So Many Rules, Protection, Sex Among Ultra

So Many Rules, Protection, Sex Among Ultra
By Hella Winston
Lilith / Winter 2006–07
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The first time 12-year-old David Framowitz had his genitals fondled by a respected teacher from his yeshiva (see the case of Rabbi Yehuda Kolko), he panicked, desperate to flee the parked car in which the man had given him a ride to school. Later, when he told his parents about what had happened, they dismissed his story, unable to fathom that a rabbi could be capable of such behavior. Not wanting “to cause trouble,” Framowitz continued to suffer the abuse in silence, until he changed schools two years later. Now 48 and the plaintiff in a civil suit against this rabbi, and the school and camp that employed him, Framowitz has come forward to tell his story. Not surprisingly, reactions to it in the ultra Orthodox world have hardly been encouraging for other victims.

Last May, New York magazine ran an article about the Framowitz allegations, and while many members of the ultra-Orthodox community expressed their outrage in private conversations, or anonymously on Internet blogs, the communal leadership remained silent. The few rabbis and other leaders who acknowledged the report expressed anger not about the alleged abuse and cover-up, but at those who brought the crimes to light.

That bombshell article (disclosure: I was quoted in it) suggested several reasons why confronting sexual abuse is a particular challenge for ultra-Orthodox Jews: the social stigma associated with being the victim of abuse; the agesold Jewish prohibition against mesira, or “informing” to the secular authorities; and the religious proscriptions against lashon hara (gossip) and chilul Hashem (“desecrating God’s name,” which in this context means giving the community a “bad name”). These impediments silence victims and protect perpetrators. Reporter Robert Kolker also speculated that the characteristically restrictive ultra-Orthodox approach to sexuality may foster such abuse through its rigidly enforced sex segregation, strict laws governing physical contact between the sexes (including married couples), and taboo against talking openly (“immodestly”) or educating young people about sexuality.

The conjectures in that article proved deeply offensive to many in the frum (religious) world. Orthodox advocate Marvin Schick, in his regular advertisement which runs as a paid column in New York’s Jewish Week newspaper, accused Kolker of “group libel.” In an op-ed article in the same newspaper, Avi Shafran, spokesman for the influential ultra- Orthodox umbrella organization Agudath Israel, offered a counter-argument:

A Torah-observant life does not lead to aberrant behavior; it helps prevent it.…That fundamental Jewish truth that human inclinations are harnessed and controlled by Torahlife and Torah-study is self-evident to anyone truly familiar with the Orthodox community. The vast majority of

its members are caring and responsible people who lead exemplary lives, free in large measure from societal ills like rape, AIDS, prostitution and marital infidelity that affect their less “repressed” neighbors…. To imagine that what ha defined traditional Jewish life for millennia is somehow a risk factor for abuse is to turn all logic and experience on their heads. The true risk factors, as mental health professionals attest, are things like absent parents, alcohol and drug abuse, lack of support systems and the touting of a Woody Allenesque “the heart wants what it wants” mindset, all considerably underrepresented in the Orthodox community. If any environment can reasonably be imagined to foster the bane of child abuse, it is the charged atmosphere of MTV, R-rated movies, contemporary advertising and uncontrolled Internet usage, not the universe of Jewish values.

So Little & Suppression Orthodox Jews
There is no doubt that the vast majority of Orthodox Jews are caring and responsible individuals, and that Judaism stresses ethical conduct. Further, because the reasons for pedophilia are not completely understood, to assert a causal relationship between this disorder and the strict regulation of sexuality is problematic, just as inaccurate as blaming pedophilia on MTV or Woody Allen. However, many interviews I have conducted over three years with people intimately familiar with ultra-Orthodox life— including therapists, social workers, physicians, educators and community members themselves—suggest that some  aspects of today’s stringent ultra-Orthodox approach to sexuality, intended to promote marriage, procreation and a strong family life, can also (unintentionally) create conditions conducive to sexual abuse.

The ultra-Orthodox world consists of both Hasidic and non-Hasidic Jews. While there are important differences between these groups, and within the myriad communities that comprise them, they share a punctilious observance and interpretation of Jewish law, and strict boundaries between themselves and what they see as a corrupt—and corrupting—“secular” society. Though the Hasidim tend to promote an even greater separation from the surrounding culture than their non-Hasidic counterparts, both groups generally prohibit watching television, movies or sports; reading secular books, magazines or newspapers; using the Internet (except for business purposes); socializing with outsiders; and getting a secular education. These constraints are intended to protect religious integrity and help ensure the perpetuation of a way of life by staving off assimilation.

These communities—concentrated primarily in parts of New York and New Jersey—also enforce rigid gender roles, derived from a belief in the essential difference between men and women. Rules about “modesty” in dress and behavior also justify sex segregation in almost every area of social life, including education, employment and family relations. Women generally have primary responsibility for the “private” realm of home and family, and some public charity efforts, while men—who, unlike women, are obligated to engage in religious learning—occupy public positions of leadership and power in the community.

A fierce commitment to sex segregation has emerged in the “rules” issued recently by the leadership of the Hasidic enclave of New Square, in New York’s Rockland County, purportedly to ensure the “modesty, holiness and pureness” of this “holy shtetl.” In this community of approximately 7000 people, about 30 miles north of Manhattan, Yiddish signs instruct women and men to use opposite sides of the street, to prevent them from walking or talking together in public. In addition, women in New Square are urged never to sit in the front seat of a car (as passengers only; women there and in several other Hasidic communities are not allowed to drive); not to congregate in middle of the street or talk loudly in public, especially at times when boys and men come home at the end of the day; not to sit or stand near the entrances of the school or their own housing complexes, since that might force men to pass by them too closely. The rules also prohibit girls from riding bikes or “dancing” on a trampoline, unless it is surrounded by an actual mechitza (a wall separating women from men in synagogue and mixed social events). Other regulations warn against women wearing transparent hosiery, dying their eyelashes and sporting
long wigs and housecoats outside the home.

Most of these regulations deal with control of women’s bodies and their mobility, but they also imply that “immodest” women have the power to defile the entire community. In fact, ultra-Orthodox ideology places most of the burden for thwarting male sexual desire on women, who are to blame if male desire is incited.

In the upstate New York Satmar Hasidic community of Kiryas Joel, several women told me that they had received letters and visits from members of self-appointed community watchdog groups (meshmeris hatznius—“guardians of modesty”) because they were seen to be violating communal standards.  One woman was targeted for wearing a skirt that was “a few inches above regulation” (about three inches above the ankle is the custom), while another was approached because she and her husband often invited divorced men to her home for Shabbos, something the watchdogs apparently considered inappropriate mixing of the sexes; eventually both of these women moved with their families out of the community.  This past August in Kiryas Joel, a flyer was posted publicly referring to one married woman by name and labeling her a “stinking carcass” and a “sinner” who must “abscond from” this “holy shtetl.” No resident I spoke to could confirm this woman’s sin, other than to mention that she dressed attractively and that she and her husband often invited other young couples to their home to socialize.

Certainly New Square and Kiryas Joel are among the most extreme ultra Orthodox communities; in more “modern” (and not exclusively Hasidic) neighborhoods, many ultra-Orthodox women do drive, and there are no directives ordering women and men to walk on different sides of the street. Nonetheless, throughout the ultra-Orthodox world schools are sex-segregated, and social contact with nonfamily members of the opposite sex, let alone casual dating, are generally prohibited. In this environment, all-male yeshivas can become breeding grounds for behavior that borders on—and sometimes crosses over into—sexual abuse.

In an email to me, one Hasidic man I know personally explained how this can happen:
The atmosphere of sexual repression in yeshivas (at least the kind of yeshivas I’m directly familiar with) contributes to many sexual perversions in people not otherwise inclined to behave that way. I’m not only talking about the rampant gay sexual activity (“rampant” as in relative to what I would

expect; I don’t know if it’s rampant relative to a similar secular environment), but also pressuring younger boys into acquiescing to certain acts by the older boys, offering payments— or certain electronic goods in lieu of payments—for outright molestation, and sometimes even rape. The vicious cycle is sometimes continued by newlywed young men coming back for their favorite “pets” even after they have a chance for something different (either because they are gay, or because they feel more of an emotional connection to their friends than they do to their wives). Even without the above, the outsized emphasis put—both explicitly and implicitly—on the sin of masturbation, combined with the extreme sexual repression, leaves many detrimental affects [sic] on most going through the system. Now combine all of the above with the fact that many people in positions of authority over young boys and teenagers are young men not yet mature enough to have acquired a healthy attitude toward sex after the perverse environment in yeshiva.

While this man stressed that the abusive behavior he described is by no means a universal feature of yeshiva life, his overall assessment of the environment, and its potential impact on students, was echoed by other people I have spoken to at length. A married Hasidic woman with whom I communicated online wrote “Everyone knows frum boys fuck around with each other in yeshiva, mikvah (the ritual bath).  Because they are told DON’T EVER look at a girl...Blah Blah Blah.... They get married but still think of gay sex once in a while”—even though male homosexual sex is forbidden by the Torah. These observations were confirmed by a sex therapist working with ultra-Orthodox clients, who spoke to me on condition of anonymity because of her sensitive therapeutic role. She likened the situation in all-male yeshivas to that of prisons, or the military. “It’s the same thing. People are sexual and it gets acted out.” In fact, several men told me that sexually abusive teachers would often target boys they knew were already “sinning” by experimenting sexually with their peers, as a way to ensure their silence about the teacher’s abusive behavior. Further, my own research revealed that many Hasidic boys were groped or fondled in the ritual bath (mikvah), something that has been the subject of recent discussion on blogs like failedmessiah.typepad.com and jewishsurvivors.blogspot.com.

Some women also reported same-sex activity in all-female seminaries; notably, the women tended not to experience these relationships as hierarchical or abusive, but more playful or even loving. This may have to do with the fact that there is no explicit Jewish religious prohibition against female homosexual acts, and thus perhaps less guilt, shame and coercion surrounding such encounters. The sex therapist noted that the prohibition against male masturbation (“spilling seed”) can exacerbate problems for boys—at least those who take it seriously. Without any outlet for their normal sexual urges—one man told me that he and his classmates were

instructed not to touch their penises even while urinating, lest they accidentally get aroused—particularly at a time when those urges are strongest, boys may act out sexually in ways they otherwise would not if other options were not forbidden.

Young people growing up in ultra-Orthodox communities generally receive no formal education about sex. All of the Hasidic men I spoke with told me that in their schools, boys skip the sections of the Talmud that deal with sexual

matters. While their non-Hasidic ultra-Orthodox counterparts apparently do study this material, they do so in a very technical manner, focusing, for example, on laws relating to sexual relations in marriage, or on menstruation.

WHY THE SILENCE? FEAR OF BRINGING SHAME ON THE FAMILY KEEPS PEOPLE FROM REPORTING ABUSE AND PROSECUTING ABUSERS.

Sanctioned sex education generally occurs only in the weeks before one’s wedding, typically an arranged marriage.  One man summarized for me the session with his “sex rabbi” this way: “He told me to do a little kissy, kissy, touch her here and there, and then put it in.” A Hasidic woman described being on the receiving end of such advice: “My husband had no idea what he was doing,” she told me. “It hurt and was humiliating.”

People in the secular world are hardly immune to such experiences. However, a taboo against talking about sexuality can do more than predict awkward wedding nights; it can also foster a profound sense of shame around sexuality, and about the body and its functions. Many Hasidim told me that they had never even learned the words for genitals, but were taught to use euphemisms instead; for men, for example, “the organ of the bris.” With no vocabulary—let alone permission—to discuss matters of a sexual nature openly, people who have been sexually abused often have trouble communicating, or even understanding, what has happened to them.

A social worked illustrated this quite strikingly when she described to me an interview she conducted with an 18-year old Hasidic victim who had been molested: lacking the words for parts of his own body, the young man had to use gestures to indicate what happened to him. Even for people who are able to speak about such experiences, there is often an inordinate amount of shame involved in the disclosure.

One woman recounted her parents’ reaction to her revelation that she had been repeatedly raped by her brother:

[You] know damn well that anything sexual is not discussed in a frum household. My mom and dad, they moved on, dismissed it like it never happened. [My mother] does not know that such actions screw you for life. She is in denial. I don’t know if it’s only my parents or all frum parents. My father, after he was told, did mention he wants to kill my brother, that’s all. I was told [by a non-family member] to buy a book and read it, regarding incest. On my wedding day, my father found it and was so upset that I was reading such a sexual book. Oh, come on, it’s ok for your fucking son to fuck me, but it ain’t ok to heal through reading such a book.

One highly regarded Manhattan psychiatrist, who treats many ultra-Orthodox patients and who spoke on condition of anonymity in order not to compromise his therapeutic relationships, told me he had noted a good deal of what he called “casual incest”—sexual activity between siblings— among his patients. He attributed this to the fact that boys reaching puberty are denied what would be considered healthy contact with females apart from close relatives and, with masturbation considered sinful, end up acting out sexually with whomever was available. Of course, no one suggests that there are more abusers in the ultra-Orthodox world than in the general population. Research by psychologist Dr. Michelle Friedman, appearing last summer in the annual student journal of Yeshiva Chovevei Torah, Milin Havivin, found that Orthodox girls and teens report rates of sexual abuse similar to that of their secular counterparts. The main difference is that, for a variety of reasons, within the ultra-Orthodox world abuse if it does occur is more likely to go unchecked, allowing abusers to remain in business longer, creating more victims.


Why the silence?
Bringing shame on one’s family is a significant obstacle to reporting abuse and prosecuting abusers. Because most marriages are arranged on the basis of individual and familial reputation, public knowledge that a person has been a victim of abuse severely compromises his or her options for making a “good match.” The stigma of abuse taints not only the victim but siblings and other relatives as well. As a result, those who have been abused (and their families) have a tremendous incentive to keep the abuse a secret. One woman told me that her father, learning that she had been raped by a respected member of the community, threatened to burn her with a hot pan if she ever told anyone in the community about it; she was 10 years old at the time. Another serious impediment to rooting out abuse is the communal prohibition against mesira, betraying the community to outside authorities. Once punishable by death, mesira is still taken seriously, discouraging most people from reporting abuse to the police. When I asked her whether she had ever considered going to the police, one woman who was molested replied, “I don’t think so! It does not work like that in the frum world. You shall not be a moser, which means no telling on others; suffer in silence.” This attitude is pervasive, despite a recent ruling by Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, a Jerusalem rabbi considered by the ultra-Orthodox to be one of the most respected interpreters of Jewish law. Elyashiv’s ruling held that it is permissible to hand over a child abuser to the American police in cases where “It is clear that [the person] has committed a foul deed, and that this [informing] constitutes a sort of repair of the world.” However, even in light of this clear ruling, the fear of being branded an informer remains strong, and is often exploited by those in power as a means of silencing victims, protecting the community’s “good name”—and protecting the abuser
in the process.

Many parents privately express concern about this issue, and claim they would like their leaders to prevent sexual abuse in institutional settings, and to deal with it effectively when it does occur. Most also say, though, that they themselves are unlikely to speak up about their concerns, let alone “inform” to the police on an abuser. Further, most admit that they would not allow one of their own children to marry a known victim of abuse.

While the outside world responds to such reports with shock, there is no denying the role played by the larger society in enabling this state of affairs. In the name of deeply held American commitments to religious freedom, these communities have been allowed to flourish with little outside oversight.

A combination of ignorance and nostalgia often makes these very stringently observant and closed communities immune to serious scrutiny by fellow citizens—particularly liberal Jews who may idealize or romanticize this way of life, or politicians who appreciate the fact that ultra-Orthodox leaders can and do deliver votes in a bloc.

Unlike their public-school counterparts, administrators in ultra-Orthodox schools and other non-public schools are not required to run background checks on teachers, and because clergy are exempt from being mandated reporters, ultra-Orthodox teachers (most of whom are rabbis, at least in boys’ schools) are not legally required to report suspected cases of abuse. And where distortions of Jewish law and custom may be invoked to prevent people from taking legal action, and educational options are limited, there may be little motivation for self-policing, aside from the obvious: the health and welfare of young people. Instead, this past August, a few months after the original magazine article appeared, the teacher accused of sexual molestation was spotted escorting young campers to a water park in Connecticut, and a reliable source told me that he has since been soliciting parents to sign their children up for a similar outing next summer. At Rosh Hashanah, he was also reportedly asked to blow the shofar in his shul, an honor accorded only the most respected members of the community. One can only imagine how his victims must feel about that. ■

Hella Winston is author of Unchosen: The Hidden Lives of Hasidic Rebels. She received her PhD in sociology.

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www.theawarenesscenter.org Offers comprehensive information and Jewish resources on sexual violence, a speakers’ bureau and a certification program for Jewish community leaders. In the two weeks following the New York magazine article, The Awareness Center received over 60 calls from (mostly male) survivors who’d never before told anyone they were abused as children.

www.jsafe.org Run by Rabbi Mark Dratch, JSafe is aimed at addressing the issues of domestic violence and child abuse in the Jewish world through newsletters, conferences and comprehensive training for people working in Jewish organizations.

jewishsurvivors.blogspot.com A blog administered by anonymous Jewish survivors of sexual abuse provides general information on childhood sexual abuse, sexual assault and rabbinic misconduct.

Case of Rabbi Avraham M. Leizerowitz

Case of Rabbi Avraham M. Leizerowitz

(AKA: Avraham Mordecai Lazerewitz, Avraham Leiverowitz, Avraham Mordecai Leiverowitz)

Gerrer Yeshiva and Mesivta Bais Yisroel School - Borough Park (Brooklyn), NY
 

CALL TO ACTION:  If you or your child was sexually abused by Rabbi Avraham Lezerowitz please make a police report immediately!  It may be easier for you to contact your local rape crisis center to help you make a police report.  They have experience and will walk you though the process along along with providing free legal advocacy and short term rape counseling.

FYI: By making a police report you become eligible for crime victim/witness compensation to help pay for long term counseling. If need help locating a rape crisis center.

The Awareness Center wants to remind everyone that harassing an alleged victim (or family member) of a sex crime is against the law.  It is called witness tampering. If you are a survivor and this happens call your local police immediately.


A civil suit was filed against Rabbi Avraham Mordecai Leizerowitz of the Gerrer Mesivta High School in Borough Park Brooklyn. The charges include improperly touching a boy during a one-on-one help session in the rabbi's office in the Borough Park secondary school.  Three other older boys have also come forward making similar allegations.

Avraham Mordecai Leizerowitz, described as man in his early fifties. He was originally hand picked by the Grand Rebbe of Ger for the position of spiritual advisor at the Gerre Mesivta Bais Yisroel school.  Leiverowitz has been affiliated with the institution for around thirty years.  He is originally from Bnei Brak (or spelled Bnei Braq), Israel.

Prior to escaping to Israel, Leizerowitz resided at: 1742 58th St, Brooklyn, NY. 11204

Gerrer Yeshiva and Mesivta Bais Yisroel School

5407 16th Ave., Brooklyn, NY

718-854-8777

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Disclaimer: Inclusion in this website does not constitute a recommendation or endorsement. Individuals must decide for themselves if the resources meet their own personal needs.
 
Table of Contents: 

2006

1. Going Away Party Poster  (07/2006)
2. Perv Charge VS. 2nd Rabbi (12/14/2006)
3. Kernen LMaan Arad (12/14/2006)

2009  

1. Rabbi Avraham M. Leizerowitz is now counseling troubled boys.  (12/06/2009)
   

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Going Away Party Poster
July, 2006

The following is poster of a "Going Away Party" that was organized for Rabbi Leizerowitz. It appears that Leizerowitz decided to move to Israel when the allegations against him were first made public in the Borough Park community. Due to the number of complainst the party was canceled.

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Perv Charge VS. 2nd Rabbi
By Patrick Gallahue and Alex Ginsberg
New York Post - December 14, 2006
 

December 14, 2006 -- For the second time in a week, a respected Brooklyn rabbi has been accused of sexually abusing a boy student at a religious school.

A suit filed Tuesday in Brooklyn Supreme Court accuses Avraham Mordecai Lazerewitz, described as the spiritual supervisor at the Geres Misivta Bais Yisroel school, of touching a student in April.

Lazerewitz groped and improperly touched the victim during a one-on-one help session in the rabbi's office in the Borough Park secondary school, says the unidentified boy's lawyer, Eric Green.

School officials did not return a telephone message. Last week, authorities accused Brooklyn Rabbi Joel Kolko of fondling a student, 6, and a 31-year-old former pupil.

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Kernen LMaan Arad
Tax Exempt OrganizationsUnder The Leadership of Rabbi Avraham Leizerowitz
December 14, 2006
http://www.taxexemptworld.com/organization.asp?id=167451

Organization Name: KEREN LMAAN ARAD,

Address: 5014 16TH AVE STE 266, BROOKLYN, NY, 11204-1404

Asset Amount n/r

Income Amount n/r

Form 990 Revenue Amount n/r

Employer Identification Number (nine digit number assigned by the IRS to identify a company)

In Care Of Name (the officer, director, etc. to whose attention any correspondence should be directed) ABRAHAM LEIZEROWITZ

Classification (category under which an organization may be tax exempt)  Charitable Organization

Filing Requirement the primary return(s) the organization is required to file)  Form 990 - Not required to file (church)

Taxonomy (classifies an exempt Internal Revenue Code 501 (c)(3) organization)

Jewish Secondary Name (another name under which KEREN LMAAN ARAD does business. Also used for trade names, chapter names, or local numbers for subordinate organizations of group rulings) n/r

Affiliation (defines the organizational grouping) This organization is an independent organization or an independent auxiliary (i.e., not affiliated with a National, Regional, or Geographic grouping of organizations).

Ruling Date (the month and year of a ruling or determination letter recognizing the organization's tax exempt status) 09/1999

Deductibility Status Contributions are deductible

Foundation Type Church

Principal Activity 1 n/r

Principal Activity 2 n/r

Principal Activity 3 n/r Organization Type n/r

Universal Location Code (the Internal Revenue Service District Office which has jurisdiction over the organization) 11

Advance Ruling Expiration Date (A charitable organization exempt under IRC 501(c)(3) whose status as a public charity (rather than a private foundation) has not been determined generally will be allowed to operate as a public charity for a specified period of time. At the end of this time frame (expiration date), a final determination will be made as to the proper classification of the organization. This shows the month and year when an advance ruling is to expire.) n/r

Tax Period (the date of the latest return filed) n/r

Accounting Period (accounting month end date of organization)

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Rabbi Avraham M. Leizerowitz is now counseling troubled boys:  Accused Haredi Pedophile Has A Brand New Job 
Failed Messiah Blog - December 6, 2009 

Word from Israel on accused pedophile Rabbi Avraham M. Leizerowitz:
2 new pictures of Leizerowitz. They were taken this week in Israel at a party for a newly married couple. He was honored with reciting a blessing at the event: 

Avraham M. Leizerowitz has started working at a new job. He is the mashgiach ruchani (religious counselor) in a Jerusalem yeshiva for teen boys who have trouble in mainstream yeshivot. He is now working with disadvantaged boys. The yeshiva is endorsed and affiliated with Rabbi Avrohom Schorr of Flatbush, Brooklyn. Rabbi Schorr is also a Gerrer ChaLeizerowitz fled Brooklyn after a lawsuit alleging he molested a student in his yeshiva was filed against him in late 2006.

Leizerowitz was the mashgiach ruchani (spiritual advisor) of the Gerrer hasidic Mesivta Bais Yisroel in Borough Park.

Word in 2007 was that Leizerowitz was welcomed by Gerrer hasidim in Israel with open arms.
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For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml . If you wish to use copyrighted material from this update for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.  
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Getting kicked out of shul

Getting kicked out of shul
The unpleasant underside of synagogue life raises questions about the power of rabbis and boards to keep some Jews out
By Amy Klein, Religion Editor

Jewish Journal - December 8, 2006

 

A few weeks before the High Holidays, Aaron Biston went to pray at Beth Jacob Congregation, a Modern Orthodox synagogue on Olympic Boulevard in Beverly Hills.

After services, during the Kiddush, Steven Weil, the congregation's rabbi, came over to Biston and asked him to leave the synagogue because he had been banned from its premises several months prior.

