His name is Thomas Tramaglini.

Google it and up will come nicknames he can never expunge from his Internet record.

The nicknames are puns related to the reason Tramaglini was in court pleading guilty to a single offense of public defecation last Wednesday.

You won't read those names here. It would defeat the purpose of this column, which is to humanize a man whose life has been reduced to a juvenile punchline.

"What I did was wrong," Tramaglini said in his first interview since his arrest. "I had a bathroom emergency and I went behind the bleachers."

After his arrest on May 1, Tramaglini went through a battery of tests by Dr. Barry Kaufman of Atlantic Gastroenterology. Kaufman concluded he did suffer from an exertion-triggered bowel condition known as runner's diarrhea. That report was put in the hands of Holmdel municipal prosecutor Steven Zabarsky before Tramaglini pleaded guilty.

"It's been getting worse as I've gotten older," said Tramaglini, 42. "But I run 40 miles a week and it's not like it happens all the time."

He said the sudden, uncontrollable urge has come over him "two or three times" -- not enough to make him stop running.

He said that the only incident he had at the Holmdel athletic field was the day he was arrested.

The arrest, and publicity around it, has been devastating, he said. In the public eye, he said, it erased all else about him.

Traglamini is the father of two children, a 10-year-old son and a 7-year-old girl. He has a doctorate degree from Rutgers in education administration and he taught in the state university's graduate program for 10 years.

He was the superintendent of the Kenilworth School District, making $147,504 a year. On the day he was arrested for defecating under the bleachers, he says he was about to sign a five-year extension on his contract.

"I loved my job," Tramaglini said during a phone interview Thursday night. "I wanted to stay there for my whole career."

He paused for a moment, then added, "Ironically, I did."

Tramaglini said he was naturally embarrassed by what happened and "didn't know where to start" when asked what his transgression cost him.

"My kids are taking a beating," he said, with his voice breaking. "They're being ostracized and teased. That's, by far, the worst part. And you know how people like to Google their names? When they Google theirs, this will always come up."

Think that one over for a second. Thomas Tramaglini, who pleaded guilty to defecating one time under the dark bleachers of an empty high school running track, is now worried he has sentenced his children to a life of ridicule.

"I've been portrayed as a horrible, deranged person," he said. "There is nothing you can say or do to change the people's minds."

Tramaglini plans to sue the Holmdel police for getting that impression rolling with a May 1 Facebook post, which announced Tramaglini's arrest. The post said "human feces" was found in the area "on a daily basis," and identified the "subject responsible for these acts" as Tramaglini.

Tramaglini was arrested at 5:50 a.m., before dawn, and given municipal summonses for defecating in public and littering. A third ticket, for public lewdness was mailed to him, postmarked the next day.

But by then, his face and story had gone viral. The mugshot that Tramaglini said police told him was "for internal purposes only" somehow escaped Holmdel police custody and showed up on a Keansburg town website. (Tramaglini was previously employed as director of instruction in Keansburg.) Traglamini's attorney, Matt Adams, wants to know how and why.

"We've filed OPRA requests for emails and text messages (that may have included the mugshot)," Adams said.

Under New Jersey statutes, the release of mug shots of people not charged with indictable offenses is generally prohibited.

"I was used for click-bait," Tramaglini said. "What I did was wrong, but I had a bathroom emergency. I (eventually) admitted to it in court. But I could have never predicted what happened next."

The comments on online stories were insulting, often vicious. His own Facebook "friends" turned on him.

"People would write stuff like, 'Crawl back into the hole you came from' and much worse," he said. "I shut all my social media down."

There were physical threats. His says his kids and ex-wife were harassed. He lost his job. He now has little income. He feels unemployable for the foreseeable future. The $100,000 severance he received will go to his child support and the lawyers he hired to stop the hemorrhaging of his life and reputation.

"I can't believe this has happened to him," said Michelle Derpich, a former Summit schools administrator who worked for Tramaglini at Keansburg. "He has a huge heart and had a soft spot for the lower socio-economic kids. He ran a program to get them computers, so they would be better prepared for college. He was very passionate about what he did."

She added, "I can't believe this has cost him the chance to keep using his talents. It hurts the kids."

On the morning Tramaglini was given his summonses, the arresting officer told him "it was no big deal," Tramaglini said.

He went into work and immediately told the Kenilworth school board president.

"She seemed supportive at first," he said.

Then Tramaglini went viral.

Viral is an interesting word. It usually pertains to an infectious disease.

It's appropriate in Tramaglini's case.

It's a disease of insensitivity at best, and downright cruelty at worst. The line between humor and decency has been obliterated.

And when some stories go viral, people like Tramaglini become pinatas for press, public and comics to whack until they break open. And when they are broken, the party moves on.

Many in my business would argue that Tramaglini is a "public figure" as a publicly-paid employee. True. But when does the coverage of the case exceed its true news value? Or do we play it fast and loose with person's life and reputation? Is it dangled to lure the lower selves that live in all of us?

We know the honest answers to these questions.

What we may not know is what happens to people, people, like Tramaglini when we lose sight of their humanity - and ours.

Read more Mark Di Ionno

Mark Di Ionno may be reached at mdiionno@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MarkDiIonno. Find NJ.com on Facebook.