house earlier this month, authorities said. While none of the photographs were of the alleged victim, there were several other minors photographed which could lead to more victims, Lawlor said. The discovery led to seven more crimes including child pornography and invasion of privacy.
And more victims were located after his cellphone was seized in that search warrant, Lawlor noted. Giles allegedly had 27 videos on his phone, including a 14-year-old boy performing sexual acts. The boy had been living in his home for nearly 18 months, and the footage was captured by covert cameras hidden in Giles’ three-bedroom home, she said.
More than 10 cameras, sometimes called “nanny cams” were recovered; each of the spare bedrooms where foster children slept had a digital alarm clock with a hidden camera, and another was hidden in a trophy case in the living room, authorities said.
While Lawlor alleged Giles intently clipped excerpts of these acts out of hours of footage, Giles’ attorney Tyschenko argued these were necessary security cameras because his home had been burglarized several times often by “troubled kids” that stayed with him.
The child pornography was an “unfortunate example of inadvertent collection,” Tyschenko said, noting there were no cameras in the bathroom.
After hours of detailed and graphic arguments — with Judge DiFabrizio calling it a “he said, he said” that needed to be decided outside of a detention hearing — she determined Giles was a danger to the community.
But she did not detain him, citing his character over the years and lack of criminal record.
DiFabrizio restricted the decorated cop to house arrest in Roselle. Any child that had been living with him has been transferred to another foster home, officials said.
Following the hearing, his family members celebrated in the hallway of the courthouse.
Lawlor said the Union County Prosecutor’s Office is committed to finding any other victims that might be out there.
Anyone with information about Giles can contact prosecutor’s Sgt. Sofia Santos at 908-577-4256 or Detective Ryan Kirsh at 908-347-1420. The Union County Crime Stoppers are also offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to any additional indictment in this case. Tips can be given anonymously by phone at 908-654-8477 or online at www.uctip.org.
Sophie Nieto-Munoz may be reached at snietomunoz@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her at @snietomunoz. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips
Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.com’s newsletters.