Biston refused and demanded, in front of his 13-year-old daughter, to know why he should comply.

Biston said the rabbi replied by addressing the girl: "Your dad's a thief, a crook, a bad man and a menace to the community."

Biston then cursed out the rabbi.

What happened next is a matter of some dispute, but both parties agree that the rabbi publicly asked Biston to leave the synagogue and never return.

Biston is now threatening a lawsuit against the congregation unless, he said, he receives a public apology from the rabbi and is allowed to return to the synagogue. Weil has already sent a letter to Biston and his daughter, in which he apologized for his language but said he stands by his decision to ban Biston from the shul.

Biston's public airing of his story and his threat to file suit have brought to light a number of complaints from others who also have been asked to leave Beth Jacob. They claim the rabbi is autocratic and mercurial and bars people who don't fit his image of an appropriate congregant.

Weil is a charismatic and intense leader. He came to Beth Jacob from Detroit in 2000, and he can often be seen wearing the work boots and jeans of his upstate New York farming upbringing. He is known for innovative programming, including a cigar club where the rabbi and young men in the community smoke, drink and learn Torah, and the summer Kollel, a post-college learning program.

He spoke to The Journal in the company of synagogue president Dr. Steve Tabak and former synagogue president Marc Rohatiner. Together they openly discussed the half-dozen people who have been banned from their shul.

Although they did not divulge identities of the people they had banned in order to protect them and their accusers from public scrutiny, they painted a picture of individuals whom they believe pose a threat to Beth Jacob's membership.

Among the stories was that of Biston, who was a defendant in a civil lawsuit over a real estate deal with another member of Beth Jacob that went sour. Court documents allege that Biston cultivated the deal on the shul's grounds, although Biston claims to have known the man outside of the shul.

The other individuals include someone alleged to have sexually harassed a synagogue member, a man alleged to have behaved inappropriately with children, a woman alleged to have stalked a member with whom she believed she had a relationship and a man who, shortly before being asked to leave the shul, was convicted of pedophilia.

This ugly underside of synagogue life raises the question for all synagogues, not just Beth Jacob: What power does a rabbi or executive board have to deny entry to Jews?

The legal answer is straightforward: A synagogue is a private institution, and when it comes to membership -- or in this case, entry, because most of the people asked to leave were not members -- the synagogue is entitled to accommodate however it sees fit.

The religious answer is not quite as clear. According to halacha (Jewish law), one needs a beit din, a religious court, to put a person in herem -- which means to excommunicate them, to cast them away from the community and isolate them. But the old rules don't really hold today, when there are many congregations from which to choose.

"Many times, throughout Jewish history, there were rabbis who placed people in herem," said Rabbi Alan Kalinsky, West Coast director of the Orthodox Union. "In those days it was a major thing; today, they'd laugh and go to the next town."

The Rabbinical Council of California (RCC), which runs the Orthodox religious court of California, said it does not get involved in private synagogue matters. "The RCC is a council of rabbis, not a council of synagogues, per se, and doesn't set synagogue policy," said Rabbi Avrohom Union, the administrator for the RCC.

In any case, all the religious courts have refused to intervene in the Biston case. (Biston said he is taking his case to a New York beit din.) The Orthodox Union, the governing organization for Orthodox shuls, holds that a rabbi has the authority to act independently.

"Each rabbi is the morah d'atra, the rabbinic halachic authority of his congregation -- that's why he was chosen," Kalinsky said. "If the rabbi feels strongly about [someone], he will go to his board, which is responsible for the issues of governance in the synagogue, and they could enforce what they deem appropriate."

Even if the question is neither legal nor halachic, it nevertheless remains one of ethics: If a synagogue is intended to be open to all Jews, how should leadership deal with characters they feel are unsavory or pose a threat to the community? What is the balance between freedom and security?

Synagogues everywhere always have grappled with the issue of security, but especially since the attacks of Sept. 11. With terrorism and anti-Semitic attacks on the rise internationally, most Jewish institutions have strengthened their security. For example, on the High Holidays this year, a month after the Jewish Federation offices in Seattle were attacked by a gunman, murdering one worker, most synagogues in Southern California increased the number of guards at their doors and carefully checked guest lists of people who had preregistered.

The price? Drop-ins, unaffiliated, undecided and last-minute shul-goers, were turned away. In addition, before the High Holidays, Los Angeles City Councilman Jack Weiss met with neighborhood synagogues to discuss security issues and precautions.

But what of the insider whom synagogue leaders believe may pose a threat to synagogue members? In a climate of increasing vigilance against sexual predators, many religious leaders these days would rather err on the side of caution than take any potential risk.

"What is the line between making your shul an open place and a safe place?" asked Rabbi Abner Weiss of Westwood Village Synagogue, who was rabbi of Beth Jacob for 15 years prior to Weil.

Weiss is also a licensed therapist, and he said there are situations where rabbis are obligated by law to report to the authorities when a person is a danger to others, such as when they are suspected of child or elder abuse.

A man once dressed up in Army fatigues and ran around Beth Jacob wielding a knife, Weiss said. They had him committed, but when he seemed better, Weiss let him back into the synagogue and invited him to his house for lunch. "That was a mistake, because he was unstable," the rabbi remembered. "He didn't take his meds. I'm sorry that I wasn't more careful about letting him into the house."

The man threatened the rabbi and had to be medicated again.

Which is why in some cases, it's better to err on the side of caution, Weiss believes. When the rabbi was leading Beth Jacob, he said, one man was accused by members of getting too close to children.

"It upset parents, so I quietly spoke to him, and I said people are uncomfortable, and I didn't want him to get into trouble. I suggested he would be more comfortable somewhere else," he said.

That man left the synagogue -- but he came back after Weiss left, presenting Weil with the same problem.

"He's a single man, doesn't have children, why is he sitting on the ground talking with little kids in the middle of the prayer services?" Weil said. "We asked him to come to the office, and we explained to him why we were asking him to leave," Weil said, and they also notified other shuls in the area to alert them of the danger.

Rabbi Stewart Vogel of Temple Aliyah in Woodland Hills said that when he was a rabbi at Valley Beth Shalom, a "bag lady" came into the synagogue. "There were people who were uncomfortable, and we talked about it and said, 'You know, these people have a right to come in; she's not bothering anybody,'" he said.

The situation resolved itself without conflict.

"I think she just stopped coming," said Vogel, whose congregation is Conservative. He added, "The synagogue should be a haven for anybody. Think about the haggadah, 'Kol dichvin' -- those who have spiritual need and those who are just hungry should be able to come there."

That sentiment is shared by Rabbi Dan Shevitz of the Conservative synagogue, Mishkon Tephilo: The shul should be open to all.

"Beiti bet tefila, yikarehu lechol ha'amim means that a house of God has to be universal, since God is universal," he said. "We can't tell people they're not welcome in God's house."

Shevitz should know, because his congregation has its home two blocks from the beach in Venice. Homeless people can often be found sleeping on the top of the shul steps, behind the white pillars at the entrance, and often wander into the synagogue during services.

"Sometimes they come in and they're abusive or they think it's a church. The harder cases may be someone suspicious, or who maybe smells, who wanders in and sits in the back." he said.

The congregation usually lets these people alone, although for security's sake, they offer to check their packages, and if the person is compliant, he or she can stay.

Sometimes, he said, vagabonds also come for Kiddush. "Sometimes guests are greedy, but I figure if they're hungry, then they'll eat it. It's better than giving them money and them shooting up," Shevitz said. "If we can use the Kiddush to alleviate hunger in the community, then that's a good thing."

"We don't check the tzitzit of anyone who comes in; they can enjoy the tefillah and Kiddush like anyone else -- as long as they're not disruptive," Shevitz said.

Disruptiveness is another story when it comes to synagogue etiquette. Rabbis, like comedians and politicians, sometimes must tolerate hecklers.

"There are people who can be disruptive in a synagogue setting," said Rabbi Mark Diamond, executive director of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, who spent 20 years as a Conservative pulpit rabbi in Washington, Philadelphia and the Bay Area.

"If someone was being disruptive during or after services when I was a pulpit rabbi," he said, "I conferred with the president and key members of the board -- and every situation is different -- it would involve someone speaking with the individual, making them aware of their conduct." If that didn't work, he said, the person was told, "This is not the place for you."

Diamond said pulpit rabbis often have to deal with people who are dangerous, offensive, disruptive or just plain political. He once had to deal with a leader in his congregation "who often was irritating and very much a contrarian and said and did things that were very hurtful to me as a rabbi."

Diamond said he went out of his way to be extra nice to this thorn in his side. "People were watching to see how I would respond, and it was important for me as the spiritual community leader that I wouldn't let him get to me."

Shul politics and dealing with disruptive leaders and members is one of the topics discussed in the synagogue leadership institute, Diamond said. The program, which is five years old, trains emerging synagogue leaders, taking lay leaders from different synagogues to "engage in serious text study and give them leadership skills."

Another part of the course involves mediation and dispute resolution. Lawsuits between shul members are very common, he said.

"Most rabbis are well advised to try to stay away from these legal matters," he said, although the rabbi can try to encourage the people to go to beit din. "Too often it's a lose-lose situation for the rabbi. Unfortunately, if it's bitter and nasty, he should try to get them to reconcile, but it's best to stay out of it."

Weil didn't become involved until recently in the Biston dispute. The lawsuit that caused rift revolves around a civil court case with a shul member, Gary Klein. The two entered into a real estate deal together in 2000, and within the next year they were on opposite sides in a civil lawsuit.

In 2005 a jury verdict was returned against Biston, who filed a motion for a new trial, but the case was settled before the motion was ruled on. The settlement agreement provided for payment of $300,000 to Klein.

Biston says the entire affair is a private matter irrelevant to his attendance at Beth Jacob.

"Rabbis should not get involved with other members of the synagogue," Biston said. "Who is he to decide who should be able to pray at the temple? No rabbi can decide that."

Weil said he only got involved in the Biston case because, as stated in allegations in court documents, Biston had first approached Klein on synagogue grounds to discuss the real estate transaction that ultimately resulted in the lawsuit. Biston claimed to have known Klein beforehand.

After the settlement, Klein said he went to the rabbi and said, "I waited three and a half years, now I have the goods; you have it here in writing ... he used your institution."

When Klein approached him, Weil got the board involved. Beth Jacob's bylaws provide that the executive board has the right to ask people to leave. This transaction is done privately and is not subject to a trial. But some people who were asked to leave the shul have taken offense at the manner of the proceedings.

Gadi Pickholz wrote a letter from Israel to a Web site, www.lukeford.net, run by blogger Luke Ford, saying that Weil "falsely accused me of sexual impropriety of an unstated nature with a congregant of unstated name (how convenient) in an attempt to get me out of his shul."

Ford also had been banned from Beth Jacob and Young Israel of Century City. The rabbis of the synagogues and Ford all declined to speak on the record about the ban, which has to do with Ford's blog and his former involvement writing about the porn industry.

"We did not go into reasons of why we were asking [Pickholz] to leave in order to protect the person," Weil said. He and the board had been following up on a specific complaint from a member, and they solicited advice from the police. "The Beverly Hills police said we had to protect the members. It was left pretty vague -- we did not want to get into it. I was careful to tell him, 'We're not saying you're guilty; we've taken on a policy that when credible accusations are made, we're going to ask people not to return.'"

Another man asked to leave the shul said he found the whole process mystifying. "It was Yom Kippur morning [2005], and I was saying 'Avinu Malkeinu,' and [Weil] said can you come outside, I want to talk to you," said the other man who requested that his name not be used. He told the rabbi that that he'd come out when he finished davening, and was told, "You have to leave this shul, and if you don't come now, I'll call the police."

The police came and evicted him. Later, he said, "I tried to talk to some people on the board, but I don't know why he did the whole thing." A few months ago, the man said he ran into the rabbi at an event and confronted him. "What did I do?" he asked the rabbi, who told him it was about a problem with another member.

"A man came crying to me that he couldn't come to this synagogue without being verbally abused and threatened," by this man, Weil told The Journal. The man in question had been a tenant of the other man, who was elderly, and they had also been involved in a court case.

"The case was five or six years old, and it was resolved in court; it's a civil issue that has nothing to do with the shul," the man told The Journal. Weil said that if people like this man would like to return to the synagogue, they'd have to go before the executive board and "ideally ask for forgiveness" from the people they offended.

"A community has a responsibility first and foremost to create a safe and secure environment," Weil said of the various cases of eviction.

"We want to create a place where young people of all ages can explore their Judaism in a warm environment," Weil said, "where adults can explore their Judaism emotionally, spiritually or intellectually. And where there's a sense of responsibility to the community, to Israel, to tikkun olam [heal the world]."

Despite the recent allegations against him, Weil's vision for the synagogue has proven results. When he came to Beth Jacob from Detroit in 1999, the congregation had between 400 and 500 member families, about 50 of them families with children. Now, some eight years later, Beth Jacob membership has almost doubled, with more than 800 family units -- some 200 of them with children and teenagers -- making it the largest Orthodox congregation on the West Coast. The synagogue leaders pride themselves on being diverse and welcoming.

And it is perhaps that same sense of openness that has made the synagogue seem inviting to some undesirable characters, Beth Jacob leadership said, although, noted board president Tabak, asking six or seven people to leave from among the thousand or so that pray there on a weekly basis "is not very many." He said, "One of our greatest strengths is our greatest weakness."

"We're likely to attract the good and the bad," added Rohatiner, a past president and a lawyer who was also present during the meeting.

Does Beth Jacob attract more undesirable characters than most synagogues? "I think [because of our size] it's much more likely you can blend in here," Rohatiner said.

Weil added: "On a typical Shabbat there are six different prayer services, another five different youth services. It's very easy for someone to slip though the cracks. We view as our responsibility to make it a safe place for anyone who walks into the synagogue."

As a result of the public airing of the ejection of Biston and others, Rohatiner said that one change will be made: The executive board will deal with these cases.

"It's beneath the raabbi's position to ask these people to leave," Rohatiner said. "That's not what we're about."

Rabbi Considers Appeal Kaye Sentenced for Sex Crime Charges

By Eric Fingerhut

Washington Jewish Week

Rabbi David Kay

The lawyer for the rabbi caught in a hidden camera sting of online sexual predators said Tuesday that he and his client are still discussing whether to appeal his conviction on sex crime charges.

A notice of an appeal must be filed within 10 days of last Friday's sentencing of David Kaye, in which Alexandria U.S. Court Judge James Cacheris sent the Rockville rabbi to prison for 78 months.

Kaye was found guilty in September of "coercion and enticement" and travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual contact with a minor. Those charges were brought after Kaye was featured in a broadcast of the Dateline NBC "To Catch a Predator" series.

Kaye lawyer Peter Greenspun said he was pleased with the sentence considering that the government had originally asked for a term of 121 months. But, the lawyer said, "that doesn't mean it's not a difficult and harsh ... sentence."

Federal sentences are determined by a system that assigns a certain number of points for a specific crime and and then adds or subtracts points based on various enhancements and reductions.

Prosecutors asked for three enhancements, but the judge only accepted one, for obstruction of justice. Cacheris ruled that Kaye had commited perjury by testifying that he had gone to the house in Herndon expecting to meet with a young adult. For that reason, the judge also rejected the defense request for a sentence reduction based on his acceptance of responsibility for the crimes.

Kaye testified at trial in August that he believed his chat partner had been lying about being 13 years old and was engaged in a "role play."

In fact, his chat partner was an adult and a member of an organization called Perverted Justice, a controversial group whose volunteers pose as children online in order to expose potential Internet predators and then turn over chat logs and other information it gathers to the police.

The group was working with Dateline NBC, and Kaye was confronted on camera by a Dateline reporter when he arrived at the Herndon house.

Kaye, who served for more than three years as vice president of program at the Rockville-based teen educational group Panim: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values, resigned from that post just days before the Dateline segment first aired. Until 2001, he had been a rabbi at Potomac's Congregation Har Shalom for 16 years.

His time in prison is likely to last about five more years. His sentence includes the more than six months he has already served since his May indictment and can be shortened by 15 percent with good behavior.

Once he serves his time, though, he faces an additional 10 years of supervised release. He will be required to register as a sex offender and banned from accessing the Internet and being alone with children under the age of 18 without the prior approval of a parole officer, among other conditions.

Cacheris also recommended that Kaye be admitted into the Sex Offender Treatment Program at the federal prison in Butner, N.C., although he said that Kaye may have to wait a while. The program is currently full.

In congressional testimony in September, Andres Hernandez, director of that program, said that therapy at Butner includes about 15 hours of treatment activities per week that "help offenders manage their sexual deviance in an effort to reduce sexual recidivism" by teaching "effective self-control skills."

Charles Onley, a research associate at the Silver Spring-based Center for Sex Offender Management, said that he wasn't familiar with the specifics of Butner's program. But, he said that such treatments often teach offenders to identify "triggers" for their behavior and make them much better prepared for re-entry into society.

In his statement to the judge at Friday's hearing, an emotional Kaye acknowledged his father and others family members in the courtroom and asked the media ‹ specifically citing Washington Jewish Week by name ‹ to "keep this private."

He then said that the Dateline incident was "my cry out for help," and while it may be a cliche, "sometimes cliches are true." (Major media outlets have already reported details of Kaye's statement.)

Reactions to Kaye's sentence were mixed. Vicki Polin, executive director of the Awareness Center, which tracks sexual abuse in the Jewish community, said she thought Kaye received a "fair sentence," considering that there was no evidence presented in court that he had contact with a child.

Congregation Shaare Tefila's Rabbi Jonah Layman sees the sentence as a "positive thing for him and his family," given it is "a lot less that he could have gotten."

"I hope that this can begin the process of David's healing and his family's healing," said the Silver Spring rabbi, a friend of the Kaye family.

Agudas Achim Congregation's Rabbi Jack Moline, a longtime friend of Kaye's, said he was less concerned with the sentence than with the vigilante methods used to catch him.

"I can't defend what he did. I don't think that's the issue," said the Alexandria rabbi. "Whether or not he should have been doing [it] ... the man was convicted by NBC," which was "interested in the most sensational story."

"It's not about justice, it's about ratings," and "it's a terrible way for justice to be served," he added.

Moline noted that NBC continues to rerun the video of the Kaye sting and the video can be viewed on the program's Web site.

"Now that he's convicted and sentenced, what is the purpose of ... keeping it up on the Web site?" he said.

Dateline did not respond to a message requesting comment. Meanwhile, the show has scheduled a program with "updates" on those caught in its "To Catch a Predator" series for this Saturday night.

Case of Rabbi David A. Kaye

Case of Rabbi David A. Kaye

THIS PAGE IS CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION & BEING UPDATED

Former Vice President - Panim: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values, Rockville, MD

Former Rabbi - Congregation Har Shalom, Potomac, MD

Former Rabbi - Congregation Agudas Achim, San Antonio, TX

Rabbi David Kaye was featured on "Dateline NBC" for seeking a sexual encounter with an underage boy in a chat room. NBC News conducted a sting in August, (2005) working with a group called "Perverted Justice." Members of the group, posing as underage boys and girls, entered Internet chat rooms and waited for adults to engage them in conversations.

Kaye was one of many who allegedly spoke to the presumed children about sex, and suggested meeting them. Kaye allegedly sent one individual naked pictures of himself, said he was gay and arranged a meeting at a Northern Virginia home where the "boy" said he lived, which NBC had equipped with hidden cameras.

Rabbi David A. Kaye has been a Jewish educator for 30 years. He has been a pulpit rabbi for 17 years serving Congregation Har Shalom, Potomac, MD and Congregation Agudas Achim, San Antonio, TX.

Rabbi Kaye is currently a member of the Rabbinical Assembly,  He has staffed numerous USY conventions and retreats. As a leader in the Washington Federation, he was instrumental in the creation of several innovative youth and Jewish educational initiatives.

Rabbi Kaye faced being sentenced up to 60 years in prision.  On December 1, 2006, U.S. District Judge James C. Cacheris in Alexandria, VA settled on 78 months.  Stating Kaye would then face 10 years of supervised release. The judge said that during that time, Kaye will be forbidden to accept any job involving children, and he ordered him to never be around children younger than 18 without an adult present. Upon release he will be mandated to be on the national sex offenders registry.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ed Power had called for a tough sentence and said Kaye's conduct was "a crime of violence in which he essentially tried to rape a 13-year-old boy."

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Disclaimer: Inclusion in this website does not constitute a recommendation or endorsement. Individuals must decide for themselves if the resources meet their own personal needs.

Table of Contents: 

Interesting Photo

2005

1. Rabbi David A. Kaye, Vice President for Program  (10/29/2005)Hidden camera investigation catches men trying to meet kids for sex  (10/31/2005)
2. Panim Statement  (11/02/2005)
3. Panim staffer departs  (11/02/2005)
4. Rabbi of Jewish group resigns after NBC links him to Web sex sting  (11/02/2005)
5. Panim staffer departs (11/02/2005)
6. Adults prowling the Web to meet children found Dateline cameras instead  (11/03/2005)
7. News at a Glance  (11/03/2005)
8. Pervert Justice Caught on Tape (11/04/2005)
9. Rabbi, teacher lose jobs over TV sex sting  (11/04/2005)
10. Local Rabbi Caught in 'Dateline' Internet Sting  (11/04/2005)
11. Rabbi Caught In 'Dateline' Online Predator Sting  (11/04/2005)
12. Catching potential Internet sex predators (11/04/2005)
13. Rabbi, Teacher, Doctor Lose Jobs Over TV Sex Sting  (11/05/2005)
14. Maryland Rabbi, Teacher Lose Jobs Over TV Sex Sting  (11/05/2005)
15. U.S. rabbi resigns over online sex scandal (11/06/2005)
16. What we don't want to hide about hidden cameras  (11/08/2005)
17. Rabbi caught in Internet sex sting  (11/09/2005)
18. No charges expected against rabbi' - Dateline' reaction one of sadness  (11/09/2005)
19. Why the 'Dateline' predators were not charged  (11/09/2005)
20. The online chat (11/09/2005)
21. Rabbi Quits After Reported Sex Sting  (11/10/2005)
22. Disabuse Community of Intolerance (11/11/2005)
23. Once a rabbi, always a rabbi - Kaye quits rabbinic assn.; retains title  (11/17/2005)
24. Gays help expose online predators - Internet group asks gays to be more vocal in stopping teen abuse  (11/25/2005)
25. Dateline Transcript - To Catch a Predator; Hidden camera investigation lures sexual predators from the Internet to home in Washington, DC  (11/04/2005)
26. Dateline reporter Chris Hansen answers viewer mail regarding documentary that exposed Rabbi David Kaye
27. Rita Cosby Live and Direct  (11/03/2005)
28. Today Show: "Dateline NBC"'s undercover investigation of computer predators looking to hook up with children "#184b81" (11/04/2005)
29. The Sting - Perverted Justice  (Warning this is sexually explicit)  (11/02/2005)
30. CALL TO ACTION:  Demand Action on the Case of Rabbi David Kaye  (11/11/2005)

2006

1. Rabbi Indicted In Online Child Predator Case - Man Allegedly Caught In 'Dateline' Predator Sting  (05/19/2006)
2. Rabbi Charged After TV Sex Sting  (05/20/2006)
3. Former Rockville Rabbi Charged In Child Sex Sting  (05/20/2006)
4. Rabbi Accused In Internet Sex Sting Appears In Court  (05/21/2006)
5. Prosecution Rests In Rabbi Internet Sex Sting Case - Suspect Charged After 'Dateline NBC' Sting  (08/21/2006)
6. Rabbi Heads To Court In 'Sex Sting' Case - Rabbi Faces 60 Years In Prison  (08/22/2006)
7. Md. rabbi on trial in case stemming from televised sex sting (08/22/2006)
8. Rabbi caught in sex sting denies interest in teenage boys  (08/23/2006)
9. At trial, rabbi snared in sex sting says he believed liaison was with an adult  (08/24/2006)
10. Rabbi denies paedophilia  (08/24/2006)
11. Rabbi Caught in TV Sex Sting Convicted (09/07/2006)
12. Rabbi Caught on TV Is Convicted of Seeking Sex With Boy (09/07/2006)
13. Predator rabbi convicted  (09/07/2006)
14. Sex Predators TV Show Raises Rights Issues  (11/13/2006)
15. Sentencing Set For Rabbi Caught In Sting (12/01/2006)
16. Md. Rabbi Gets 6 1/2 Years in Prison  (12/01/2006)
17. Rabbi Sentenced In Internet Sex Sting  (12/02/2006)

2012

1.  Convicted of soliciting a minor, rabbi is banned from D.C.-area synagogue  (10/04/2012)
2. Bethesda synagogue grapples with presence of rabbi convicted of sex crime  (10/26/2012)

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Rabbi David A. Kaye, Vice President for Program

Panim - October 30, 2005 

http://web.archive.org/web/20040723170316/www.panim.org/News/NewsList.cfm?c=30

 

Rabbi David A. Kaye has been a Jewish educator for 30 years. He has been a pulpit rabbi for 17 years serving Congregation Har Shalom, Potomac, MD and Congregation Agudas Achim, San Antonio, TX. He created award winning synagogue theme programs, many with the focus on tikkun olam. A member of the Rabbinical Assembly, David has staffed numerous USY conventions and retreats. As a leader in the Washington Federation, he was instrumental in the creation of several innovative youth and Jewish educational initiatives.

