Nicholas Panaro
A Buena Vista Township man was ordered held in jail for the alleged sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl.
Nicholas Panaro, 18, believed he was dating a 17-year-old senior from Millville, according to his defense attorney.
Regardless of what age he believed the girl to be, that is not a defense for the charge of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, the judge noted in making his ruling during a detention hearing Monday.
The two met on Snapchat, and then Panaro picked the girl up at her home Feb. 22, according to information presented in court. He took her to a school play his sister was in and then to Chili’s for dinner.
The two then went back to Panaro’s home where they had sex in his bedroom in the basement, Assistant Prosecutor Tiffany deGrandmaison said.
The girl’s mother thought she was at a friend’s house.
“(Your daughter) is with us having a fun time on the trampoline with (the friend's name is redacted),” read a text the girl’s mother received from the friend’s grandmother.
But when the girl tried to go to the same friend’s house the next day, her mother informed her that she knew the girl was lying, and had found the phone number the text came from belonged to Panaro, according to the affidavit obtained by BreakingAC.
The mother then took the victim’s phone and discovered text and Instagram messages between the girl and Panaro that were “intimate in nature,” the affidavit reads.
The woman went to police with the evidence, including the clothes her daughter wore when she met with Panaro.
The girl detailed the sexual encounter, which included Panaro using a condom that was later found in a warranted search. His sheets also were taken for testing.
Panaro’s phone had a photo of the victim as his lock screen, and contained photos of the two on his bed, and the girl in the bed alone, the affidavit states.
“This isn’t a predatory person who went out looking for an 11-year-old,” defense attorney Roy Whitmore told the judge. “In his mind, he thought he was dating a 17-year-old.”
Panaro’s parents and grandparents also believed the girl was a high school senior who wrestled for Millville, Whitmore said of the family members who attended the play with the couple.
But when the pair went to Chili’s alone for dinner, their waitress became suspicious about how young the girl looked and how awkward they acted, deGrandmaison said.
She even confronted the girl in the bathroom to make sure she was there voluntarily, deGrandmaison said the investigation revealed.
Whitmore said Panaro is a high school graduate who is in an IBEW electrical union as a pre-apprentice. He cannot become a full apprentice until he is 19.
He has no criminal history.
Judge Joseph Levin said if Panaro believed he was an 18-year-old dating a 17-year-old, it's unclearwhy there would be a need to cover it up.
Because of the charges, the presumption was to detain Panaro, under bail reform.
The judge found that the defense did not overcome that presumption and ordered Panaro held.
He will remain in the Atlantic County Justice Facility.
