Son Wanted As Part Of Indecent Assault Investigation, Father Arrested In Drug & Gun Case

A father and son duo are in trouble with authorities following separate investigations that ended up crisscrossing.

Middletown Township police and the U.S. Marshal Service are seeking Thomas Palaio, 19, of Middletown Township’s Parkland section, on charges of indecent assault of a person less than 13 years old, sexual assault, child pornography, and criminal use of a communication facility.

Authorities told LevittownNow.com Tuesday that the 19-year-old man is believed to have skipped town as the investigation closed in on him.

In December 2021, Middletown Township police received a report through the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force that there was a tip the month prior through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children relating to child porn allegedly being transmitted and received on various social media platforms. More tips came in and they were linked to a residence in Parkland, police said.

The investigation took time as subpoenas and court orders for records were processed, and police went to serve a search warrant on the Parkland home on June 20, police said.

Investigators determined the residence was of high-risk for a dangerous encounter and activated the South Central Emergency Response team to assist, police said.

Around 6 a.m. on June 20, heavily armed officers executed the search warrant and recovered evidence as part of the child porn investigation.

Palaio was interviewed by detectives and “acknowledged his involvement,” police said in a statement.

Various pieces of evidence, including electronic devices, were seized and had to be examined, police said.

As the probe continued, a person came forward and accused Thomas Palaio of assault, police said.

During the search warrant execution, investigators found evidence of drugs associated with Thomas Palaio’s father – identified as John Sousa Palaio Jr., 50, of Middletown Township, police said.

John Palaio was already the target of an ongoing narcotics investigation conducted by the Middletown Township Police Department Special Investigations Unit, authorities said.

John Palaio wasn’t at the home at the time of the June 20 search warrant execution.

A second search warrant was obtained and looked at vehicles on the property and a detached garage, police said.

The second search warrant at the home uncovered methamphetamine, a sawed-off shotgun, a .22 caliber rifle, and an AR-15-style pistol, police said.

As the investigation was ongoing, John Palaio, a convicted felon prohibited from pocessing firearms, skipped scheduled meetings with an officer from the Bucks County Department of Adult Probation and Parole, police said.

An arrest warrant was issued for John Palaio last Thursday on charges of possession of a firearm while prohibited, criminal use of a communication facility, makes/repairs/sells offensive weapons, and multiple counts of drug-related offenses, police said.

Late last Thursday afternoon, investigators received word John Palaio was at the Parkland home.

Detectives set up surveillance in the area and used a drone to look from above, police said.

Once spotting the police drone, John Palaio used a pellet rifle to shoot at the drone, authorities said.

John Palaio fled the home on a motorcycle for which he wasn’t licensed to operate and didn’t stop for investigators, police said.

John Palaio then returned to the Parkland house, retreated into the garage, and escaped on foot to nearby woods, causing a manhunt, police said.

Officers, some with rifles, searched the wooded areas in Middletown Township, Langhorne Manor Borough, Penndel Borough and further along the West Trenton Line, police said.

On Wednesday morning, the U.S. Marshal Service captured John Palaio at an apartment in the 500 block of Main Street in Tullytown Borough, authorities said.

He was taken into custody and turned over to Middletown Township police, Deputy U.S. Marshal Rob Clark said.

While his son remains on the lam, John Palaio was preliminarily arraigned late Wednesday afternoon by District Judge Daniel Baranoski, who held him on 10 percent of $250,000 bail.

Anyone with information on Thomas Palaio’s whereabouts can contact Middletown Township police via the radio room at 215-949-1000, on CrimeWatch, through the MTPD.org contact us tip line, or the U.S. Marshal Service’s Eastern District of Pennsylvania office.

The investigations involved numerous law enforcement agencies, including the Middletown Township Police Department, Bucks County Detectives, FBI, U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. 

Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.

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