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Interesting Photo

Partners in Caring - Fall 2000

http://www.healthcarechaplaincy.org/publications/publications/PIC-fall2000/rabbis.html 

Upon learning of the allegations made against Rabbi David Kaye,  The Awareness Center came across this photograph and shared it with various news media groups.

There are 14 individuals in this photograph.  Three have been caught soliciting sex from individuals who they believed were minors.  One has to wonder if anyone else in this photograph may also be a sexual predator.

In the back row you will find both Rabbi Israel Kestenbaum and Rabbi Jerrold/Gerrold Levy. Rabbi Kestenbaum is the first person on the left, and Rabbi Levy is the first person on the right. Both have been convicted in connection with soliciting sex through the Internet.  Rabbi David Kaye is in the front row in the middle.  

 

Kallah faculty and participants: (Back row, L to R) Rabbi Israel Kestenbaum, Rabbi Sanford Akselrad, Rabbi Abraham Morduchowitz, Rabbi Michael Davis, Rabbi Moshe Morduchowitz, Rabbi Bennett Rackman, Rabbi Raphael Ostrovski, Rabbi Gerrold Levy; (Front Row, L to R) Rabbi Feivel Wagner, Rabbi Carl Perkins, Rabbi Bonita E. Taylor, Rabbi David Kaye, Rabbi Mychal Springer, Rabbi David Nelson.

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Panim Statement

http://www.panim.org/statement.htm

Panim - November 2, 2005

Rabbi David Kaye

On October 31, 2005, Rabbi David Kaye, former PANIM Vice President for Program , informed me of certain personal conduct that took place outside of our organization, that may soon be aired as part of a larger news story on national television. He immediately tendered his resignation, which I accepted.We currently are undertaking an internal inquiry to be certain that there has been no similar misconduct at PANIM, in any way. At this point, there have been no allegations of, nor any evidence of, any improprieties involving PANIM programs or participants and Rabbi Kaye or any other staff member. Furthermore, no complaints have ever been lodged against Rabbi Kaye or any other staff member by students, visiting faculty, parents or fellow staff members.The trust which parents and schools place in us to care for their teenagers imposes a heavy responsibility on PANIM. PANIM maintains a zero tolerance policy for any inappropriate activity or behavior involving our faculty, staff or participants. That policy and our rigid enforcement of it, have served to protect our students from unfortunate incidents that have taken place in other institutions serving young people.Our primary responsibility is the well being of our participants and the integrity of our program. For 18 years PANIM has had a stellar reputation for providing transformative educations programs for Jewish youth focused on Jewish values and social responsibility. Our faculty and staff remain committed to training the next generation of Jewish leadership and to ensuring the well being of our participants.

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Panim staffer departs

Washington Jewish Week - November 2, 2005

http://www.washingtonjewishweek.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=4303&TM=1664.079

 

Rabbi David Kaye resigned suddenly on Monday evening as vice president for program at Panim: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values. Panim executive director Rabbi Sid Schwarz said the resignation came for "personal reasons."

 

The resignation came days before the scheduled Friday broadcast of a Dateline NBC hidden camera investigation of adults pursuing children over the Internet. Dateline correspondent Chris Hansen confirmed Tuesday to WJW that Kaye will be a subject of the hourlong report, in which members of a group which tracks Internet predators posed as teenage boys and lured adults to a house in Fairfax County, where Hansen confronted them.

 

Kaye declined to comment on the Dateline report. Schwarz also declined to comment on the broadcast, but said that there had "never been any accusations ... of any inappropriate behavior" in Kaye's three-year tenure with Panim.

 

Kaye is a former rabbi at Congregation Har Shalom in Potomac.

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Rabbi of Jewish group resigns after NBC links him to Web sex sting

By Matthew E. Berger

JTA - November 2, 2005

http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=15998&intcategoryid=4

 

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 (JTA) — An official with an educational program for Jewish high school students has resigned after allegedly searching the Internet for liaisons with underage boys and sending naked pictures of himself.

 

Rabbi David Kaye resigned from Panim on Monday, informing leaders that he was to be featured on "Dateline NBC" on Friday for seeking a sexual encounter with an underage boy in a chat room.

"He told me he was going to be on a program on national television that would identify him engaging in inappropriate behavior," said Rabbi Sid Schwarz, founder and president of the Washington-based Panim: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values.

 

Panim has never received a complaint against Kaye and he is not accused of doing anything in relation to his work there. But the incident is likely to revive concerns about the possibility of sexual misconduct between rabbis and other Jewish officials who come into contact with minors.

 

NBC News conducted a sting in August, working with a group called "Perverted Justice." Members of the group, posing as underage boys and girls, entered Internet chat rooms and waited for adults to engage them in conversations, Chris Hansen, the NBC reporter on the story, told JTA.

 

Kaye and others allegedly spoke to the presumed children about sex, and suggested meeting them. Kaye allegedly sent one individual naked pictures of himself, said he was gay and arranged a meeting at a Northern Virginia home where the "boy" said he lived, which NBC had equipped with hidden cameras.

 

When he arrived, he was confronted by Hansen.

 

"He admitted to being a rabbi," Hansen said. "He then got very agitated."

 

When reached by JTA on Wednesday, Kaye refused to comment on his resignation or any of the accusations against him. Hansen said Kaye had agreed at one point to speak with NBC News, but only if the network did not air his name or face. The network refused.

 

Perverted Justice sent the chat transcripts and information about Kaye and others to the Fairfax County, Va. Police, Hansen said. A police spokesman said the department does not confirm the names of anyone under investigation until they are charged with a crime.

 

Kaye joined Panim after serving as a rabbi and confirmation instructor at Congregation Har Shalom in Potomac, Md., for 15 years, until 2001.

 

"We are waiting to see what the show is and we´ll respond after that," said Rabbi David Rose, senior rabbi at Har Shalom.

 

He was ordained by the Reconstructionist movement, but is now a member of the Rabbinical Assembly, the rabbinical arm of the Conservative movement. Rabbi Joel Meyers, the R.A.'s executive vice president, was out of the country and unavailable for comment.

 

Panim is largely known for its high school engagement program, Panim el Panim, which brings thousands of Jewish students from around the country to Washington each year for religious and political education. As vice president for programming, Kaye mostly oversaw the faculty, Schwarz said.

"We do a fairly rigorous set of reference checks for people we hire," Schwarz said. "But there are always opportunities for abuse of authority."

 

In the past few days, Schwarz said he and others have been reflecting on incidents that were seen as inconsequential at the time, wondering if they should have seen a pattern.

 

"I'd be lying if I said I haven't been thinking about it and wondering about it," he said. "But they were so insignificant not to suggest a pattern of behavior."

 

Yosef Abramowitz, the CEO of Jewish Family & Life, served as the assistant director of Panim in the 1990s. He said he could not imagine much opportunity for one-on-one time between staff and students.

 

"There's never been a hint of anything in the past, and the program is so intense that there is no one-on-one, un-chaperoned down time," Abramowitz said.

 

Schwarz said he did not expect an investigation into Kaye's work at Panim, but Panim has taken Kaye's computer hard drive for inspection.

 

The organization is reaching out to congregations and others that work with the student program.

"I would assure parents that we've never had an incident in our program, and there is no accusation of incidents in our program," he said. "There is no way that any reasonable person can make assurances that no incident will ever happen, but we have safety systems in place."

 

Sexual abuse by clergy has been a national issue in recent years, stemming largely from accusations in the Catholic Church.

 

But there have been cases that have roiled the Jewish community.

 

Rabbi Baruch Lanner, an Orthodox Union official, is serving seven years in prison for sexually abusing a student when he was principal of Hillel Yeshiva High School in New Jersey. Lanner was accused of molesting more than 20 teenage girls over a period of 30 years, and physically and verbally abusing boys. But he was convicted on just one account.

 

Schwarz said he hoped the organization's reputation would help it weather the storm.

 

"I think there is so much good will with people that work with us that will serve us well," he said.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Panim staffer departs

Washington Jewish Week - November 2, 2005

http://www.washingtonjewishweek.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=4303&TM=102.596

 

Rabbi David Kaye resigned suddenly on Monday evening as vice president for program at Panim: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values. Panim executive director Rabbi Sid Schwarz said the resignation came for "personal reasons."

 

The resignation came days before the scheduled Friday broadcast of a Dateline NBC hidden camera investigation of adults pursuing children over the Internet. Dateline correspondent Chris Hansen confirmed Tuesday to WJW that Kaye will be a subject of the hourlong report, in which members of a group which tracks Internet predators posed as teenage boys and lured adults to a house in Fairfax County, where Hansen confronted them.

 

Kaye declined to comment on the Dateline report. Schwarz also declined to comment on the broadcast, but said that there had "never been any accusations ... of any inappropriate behavior" in Kaye's three-year tenure with Panim.

 

Kaye is a former rabbi at Congregation Har Shalom in Potomac.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Hidden camera investigation catches men trying to meet kids for sex

MSNBC - October 31, 2005

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9878187/#051103a

 

Last fall, "Dateline's" Chris Hansen investigated an epidemic spreading throughout America — men trolling Internet chat rooms in pursuit of children. Now one year later, he's back with yet another shocking report about the threat of online sexual predators.

 

Hansen and NBC News set up their hidden camera investigation in an upscale home in a Washington D.C. suburb. Members of a group called Perverted Justice, an Internet watchdog group, pretended to be 12 to 14-year-old children chatting online. Within hours, adults solicited the undercover operatives for sex. Some sent graphic sexual images to what they believed were minors. Soon, many of those same men actually show up at the house for a rendezvous with the child. 

Instead, they are confronted by Hansen. Most of the men claim their intentions were innocent. Some of the most alarming cases involve seemingly prominent members of the community: a Rabbi, a special education teacher and a doctor. The hidden camera investigation exposes 19 men in three days, giving viewers a frightening glimpse at how widespread the problem is. With consumer groups warning parents that adults looking for sex frequently approach U.S. children who are online, the report will also include advice for parents about how to protect their children from this pervasive danger.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Adults prowling the Web to meet children found Dateline cameras instead

Chris Hansen, Dateline correspondent

MSNBC - November 3, 2005

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9878187/#051103a

 

Late last August three hidden camera engineers, 2 regular cameramen, a soundman, 2 volunteers from a vigilante group that exposes computer predators, a producer, an associate producer, a security provider and I moved into a big home in an affluent suburb of Washington, DC. The mission: to explore the sometimes dark world of Internet chat rooms and to expose predators who seek to seduce children. 

 

We all knew going in that the scope of the problem is immense. At any given time 50,000 predators are on the Internet prowling for children and the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children tells us that one in five children online have been solicited for sex.

 

Still, I wasn't prepared for what I was about to see. The next five days would leave my crew and me physically and mentally exhausted.

 

Even before I arrived on the scene, Mitch and Eric Waggonberg and their team had installed eleven hidden cameras and essentially built a control room on the second floor of the house. The cameras could be panned and zoomed from the second floor. One room over, the volunteers from the vigilante group called Perverted Justice were in regional chat rooms of Yahoo and AOL, posing as 12, 13 or 14 year old kids. They posted profiles with pictures of boys and girls who were unmistakably underage. And huddled in with them, a computer researcher was standing by to dig into the backgrounds of men who came to our house to meet a child for sex.

 

I arrived at our house on a Wednesday morning about 9 a.m. By noon we were expecting our first visitor. He was 54 and called himself "Redbd" on line. He thought he was talking to a 13-year-old boy named Conrad. Redbd acknowledged Conrad's age saying he was "sooo soo young." He asked "Conrad" about his sexuality and his sexual experience. Then he sent "Conrad" pictures of himself so explicit we can't show you. And then he was walking up the driveway to our home. He was confident, comfortable. He even parked right in the driveway. I was standing in the next room, watching on a monitor as he walked into the kitchen. The decoy said: "Hey, spilled Diet Coke on my shirt, I have to go change." The man offered to help.

 

As a correspondent in these kinds of situations, you're always a bit anxious. Redbd didn't look violent, but you never know how someone in his position is going to react, especially because Redbd was a prominent man who had a lot to lose by being exposed. Redbd was a rabbi at an organization that works with young people. At first he was calm, even though he clearly knew he was in a lot of trouble. Then he became agitated and wanted to know who I was. I suddenly felt a bit on the defensive. When I told him who I was, the camera crew came out of the next room and he started after me. Our security provider intervened and ultimately the rabbi left. Later, in a series of phone calls to us, the rabbi claimed he had done nothing wrong.

 

All of this happened on the first day of our investigation. He was the first of 19 men who would walk in our house. I knew then, it was going to be a long week.

 

One after another, a parade of predators showed up at our house. Each confrontation was unique. Sometimes on these undercover investigations you feel almost exhilarated when you catch someone in the act. This time though, it was just plain pathetic and frightening to see first hand how many men would do something like this.

 

Besides the rabbi, there was a doctor, a special education teacher, an army man, a defense contractor, a medical student... the list goes on. Not one of these men, if you saw him on the street would stand out in a crowd. Some were defiant, claiming they'd done nothing wrong. Many said this was the first time they'd ever done anything like this and they weren't really going to go through with it. Some broke down and admitted an addiction to the Internet.

 

Perhaps the most memorable moment though was when a guy actually walked into our home naked. That's right: Naked. I knew, based upon his chat with the decoy that this might be a possibility. I never really thought the man would do it. But, on the second evening of our investigation, there he was walking into our kitchen wearing nothing, carrying a 12-pack of beer looking to hook up with a 14-year-old boy. I was standing in the next room looking at the monitor, shaking my head in disbelief. He's sitting on a stool naked and now I have to go confront him and do an interview with him. That was a TV first for me.

 

Fortunately, there was a towel nearby that I could give him to cover up.

 

What does your daddy do for a living? My kids and virtually anyone else I told about my interview with naked-guy thought this was hysterical... that is until I told them what this same guy did the next day. It highlights the danger and the prevalence of men online trying to solicit children. Within 12 hours of the encounter at the kitchen counter, the very same man was in a chat room talking to a decoy posing as a 13-year old boy. There's sex talk and he sets up a meeting at a fast food restaurant.
 

But, instead of meeting a 13-year-old, he meets me with a camera crew. Again, I confront the man.
 

He tells me he needs to get help and is seeing a psychiatrist.
 

Let's hope that he does.

___________________________________________________________________________________

News at a Glance

UJC - November 3, 2005

www.ujfpittsburgh.org/content_display.html?ArticleID=165523

 

A official with an educational program for Jewish high school students resigned after allegedly being caught searching the Internet for liaisons with underage boys. Rabbi David Kaye resigned Monday from the Washington-based Panim: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values, informing leaders that his story would appear Friday on "Dateline NBC."

___________________________________________________________________________________

Pervert Justice Caught on Tape

By DON KAPLAN

New York Post

November 3, 2005

http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/56780.htm

 

November 3, 2005 -- IN a sting to bust Internet predators, NBC's "Dateline" caught 19 alleged pedophiles, including a rabbi, trying to meet and have sex with someone they thought was a child.
 

Dateline correspondent Chris Hansen and NBC News set up the hidden-camera investigation in an upscale home in a Washington, D.C., suburb and worked with members of a group called Perverted Justice, an Internet watchdog group.

 

"At the end of each day, our whole team of about a dozen people were emotionally and physically wiped out," Hansen told The Post.

 

For the investigation, a 22-year-old female member of Perverted Justice posed as a decoy and pretended to be 12- to 14-year-old children online in chatrooms on AOL and Yahoo. Within hours, adults solicited the undercover operative for sex. Some sent graphic sexual images to what they believed were minors.

 

Later, many of those same men actually showed up at the house for a sexual rendezvous with the children.

 

One of the perverts who was snared and appears on tomorrow's edition of the newsmagazine (8 p.m. on WNBC/Ch. 4) was caught on camera literally with his pants down.

 

"The guy walked into the garage holding a 12-pack of beer and took off his clothes," Hansen says. At that point, Hansen and nearly a dozen NBC News crew members confronted the man.

 

"The kicker is, the next day he set up a date online to meet with a child at a fast-food restaurant," says Hansen. The child was also a decoy, and the man was confronted by Hansen for a second time in as many days.

 

The sting also caught a rabbi, who became violent when Hansen confronted him with a handful of obscene pictures the holy-man had allegedly e-mailed to the decoy.

 

All of the tapes and transcripts from the chatrooms were turned over to local authorities.

e-mail: don.kaplan@nypost.com

___________________________________________________________________________________
 
Rabbi, teacher lose jobs over TV sex sting

Assocated Press - November 4, 2005

http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=4076137&nav=23ii

 

ROCKVILLE, Md. A Potomac rabbi who is part of a national youth group and a Prince George's County, Maryland teacher have lost their jobs after allegedly trying to solicit sex from minors online.

They didn't realize they were part of an undercover probe by the television show "Dateline N-B-C."

Rabbi David Kaye resigned from his position this week as vice president of PANIM: the Institute for Jewish Leaders and Values.

 

Steven Benoff was a special education teacher at Woodridge Elementary School in Prince George's County. He was fired August 23rd, after Fairfax County, Virginia. police notified the school system about ... quote ... "information relating to children."

 

The pair had gone to a house in northern Virginia to meet children.

 

The "Dateline N-B-C" show is scheduled to run tonight.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Local Rabbi Caught in 'Dateline' Internet Sting

Associated Press - Friday, Nov. 4, 2005

http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?sid=613326&nid=25

 

ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) - A Potomac rabbi, who is part of a national youth group, and a Prince George's County teacher lost their jobs after allegedly trying to solicit sex from minors online, part of an undercover probe by the television show "Dateline NBC."

 

Rabbi David Kaye resigned from his position this week as vice president of PANIM: the Institute for Jewish Leaders and Values, according to a statement put out by the Rockville-based group.
 

Steven Benoff, a special education teacher at Woodridge Elementary School in Prince George's County, was fired Aug. 23, according to school system spokesman John White. Benoff, of Washington, was fired after Fairfax County, Va., police notified the system about "information relating to children."

 

The "Dateline NBC" show, scheduled to run Friday night, involved a camera crew conducting an online sting with the Internet watchdog group, Perverted Justice. Members of the watchdog group pretended to be 12- to 14-year old children, chatting with adults who would solicit them for sex.
 

In mid-August, 19 men went to a house in northern Virginia on the belief they were meeting the children. Once there, they were confronted by "Dateline" reporter Chris Hansen.

Neither Kaye or Benoff has been criminally charged.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Rabbi Caught In 'Dateline' Online Predator Sting

19 Area Men Appear In 'Dateline' Sex Predator Story

NBC News - November 4, 2005

http://www.nbc4.com/news/5254495/detail.html

 

POTOMAC, Md. -- A rabbi from Potomac and a Prince George's County special education teacher have lost their jobs after getting caught up in a "Dateline NBC" investigation about Internet predators.

Video from a "Dateline" hidden camera allegedly shows Rabbi David Kaye visiting a home where he was expecting to meet the 13-year-old boy he'd been discussing sex with online. On Monday, Kaye resigned as a vice president with PANIM, the Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values, an education program for Jewish students from across the country.

 

A statement from Rabbi Sid Schwarz, the president of PANIM, said "We currently are undertaking an internal inquiry to be certain that there has been no similar misconduct at PANIM. There have been no allegations of, nor any evidence of, any improprieties involving PANIM programs or participants and Rabbi Kaye."

 

Prior to working at PANIM, Kaye worked at Congregation Har Shalom for about 15 years until he left in 2001. While there, Kaye performed bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs and was a confirmation instructor.

 

Congregants who know Kaye said this is totally out of character for him.

 

"We have discovered absolutely no allegations, suspicions or anything of that sort involving Rabbi Kaye and minors," said Rabbi David Rose, of Congregation Har Shalom, in a statement.

 

According to "Dateline," 19 men believing they had been chatting on the Internet with an underage boy showed up at the house during a three-day period, allegedly to have a sexual encounter. No one has been charged, but all 19 men are under investigation.

 

Also among those men is a teacher identified as Steven Bennof, of the District, according to "Dateline." He taught at Woodridge Elementary School but has been fired.

___________________________________________________________________________________


Maryland Rabbi, Teacher Lose Jobs Over TV Sex Sting

WBAL - November 5, 2005

http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/5257571/detail.html

 

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- A Potomac rabbi who is part of a national youth group, a Prince George's County teacher and an emergency room doctor on the Eastern Shore lost their jobs after allegedly trying to solicit sex from minors online, part of an undercover probe by the television show "Dateline NBC."

 

Rabbi David Kaye resigned from his position this week as vice president of PANIM, the Institute for Jewish Leaders and Values, according to a statement put out by the Rockville-based group.

 

Steven Benoff, a special education teacher at Woodridge Elementary School in Prince George's, was fired Aug. 23, according to school system spokesman John White.

 

Benoff, of Washington, was fired after Fairfax County, Va., police notified the system about "information relating to children."

 

The unnamed doctor, who had worked at Memorial Hospital in Easton and Dorchester General Hospital since 1999, was barred this week from practicing at any Shore Health System of Maryland facility, the company said in a statement.

 

Friday's "Dateline NBC" involved a camera crew conducting an online sting with the Internet watchdog group, Perverted Justice.

 

Members of the watchdog group pretended to be 12- to 14-year old children, chatting with adults who would solicit them for sex.

 

In mid-August, 19 men went to a house in northern Virginia on the belief they were meeting the children. Once there, they were confronted by "Dateline" reporter Chris Hansen.

 

None of the three men has been criminally charged.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Catching potential Internet sex predators

HIDDEN CAMERA INVESTIGATION

By Chris Hansen, Dateline Correspondent

NBC News - Nov. 4, 2005

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9927253/

 

A long line of visitors expected to find a young teen they'd been chatting with online, home alone. Instead, they found Dateline cameras

 

In any home where there are kids with computers, there are parents with concerns. Teenagers can spend hours chatting online, but who are they chatting with? On the other end of that instant message could be a complete stranger — or a sexual predator. It's a dangerous side of the Internet, one that's growing and many children are at risk. So we went undercover, filling a house with hidden cameras.

 

Soon, a long line of visitors came knocking, expecting to find a young teenager they'd been chatting with on the Internet, home alone. Instead, they found Dateline.

 

We want to warn you some of what you'll read is explicit. But parents need to know what their kids can confront when they sit down at the computer.

 

The problem seems to be getting worse — and the profile of the suspected predators more frightening. Just this past summer, an editor for "Weekly Reader," a newspaper for school children was arrested for using the Internet to solicit sex with a 14-year-old boy. He pleaded not guilty.

 

And this past spring, a New York City cop, a youth officer, was also caught attempting to meet a child online for sex. He pleaded guilty last month "to attempted use of a child in a sexual performance" and agreed to serve six months in prison.

 

Law enforcement officials estimate that 50,000 predators are online at any given moment. And the number of reports of children being solicited for sex is growing says Michele Collins of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

 

"One in five kids has been sexually solicited," she says. "In many cases the incidents were actually aggressive where the person on the other end of the computer is actually calling the child, sending things to their homes, or actually trying to meet them in person."

