Let me out of jail to live with my parents, child porn suspect pleads

Alexander Capasso was arrested last July on federal child pornography charges.

COLLINGSWOOD -- The borough chef arrested last summer on child pornography charges seeks release from incarceration and transfer to his parents' Collingswood home because of the "substantial danger" he currently faces.

Alex Capasso (Star-Ledger File Photo

In court papers filed Monday, 42-year-old Alexander Capasso -- who previously opened and operated restaurants in Collingswood and Philadelphia -- is attempting to negotiate a bail package. In December, a federal judge ordered he be held without bail and he's currently in a detention center in Philadelphia.

The package would include "location monitoring, restricted computer access and third-party custodians," according to the request filed by Capasso's lawyer, Gilbert J. Scutti.

Those custodians would be Capasso's retired parents who, according to the lawsuit, have lived in Collingswood for 30 years and are "prepared to take 24-hour supervision of their son if he is released and permitted to reside with them."

Capasso was arrested last July alongside an ex-girlfriend after undercover FBI investigators allegedly had online conversations with him, which included trading sexually explicit photos of minors.

Some of those photos appeared to show young family members, including a niece and 10-year-old boy. He later denied knowing the female pictured in the photos, but authorities later found additional photos of her.

Restaurateur facing federal child porn charges

Capasso is facing charges of sexual exploitation of a child, distribution of child pornography and child pornography possession. Per the lawsuit, he is "prepared to show that he is not a danger to the community, but instead, his current community poses a substantial danger to him."

It continues to say that Capasso has never been convicted of anything beyond a disorderly persons offense and that his flight risk is "reduced to the point of zero" due to location monitoring and third-party custodians.

The request will be heard in federal court in Camden on July 11, according to the Courier-Post.