 

Her organization launched an ad campaign aimed at educating teens about this crime. "The message that really got home to the teenage girl was that if you're in an online relationship, there's a good chance you might be getting played," she adds.

 

Collins says young teens are often an easy target. "Teenagers have vulnerabilities, it just ups the ante when you bring it on to the World Wide Web and that many more people have access to knowing what's going on in a child's mind," she says.

 

Katie Tarbox is a perfect example... she recounts her story in the book "A Girl's Life Online." Tarbox began an Internet relationship with a 23-year-old, an older man who convinced her he shared many of her interests.

 

"In my mind, I was thinking, 'Oh my gosh, like this is my soul mate out there,'" she thought. "In actuality he was just learning my interests, probably researching them at the same time, to come back to say that he enjoyed those things too."

 

After months of chatting online, Katie finally agreed to a meeting at a hotel where she was competing in a swim meet. The man turned out to be 41 years old and although they had never talked about sex, there was little doubt that's what he had in mind.

 

"He leaned over, he kissed me. He groped me. He touched other parts of my body. I mean I was essentially molested," says Tarbox.

 

Since then, Katie, now 23, has become an advocate for Internet victims. She warns children to steer clear of Internet predators and says she has heard thousands of tragic stories from victims who did not.

 

"You could never put us in a room, I'm not even sure you could put us in a whole stadium," she says of the victims out there. "I think it's very very widespread."

 

And even tough laws don't seem to deter many of these predators.

 

Lt. Jake Jacoby of the Fairfax County Police Department says it's a crime in Virginia for an adult to use the Internet to entice a child into having sex. So merely by using the Internet to set up a sexual liaison with somebody who's underage, that's a felony.

 

Because so many children are at risk, and to demonstrate the disturbing reality of what goes on in some chat rooms, we enlisted the help of volunteers from a vigilante organization called Perverted-Justice. Volunteers of this controversial group are experts at pretending to be children online in order to catch and expose potential predators. And in most states soliciting a minor for sex is still a crime even if it turns out the minor is an adult.

 

While some in law enforcement strongly oppose any civilian group conducting sting operations, Perverted-Justice volunteers say they are often able to provide authorities — from local police to the FBI — evidence to build cases and get convictions.

 

Del, Perverted-Justice volunteer: At his point in taping we have 30 convictions.

 

Hansen: 30 convictions.

 

Del: I believe now 22 since the first of this year. So, we're averaging well over two a month.

So how do Perverted-Justice operatives find potential sexual predators? First they go into chat rooms, usually through AOL or Yahoo and set up a profile of a 12, 13 or 14-year-old... a profile that often includes a photo of a child obviously underage.

 

Then the decoys wait to be contacted by an adult. In order to avoid the appearance of entrapment, they never make the first contact. But once an online chat begins the undercover operatives make it know they are open to the possibility of sex. A few decoys even seem eager.

 

Hansen: How quickly do these conversations turn sexual?

 

Jacoby: Sometimes very quickly. As soon as the conversation is "Hi my name is, I'm 14 years or 13 years old and the gentlemen will then say "Look at this" and send you a picture or say something else. And that would be a crime right there.

 

While just setting up a liaison online for sex with a minor is illegal, a face-to-face meeting obviously poses a much greater danger. We wanted to know if most predators were all talk or would they really attempt to meet a child in person.

 

"Dateline" set up in an upscale home in a suburb of Washington, D.C.., and were ready and waiting for the knock on the door.

 

The men come knocking at our door

A lovely home in Virginia just outside of Washington D.C. has become the secret meeting place for potential Internet sex predators. It's rigged with nine hidden cameras, three with views outside, one pointed at the garage and five inside the house. 

 

Several volunteers from Perverted-Justice, the group dedicated to catching Internet predators, are in chat rooms posing as 12, 13 and 14-year-olds ready to make a date for sex with men they meet online.

A 39-year old Frag (his screenname), who has been a Perverted-Justice volunteer for more than two years, is posing as a 13-year-old girl in a Yahoo chat room set up for Virginia residents. It's a chat room not intended for romantic or sexual conversations.

 

As "Dateline" cameras roll, the undercover operatives enter chat rooms. They are quickly inundated with adults wanting to talk.

 

There's a 46-year-old who calls himself "the-sphinx59." He thinks he's talking to a 12-year-old girl named Sarah. It takes him only four minutes of chatting online to ask her, "Are you a virgin?" 

 

She says she is and then he asks if she's ever performed oral sex. In this case as in many other men's chats, things get much more graphic and disgusting.

 

Del, Perverted-Justice volunteer: As those boundaries are crossed in a lot of ways, the chat tends to get a lot more explicit very quickly.

 

One man, screenname "va_male692005," who's 28 years old, thinks he's talking to Erin, a 14-year-old. He asks her bra size, if she shaves anything other than her legs, and says "There's just something about a teen body."

 

In most cases, the men ask for pictures of the young teens and then send pictures of themselves. Sometimes after the chat turns sexual, the man turns on his Web cam and exposes himself. Several men go as far as sending pornographic pictures hoping to teach the inexperienced child about different sex acts.

 

Here in Virginia, as in many other states, it's generally a crime to send children obscene material, even if it turns out the recipient is an adult posing as a child.

 

After chatting about having sex online, the decoy suggests a phone call.

 

23-year-old Del puts on her best "young girl" voice. She needs to verify that the man on the phone is the same man in the chat room. 

 

Del: The worst thing about doing verification calls is that you have to smile while you're doing them so it sounds like it in your voice even though you don't mean it.

 

She can also play the part of a young boy.

 

Once a predator has made it clear he wants sex with a minor, and makes a date for the liaison, the crime has already been committed. He doesn't even have to show up.

 

But will he?

 

One man who came to the house, saw me and not a teen, realizes he's made a big mistake, and runs for the door. Another guy also doesn't stay long. He makes a beeline out to the garage, barely touches the stairs and with his arms flailing runs down the driveway and down the street. Clearly this man knows he's done something wrong. So does yet another man. He also makes a run for it— but he didn't come in a car, so he keeps running and running presumably back to a bus station trying desperately to hide his face.

 

It may look funny, but what these men had in mind, based on their Internet chat, was anything but. They've come to this house after a sexual conversation online.

 

Del (on hidden camera footage): Come on in. Sit at the counter. I've got some water and chips there for you if you want.

 

"the_sphinx59": Okay.

 

Remember "the_sphinx59"? He thinks the girl in the house is a 12-year-old virgin home alone and willing to perform oral sex, but like many other men you'll meet, he's in for a big surprise when I walk out. Some think I'm the child's father, others apparently believe I am with law enforcement. One thing's certain— none of them know our hidden cameras are recording their every move and they'll be appearing on "Dateline."

 

"The_Sphix59" is really Aladdin. He lied online about his age saying he was 35— he's really 46, and instead of admitting he came here to meet a 12-year-old girl, he says he was there to look at real estate.

 

Aladdin, screenname "the_sphinx59" (hidden camera footage transcript): I know that a house is for sale.

 

Chris Hansen, Dateline correspondent: Oh, that this house is for sale?

 

Aladdin: Yes, yes sir.

 

Aladdin: I hear that about a friend of mine.

 

Aladdin goes on to say that his friend found our house for sale on the Internet and he just came to check it out for him. Later, he decides to come clean.

 

Hansen: Why did you really come here?

 

Aladdin: To see what's her name.

 

Hansen: Sarah.

 

Aladdin: Yes.

 

Hansen: Okay. And, you were talking with Sarah online.

 

Aladdin: Yes.

 

Hansen: So, all that other stuff about the house and all that, that was all a big fat lie.

 

Aladdin: Yes.

 

Hansen: Okay. Do you know how old Sarah is?

 

Aladdin: No.

 

He tries to convince me that the girl, Sarah, is 18 years old even though his own words from his Web chat tell a different story.

 

Hansen: You say you're a 35, male, and you say where you're from. She says she's 12. You say, "Oh you're real young. You like older men?" You ask her about her former boyfriends. Did she ever give them oral sex? She says yes. She tells you here that she's 12 years old. So, that 18 thing was a lie as well.

 

Aladdin : I guess.

 

Then Aladdin apparently begins to feel faint and lies down on the kitchen floor.

 

Our background research reveals that Aladdin is a waiter at a Holiday Inn. He says he's an immigrant from Egypt who became a U.S. citizen two years ago.

 

Hansen: Why is it appropriate/ to come to a home where—

 

Aladdin: She's—

 

Hansen: a 12-year-old girl—

 

Aladdin: We can meet to—we can—you can come over to my place. And, you can—can spend time together.

 

Hansen: But, does that make it right for you to do it?

 

Aladdin: No.I feel guilty. Or, I feel bad about this.

 

You'll here more apologies from Aladdin a little bit later. First, there are more men headed to our house. 

 

Meet "vamale692005," who online said "There's just something about a teen body." He's 28 years old and thinks he's talking to a 14-year-old. He's actually chatting with this 23-year-old from Perverted-Justice.

 

"He was by far the worst guy I've ever talked to," says the Perverted-Justice volunteer.

 

What separated him from the run of the mill computer predator? Bestiality. He chatted online for more than a week with our decoy— and slowly introduced more and more depraved sexual requests. He says he wants to use a dog.

 

A Perverted-Justice volunteer says that men like these test the waters, and when he they don't get negative reactions to their sexual suggestions, they feel comfortable to go further.

 

Was this all talk or would this man actually walk into our kitchen?

 

We saw him come through our door.

 

Hansen (hidden camera footage): How you doing? Why don't you have a seat right on that stool please. What's happening?

 

Joe, screenname "Vamale692005": Nothing much

 

Hansen: What are you here for?

 

Joe: Just coming to talk to...

 

Hansen: Coming to talk to who?

 

Joe: That's it.

 

Hansen: Why are you so nervous?

 

Joe: I just get nervous. I was coming to talk to Erin.

 

Hansen: How old is Erin?

 

Joe: She didn't tell me.

 

Hansen: Try again.

 

Joe: I saw 14.

 

Hansen: So you thought it was okay to come see a 14-year-old girl?

 

Joe: No, I didn't.

 

Hansen: And you say, "Would you ever try anal?" "Ouch. That's like it could hurt," she says. "Not if done right. You have to be very gentle with that." Quite a Romeo.

 

Joe: I'm a lonely guy, what can I say?

 

He's more than just a lonely guy. We did a background check and it turns out his real name is Joe Wundaler, an army sergeant stationed at Fort Belvoir at the intelligence and security command.

 

Joe: I've never done anything. I'm trying to get help with it.

 

Hansen: What are you doing to get help?

 

Joe: Seeing a psychiatrist right now.

 

Hansen: Well, it doesn't look like it's working too well, based upon all this.

 

Joe : I just started talking to him.

 

Hansen: This gets pretty freaky here. You talk about sex acts with a dog.

 

Joe: It's one of the reasons why I'm trying to get help. Because I get into fetishes that I know aren't right.

 

Hansen: I guess you're gonna tell me next that this is the very first time you've done something like this.

 

Joe: Actually, it is. I'm serious.

 

True or not, remember this guy tried to entice a young teen into depraved sex acts and it only takes one visit to harm a child forever.

 

We set aside three days to see how many men would actually show up at our undercover house. To keep track of our appointments, we set up a bulletin board. It didn't take long to fill up our calendar.

Some came bearing gifts, like beer, condoms, and a pornographic tape. One man brought shoes and dinner— just what the decoy ordered. You may not think that's significant, but Lt. Jake Jacoby who runs a child services unit in Virginia says during undercover stings, it can help get convictions.

 

Lt. Jacoby: At times when they show up, we like to have them either bring us something or do something so we can show that they're doing specifically what we asked them to do.

 

Hansen: Shows intent.

 

Jacoby: It helps, yes.

 

The men who show up at this house looking for a liason with a child come from very different backgrounds. And as our investigation unfolds, you might be surprised at just how diverse our group gets. Some hold very prominent positions— more prominent than you'd ever imagine.

 

A diverse group of men - A teacher, a doctor, a rabbi, and a guy who shows up naked

During our investigation, there is a parade of men walking up the driveway, through the garage, and into the house. We see 19 men in 3 days.

 

In almost every case, the man engaged in sexually explicit Internet conversations with a person posing as a young teen. And as you'll hear later, most of them said they'd never done it before, and would never actually have sex with a minor.

 

And perhaps more shocking than the number of men is who they are. Our background checks uncover men leading double lives, men you would never suspect involved in this potentially illegal activity. 

 

A man letting himself into our house makes his living working with children— he's a special education teacher. Del was posing as a boy the man's expecting to meet.

 

Del (hidden camera footage transcript): Just sit at the kitchen counter for a minute.

Steve: Where are you? Oh, okay.

 

Del: I'm just—I need to get my new shorts on.

 

The teacher, Steven Bennof, believes he has been chatting online about sex with a boy named Brandon who says he's thirteen. And how old do you think the teacher is? He's 54 years old and married. When I confront him, at first he says he thought Brandon was an adult.

 

Steve (hidden camera footage transcript): He said he was 23. What's the problem?

 

Hansen: I have the transcripts. That's what the problem is. Brandon said he was 13.

 

Steve: 13?

 

Hansen: 13.

 

And the teacher knows this because Brandon told him online he was 13. 

 

Hansen: You talk about oral sex, anal sex and all the different things that you'd like to do with him. What are you doing here?

 

Steve: Thought I'd come see him.

 

Hansen: Come see him for what?

 

Steve: I wanted to meet him.

 

While online, our 13-year-old decoy asked the teacher to bring condoms. Did he?

 

Steve: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

 

Hansen: You did? You have them in your pocket. What does that say about your intent?

 

Steve: Well, I always have them with me but...

 

Hansen: What is a 54-year-old man doing, coming to this home to see a 13-year old boy?

 

Steve: Well, obviously I made a big mistake.

 

And he wasn't the only one not by a long shot. Surprisingly, there were many men with impressive resumes, men you would consider trustworthy.

 

A man with the screenname "Gbabbnsp" is an emergency room doctor. Dr. Jeffrey Beck, 50 years old, went to the house to meet a boy he thinks is 14 years old.

 

Del (hidden camera footage transcript): Come on in, I just spilled diet coke all over my shorts. Got to go change them .I'll be right back down man

 

And then the emergency room doctor tries to follow him upstairs.

 

When I confront the doctor, he says he had no intention of having sex with the boy and that he only came because he felt badly for the teen who was left home alone.

 

Jeffrey, screenname "Gbabbnsp" (hidden camera footage transcript): He was so anxious to have some company when he was left by himself for four days, under the circumstances it sounded neglectful.

 

Hansen: So you're the good Samaritan?

 

Jeffrey: That's correct.

 

During his online chat the doctor wasn't as sexually explicit as many of the others who showed up. In fact, you'll see he seemed to choose his words carefully. Below is part of the online chat.

 

Jeffrey: I'd like very much to be your friend. I don't think I even want to have sex with you until you're old enough for us both not to get in trouble over it.

 

Jeffrey: Lots more to friendship then sex for sure

 

Boy: I would not tell

 

Boy: I done it be4

 

Jeffrey: Once we know each other well, whatever happens happens but I won't meet you for sex.

But he does suggest getting physical. 

 

After talking about covering the teen with "hugs and kisses," the 50-year-old says to the decoy who he thinks is 14, "I want to cuddle you and make you feel safe and loved and cared about."

 

Hansen: Experts in this field say that kind of discussion is consistent with somebody who's grooming a young boy for sex. You see what I'm getting at?

 

Jeffrey: Mm-hmm.

 

Hansen: What's really going on here?

 

Jeffrey: What's really going on is I came over to take him to lunch.

 

Hansen: You ask, have you ever been spanked. He says by my dad but not for sex

 

Jeffrey: hmm-hmm.

 

Hansen: You say, "Could it be fun for sex?" He says, "I can try." You say, "Would you want to spank a dad." Now you see how that looks.

 

Jeffrey: Yeah, looks pretty bad.

 

The doctor maintains he would never do anything illegal, but acknowledges a meeting like this could appear inappropriate.

 

Hansen: Now if you had a teenage son who was home alone would you be comfortable with a 50-something-year-old coming into the house for a visit?

 

Jeffrey: I suppose it would depend on the 50-year-old-man but in general, no I wouldn't.

What about another guy? A man in his position is just about the last person you'd expect to be showing up at our house.

 

It's 4 a.m. in an AOL chat room. This 54-year old man screenname- "Redbd" messages a 13-year-old boy named Conrad saying, "I'm prowling for young men." What he goes on to say and the pictures he sends are so graphic we had to carefully edit them before putting them on television.

 

And as you'll hear when we read from his chat log, it's clear "Redbd" knows what he's doing is wrong.

 

(Chat log) Redbd: You are only 13?

 

MadC Rad1992 - uhh yeah

 

Redbd: That's rape

 

MadC Rad1992- dood I tell you that before

 

Redbd: Yes, I remember.

 

MadC Rad1992- oh ok

 

Redbd: just you are sooo sooo young

 

Redbd: I've never been with a young man like you

 

Redbd: but I would like to.

 

While the two are chatting online, we conduct a background check and are absolutely shocked by what this man does for a living. And now he's in our kitchen after making a date for sex with a boy he thinks is 13.

 

Hansen (hidden camera footage transcript): So how can I help you? What are you doing here?

"Redbd": Not something good.

 

Hansen: Not good? That's kind of an understatement, isn't it? What do you do for a living?

 

"Redbd": A rabbi.

 

That's right— a rabbi, the man who sent several pornographic pictures of himself is a man of God. He's been a staff member of a Jewish organization that provides educational programs for Jewish high school students.

 

Hansen: Now presumably you counsel families and children in your position as a rabbi?

 

Rabbi David Kaye, screenname "Redbd": Sure.

 

Hansen: What are you doing as a man of God as a rabbi in this house trying to meet a 13-year-old boy?

 

Instead of answering, the rabbi asks to know who I am. But before I tell him, I want to ask him about those pictures he sent.

 

Hansen: You sent pornographic pictures.

 

David: Okay so?

 

Hansen: Okay that's a federal offense right there.

 

David: Okay, look, you know I'm in trouble and I know I'm in trouble. I am not interested in getting in further trouble.

 

Then we heard that familiar excuse...

 

David: This is not something that I've done, ever.

 

Hansen: You've never done this before? You know because I hear that a lot.

 

Others were on the way, like "special guy29."

 

Earlier online he told our decoy, who was posing as a 14-year old-boy, that he is an 11th grade English teacher. Then he told the boy that he hates condoms but he's safe.

 

Our decoy asks "specialguy29" to bring beer and then throws in a request— a technique often used by law enforcement to illustrate intent. He types "side garage is open, strip to your underwear and come in, I'll be in mine."

 

The man says "I don't wear underwear," so the decoy says "then come in naked."

 

We never thought he'd really do it. But we were wrong. After casing our house, walking up and down the street—here he comes with the beer and you can guess what he does in the garage. He takes his clothes off.

 

Hansen (hidden camera footage transcript): Could you explain yourself?

 

John, screenname "special guy29": I'm sorry

 

Hansen: Why don't you go ahead and cover up.

 

John: Certainly. I'm sorry.

 

The man's name is John Kennelly. He tells me he is 29 years old and a bus driver. Then, he changes it to a teacher.

 

Hansen: What kind of conduct is this for a high school teacher?

 

John: None, sir. I've never done this before.

 

Hansen: So you just woke up this morning and said I'm going to get involved in a Internet conversation with a 14 year old boy. I'm going to go to his house, strip naked and walk in with a 12-pack of beer.

 

Hansen: What would have happened John if I wasn't here?

 

John: I probably would have chickened out, sir.

 

After doing a deeper background check on him, we found out he's neither a teacher nor a bus driver— his father says he's unemployed. And he's not 29, he's actually 43.

 

Hansen: Do you know that it's illegal to have a conversation on the Internet with the intent to have sex with a minor?

 

John: Yes sir I do.

 

He says he knows it's illegal but it appears that's not enough to deter him.

 

Whether he needs psychiatric help or the hand of the law— he still might pose a threat to a child. But our encounter with Kennelly is far from over.

 

Like the men you've met so far, you're about to see others who are quick to come up with a story when confronted by an adult ...

 

But what will they say when they find out they're going to be appear on national television?

 

A lot of similar excuses

As the men approached our undercover house, hidden cameras rolled and kept rolling as I startled them and started asking questions. Just about everyone of them gave me the same story...

 

Beck: I've never visited a teenage boy before in my life.

 

Aladdin: First time in my life this happens to me.

 

And some came up with more creative 

 

Artie: She said she was 13, that's why I was concerned she's gonna be by herself. So I wanted to stop and talk to her.

 

Hansen: So you're just being a good Samaritan?

 

Artie: Yeah.

 

Hansen: Because there was a 13-year-old girl...

 

Artie: By herself.

 

Hansen: Home alone?

 

Artie: Right.

 

Hansen: Right so out of the goodness of your heart, you were gonna stop by and baby-sit her, is that the deal?

 

Artie: Well sort of I guess, order pizza, watch a movie or something.

 

This guy named Yonis says it's all a case of mistaken identity.

 

Yonis (hidden camera footage transcript): It's not me. I assure you.

 

Hansen: Let me get this straight, so there's another guy named Yonis who happens to look like you and have the same cell phone number as you and has a dirty conversation about sex with a 12-year-old girl, but you didn't. But you end up showing up here anyway.

 

Yonis: No, I am not at all that person.

 

Just about every man who walked into our house said he really wasn't planning on having sex with a minor. But we'll never know what would have happened had we not been there. Still, none of what we heard surprises Lt. Jacoby of the Fairfax county police department here in Virginia. He says he's heard it all before.

 

Hansen: "I've never done this before."

 

Lt. Jacoby: We've heard that one. That's usually or probably not true.

 

Hansen: "I'm here to protect them."

 

Jacoby: That's probably one of the biggest ones we also get.

 

Hansen: "I didn't think I was actually talking to a minor."

 

Jacoby: Again that's something that we've heard quite often from people.

 

Hansen: How often do you think we're being lied to when we hear those excuses?

 

Jacoby: Usually about 100 percent of the time.

 

A powerful addiction

So why would a man with so much to lose risk everything to meet a child for sex? Dr. David Marcus, a clinical psychologist who treats men with sexual compulsions, says it's a powerful addiction.

 

Dr. David Marcus, clinical psychologist who treats men with sexual compulsions: They don't know what's driving `em. All they know is they're being driven and they can't stop. And to risk themselves so greatly clearly shows how powerful a ride that is.

 

Most guys don't go on the Internet and say, "You know, I'm gonna decide to ruin my life today." Most guys go on and say, "I need something to make myself feel better." They're not conscious of what they're doing.

 

And Dr. Marcus says there are different reasons men choose to meet children for sex.

 

Marcus: Some, and this may be a minority, have a primary attraction to that age group. Others are looking for a situation where they can feel powerful, where they can, again, explore parts of themselves and try to do things in a situation where there is a power differential.

 

Whatever power they thought they had, it's lost as soon as they see me, and now they're about to learn I'm not a parent or the police. 

 

So what happens now?

As they always do with law enforcement, Frag and Del, volunteers from Perverted-Justice have turned over all of their online evidence, from the pornographic photos to the online chats, to Lt. Jacoby and his child sex crimes unit at the Fairfax county police department. Lt. Jacoby says they are actively looking at some of these cases, although it will be awhile before we know if his department takes any legal action. His department did notify school officials where about the teacher and he was fired.

 

Since some of the men were in the army and navy, Del contacted the military. "Dateline" was told that those men are under investigation.

 

Perverted-Justice intends to put the men's pictures and entire chat logs including their phone numbers on Perverted-Justice.com.

 

Frag, Perverted-Justice volunteer: We have over 20,000 members now in our forums, do their work, whatever they want to do. A lot of them will contact whoever is associated with that person.

 

Usually that means the man's employer, relatives and neighbors. Members will direct them to the chat logs and other evidence on Perverted-Justice's Web site hoping to keep men like these from harming children.

 

The guy who showed up naked, tries to meet another kid the next day

 

You might think being caught on tape would be enough to deter these men from ever entering a chat room again, but wait until you see what "specialguy29" is up to next.

 

You might think that a 43-year old man, who walked into our house naked ready to meet a 14-year old boy for sex, would be so humiliated after being caught literally with his pants down that he'd never try again. Yet we find him right back on line... in a chat room the very next day.

 

Hansen: How can we be certain that this guy in this chat room is the same guy who walked into this house last night naked?

 

Frag, Perverted-Justice volunteer: Same identical screenname he got busted on last night on "specialguy29."

 

Del, Perverted-Justice volunteer: He's changed nothing.

 

He is spotted by a Perverted-Justice volunteer who is posing as a 13-year-old boy. 

 

Frag: He just checked the kids pic.

 

Even these Perverted-Justice veterans find what's happening hard to believe.

 

Del: If he keeps talking then that's just gonna be beyond comprehension.

 

Yet he does keep talking... and again the chat quickly turns sexual. And believe it or not, again, he agrees to yet another date for sex. Our decoy asks if he wants to meet at McDonalds.

 

Hansen: What do you suppose the odds are that a guy like that would agree to another meeting?

Frag: I would have said zero last night after watching what happened.

 

Well, "specialguy29" defies the odds and agrees to meet, but first he confirms the meeting is not about food.

 

Frag: He really wanted to make sure it was about sex.

 

Sure enough we see him at the pre-arranged McDonalds.

 

Hansen: I have been in television for 24 years—

 

John, screenname "specialguy29": I just came to get something to eat.

 

Hansen: And I have very seldom be at a loss for words.

 

John: Sir, I just came to get something to eat.

 

Hansen: But I don't even know what to ask you first.

 

John: I just came to get something to eat.

 

He later changes his story.

 

Hansen: Last night you walked into a home in suburban Washington naked with a 12- pack of beer, yes or no?

 

John: Yes.

 

Hansen: Right. Today you're on the Internet again, you have an inappropriate conversation with a boy you think is 13 and you set up a meeting here at this fast food restaurant. What was your intention?

John: I don't know.

 

The man admits he knows what he's doing is illegal.

 

Hansen: Then why do you do it?

 

John: Because I need help and that's what I'm seeing a psychiatrist for.

 

As incredible as this looks, that a man would do this twice in two days, Lt. Jacoby isn't all that surprised.

 

"If you look at the Internet and the amount of people who are soliciting these type of crimes, your chances of getting caught are probably fairly slim," says Lt. Jacoby.

 

Maybe that's why so many of the men who visited our house walked in so confidently, almost like they owned the place. Remember Rabbi David Kaye?

 

Despite his actions, caught on hidden camera, and his graphic Internet exchange, Rabbi Kaye called us several times claiming he did nothing wrong.

 

However, earlier this week he resigned his rabbi staff position informing his employer he was going to be featured in this "Dateline" story. He also had no comment about this picture "Dateline" found while investigating the rabbi's background. It shows Kaye in a group photo including two other rabbis caught and convicted of soliciting a child for sex on the Internet.

 

Hansen: Do you ever think to yourself, "I can't believe how many people are out there."

 

Jacoby: It's overwhelming at times.

 

In the end, most experts agree it's really up to parents to keep children safe from whoever's out there.

 

What can parents do?

"If the technology is in your house, it's a parents responsibility to protect their child," says Michelle Collins from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. She adds that the problem is so widespread your child could be a victim and you don't even know it.

 

Michelle Collins, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: If there are phone calls arriving at your house that you don't know the person on the other end of the line. Is your child or teenager receiving gifts? Do they have a Web cam in their room that you didn't buy?

 

Hansen: These are all warning signs?

 

Collins: These are all the things that happen quite frankly in the many cases that we view and that we work with law enforcement on.

 

Collins says it's important for all of us parents to make certain computers are in open areas of our homes— not in kids bedrooms. We should know who their children are talking to online and Web cams

 

Collins: A problem we've been seeing recently are Web cams. Many kids are finding themselves in problematic situations after having used a Web cam. A combination of too much privacy, too much technology at a sexually curious age can really spell disaster.

 

Child safety experts agree it's important for parents to use parental controls available through Internet providers and check into blocking software that prevents a child from giving out personal information. 

 

Collins: The one single most important piece of advice to give to parents is to keep the communication lines open with your kids. If something happens online, it's more important that an adult finds out about it than the child try to handle it on their own, because those cases don't always end well.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Rabbi, Teacher, Doctor Lose Jobs Over TV Sex Sting

Associated Press - November 5, 2004

http://wjz.com/topstories/local_story_309072713.html

 

(AP) Rockville, MD A Potomac rabbi who is part of a national youth group, a Prince George's County teacher and an Eastern Shore doctor have lost their jobs after allegedly trying to solicit sex from minors online. It was part of an undercover probe by the television show "Dateline NBC," that aired Friday night.

 

According to a statement from Rockville-based PANIM: the Institute for Jewish Leaders and Values, Rabbi David Kaye resigned from his position as vice president this week.

 

Prince George's County school officials say Steven Benoff, a special education teacher at Woodridge Elementary School in Prince George's, was fired August 23rd. Benoff, of Washington, was fired after Fairfax County, Virginia, police notified the system about "information relating to children."

After an investigation, Shore Health System of Maryland has barred an unnamed doctor who had worked at Memorial Hospital in Easton and Dorchester General Hospital, barred him from practicing at any system facility.

 

None of the men have been charged.

 

A "Dateline NBC" camera crew conducted an online sting with the Internet watchdog group, Perverted Justice, in which 19 men went to a house believing they would meet 12- to 14-year old children.

 

Instead, they were confronted by "Dateline" reporter Chris Hansen.

___________________________________________________________________________________


U.S. rabbi resigns over online sex scandal

Associated Press - November 6, 2005

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3164809,00.html

 

Dateline NBC reports that Potomac rabbi, Prince George's County teacher, Eastern Shore doctor lose jobs for allegedly trying to solicit sex from minors online

Associated Press

A Potomac rabbi who is part of a national youth group, a Prince George's County teacher and an Eastern Shore doctor have lost their jobs after allegedly trying to solicit sex from minors online. It was part of an undercover probe by the television show "Dateline NBC," that aired Friday night.

According to a statement from Rockville-based PANIM - The Institute for Jewish Leaders and Values, Rabbi David Kaye resigned from his position as vice president this week.

 

Prince George's County school officials say Steven Benoff, a special education teacher at Woodridge Elementary School in Prince George's, was fired August 23rd. Benoff, of Washington, was fired after Fairfax County, Virginia, police notified the system about "information relating to children."

After an investigation, Shore Health System of Maryland has barred an unnamed doctor who had worked at Memorial Hospital in Easton and Dorchester General Hospital, barred him from practicing at any system facility.

 

None of the men have been charged.

 

A "Dateline NBC" camera crew conducted an online sting with the Internet watchdog group, Perverted Justice, in which 19 men went to a house believing they would meet 12- to 14-year-old children.

 

Instead, they were confronted by "Dateline" reporter Chris Hansen.

___________________________________________________________________________________




Rabbi caught in Internet sex sting

by Stephanie Siegel, Staff Writer

The Business Gazette - November 9, 2005

http://www.gazette.net/stories/110905/potonew212017_31929.shtml

 

Rabbi David Kaye served at Congregation Har Shalom for 15 years until 2001.

 

Parents at Congregation Har Shalom synagogue in Potomac — shaken by the revelation that their former rabbi allegedly used the Internet to arrange a meeting with an underage boy for sex — will get a lesson in online safety this week.

 

Rabbi David Kaye was the rabbi at Har Shalom for 15 years until 2001. ``Dateline NBC" reported Friday that Kaye and several other adults were caught in an Internet sting.

 

``People were shocked and saddened," said Har Shalom President Debbie Schapiro.

 

In reaction to the ``Dateline" program, Schapiro said the congregation is holding a meeting this week with parents of children in seventh through ninth grades with experts who will discuss how to talk to children about being safe on the Internet.

 

``We've learned as parents that we have to be careful with our children," she said. There were never any allegations of inappropriate behavior with minors at the synagogue, Schapiro said.

 

Kaye, 55, of Potomac, was caught in an investigation of online child predators by NBC correspondent Chris Hansen and watchdog group Perverted Justice in August. Members of Perverted Justice posed as children ages 12 to 14 in online chat rooms.

 

Kaye allegedly sent naked pictures of himself over the Internet to one member of the watchdog group and arranged to meet him at a house in Northern Virginia, where the NBC crew and Perverted Justice group were waiting.

 

Kaye was one of 19 men who showed up at the house after arranging online to meet children there for sex.

 

The Montgomery County Police Department Family Crimes Division is following up with the Fairfax County Police and with members of Perverted Justice to get more information and to determine if there will be any charges, said Lt. Eric Burnett, director of the Media Services Division for Montgomery County Police.

 

``It's very disheartening," Schapiro said. ``A lot of people are just feeling very sad."

 

During his time at Har Shalom, Kaye served as an associate rabbi. He had broad responsibilities at the 1,100-family synagogue, including leading services and teaching adult education and children.

Kaye resigned last week from his position as vice president for program at PANIM: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values, an education program for teenagers in Rockville.

 

``Rabbi David Kaye ... informed me of certain personal conduct that took place outside of our organization, that may soon be aired as part of a larger news story on national television," PANIM President Rabbi Sid Schwarz said in a statement on the group's Web site dated Oct. 31. ``He immediately tendered his resignation, which I accepted."

 

In his statement, Schwarz said that the group is investigating to make sure there has been no misconduct at PANIM. There have been no complaints, allegations or evidence of improprieties, the statement said.

___________________________________________________________________________________

What we don't want to hide about hidden cameras

Lisa Green, Senior Producer, Broadcast Standards

MSNBC - November 8, 2005

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9878187/%23Hansen

 

Meetings. Hours of editing tape and reviewing transcripts. Still more meetings. The Dateline NBC investigations featured here have something in common: they are the products of a series of steps and a set of principles that help us decide when and how to use this powerful but controversial technique. Today, as viewers demand more transparency from journalists, it's especially important that we explain why we think hidden camera is an important part of our work. 

 

Hidden cameras let us get close to people who, if they knew our plans, might well change their behavior, and that helps explain why you find hidden camera work in some of the most important investigations Dateline NBC has broadcast. But because the use of hidden camera — and our failure to identify ourselves as journalists up front — is so different from our usual methods of gathering information, we take care to limit its use to situations where we have an important story to tell, and strongly suspect that introducing ourselves would make that story evaporate. Would vendors serve an identifiable NBC News crew more beers than their rules allowed? Would potential Internet predators behave the same way if they knew we were watching? In each of these cases, we concluded that we needed to get to the story without introducing ourselves first.

 

Other factors are at work before our journalists begin. We meet to discuss journalism and editorial policy issues the story might raise. Our lawyers check to be sure our investigation is legal— relevant privacy and taping laws vary from state to state. And after the material is gathered, but before you see it, we take a close look at what we have, aiming always to give subjects a full and fair chance to respond to what we captured. We also think hard about what to include, making sure you get to hear what the subjects of our investigations have to say.

 

That said, each of these stories posed different challenges and prompted serious discussions. The Internet predator spot, for example, meant we spent a lot of time reading complete transcripts of the online chats between Perverted-Justice volunteers, posing as sexually available teens, and the men who chose to talk to them. We struggled to share this material with you without running afoul of good taste because the chats drove home just how unwelcome these men would be in the life of your child. If you watch the hour, pay attention to our explanations of how and why we came to report this extraordinary story. I hope we did a good enough job of explaining our decisions, and I hope you'll share your responses with us.

___________________________________________________________________________________

No charges expected against rabbi

'Dateline' reaction one of sadness

by Eric Fingerhut, Staff Writer

Washington Jewish Week - November 09, 2005

Rabbi David Kaye - Convicted Sex Offender

Sadness and shock seem to be the most common reactions to the news that Rockville Rabbi David Kaye was ensnared in a Dateline NBC hidden camera investigation of sexual predators on the Internet.

 

A former rabbi at Potomac's Congregation Har Shalom, where he had worked for 16 years, Kaye resigned last week as vice president of program after three years at the Rockville-based teen educational group Panim: The Institute for Jewish Leadershipand Values.

 

Leaders of both groups say that they never received a complaint about his behaving inappropriately with a child during his employment with their organizations.

 

The Dateline program, which aired last Friday evening, reported that Kaye had set up a meeting over the Internet with someone he thought was a 13-year-old boy with the intent of having a sexual encounter. The rabbi was then confronted on camera by a Dateline reporter at the Herndon house where the meeting was scheduled to take place (see sidebar, page 25).

 

Despite the impression left by the report, though, Kaye does not appear to be in legal jeopardy. A spokesperson for the Fairfax County PoliceDepartment said Monday that the department does not anticipate filing any charges against Kaye or many of the other men identified as potential predators in the NBC broadcast.

 

Officer Bud Walker, public spokesperson, said that while it is a felony in Virginia to use the Internet to solicit sex with a minor, the commonwealth would not have jurisdiction in Kaye's case.

 

Dateline used people affiliated with an organization called Perverted Justice, whose volunteers pose as children online in order to expose potential Internet predators. But those volunteers were based in Michigan, said Walker. Kaye and many of the others caught up in the sting lived in Maryland, leaving Virginia without the ability to prosecute.

 

Walker called Perverted Justice's methods problematic.

 

The self-styled "watchdog group" says that it turns over chat logs and other information it gathers to the police. Critics, and even Dateline, have labeled the organization a group of vigilantes.

 

Walker said the organization uses tactics that Fairfax police officers are not permitted to employ when going undercover as children on the Internet. For instance, Walker noted that the Fairfax police can "never make initial contact" with a potential predator, but must "wait to be contacted," and can "never suggest any meeting."

 

He also pointed out that cases using Perverted Justice information are difficult to prosecute in court, since the police cannot guarantee that Perverted Justice has provided the complete transcripts of the alleged conversations.

 

Walker said that Fairfax County would be making referrals to other jurisdictions.

 

TheMontgomery County Police Department is aware of the Dateline sting, but as of Tuesday afternoon had not received any information from other jurisdictions, nor been contacted by any potential victims of Kaye, said Lucille Baur, public information officer for the department.

 

Kaye could not be reached for comment this week. Both his home phone number and a cell phone number posted on the Perverted Justice Web site have been disconnected. Reached last week, he had no comment.

 

His most recent employer, Rockville-based Panim, said in a statement this week that it "never received a single complaint by any participant" about Kaye's conduct and it has a "zero tolerance policy" on such behavior.

 

Panim's executive director, Rabbi Sid Schwarz, would not make himself available for an interview this week, referring calls to high-powered defense attorney AbbeLowell, who is representing former American Israel Public Affairs Committee staffer Steve Rosen and scandal-plagued lobbyist Jack Abramoff, among others.

 

Lowell said that Panim will evaluate its hiring procedures to see if "more can be done" to check prospective employees' backgrounds.

 

He expected the review to "take as long as it takes," but said it was likely to be "weeks, not months."

 

Lowell added that Kaye had been a rabbi in the Washington area for more than a decade and "not an unknown quantity" when he was hired in the spring of 2002.

 

The attorney also said that Kaye primarily worked on programming and had "less contact directly" with teens than other Panim staffers.

 

Based on the lack of complaints about Kaye, said Lowell, the organization believes that "the issues [Kaye] had in his own [personal] life never crossed over" into Panim.

 

As for the chat transcripts in which Kaye writes that he is at work, Lowell said that "we don't accept those statements at face value," considering that the Dateline report demonstrated that Kaye had been misrepresenting himself to Panim and the community.

 

Lowell said that the controversy has had no effect on Panim's supporters, and that no schools have canceled scheduled programs with the organization.

 

Among them are the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, which sent an e-mail to the parents of juniors and seniors at the school on Monday saying that it would be sending its 11th graders to a Panim program designed exclusively for JDS students next month.

 

The statement said the school was "proud of its association with Panim" and "confident in the integrity and leadership of Rabbi Schwarz and the Panim leadership.

 

At Har Shalom, Rabbi H.David Rose said the congregation feels "great shock" at the revelations.

 

"For people who put their trust and faith in him, it hurts," said Rose, who said he has been listening to congregants express their concerns.

 

Synagogue president Debbie Schapiro mailed a letter to congregants early this week, emphasizing that the congregation's "utmost concern has and always will be care of our families" and that "we are here for them."

 

The letter also pointed out that there have been no allegations of such inappropriate behavior in the 40-year history of the shul, but that the synagogue would be undertaking an inquiry to be certain.

 

Other congregants said they were shocked and sad, expressing sympathy in particular for Kaye's two grown daughters and saying they never saw any indications of inappropriate actions during his Har Shalom tenure.

 

"There was no sign at all" of such behavior when Kaye was at the synagogue, said Barry Perlis of Potomac, who noted his three children had gone through Hebrew school at the synagogue and had no problems with the rabbi.

 

One person who worked at the synagogue, however, said that Kaye had an anger management problem, often yelling and humiliating staffers. The person noted, though, that he could also turn around and be someone's best friend if he needed something Æ almost like he had a "split personality."

 

Young adults who grew up as congregants at Har Shalom were taken aback by the report, but did not recall Kaye's behaving inappropriately.

 

Shawn Eskow of Potomac said that the news was "extremely surprising."

 

"Rabbi Kaye was one of my favorite rabbis," said the 22-year-old. "He always seemed friendly, comforting and welcoming, but I never would have suspected anything like this."

"I still can't believe it. You'd never believe something like this would happen to Rabbi Kaye," said Randi Mininsohn, who was confirmed at Har Shalom and now lives in New York City.

 

"It's a real shock to see that the rabbi that you grew up with, learned and received mentorship from, could be involved in such offensive actions," said Jared Adler, 22, of Chicago, who said he was "filled with disappointment and anger" when watching the program.

 

In San Antonio, where Kaye spent less than six months as rabbi at Congregation AgudasAchim in 2001-02, executive director Jo Halfant said there were no reports of sexually inappropriate behavior while he was there.

 

She said that Kaye's quick departure came after that the congregation and the rabbi "mutually agreed it was not a good fit," noting that South Texas is a "different lifestyle" than the East Coast.

 

Meanwhile, the executive vice president of the Conservative movement's RabbinicalAssembly, Rabbi Joel Meyers, did not return messages left for him requesting comment.

 

Kaye's biography, which was quickly removed from the Panim Web site after his resignation last week, said that the rabbi had been a "leader" in the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and had been instrumental in creating a number of youth and Jewish educational initiatives.

 

A federation spokesperson said that Kaye's work for the federation "did not entail any direct work with teenagers." The rabbi served "as a member and later chair of both the Israel Quest committee and the Jewish educational division" of the federation," which "recommended policy and allocations related to formal and informal Jewish education," she said.

 

The Panim bio also said Kaye had staffed "numerous USY conventions and retreats." United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism officials said they were not aware of Kaye's participation in any USY activities in recent years, and said that "tough guidelines" are in place on the issue of sexual conduct.

 

Meanwhile, the Dateline report also flashed a picture on the screen of Kaye with about a dozen other rabbis, two of whom are convicted sexual offenders. The photo comes from a fall 2000 newsletter published by TheHealthCare Chaplaincy and was taken after a two-week "reflection and study program of suffering, healing and hope" organized by the chaplaincy's Jewish Institute for Pastoral Care.

 

Vicki Polin, executive director and founder of The Awareness Center, a victims' rights organization for victims of sexual abuse in the Jewish community that has the photo posted on its Web site, said the picture could be just an very odd coincidence, but that sexual offenders often tend to find each other.

 

WJW intern David Silverman contributed to this report.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Why the 'Dateline' predators were not charged

Abrams asks why men looking for underage sex were allowed to walk free

MSNBC - November 9, 2005

During "Dateline NBC's" recent hidden camera investigation, 19 were caught going to a suburban home where they thought they'd be meeting with sexually available teens. Some made a run for it when they went into the kitchen and saw NBC's Chris Hansen waiting. 

 

One came into the house completely naked and sat down in the kitchen, where Hansen met him and kindly handed him a towel to cover himself up. A rabbi was so upset at being caught that he even seemingly went after Hansen. 

 

But why aren't any of these guys being prosecuted?

 

In Fairfax, Va. -- where the hidden camera investigation took place -- police say no crimes were committed. 

 

On Tuesday, Del Harvey from perverted-justice.com, who acted as a decoy in this operation, former Virginia State Prosecutor Tim McEvoy, and former federal prosecutor Matthew Yarbrough joined MSNBC's Dan Abrams to discuss why these men were allowed to walk free. 

 

DAN ABRAMS: All right. Tim, first let me start with you. I mean it seems pretty clear that there are laws against even sending some of this material that they sent to the decoys, why is no one being charged? 

 

TIM MCEVOY, FORMER VIRGINIA PROSECUTOR: Dan, I think the question is extremely legitimate. And I think issue here is not whether the authorities are outraged or upset. But the initial disgust that we all feel as members of the public has got to be tempered by the prosecutor because these cases often rise or fall as you know on intent, you know as seen through the filter of reasonable doubt. And the prosecutors got to weigh all of the evidence, the jury is going to parse every little movement. You're going to see professionals, as the piece showed, who are otherwise trying to show that they're good people, trying to throw substantial doubt...

 

ABRAMS: But wait. Tim, the law is pretty clear. I mean let me just read from the law, all right. "It is unlawful for a person 18 or older to use a computer for the purposes of soliciting someone he knows or has reason to believe is a child under 18 years old for certain activities."

 

Now, sure, we can parse the different words in the statute, et cetera, but the bottom line is that in most of these cases they're talking about sex. And they make it very clear that they are either 12, 13 or 14 years old. 

 

MCEVOY: Dan, I don't want to take issue with the idea that it looks like some crimes were committed. When a nude man walks into my living room or my garage with a 12-pack of beer, I've got real problem with that and that looks like a crime to me. Now I'm not sure why the Fairfax County Police Department has indicated apparently to you or to your program that crimes have not been committed. But if that's the case, I'd be quite surprised, and I'd also be surprised if the top prosecutor in Fairfax shared that point of view ... after parsing through the evidence.

 

ABRAMS: Mary Ann Jennings from the Fairfax Police Department (appeared) on 'Scarborough Country' (and said the following):

 

--Begin video clip--

 

MARY ANN JENNINGS, FAIRFAX POLICE DEPT.: Although the house was physically in Fairfax County, from what we've been able to determine from what we've gotten from Perverted-Justice, the crime did not occur in Fairfax County. 

 

--End video clip--

 

ABRAMS: Del Harvey with Perverted-Justice, what do you make of this? What is going on here?

DEL HARVEY, PERVERTED-JUSTICE: Well it's kinds of an interesting situation in that we aren't really seeing the connection because the conversations over the computer would place the jurisdiction in either the subject's location or our location at the house. We actually had a pass media bus in Waukesha, Mich., in which four people have been charged from that jurisdiction with showing up to the house. 

 

ABRAMS: So look, you've been involved with "Dateline" and these undercover things, you helped out last year when 18 people showed up, only one of them was prosecuted. And I know that the first thing that you all do when you get this information when you're not working with "Dateline" is you hand it over to the authorities and you say, 'Here, look, here is what we've got, you guys do with it what you will.'

 

Are you getting the sense that they're hitting a lot of road blocks? 

 

HARVEY: To some extent, yes. Interestingly enough actually since Sept. 17 alone we've had two convictions in Virginia. One of which was military based upon a conversation that was started during our work with "Dateline" and the other which was a civilian bust done by state law or local law enforcement actually. So it seems as though given that we had six convictions or seven convictions ... last year and so far this year we've had 31, we're definitely gaining momentum ... and we're finding more and more agencies willing to work with us. 

 

ABRAMS: But Matthew Yarbrough ... still -- we watch these guys. I mean Chris Hansen has laid out on television exactly what these guys said, some of them talking about bestiality, committing bestial acts with the children, what they think are children. They then come over to the house with the intent it seems, and again, we don't know what's going on in their heads. And they've all denied that they came over there for sex. 

 

But if you look at what they say on the computer, it seems you'd be able to make a case. ... What about federal law: "Whoever knowingly transfers obscene matter to another individual who has not attained the age of 16 years, knowing that such other individual has not attained the age of 16 years or attempts to do so shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both."

 

So what's the problem? 

 

MATTHEW YARBROUGH, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Well Dan, one of the hardest things to do in any cyber crime is to really put the individual at the computer. So that's the element that the prosecutor is going to be thinking about most when trying to decide how to charge, where to charge jurisdiction wise. But this for me is a slam dunk as a federal prosecutor. 

 

When you're able to go in front of a jury, and put the sort of tapes in front of the jury, talk about the conversations, you'll be able to get in the computer logs from the chat room sessions, this is a slam dunk. Going in front of a jury about an issue about a child is going to be something that's going to enrage that jury.

 

ABRAMS: But Matthew, hasn't there been a problem ... Hasn't there been a problem in cases where cases have been thrown out because the courts have ruled that because the person on the other end of the computer wasn't actually under the age of 16 when the decoy is actually older that here have been cases that have been thrown out as a result? 

 

YARBROUGH: That is true. But remember in this case depending upon the facts here, is that if you had the transmission of the depiction or the intent for the individual showing up that was going to take a picture of the child, that's going to get you in another federal statute. And that's pretty much where most prosecutors are going to try to use when they do not have the intent for the sexual act with a child.
___________________________________________________________________________________

The online chat

By Eric Fingerhut

Washington Jewish Week - November 9, 2005

The Perverted Justice Web site has posted transcripts of several online conversations featured on last week's Dateline NBC segment.

 

In the case of Rabbi David Kaye, the rabbi allegedly made contact with a Perverted Justice volunteer posing as a 13-year-old named Conrad in the early morning hours of Aug. 7.

 

According to the transcript, Kaye, using the screen name REDBD, is told early on that his chat partner is only of bar mitzvah age, and says that he is "prowling for youg [sic] men."

 

The chat quickly turns sexually explicit, and the two then talk about what days "Conrad's" father will be out of town and whether they can get together to "party" at that time. Kaye also allegedly e-mailed to "Conrad" what Dateline reporter Chris Hansen called sexually explicit pictures of himself and gives "Conrad" his cell-phone number. The two apparently have a brief telephone conversation.

 

A few minutes later, they resume their online conversation, and Kaye tells "Conrad" that he's gay but "waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay in the closet."

 

The rabbi does seem to be aware of the dangers of the conversation, at one point asking his chat partner "you are not a cop are you" before being assured he is not speaking to law enforcement. In a later chat, he refers to a possible sexual encounter with "Conrad" as "rape" and adds that the age of 13 is "sooo sooo young."

 

"ive never been with a young man like you but I would like to," he writes.

 

But Kaye does not completely forget about his rabbinical advisory role. After "Conrad" writes that he likes to drink, Kaye responds, "dont drink so much dude and don't do drugs p leae [sic]."

 

During the next two weeks, Kaye has two more chats with "Conrad," both of which appear to have taken place during business hours. During one brief conversation, Kaye says he is "at work now." In the other, he at first says he is "in a meeting" before returning a couple hours later to chat more extensively and set up a meeting.

 

In the Dateline report, Kaye was shown arriving at a Herndon house for the rendezvous. As Kaye sits down at a kitchen table, Dateline's Hansen walks into the room and asks the rabbi why he is there.

Kaye responds, "Not something good. This isn't good."

 

He then admits he is a rabbi, and says to the reporter, "You know I'm in trouble. I know I'm in trouble. I am not interested in getting in any further trouble."

 

Finally, after Kaye presses Hansen to identify himself, the Dateline hidden camera operators walk into the kitchen. Kaye looks shocked and stricken with fear, charging toward the cameras and saying, "You've got to stop this, you don't have any right ..." before running from the house.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Rabbi Quits After Reported Sex Sting

By Matthew E. Berger, Special to the Jewish Times

Baltimore Jewish Times - NOVEMBER 10, 2005

 

Washington -- An official with an educational program for Jewish high school students has resigned after allegedly searching the Internet for liaisons with underage boys and sending naked pictures of himself.

 

Rabbi David Kaye resigned from Panim on Oct. 31, several days before being featured on "Dateline NBC" seeking a sexual encounter with an underage boy in a chat room.

 

"He told me he was going to be on a program on national television that would identify him engaging in inappropriate behavior," said Rabbi Sid Schwarz, founder and president of the Washington-based Panim: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values.

 

Panim has never received a complaint against Kaye and he is not accused of doing anything wrong in relation to his work there. But the incident is likely to revive concerns about the possibility of sexual misconduct between rabbis and other Jewish officials who come into contact with minors.

 

NBC News conducted a sting in August, working with a group called Perverted Justice. Posing as underage boys and girls, members of the group entered Internet chat rooms and waited for adults to engage them in conversation.

 

Kaye and others allegedly spoke to the presumed children about sex, and suggested meeting them. Kaye allegedly sent one individual naked pictures of himself and arranged a meeting at a Northern Virginia home where the "boy" said he lived, which NBC had equipped with hidden cameras.

When he arrived he was confronted by Chris Hansen, an NBC reporter, who asked what he was doing at the home.

 

"Not something good," Kaye said. "This isn't good."

 

Kaye admitted to being a rabbi, and became agitated when Hansen revealed himself as a journalist and the cameras emerged.

 

When reached by JTA on Nov. 2, Kaye refused to comment on his resignation or any of the accusations against him. Hansen said Kaye had agreed at one point to speak with NBC News, but only if the network did not air his name or face. The network refused.

 

Perverted Justice sent the chat transcripts and information about Kaye and others to Fairfax County, Va., police, Hansen said. A police spokesman said the department does not confirm the names of anyone under investigation until they're charged with a crime.

 

Kaye joined Panim after serving as a rabbi and confirmation instructor at Congregation Har Shalom in Potomac, Md., for 15 years, until 2001.

 

"I was incredibly disturbed and troubled and shocked by what I saw," Rabbi David Rose of Har Shalom told JTA. "The membership has been responding with lots of questions and concerns."

 

Rose said there is nothing to indicate wrongdoing during Kaye's tenure at Har Shalom, but that many people nevertheless are worried.

 

"I think everybody will be a little less trusting and a little more wary of people in positions of authority," Rose said. "It's going to take some time for all of us in the rabbinate to earn people's trust."

Kaye also served as a rabbi at Congregation Agudas Achim in San Antonio in 2001.

 

"We are very confident there was no issue while he was here," the congregation's executive director, Jo Halfant, said.

 

Kaye was ordained by the Reconstructionist movement but now is a member of the Rabbinical Assembly, the rabbinical arm of the Conservative movement. Rabbi Joel Meyers, the R.A.'s executive vice president, was out of the country and unavailable for comment.

 

Panim is largely known for a high school program, Panim el Panim, which brings thousands of Jewish students from around the country to Washington each year for religious and political education. As vice president for programming, Kaye mostly oversaw faculty, Schwarz said.

 

"We do a fairly rigorous set of reference checks for people we hire," Schwarz said. "But there are always opportunities for abuse of authority."

 

Since the story surfaced, Schwarz said he and others have been reflecting on incidents that were seen as inconsequential at the time, wondering if they should have seen a pattern.

 

"I'd be lying if I said I haven't been thinking about it and wondering about it," he said. "But they were so insignificant as not to suggest a pattern of behavior."

 

Yosef Abramowitz, CEO of Jewish Family & Life, served as the assistant director of Panim in the 1990s. He said he could not imagine much opportunity for one-on-one encounters among staff and students.

 

"There's never been a hint of anything in the past, and the program is so intense that there is no one-on-one, unchaperoned down time," Abramowitz said.

 

Schwarz originally said he did not expect an investigation into Kaye's work at Panim, but Panim has taken Kaye's computer hard drive for inspection.

 

Abbe Lowell, a prominent Washington attorney retained by Panim, said in a statement that the organization is "taking every step to ensure that there has been no breach of this policy by Rabbi Kaye or anyone else at any time."

 

The group also is reaching out to congregations and others that work with the student program.

 

"I would assure parents that we've never had an incident in our program, and there is no accusation of incidents in our program," he said. "There is no way that any reasonable person can make assurances that no incident will ever happen, but we have safety systems in place."

 

Sexual abuse by clergy has been a national issue in recent years, stemming largely from accusations in the Catholic Church. But the issue has roiled the Jewish community as well.

 

Rabbi Baruch Lanner, an Orthodox Union official, is serving seven years in prison for sexually abusing a student when he was principal of a yeshiva high school in New Jersey. Lanner was accused of molesting more than 20 teenaged girls over a period of 30 years, and physically and verbally abusing boys. He was convicted on just one account.

 

Schwarz said he hoped Panim's reputation would help it weather the storm.

 

"I think there is so much good will with people that work with us that will serve us well," he said.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Forward Forum

Disabuse Community of Intolerance

By Jay Michaelson

Foward - November 11, 2005

 

The resignation last week of Rabbi David Kaye from the educational program Panim, after revelations that he had solicited a 13-year-old boy online for sex, elicited the usual expressions of shock from the Jewish community. Of course, we all should be outraged when such immoral conduct is brought to light, but those who follow the Jewish world know that Kaye is hardly the first rabbi to have engaged in it in recent years.

 

In 2001, for example, Rabbi Jerrold Levy was sentenced to 78 months in prison for sex crimes involving teenage boys. Indeed, a 2000 photo now circulating on the Internet features Kaye, Levy, and Israel Kestenbaum — three rabbis, one from each major denomination, who were all later found to have solicited minors for sex online. And for every one case that makes the news, those of us who work in the Jewish community hear a dozen stories: the whispers about this teacher, that rabbi, and the scandal the school tried to sweep under the rug.

 

Rabbinic offenders have seduced both boys and girls, but one cannot help but notice that a disproportionate number of them have targeted males. There are no reliable statistics for rabbinic sexual abuse, but government studies show that in the general population, one-third of child sex abuse victims are male, even though only 3-5% of adult men identify as homosexual. Indeed, approximately 16% of boys are sexually abused before the age of 16.

 

What is going on? Are there suddenly more closeted gay rabbis than there were a decade ago? Or are we, like the Catholic community, merely bringing to light what has been a dark secret for many years?

 

It does not appear that the problem in the Jewish world is of the same magnitude as that in the Catholic one. Perhaps, as some theorize, this is because the rabbinate, with its expectation of marriage, is less attractive to closeted gay men than the celibate priesthood. Then again, we cannot know how much abuse took place when rabbinic authority was impossible to challenge, and when incidents were quietly buried. Perhaps our scandal is just beginning.

 

Generally, cases like that of Kaye — who has been praised, in recent days, as a decent man and a good father to his two daughters — elicit responses like "he needs help." Surely he does; how could a well-known rabbi risk everything by sending a naked photo of himself, with his face fully visible, to someone he didn't know? Merely that Kaye's judgment was so clouded bespeaks the severity of his desperation.

 

Yet the question we must ask ourselves is: Where did that desperation come from? Healthy people, gay or straight, do not molest 13-year-olds. Only deeply disturbed people do — and those are precisely the sorts of people created by the deception and repression of the "closet." Moreover, according to the American Medical Association, 98% of men who sexually abuse boys report that they are heterosexual. Are these really all sick, straight men? Or are they actually, in the words Kaye used when seducing his target online, "waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay in the closet"?

 

Unquestionably, predators like Kaye are the ones responsible for their conduct. But they do not operate in a vacuum, and the Jewish community bears responsibility as well, for the way we perpetuate the circumstances that cause them to hate themselves, distort their sexuality into something dangerous — and, if statistics are accurate, kill themselves at the rate of 4,000 each year in the United States alone. We create "the closet," through our intolerant actions and inactions, our cruel and selective reading of Jewish law, and our endlessly proclaiming the unacceptability of a sexual orientation which is either genetically determined, or fixed so early in childhood as to be an unchangeable part of one's being. In short, we create the very monsters about whom we later profess shock.

 

Nor are we doing so based on religious authority. Only a minority of non-Orthodox rabbis still believe that the narrow prohibitions of Leviticus 18 extend to all the sexual behavior of gay men (and women). Yet many Jews who are quite lax about their Sabbath observance and routinely look the other way regarding intermarriage become religious fundamentalists when it comes to homosexuality. Consider your reaction to a Sabbath-breaker on the one hand — who merits the death penalty under rabbinic law — and a religious gay Jew on the other. Around whom are you more comfortable? Whom do you fully accept, and whom do you merely tolerate? And is your choice really based on religion? Or, for that matter, on reason?

 

The "closet" is entirely the wrong metaphor for the kind of repression which leads to acts like Kaye's. I should know — I was in the closet for 15 years, and it is a much more odious, terrible phenomenon than merely hiding in a wardrobe while you do what you oughtn't. Imagine lying to everyone you know, all the time. Imagine feeling that your heart, your way to love and relationship and sexual expression, is actually distorted, evil and broken. And imagine believing that, because of something you cannot change, God hates you.

 

Of course, under such circumstances, and in a world that has made clear it would reject you if it knew the truth, you would hide your sexuality — perhaps, as I did, even from yourself. Of course you would do everything you could to somehow "make yourself straight": maybe marriage, maybe seeking spiritual solace to fill an emotional gap, maybe even the thoroughly discredited, and completely ineffective, forms of "reparative therapy" being peddled within the religious community and inflicted on innocent young people every day. And of course, you would fail, because sexuality cannot be changed.

 

And then, without any appropriate means of expression, your sexual urges would find inappropriate ones. Personally, I never engaged in activity such as Rabbi Kaye's, and never once violated the trust of anyone, of any age. But I was hardly a healthy adult when I was in the closet. I met men for sex, not relationship. I lied about my age, my name, my background. And I rarely went on a second "date."

 

Today, I am happily partnered to a future rabbi, and am blessed to be in a loving, long-term relationship. That's what "coming out" does — it enables gay people to be as healthy and loving as everyone else. But as the director of a gay and lesbian Jewish organization, I receive emails every week from men and women still struggling in the closet, from all across the ideological spectrum. Charedi adults, modern Orthodox kids, women and men — I've met them all, and while none, to my knowledge, has become a predator like Kaye, all are trapped in the same web of deception, repression and desperation. Many are like powder kegs, ready to explode. Really, what do we expect will happen to someone who fights his innermost being all his life, never has a proper outlet for his sexual expression, and lies to everyone he knows?

 

And then there are those open secrets. The influential rabbi who was forced into 'reparative therapy' after being accused of sexual harassment by a young male student. The youth director with a past. "Everyone" knows about these secrets, yet no one does anything — even though those of us who have been in the closet know just how dangerous it is. Indeed, one of the most important public voices on the issue of Judaism and homosexuality himself has a "record" of homosexual misconduct, both on his own part and among other members of his family. Yet we pretend that none of this matters, or that we don't know what we know, or that rabbis and communal leaders are impartial about demons they themselves are battling.

 

Each person is responsible for his or her own conduct. But as long as we create the conditions that make misconduct all but inevitable, the right response to the scandal of Kaye is not "he needs help" — it's "we need help." We need to stop demonizing what is natural, healthy and good, using selective piety to mask our fear. We need to stop believing that what God made can be unmade through coercion or brainwashing. We need to acknowledge that the closeted-rabbi-who-everyone-knows-about may not be worthy of our trust. And we need to see that what causes scandals is not homosexuality, but its repression. Until we do these things, our exclusion and repression will continue to lead to their tragic, seemingly inexorable, results.

 

Jay Michaelson is director of Nehirim: A Spiritual Initiative for GLBT Jews.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Once a rabbi, always a rabbi

Kaye quits rabbinic assn.; retains title

by Eric Fingerhut, Staff Writer

Washington Jewish Week - November 17, 2005

http://www.washingtonjewishweek.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=4397&TM=46690.21

Rabbi David Kaye has resigned from Conservative Judaism's rabbinical association, but the title of "rabbi" cannot be taken away from him.

Such a designation is earned when one graduates from rabbinical school, according to leaders in the Conservative and Reconstructionist movement.

Kaye submitted his resignation to the Rabbinical Assembly a few days before the airing of the Nov. 4 Dateline NBC hidden camera investigation of sexual predators on the Internet in which he was ensnared.

A former rabbi at Congregation Har Shalom in Potomac, Kaye also resigned his position with the teen educational group Panim: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values due to the Dateline program.

Rabbi Joel Meyers, the R.A.'s executive vice president, said that giving up membership in the organization essentially means that Kaye is "no longer a member of the Conservative rabbinate" and "can't function as a Conservative rabbi."

The Awareness Center, an organization advocating for the rights of sexual abuse victims in the Jewish community, has been urging its supporters to ask that Kaye's s'micha, or rabbinic ordination, be revoked. But Meyers said that "we can't take his s'micha away" because he "earned his degrees," and "unless fraud was found in achieving the degree, he has the degree."

Kaye was ordained at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College two decades ago before joining the Conservative movement's rabbinical association after he was hired at the Conservative Har Shalom. The president of the RRC, Rabbi Dan Ehrenkrantz, said revoking one's ordination "is not something we ever do, nor do I think it's doable."

"You can't take away the fact that he successfully fulfilled the requirements for graduation," said Ehrenkrantz.

He noted that rabbinical groups like the R.A. act as licensing-type organizations, and losing membership in such a group effectively tells the public that a rabbi has not conducted himself properly.

He compared the situation to a doctor who engages in misconduct Æ the physician does not lose the title doctor, but can lose his or her license.

Kaye, however, would still, for example, be able to officiate at a wedding if a couple desired.

The rabbi also has left his teaching position at B'nai Israel Congregation's Hebrew high school, according to the Rockville Conservative synagogue's Rabbi Jonathan Schnitzer.

Kaye had been teaching a Tuesday evening class for the post-confirmation class of 11th- and 12th-graders and had led the Shabbat teen minyan since the beginning of the school year. He resigned those posts three days before the Dateline program aired, Schnitzer said this week.

Schnitzer said that the teen sessions were "always in a group" and that the shul had not received any complaints about his conduct.

Criminal charges are still not expected against Kaye. A Montgomery County Police Department spokesperon said that it has not received any criminal complaints or been provided with other information that would trigger an investigation of the rabbi, although an inquiry could be opened in the future if such facts did arise.

The Fairfax County Police Department said once again this week that it still does not anticipate filing charges because of both jurisdictional issues and reservations about the methods of Perverted Justice, the group that partnered with Dateline in the investigation. The group's volunteers pose as children on the Internet in order to expose potential predators.

Fairfax County police have noted that even though the alleged predators were lured to a house in Virginia, the Perverted Justice volunteer chatters were based in Michigan and Kaye and many of the other alleged predators lived in Maryland. With the alleged crimes crossing state lines, it is unclear if the FBI could get involved in the case.

A spokesperson for the FBI's Baltimore field office could not say at this point whether it would be investigated.

___________________________________________________________________________________


Gays help expose online predators - Internet group asks gays to be more vocal in stopping teen abuse

By LOU CHIBBARO, JR.

Washington Blade, DC - November 25, 2005

http://www.washblade.com/2005/11-25/news/national/net-abuse.cfm

Gays involved with a group that conducts controversial online sting operations against adult men who solicit sex from underage teenagers of both sexes are calling on the gay community to take a more visible stand against the sexual exploitation of children and teens.

Perverted Justice, the group some have criticized as vigilante, participated in a Nov. 4 nationwide broadcast of the weekly program "Dateline NBC," which used hidden cameras to show men arriving at a house in Fairfax County, Va., for that they believed were meetings with underage teens of both sexes for sexual encounters.

Instead, much to their shock and horror, they were greeted by "Dateline NBC" reporter Chris Hansen, who informed them that the "teens" between the ages of 12 and 15 with whom they thought they were about to have a sexual tryst were actually adults members of a group called Perverted Justice.

Members of this nationwide Internet group say they train for and carefully carry out online sting operations to expose men seeking out underage teens for sexual encounters. The group's leaders said they avoid illegal entrapment by waiting for the adult men to initiate a sexual assignation. Perverted Justice refers successful stings to local law enforcement authorities, who often prosecute the men involved.

In a development not mentioned in the "Dateline NBC" program, two gay men and a lesbian are among the group's 32 volunteer members and teen "impersonators."

"I have been with Perverted Justice two and a half years, and I can say that I'm treated with respect and welcomed with open arms," said gay Michigan resident Greg Brainer.

Xavier Von Erck, one of the group's leaders, said Perverted Justice has no connection to religious right groups and considers itself non-sectarian. Von Erck, who is not gay, said the organization supports equal rights for all people, including gays, and welcomes all who supports its mission.

"We don't consider men who solicit underage males to be part of the gay community," Von Erck said. "If you go for a 13-year-old or a 12-year-old, it's all the same," he said.

Brainer called such predatory behavior "outrageous" and "just plain wrong," and said he is hopeful that more gay men and lesbians will begin to speak out more openly against such behavior.

He said Perverted Justice members don't link adults who solicit sex with underage teens with the gay community, and the gay community should "get over" its fears about being tarnished by the issue of pedophilia.

Efforts lead to 38 convictions

Von Erck said the group turns over to police and prosecutors transcripts of e-mail exchanges, along with online instant message conversations, between its volunteer members who pose as teens and adult "predators."

As of Nov. 12, the group had submitted information used to obtain 38 convictions since it began its online sting operations more than two years ago. It says 52 current cases are pending across the country, with many of the adults ensnared by the group awaiting trial.

Jack Drescher, a psychiatrist in private practice and president of the Association of Gay & Lesbian Psychiatrists, called the actions exposed by Perverted Justice as "predatory behavior" that occurs in men who are sexually attracted to teenagers of either sex, or both sexes.

"This has nothing to do with being gay any more than men who try to lure girls for sex has do to with heterosexuality," Drescher said. "This is not typical behavior for homosexuals or heterosexuals."

But Drescher said he was skeptical about whether gay groups or gay leaders should feel obligated to speak out on the subject.

"I personally deplore this type of behavior," he said. "But which members of the community should speak out on this? It's like saying, `Are you gay people moral enough to speak out against this immoral behavior?'"

Drescher noted that gays have historically been subjected to condemnation for sexual behavior between consenting adults. He said the condemnation is often politically motivated.

"So it's not the way the gay community automatically thinks — to issue a response on this type of development," he said.

Von Erck said about 75 percent of the adult men his group monitors on the Internet seek out female teenagers, with the remaining 25 percent soliciting sex from teen-age boys.

"The men who seek out boys are often married" to women, he said.

Brainer, 38, lesbian volunteer Del Harvey, 23, of California; and a 25-year-old gay male volunteer named Don, who declined to disclose his last name, each participated in the Fairfax sting operation recorded by Dateline NBC.

In what appears as a well-honed operation, the three gay volunteers and others who posed as teenagers created online profiles for chat rooms set up mostly for teenagers. In most cases, the chat rooms are on America Online and Yahoo, Brainer said.

In most cases, the adult "impersonators" obtain old photos of teenagers who are currently adults and who agree to contribute their photos for the cause, Brainer said. Once the adult impersonators enter a chat room, they remain passive and "wait" to see if anyone establishes contact with them.

In the case of the Fairfax operation, about 18 adult males made contact with the "teens" over a period of several days. Once the adults solicited the "teens" for sex, the impersonators expressed varying degrees of interest. Eventually, they told the adult suitors their parents were away from home and invited the adults to visit them.

In each case, according to NBC's Hansen, the adult suitors specifically acknowledged the age of the "teen" they were pursuing, noting that they read the age in the "teen's" online profile.

Rabbi caught in sting

Among those ensnared the Fairfax sting was 55-year-old Rabbi David Kaye, who worked for a national youth group in Rockville, Md. Kaye, believing he was exchanging messages with a 13-year-old male, sent the "teen" a nude photo of himself, Hansen reported.

He also offered to perform oral sex on the youth. The adult who impersonated the teen accepted Kaye's offer, according to transcripts of instant messages between Kaye and the fictitious minor.

The "teen" then invited Kaye to his house, saying his mother was deceased and his father was away on a trip. When Kaye arrived, he was greeted by Hansen, who began pressing him with questions about why he came to the house to have sex with a 13-year-old.

Several hidden television cameras recorded the encounter between Kaye and Hansen. "Dateline NBC" reported that even before the episode aired, Kaye resigned from his job at the Institute for Jewish Leaders & Values. He also reported finding online a photo of Kaye with two other rabbis later convicted of sexual misconduct.

Rabbi Robert Saks of the D.C. gay synagogue Bet Mishpachah said he is not aware of Kaye having attended any Bet Mishpachah events or services.

Fairfax police spokesperson Rich Perez said police are investigating the information that Perverted Justice provided them in connection with the Fairfax sting operation. Perez said he could not comment on whether police plan to make any arrests.

Violation of Va. law

According to a Fairfax police detective interviewed by Hansen on the "Dateline NBC" program, each of the adult men who solicited the underage teens for sex violated state laws pertaining to sexual solicitation of a minor. The law still applies even if the underage youths were fictitious creations of Perverted Justice, Hansen reported.

Bruce Weiss, executive director of D.C.'s Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League, which provides programs for local gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth, said he was not aware of SMYAL participants reporting attempts by adult males to solicit them for sex online.

"All I can say is this is clearly a national problem," Weiss said. "This is a societal issue. It is not a gay or straight issue."

Craig Bowman, SMYAL's former executive director who currently heads the National Youth Advocacy Coalition, which advocates on behalf of gay youth, said his group seeks to educate young people about the potential dangers of the Internet.

"We say it's important for young people not to give out personal information online," Bowman said. "We urge parents to warn their kids to guard their privacy."

Susanne Salkind, managing director of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay political group, said HRC "deplores the exploitation of children and supports the aggressive enforcement of laws protecting them from sexual predators."

James Cantor, a psychologist with the Clinical Sexology Services Unit of the Toronto-based Center for Addiction & Mental Health, said persons with sexual interests in children or underage teens can seek help from licensed mental health practitioners.

But he said those seeking help should discuss ahead of time whether state or national laws require mental health practitioners to report instances of sexual activity with minors to law enforcement agencies.

Assistant United States Attorney Pat Riley of D.C. said District law currently requires mandatory reporting of sexual abuse or exploitation of children or underage teens when it occurs within families.

However, Riley said an omnibus criminal justice bill pending before the D.C. Council would require that all health-related professions, including therapists, counselors, nurses, and psychiatrists, among others, report to the police clients or patients who admit to having engaged in sexual conduct with underage teens or children.

Riley said she did not know whether such a law would have a significant impact in discouraging men inclined to engage in sex with minors to seek help from a mental health professional.

Caption 1:

The transcript of an online chat between a member of the group Perverted Justice posing as an underage male and an older man. The group refers successful sting operations to local law enforcement authorities, who often prosecute the men involved. Two gay men and a lesbian are among the group's 32 volunteer members and teen `impersonators.'

Caption 2:

`I have been with Perverted Justice two and a half years, and I can say that I'm treated with respect and welcomed with open arms,' said gay Michigan resident Greg Brainer, who volunteers with the group that operates controversial online sting operations. ___________________________________________________________________________________


Dateline Transcript - To Catch a Predator; Hidden camera investigation lures sexual predators from the Internet to home in Washington, DC

NBC News Transcripts

Dateline NBC - November 4, 2005 Friday (8:00 AM EST NBC)

Reporters: Chris Hansen

STONE PHILLIPS: The men you just saw were all trolling Internet chat rooms trying to meet up with an underage teen-ager. Good evening. I'm Stone Phillips.

ANN CURRY: And I'm Ann Curry. It's a dangerous side of the Internet, one that's growing, and many children are at risk. So we went undercover, filling a house with hidden cameras, and soon a long line of visitors came knocking, expecting to find a young teen-ager they'd been chatting with on the Internet home alone.

PHILLIPS: Instead they found DATELINE. We want to warn you that some of what you'll see tonight is explicit, but parents need to know what their kids can confront when they sit down at the computer. Chris Hansen has our DATELINE Hidden Camera Investigation.

CHRIS HANSEN reporting: (Voiceover) You are watching respected members of the community who have a secret--a potentially criminal secret involving the possible sexual exploitation of children.

(Various men)

DEL: Hello?

Unidentified Man #1: Knock, knock?

Unidentified Man #2: I can come in?

Unidentified Man #3: Where are you? Hello?

HANSEN: (Voiceover) They think they're headed for a clandestine meeting with a 12-, 13- or 14-year-old.

(Various men in home)

DEL: Hello?

Rabbi DAVID KAYE: Hi.

DEL: Hey. Hold one second. I got to change my shirt, OK?

Rabbi KAYE: OK.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) They think a child is home alone.

(Steven Bennof)

Mr. STEVEN BENNOF: Where are you? Oh, OK?

DEL: I need--I just--I need to get my new shorts on.

Mr. BENNOF: OK.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Tonight, a DATELINE Hidden Camera Investigation will explore how some men use the Internet to attempt to meet children apparently for sex.

(Monitors showing images from hidden camera; person typing)

DEL: Did you bring condoms?

Man #1: Yeah.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) The problem seems to be getting worse, and the profile of the suspected predators more frightening. Just this past summer, an editor for Weekly Reader, a newspaper for school children, was arrested for using the Internet to solicit sex with a 14-year-old boy. He pleaded not guilty. And this past spring a New York City cop, a youth officer was caught attempting to meet a child on line for sex. He pleaded guilty last month to attempted use of a child in a sexual performance, and agreed to serve six months in prison.

Law enforcement officials estimate that 50,000 predators are on line at any given moment, and the number of reports of children being solicited for sex is growing said Michelle Collins of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

(Search engine home page on computer screen; chat text on computer screen; text from children's newspaper; photo of Noel Neff; text from newspaper articles; photo of Michael Costello; person typing; chat text on computer screen; blurred images of children walking; Michelle Collins)

Ms. MICHELLE COLLINS: One in five has been sexually solicited, and in many cases, the incidents were actually aggressive where the person on the other end of the computer is actually calling the child, sending things to their homes, or actually trying to meet them in person.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Her organization launched an ad campaign aimed at educating teens about this crime.

(Excerpt from awareness ad)

Ms. COLLINS: The message that really got home to the teen-age girls was that if you're in an online relationship, there's a good chance you might be getting played.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) And Collins says young teens are often an easy target.

(Blurred images of children walking)

Ms. COLLINS: Teen-agers have vulnerabilities. It just ups the ante when you bring it on to the World Wide Web, and that many more people have access to knowing what's going on inside a child's mind.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Katie Tarbox is a perfect example. She recounts her story in the book "A Girl's Life Online."

(Hansen interviewing Katie Tarbox; book cover)

Ms. KATIE TARBOX: I was a 13-year-old girl. I was a bit curious about the--the opposite sex.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Katie began an Internet relationship with a 23-year-old, an older man who convinced her he shared many of her interests.

(Girl typing at computer; chat text on computer screen)

Ms. TARBOX: In my mind I'm thinking, `Oh, my gosh. Like, this is my soul mate out there.' In actuality, he was just learning my interests, probably researching them at the same time, to come back to say that he enjoyed those things, too.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) After months of chatting online, Katie finally agreed to a meeting at a hotel where she was competing in a swim meet. The man was 41, and although they never talked about sex, there was little doubt that's what he had in mind.

(Person typing; hotel; photo of man)

Ms. TARBOX: He leaned over, he kissed me. He groped me, he touched other parts of my body. I mean, essentially was molested.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) And since then Katie, now 23, has become an advocate for Internet victims. She warns children to steer clear of Internet predators, and says she's heard thousands of tragic stories from victims who did not.

(Tarbox talking to children in classroom)

Ms. TARBOX: You could never put us in a room. I'm not even sure if you could put us all in a whole stadium. I think it's very, very widespread.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) And even though tough laws don't seem to deter many of these predators, Lieutenant Jake Jacoby of the Fairfax County Police Department says it's a crime in Virginia for an adult to use the Internet to entice a child into having sex.

(Person typing; Jake Jacoby)

HANSEN: So merely by using the Internet to set up a sexual liaison with somebody who's underage, that's a felony.

Lieutenant JAKE JACOBY: Yes, it is.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Because so many children are at risk, and to demonstrate the disturbing reality of what goes on in some chat rooms, we enlisted the help of volunteers from a vigilante organization called Perverted-Justice. Volunteers of this controversial group are experts at pretending to be children on line in order to catch and expose potential predators. And in most states, soliciting a minor for sex is still a crime, even if it turns out the minor is really an adult posing as a child.

(Perverted-Justice members typing at computers; Web site on computer screen; person typing; Web site on computer screen; people typing at computer)

DEL: (Reading text from computer screen) OK, I'm going to stop at the bank first.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) While some in law enforcement strongly oppose any civilian group conducting sting operations, Perverted-Justice volunteers say they are often able to provide authorities from local police to the FBI evidence to build cases and get convictions.

(Perverted-Justice members working at computers; Web site page on computer screen)

DEL: At this point in taping, we have 30 convictions.

HANSEN: Thirty convictions?

DEL: Thirty. We've had I believe now 22 since the first of this year. So we're averaging well over two a month.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) So how do Perverted-Justice operatives find potential sexual predators? First they go into chat rooms, usually through AOL or Yahoo!, and set up a profile of a 12-, 13- or 14-year-old--a profile that often includes a photo of a child obviously underage, like this one provided by the girl's mother. Then the decoys wait to be contacted by an adult. In order to avoid the appearance of entrapment, they never make the first contact. But once a chat begins, the undercover operatives make it known they're open to the possibility of sex. A few decoys even seem eager.

(Computer screen showing Web pages and chat programs; chat text on computer screen)

HANSEN: How quickly do these conversations turn sexual?

Lt. JACOBY: Sometimes very quickly. As soon as the conversation is `Hi, my name is, I'm 14 years old, or 13 years old,' and the gentleman will then say, `Look at this,' and send you a picture or say something else. And that's--that would be the crime right there.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Well, just setting up a liaison online for sex with a minor is illegal, a face-to-face meeting obviously poses a much greater danger. We wanted to know if most predators were all talk, or if they would really attempt to meet a child in person.

(Person typing at computer; blurred images of children watching; hidden camera footage of person entering home)

DEL: (Talking on phone) Thank you for coming all this way.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) We're set up in this upscale home in a suburb of Washington, DC. We're ready and waiting for the knock on the door.

(Home; people manning tech room, watching hidden camera monitors; man approaching home; various men knocking on door)

CURRY: When we come back, you might not believe who's come calling. Some try to run, but can they hide?

(Announcements)

HANSEN: (Voiceover) This lovely home in Virginia just outside of Washington, DC, has become the secret meeting place for potential Internet sex predators. It's rigged with nine hidden cameras: three with views outside, one pointed at the garage, and five inside the house.

Several volunteers from Perverted-Justice, the group dedicated to catching Internet predators, are in chat rooms posing as 12-, 13- and 14-year-olds ready to make a date for sex with men they meet on line. Thirty-nine-year-old Frag--his screen name--who's been a Perverted-Justice volunteer for more than two years, is posing as a 13-year-old girl in a Yahoo! chat room set up for Virginia residents. It's a chat room not intended for romantic or sexual conversations.

(Home; various views inside home; volunteers typing at computers; Web pages on computer screen; chat text on screen; Frag; Web pages on computer screen)

FRAG: There's a girl named Kim.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) As DATELINE cameras roll, the undercover operatives enter chat rooms. They're quickly inundated with adults wanting to talk. Here's a 46-year-old who calls himself the_sphinx59. He thinks he's talking to a 12-year-old girl named Sarah. It takes him only four minutes of chatting online to ask her, "Are you a virgin?" She says she is. And then he asks if she's ever performed oral sex. In this chat, as in many other men's chats, things get much more graphic and disgusting.

(Web pages and chat text on computer screen; photo of Aladdin; chat text on computer screen; person typing; photo of Aladdin; text from chat)

DEL: As soon as those boundaries are crossed, in a lot of ways, the chat tends to get a lot more explicit very quickly.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) This man, vamale_692005, who's 28, thinks he is talking to Erin, a 14-year-old. He asks her bra size, if she shaves anything other than her legs, and says there's "just something about a teen body."

(Photo of Joe Wundaler; text from chat)

FRAG: We'll see if he sends a picture or anything.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) In most cases the men ask for pictures of the young teens, and then second pictures of themselves. Sometimes after the chat turns sexual, the man turns on his Webcam and exposes himself. Several men go as far as sending pornographic pictures, hoping to teach the inexperienced child about different sex acts.

(Photo of girl in decoy's profile; photo of man; censored still image from Webcam; camera lens; censored images)

DEL: I'm just trying to kind of get all the picture semi-uniform.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Here in Virginia, as in many other states, it's generally a crime to send children obscene material, even if it turns out the recipient is an adult posing as a child.

(Person typing; chat text on computer screen; Frag working at computer)

FRAG: (Voiceover) He also sent some naked shots of himself.

(Photo of man)

HANSEN: (Voiceover) After chatting on line about having sex, the decoy suggests a phone call.

(Chat text on computer screen)

DEL: (Talking on phone) I don't know. Because I'm all blushing.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Twenty-three-year-old Del puts on her best "young girl" voice. She needs to verify that the man on the phone is the same man in the chat room.

(Del talking on phone)

DEL: (Talking on phone) Bye. Oh!

The worst thing about doing verification calls is you have to smile while you're doing them so it sounds like it in your voice, even if you don't mean it at all.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) She can also play the part of a young boy.

(Del talking on phone)

DEL: (Talking on phone) Oh, my God! I was like, `What?'

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Once the predator has made it clear he wants sex with a minor and makes a date for the liaison, the crime has already been committed. He doesn't even have to show up, but will he?

(Chat text on computer screen; home)

DEL: Hello?

Man #1: Knock, knock.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) The answer is yes. But this man, once he sees me and not a teen, realizes he's made a big mistakes and runs for the door.

(Man #1 in home)

HANSEN: Hey, how are you?

Man #1: Ah.

HANSEN: Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa! Hey, you're not going to want to do that, I don't think.

(Voiceover) Here's another guy who doesn't stay long.

(Man in home)

HANSEN: Hey, how are you?

Unidentified Man #4: Good, how about yourself?

HANSEN: Good. Why don't you have a seat right over here?

Man #4: No, thank you.

HANSEN: I'd like to ask you some questions.

(Voiceover) He makes a beeline out the garage, barely touches the stairs, and with his arms flailing, runs down the driveway and down the street. Clearly, this man knows he's done something wrong.

So does this guy.

(Man running out of house; Hansen and man in kitchen)

Unidentified Man #5: I'm sorry. You see, this is a all a mix-up. I--I...

HANSEN: No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no. Now, I want to talk to you for a minute, sir.

Man #5: No, I'm sorry.

HANSEN: No, I want to talk to you.

Man #5: No, I'm sorry.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) He also makes a run for it. But he didn't come in a car, so he keeps running and running, presumably back to a bus station, trying desperately to hide his face.

It may look funny, but what these had in mind based on the Internet chats was anything but. Most of the online conversations were so explicit we can't even begin to show you.

(Man running; man running while covering his face with umbrella; chat text on computer screen)

DEL: Yeah, come on in. Sit at the counter. I've got some water and some chips there for you if you want.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Remember the_sphinx59? He thinks the girl in the house is a 12-year-old virgin home alone and willing to perform oral sex. But like many other men you'll meet, he's in for a big surprise when I walk out. Some think I'm the child's father, others apparently believe I'm with law enforcement. One thing's certain: none of them knows our hidden cameras are recording their every move and they'll be appearing on DATELINE.

(Hansen and various men in home)

How's it going? Good ahead and sit down.

ALADDIN: Good.

HANSEN: Why don't you have a seat?

ALADDIN: Thank you, sir. Nice seeing you.

HANSEN: What are you doing here?

(Voiceover) His name is Aladdin. He lied online about his age, saying he was 35. He's really 46, and instead of admitting he came here for a date with a 12-year-old girl, he says he's here to look at real estate.

(Hansen and Aladdin in kitchen; chat text on computer screen; Hansen and Aladdin in kitchen)

ALADDIN: I know that the--the house is for sale.

HANSEN: Oh, that this house for sale?

ALADDIN: Yes. Yeah. I heard about it. A friend of mine.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Aladdin goes on to say that his "friend" found our house for sale on the Internet, and he just came to check it out for him. Later he decides to come clean.

(Aladdin and Hansen in kitchen)

HANSEN: Why did you really come here?

ALADDIN: To see what's-her-name, Sarah.

HANSEN: Sarah.

ALADDIN: Yes.

HANSEN: And you were talking with Sarah online?

ALADDIN: Yes.

HANSEN: So all of that other stuff in the house and all that, that was all a big, fat lie.

ALADDIN: Yes.

HANSEN: OK. Do you know how old Sarah is?

ALADDIN: No.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) He tries to convince me that the girl Sarah is 18, even though his own words tell a different story.

(Hansen talking to Aladdin in kitchen)

HANSEN: You say you're 35, male, and you say where you are from. She says she's 12. You say, "Oh, you real young. You like older men?" "Depends, I guess." You ask her about her former boyfriends, did she ever give them oral sex. She says yes. She tells you here that she's 12 years old. What is that number right there? What does that say?

ALADDIN: Twelve.

HANSEN: Twelve, yeah. So that 18 thing was a lie as well.

ALADDIN: I guess.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Then Aladdin apparently begins to feel faint...

(Aladdin and Hansen in kitchen)

HANSEN: What are you doing?

(Voiceover) ...and lies down on the kitchen floor.

(Aladdin and Hansen in kitchen)

HANSEN: Are you OK?

ALADDIN: Yes, yes. Just a minute.

HANSEN: Do you want your water?

ALADDIN: A little--no, I'm fine

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Our background research reveals that Aladdin is a waiter at a holiday Inn. He says he's an immigrant from Egypt who became a US citizen two years ago.

(Aladdin and Hansen in kitchen)

HANSEN: Why is it appropriate to come to a home where a 12-year-old-girl...

ALADDIN: She's the one who--she said, `We can meet to--we can--you can come over to my place. You can--can spend time together some time.'

HANSEN: But that--does that make it right for you to do it?

ALADDIN: No. I feel guilty. Oh, I feel bad about this.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) You'll hear more from Aladdin a little bit later. First, there are more men headed to our house. Meet vamale_692005. He's the one who said "There's just something about a teen body." He's 28, and thinks he's talking to a 14-year-old. He's actually chatting with a 23-year-old from Perverted-Justice.

(Aladdin and Hansen in kitchen; chat text on computer screen; photo of Wundaler; woman walking)

Unidentified Woman: He was by far the worst guy I've ever talked to.

HANSEN: Dozens and dozens of cases before time.

Woman: Yes.

HANSEN: What separated him from the run-of-the-mill computer predator?

Woman: Beastiality. One word.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) He chatted online for more than a week with our decoy, and slowly introduced more and more depraved sexual requests. He even says he wants to involve a dog.

(Chat text on computer screen)

DEL: As soon as the guy said, `Hey, maybe I'd want to do this,' and he wasn't immediately slapped down--it's testing the waters.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Was this all talk, or would this man actually walk into our kitchen? That's him coming in the door.

(Del in home; Wundaler entering home)

HANSEN: How are you doing?

Mr. JOE WUNDALER: How you doing?

HANSEN: Why don't you have a seat right around the stool, please.

What's happening?

Mr. WUNDALER: Not much.

HANSEN: What are you here for?

Mr. WUNDALER: Just come to talk to her.

HANSEN: Come to talk to who?

Mr. WUNDALER: That's it.

HANSEN: Why are you so nervous?

Mr. WUNDALER: I just get nervous. I was going to talk to Erin.

HANSEN: How old is Erin?

Mr. WUNDALER: She didn't tell me.

HANSEN: Try again.

Mr. WUNDALER: I saw--I saw 14.

HANSEN: So you thought it was OK to come here to see a 14-year-old girl.

Mr. WUNDALER: No, I didn't.

HANSEN: And you said, "Would you ever try anal?" "Ouch that sounds like it could hurt." "Not if done right. You have to be very gentle with that." Quite a Romeo.

Mr. WUNDALER: I--I'm a lonely guy. What can I say?

HANSEN: (Voiceover) He's more than just a lonely guy. We did a background check on vamale, and it turns out his real name is Joe Wundaler, an Army sergeant stationed at Fort Belvoir at the intelligence and security command.

(Wundaler talking to reporter; Fort Belvoir sign)

Mr. WUNDALER: I've never done anything--I'm trying to get help with it.

HANSEN: What are you doing to get help?

Mr. WUNDALER: Seeing a psy--a psychiatrist right now.

HANSEN: Well, it doesn't look like it's working too well, based upon all this.

Mr. WUNDALER: I just started talking to him.

HANSEN: I mean, this gets pretty freaky here. You talk about sex acts with a dog.

Mr. WUNDALER: It's one of the reasons why I'm trying to get help, because I get into fetishes that I--that I know aren't right.

HANSEN: I guess you're going to tell me next that this is the very first time you've done something like this.

ALADDIN: Actually it is. I'm serious.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) True or not, remember, this guy tried to entice a young teen into depraved sex acts. It only takes one encounter to harm a child forever.

We set aside three days to see how many men would actually show up at our undercover house. To keep track of our appointments, we set up a bulletin board. it didn't take long to fill up our calendar.

(Hansen talking to Wundaler; blurred images of children; bulletin board with notes and photos)

DEL: Total today? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 so far.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Some came bearing gifts like beer, condoms and pornographic tape. One man brought shoes and dinner, just what the decoy ordered. You may not think that's significant, but Lieutenant Jake Jacoby, who runs a child services unit here in Virginia, says during undercover stings it can help get convictions.

(Various men entering home; various gifts brought by different men; Jacoby)

Lt. JACOBY: At times when they show up, we like to have them either bring us something or do something so we can show that--that they're doing specifically what we asked them to do.

HANSEN: Shows intent.

Lt. JACOBY: It helps, yes.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) The men who show up at this house looking for a liaison with a child come from very different backgrounds. And as our investigation unfolds, you might be surprised at just how diverse our group gets. Some hold very prominent positions--more prominent than you'd ever imagine.

(Split screen showing eight different men in home; man in home)

HANSEN: What do you do for a living?

PHILLIPS: When come back, the parade continues, more men knocking on the door, more on who they are. And more than a few questions for this man.

HANSEN: Could you explain yourself?

(Announcements)

PHILLIPS: (Voiceover) They hold jobs that command our trust and respect. So why are they trying to meet a young teen-ager online? More of our Hidden Camera Investigation when DATELINE continues.

(Various men entering home; chat text on computer screen; keyboard; text graphic)

(Announcements)

CURRY: From stalking the chat rooms to knocking on the door, DATELINE's hidden cameras have caught a string of men in the act showing up for a date with a minor they thought was home alone. But you might be surprised at the men arriving next. Again, we want to remind you that some of what you are about to see is sexually explicit. Here's Chris Hansen.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) During our investigation there's a parade of men walking up the driveway, through the garage and into the house--19 men in three days. In almost every case, the man engaged in sexually explicit Internet conversations with a person posing as a young teen. And as you'll hear later, most of them said they'd done it before, and would never actually have sex with a minor.

(Various men arriving at home; Hansen talking to various men in kitchen)

DEL: Did you bring beer?

Unidentified Man #6: No, I thought we'd stop and get some on the way.

HANSEN: And perhaps more shocking than the number of men is who they are. Our background checks uncover men leading double lives that you would never suspect involved in this potentially illegal activity. This man letting himself into our house makes his living working with children. He's a special education teacher. Del is now posing as a boy the man's expecting to meet.

(Chat program on computer screen; photos of various men; Bennof entering home)

DEL: Just sit at the kitchen counter for a minute.

Mr. BENNOF: Where are you? Oh, OK?

DEL: I need--I just--I need to get my new shorts on.

Mr. BENNOF: OK.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) The teacher, Steven Bennof, believes he's been chatting on line about sex with a boy named Brandon who says he's 13. And how old do you think the teacher is? He's 54 and married. When I confront him, at first he thought Brandon was an adult.

(Bennof in home; Hansen talking to Bennof in home)

Mr. BENNOF: Well, he said he was 23. What's the problem?

HANSEN: I have the transcript, that's what the problem is. Brandon said he was 13.

Mr. BENNOF: Thirteen?

HANSEN: Thirteen.

(Voiceover) And the teacher knows this because Brandon told him online he was 13.

(Chat text with line highlighted)

HANSEN: You talk about oral sex, anal sex and all the different things that you'd like to do with him. What are you doing here?

Mr. BENNOF: I thought I would come see him. But...

HANSEN: Come see him for what?

Mr. BENNOF: I wanted meet him.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) While online, our 13-year-old decoy asked the teacher to bring condoms. Did he?

(Hansen talking with Bennof)

Mr. BENNOF: Mm-hmm.

HANSEN: You did?

Mr. BENNOF: (Nods)

HANSEN: You have them in the pocket?

Mr. BENNOF: Mm-hmm.

HANSEN: What does that say about your intent?

Mr. BENNOF: Well, I always have them with me, but...

HANSEN: What is a 54-year-old man doing coming to this home, to see a 13-year-old boy?

Mr. BENNOF: I obviously made a big mistake.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) And he wasn't the only one. Not by a long shot. Surprisingly there were many men with impressive resumes, men you would consider trustworthy. You'll never guess what this man, screen name Gbabbnsp, does for a living?

(Various men entering home; Jeffrey Beck approaching home)

DEL: Come on in. I just spilled diet Coke all over my shorts.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) He's is an emergency room doctor.

(Beck entering home)

DEL: I got to go change them.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Dr. Jeffrey Beck, a 50-year-old, is here to meet a boy he thinks is 14.

(Beck in home)

DEL: I'll be right back down there.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Watch how he tries to follow our decoy upstairs.

(Beck in home)

Dr. JEFFREY BECK: I can come up if you want.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) When I confront the doctor, he says he had no intention of having sex with the boy. He only came here because he felt badly for the teen, who was left home alone.

(Hansen talking to Beck in home)

Dr. BECK: He was so anxious to have some company when he was left by himself for four days. Under the circumstances it sounded neglectful.

HANSEN: So you're the good Samaritan.

Dr. BECK: That's correct.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) During his online chat, the doctor was not as sexually explicit as many of the others who showed up. In fact, after we read to you part of the chat, you'll see he seemed to choose his words carefully.

(Chat text on computer screen; photo of Beck; text from chat)

Gbabbnsp: (From chat log) I'd like very much to be your friend. I don't think I even want to have sex with you until you're old enough for us to both not get in trouble over it. Lots more to friendship than sex for sure.

JAY: (From chat log) I would not tell. I done it before.

Gbabbnsp: (From chat log) Once we know each other well, whatever happens happens, but I won't meet you for sex.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) But he does suggest getting physical. After talking about covering the teen with "hugs and kisses," the 50-year-old says to the decoy who he thinks is 14, I want to cuddle you and make you feel safe and loved and cared about.

(Chat text on computer screen)

HANSEN: Experts in this field say that kind of a discussion is consistent with somebody who's grooming a young boy for sex. You see what I'm getting at?

Dr. BECK: Mm-hmm.

HANSEN: What's really going on here?

Dr. BECK: What's really going on was I came over to take him out for lunch.

HANSEN: You ask, "Have you ever been spanked?" He says, "By my dad, but not for sex."

Dr. BECK: Mm-hmm.

HANSEN: You say, "Could it be fun for sex?" He says, "I can try." You say, "Want to spank a dad?" Now you see how that looks.

Dr. BECK: Yeah, looks pretty bad.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) The doctor maintains he would never do anything illegal, but acknowledges a meeting like this could appear inappropriate.

(Hansen talking to Beck)

HANSEN: Now, if you had a teen-age son who was home alone, would you be comfortable with a 50-some-year-old man coming into the house for a visit?

Dr. BECK: I suppose it would depend on the 50-year-old man. But in general, no, I wouldn't.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) What about this guy? A man in his position is just about the last person you'd expect to be showing up at our house.

It's 4:00 in the morning in an AOL chat room. This 54-year-old man screen-named REDBD, messages a 13-year-old boy named Conrad saying, "I'm prowling for young men." What he goes on to say--and the pictures he sends are so graphic we had to carefully edit them before putting them on television. And as you'll hear when we read from his chat log, it's clear REDBD knows what he's doing is wrong.

(David Kaye entering home; chat text on computer screen; photo of Kaye; text from chat)

redbd: (From chat log) You're only 13.

madc rad1992: (From chat log) Yeah.

redbd: (From chat log) That's rape.

madc rad1992: (From chat log) Dude, I tell you that before***(as spoken).

redbd: (From chat log) Yes, I remember.

madc rad1992: (From chat log) Oh, OK.

redbd: (From chat log) Just you're so, so young. I've never been with a young man like you, but I would like to.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) While the two are chatting online we conduct a background check, and are absolutely shocked by what this man does for a living, and now he's in our kitchen after making a date for sex with a boy he thinks is 13.

(Web page on computer screen; Kaye entering home)

DEL: Hello?

Rabbi KAYE: Hi.

DEL: Hey, hold one second. I got to change my shirt, OK?

Rabbi KAYE: OK.

DEL: I spilled diet Coke on it. I got to ask you, so are you going to be up for tonight?

Rabbi KAYE: We'll see.

HANSEN: So how can I help you?

What are you doing here?

Rabbi KAYE: Not something good. This isn't good.

HANSEN: Not good? That's kind of an understatement, isn't it? What do you do for a living?

Rabbi KAYE: I'm a rabbi.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) That's right, a rabbi. The man who sent naked pictures of himself is a man of God. He's a staff member at a Jewish youth educational organization.

(Kaye talking to Hansen in kitchen; text on computer screen)

HANSEN: Now presumably you counsel families and children in your position as a rabbi.

Rabbi KAYE: Sure.

HANSEN: What are you doing as a man of God, as a rabbi in this house trying to meet a 13 year old boy?

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Instead of answering, the rabbi asks to know who I am. But before I tell him, I want to ask him about those pictures he sent.

(Kaye talking to Hansen in kitchen)

HANSEN: You sent pornographic pictures. That's a federal offense right there.

Rabbi KAYE: OK, look, you know I'm in trouble and I know I'm in trouble. I am not interested in getting any further in trouble.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Then we heard that familiar excuse.

(Kaye talking to Hansen in kitchen)

Rabbi KAYE: This is not something that I have done, ever.

HANSEN: You've never done this before? You know, because I hear that a lot.

(Voiceover) You'll hear more from the rabbi later.

Others are on the way. Here comes SpecialGuy29. Earlier online he told our decoy, who is posing as a 14-year-old boy, that he's an 11th-grade English teacher. Then he told the boy that he hates condoms, but he's safe. Our decoy asks SpecialGuy29 to bring beer, and then throws in a request--a technique often used law enforcement to illustrate intent. He types, "Side garage is open. Strip to your underwear and come in. I be in mine***(as spoken)." The man says, "I don't wear underwear." So the decoy says, "Then come in naked." We never thought he'd really do it, but we were wrong. After casing our house, walking up and down the street, here he comes with the beer, and you can guess what he does in the garage.

(Kaye talking to Hansen in kitchen; person typing; truck driving up to house; chat text on computer screen; photo of John Kennelly; text from chat; Kennelly walking on sidewalk in front of house; Kennelly stripping in garage; Kennelly entering home carrying items)

HANSEN: Could you explain yourself?

Mr. KENNELLY: I'm sorry.

HANSEN: Why don't you go ahead and cover up.

Mr. KENNELLY: Certainly. I'm sorry.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) The man's name is John Kennelly. He tells me he's 29 and a bus driver, then he changes it to a teacher.

(Hansen talking to Kennelly)

HANSEN: What kind of conduct is this for a high school teacher?

Mr. KENNELLY: You know, this--I've never done this before.

HANSEN: So you just woke up this morning and said, `I'm going to get involved in an Internet conversation with a 14-year-old boy, I'm going to go to his house, strip naked and walk in with a 12-pack of beer.'

Mr. KENNELLY: No, sir.

HANSEN: What would have happened, John, if I wasn't here?

Mr. KENNELLY: I probably would have chickened out, sir.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) After doing a deeper background check on him, we find out he's neither a teacher nor a bus driver. His father says he's unemployed. And he's not 29. He's actually 43.

(Web page on computer screen; photos of Kennelly)

HANSEN: Do you know that it's illegal to have a conversation on the Internet with the intent to have sex with a minor?

Mr. KENNELLY: Yes, sir, I do.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) He says he knows it's illegal, but it appears that's not enough to deter him. Whether he needs psychiatric help or the hand of the law, he still might pose a threat to a child. Stick around, and wait till you see what he does next.

(Hansen talking to Kennelly; Kennelly in garage, carrying clothes; chat text on computer screen)

HANSEN: This is the identical screen name.

FRAG: Identical screen name on line.

DEL: He changed nothing.

FRAG: This morning he changed nothing.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Like the men you've met so far, you're about to see others who are quick to come up with a story when confronted by an adult. But what will they say when they find out they're going to appear on national television?

(Split screen showing Hansen with six different men in home; Hansen talking to Kaye)

Rabbi KAYE: Oh, no. Come on, guy.

CURRY: You'll see that confrontation when we come back. And what would drive a rabbi, or anyone, to this kind of behavior?

(Voiceover) We'll shed light on that coming up.

(Person typing)

Dr. DAVID MARCUS: Most guys don't go on the Internet and say, `You know, I'm going to decide to ruin my life today.'

(Voiceover) They're being driven and they can't stop.

(Chat text on computer screen)

(Announcements)

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Men from all over Virginia, Maryland and Washington, DC, arrived in this house after chatting about sex, thinking they were meeting a 12-,13- or 14-year-old who is home alone. Nineteen men in three days, from the down-and-out to pillars of the community.

(Various men arriving at home; man knocking on door; various men approaching home)

Mr. BENNOF: I teach school.

HANSEN: What classes do you teach?

Mr. BENNOF: Special education.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) As the men approached our undercover house, hidden cameras rolled and kept rolling as I startled them and started asking questions. Just about every one of them gave me the same story:

(Various views of men in and around home; Hansen and men in home)

HANSEN: So this is the first time.

Mr. BENNOF: Mm-hmm.

HANSEN: You know, I hear a lot of that.

Mr. BENNOF: Yeah, well, it's true.

Dr. BECK: I've never visited a teen-age boy before in my life.

ALADDIN: First time in my life that this happen.

HANSEN: First time?

ALADDIN: Yes, sir.

Mr. KENNELLY: I've never done this before.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) And some came up with more creative excuses.

(Hansen talking with man in kitchen)

Unidentified Man #7: She said she was 13. That's why I was concerned she's going to be by herself. So I was just going to stop and talk to her for a while.

HANSEN: So you were just being a good Samaritan.

Man #7: Yeah.

HANSEN: Because there was a 13-year-old girl...

Man #7: Be by herself.

HANSEN: ...home alone.

Man #7: Yeah.

HANSEN: Right.

HANSEN: And so out of the goodness of your heart, you were going to stop by...

Man #7: Yeah, it could have been anybody.

HANSEN: ...and--and baby-sit her, I guess?

Man #7: Well, sort of, I guess. We can order some pizza and we can watch a movie or something.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) This guy, named Yonis, says it's all a case of mistaken identity.

(Hansen talking to Yonis)

YONIS: It's not me, I assure you.

HANSEN: So let me get this straight. So there's another guy whose name is Yonis, right?

YONIS: I'm Yonis.

HANSEN: Who happens to--to look like you and have the same cell phone number as you, and he has the dirty conversation about sex with a 12-year-old girl, but you didn't, but and you ended up coming here anyway.

YONIS: No, no, no. I don't know what that person.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Just about every man who walked into our house said he really wasn't planning on having sex with a minor. But we'll never know what would have happened had we had not been here. Still, none of it surprises Lieutenant Jacoby of the Fairfax County Police Department here in Virginia. He says he's heard it all before.

(Various men in home; Jacoby)

HANSEN: `I've never done this before.'

Lt. JACOBY: We've heard that one. That's usually probably not true.

HANSEN: `I'm here to protect them.'

Lt. JACOBY: That's probably one of the biggest ones that we get, also.

HANSEN: `I didn't think I was actually talking to a minor.'

Lt. JACOBY: Again, that's something that we've heard quite often from people.

HANSEN: How often do you suppose we're being lied to when we hear those excuses?

Lt. JACOBY: Usually about 100 percent of the time.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) So why would a man with so much to lose risk everything to meet a child for sex? Dr. David Marcus, a clinical psychologist who treats men with sexual compulsions, says it's a powerful addiction.

(Web page on computer screen; David Marcus)

Dr. MARCUS: They don't know what'S driving them. All they know is they're being driven and they can't stop. And to risk themselves so greatly clearly shows how powerful of a ride that is.

Mr. WUNDALER: Listen, I have had a problem with an Internet addiction, talking with females.

Dr. MARCUS: Most guys don't go on the Internet and say, `You know, I'm going to decide to ruin my life today.' Most guys go on and say, `I need something to make myself feel better.' They're not conscious of what they're doing.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) And Dr. Marcus said there are different reasons men choose to meet children for sex.

(Chat text on computer screen)

Dr. MARCUS: Some--and this may be a minority--have a primary attraction to that age group. Others are more looking for a situation where they could feel powerful and then can, again, explore part of themselves, try to do things in a situation where there is a power differential.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Whatever power they thought they had, it's lost as soon as they see me. And now they're about to learn I'm not a parent or the police. First the rabbi.

(People manning control room, watching hidden camera monitors; Kaye talking to Hansen)

Rabbi KAYE: Could you please show me who--tell me who you are?

HANSEN: I'm more than happy to tell you who I am.

Rabbi KAYE: Tell me, please.

HANSEN: I'm Chris Hansen with DATELINE NBC, and you we're doing a story on computer predators.

Rabbi KAYE: Oh, no. Come on, guy.

HANSEN: You don't--you don't want to go there. You don't want.

Rabbi KAYE: You've got to stop this.

Unidentified Crew Member: Sit down. Sit down.

Rabbi KAYE: You don't have any right to...

HANSEN: You're free to leave. You're free to leave any time.

(Voiceover) Now, they knew this was all being taped for the record, and for broadcast on DATELINE. The doctor...

(Kaye leaving home; Hansen talking to Beck)

HANSEN: But if there's any else you want to say.

Dr. BECK: Nothing.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) ...the teacher...

(Bennof talking to Hansen)

HANSEN: And if there's anything else you'd like to say, we'd like to hear it.

(Voiceover) ...and the man who stood naked in our kitchen.

(Kennelly talking to Hansen)

Mr. KENNELLY: Thank you. I don't have anything else to say.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) So what happens now? As they always do with law enforcement, Frag and Del, the volunteers from Perverted-Justice, have turned over all of their online evidence, from the pornographic photos to the online chats, to Lieutenant Jacoby and his Child Sex Crimes unit at the Fairfax County Police Department.

(Del working at computer; pages of chat transcripts)

Lt. JACOBY: We are actively looking at some of these cases.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Lieutenant Jacoby says it'll be a while before we know if criminal charges will be pursued. His department did notify school officials about the teacher, and Bennof was fired. Since some of the men were in the Army and Navy, Del contacted the military and DATELINE was told that those men are under investigation.

Perverted-Justice intends to put the men's pictures and entire chat logs, including their phone numbers on perverted-justice.com.

(Jacoby working; Bennof talking to Hansen; Fort Belvoir sign; blurred images of soldiers marching in parade; photos on computer screen)

FRAG: We let the citizens--we have over 20,000 members now in our forums--do their work, which--whatever they want to do. A lot of them will contact whoever is associated with that person.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Usually that means the man's employer, relatives and neighbors. Members will direct them to the chat logs and other evidence on Perverted-Justice's Web site, hoping to keep men like these from harming children.

You might think being caught on tape would be enough to deter these men from ever entering a chat room again. Maybe not. Wait till you see what SpecialGuy29 is up to next.

(Chat text on computer screen; men leaving home; Kennelly in garage of home; Kennelly leaving home)

HANSEN: How can we be certain that this guy in this chat room is the same guy who walked into this house last night naked?

PHILLIPS: Coming up, how big a threat Internet predators really are.

(Voiceover) And later, how you can keep your kids safe.

(Person typing; chat text on computer screen)

HANSEN: Do you ever think to yourself, `I can't belive how many of these people are out there'?

Lt. JACOBY: It's overwhelming at times.

(Announcements)

Mr. KENNELLY: (Wearing a towel) I don't have anything else to say.

HANSEN: You can take the towel to the garage.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) You might think that this 43-year-old man who walked in our house naked, ready to meet a 14-year-old boy for sex, would be so humiliated after being caught literally with his pants down, that he'd never try it again. Yet we find him right back online in a chat room, the very next day.

(Kennelly walking through camera crew to leave home; Kennelly in garage; text on computer screen)

HANSEN: How can we be certain that this guy in this chat room is the same guy who walked into this house last night naked?

DEL: It's the same screen name, the same picture.

FRAG: Same i--same identical screen name he got busted of: SpecialGuy29.

DEL: Twenty-nine. He's changed nothing.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) He's spotted by a Perverted-Justice volunteer who's posing as a 13-year-old boy.

(Chat text on computer screen)

FRAG: He just checked the kid's pic.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Even these Perverted-Justice veterans find what's happening hard to believe.

(Chat text on computer screen)

DEL: He keeps talking, then that's just going to beyond comprehension.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Yet he does keep talking, and again the chat quickly turns sexual. And believe it or not, again he agrees to yet another date for sex. Our decoy asks if he wants to meet at McDonald's.

(Person typing on keyboard; chat text on computer screen; Del and Frag working on computers)

HANSEN: What do you suppose the odds are that a guy like that would agree to another meeting...

FRAG: I would have said zero last night after watching what happened.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Well, SpecialGuy29 defies the odds, and agrees to meet. But first he confirms the meeting is not about food.

(Person typing at computer)

FRAG: He really wanted to make sure it was about sex.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Sure enough, here he comes, headed towards the McDonald's.

(McDonald's; Hansen approaching Kennelly)

HANSEN: I have been in television for 24 years...

Mr. KENNELLY: I just came to get something to eat.

HANSEN: ...and I have very seldom been at a loss for words.

Mr. KENNELLY: Sir, I just came to get something to eat.

HANSEN: But I don't know even know what to ask you first.

Mr. KENNELLY: I just came to get something to eat.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) He later changes his story.

(Hansen talking to Kennelly)

HANSEN: Last night you walked into a house in suburban Washington, naked, with a 12-pack of beer, yes or no?

Mr. KENNELLY: Yes.

HANSEN: OK. Today, you're on the Internet again, you have an inappropriate conversation with a boy you think is 13, and you set up a meeting here at this fast food restaurant. What was your intention?

Mr. KENNELLY: I don't know.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) The man admits he knows what he's doing is illegal.

(Kennelly)

HANSEN: Then why do you do it?

Mr. KENNELLY: But I need help, and that's what I'm seeing a psychiatrist for.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) As incredible as this looks, that a man would do this twice in two days, Lieutenant Jacoby isn't all that surprised.

(Kennelly walking away; Kennelly driving away)

Lt. JACOBY: Don't these people know that this is illegal, and that very possibly they could be talking to a decoy or getting pulled into some sort of under investigation?

Lt. JACOBY: Well, if you look at the Internet and the amount of people who are solicited in these types of crimes, your chances of getting caught--caught are probably fairly slim.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Maybe that's why so many of the men who visited our house walked in so confidently, almost like they owned the place. Remember Rabbi David Kaye?

(Various men entering home; Kaye in home)

Rabbi KAYE: We'll see.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Despite his actions caught on hidden camera and his graphic Internet exchange, Rabbi Kaye called us several times claiming he did nothing wrong. However, earlier this week he resigned his staff position, informing his employer he was going to be featured in this DATELINE story. He also had no comment about this picture DATELINE found while investigating the rabbi's background. It shows Kaye in a group photo including two other rabbis caught and convicted of soliciting a child for sex on the Internet.

(Kaye in home; chat text on computer screen; Kaye talking to Hansen; Kaye's bio on computer screen; group photo; close-ups of Kaye and two other men in group photo)

HANSEN: Do you ever think to yourself, `I can't believe how many of these people are out there'?

Lt. JACOBY: It--it's overwhelming at times.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) In the end, most experts agree it's really up to parents to keep children safe from online predators.

(Blurred images of children)

HANSEN: If you could give parents one single piece of advice, what would it be?

PHILLIPS: What can parents do? Some tips on keeping your kids out of harm's way, when we come back.

(Announcements)

HANSEN: (Voiceover) This public service announcement alerts parents that online predators are a very real danger, and advises them to get educated.

(Excerpt from public service announcement)

Ms. COLLINS: The technology is in your house. It's a parent's responsibility to protect their child.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Michelle Collins from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children says the problem is so widespread your child could be a victim and you may not even know it.

(Collins; chat text on computer screen)

Ms. COLLINS: If there are phone calls arriving at your house that you don't know the person on the other end of the line? Is your child or teen-ager receiving gifts? Do they have a Webcam in their room that you don't--you didn't buy?

HANSEN: These are all warning signs.

Ms. COLLINS: These are all things that happen quite frequently in the many cases that we view and that we work with law enforcement on.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Collins says it's important for all of us parents to make certain computers are in open areas of our homes, not in kid's bedrooms. We should know who our children are talking to online, and closely monitor their use of Webcams.

(Person typing at computer; chat text on computer screen; Webcam)

Ms. COLLINS: (Voiceover) The problem we have seen recently: Webcams. Many kids are finding themselves in problematic situations after having used a Webcam.

(Webcam; photos on computer screen)

Ms. COLLINS: A combination of too much privacy, too much technology and at a sexually curious age can really spell a disaster.

HANSEN: (Voiceover) Child safety experts agree it's important for parents to take advantage of parental controls offered by Internet providers, and use one of the many protective software programs currently are available. And Collins has one other piece of advice:

(Web pages on computer screen; blurred images of children)

Ms. COLLINS: (Voiceover) One single, most important, most basic piece of advice to give parents is to keep the communication lines open with your kids.

(Blurred images of children)

Ms. COLLINS: If something happens online, it's more important that an adult find out about it than that the child try to handle it on their own, because those cases don't always end well.

PHILLIPS: You know, and I think most kids know not to talk to to strangers and don't, if they're approached in public. But when they're online, they're in the safety of the their home, and sometimes they let their guard down, and that's all a potential predator needs to kind of get their foot in the door and kind of establish a relationship.

CURRY: It's so frightening, Stone. And also I think that we have this idea that, you know, the people to be afraid of are going to look like bad guys. And in fact, what we've just seen is that they can look like your next-door neighbor, your rabbi.

PHILLIPS: You know, Chri--Chris Hansen has been blogging on our Web site the past few days, and we've received some e-mails, one of them coming from somebody who says that they work in evaluating and training sexual predators, and says they come from all walks of life and can look like a next-door neighbor.

CURRY: Well, it's important for parents now to be especially diligent.

PHILLIPS: It is.

CURRY: You can read Chris' blog, send him an e-mail, and get more information on protecting kids from cyberpredators on our Web site.

(Voiceover) The address is dateline.msnbc.com.

(Graphic of Web address)

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Convicted of soliciting a minor, rabbi is banned from D.C.-area synagogue
October 4, 2012 - JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Rabbi David Kaye, who was convicted in 2006 for trying to sexually solicit a minor, was told he could no longer worship in a synagogue in suburban Washington.

The board of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda, Md., notified congregants of the decision just before the High Holidays, the Washington Jewish Week reported Wednesday.

In a Sept. 12 note to its membership, the board wrote in part that it spent a “backbreaking amount of time” researching and discussing the legal and ethical dilemmas presented, including the “safety of our children, responsibility, teshuvah (repentance) and the compelling needs of the community at large,” according to the Washington Jewish Week.

Kaye, a former vice president of programming at Panim: The Institute for Jewish Leaders and Values, based in Rockville, Md., was caught in a sting on “To Catch a Predator,” a reality series featuring investigations by the televison newsmagazine "Dateline NBC."

Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb, the spiritual leader at Adat Shalom, spoke at length about the board’s deliberations and decision, which he said was not unanimous, during a Rosh Hashanah sermon, according to the newspaper.

“The process was painful, but it was something to be proud of. We were guided by balancing safety with the respect for individuals,” he told the Washington Jewish Week.

Some congregants supporting the decision said that since Adat Shalom's religious school meets on Shabbat, they were uncomfortable with Kaye’s presence during services, the newspaper reported.

In 2006, Alexandria U.S. District Court Judge James Cacheris convicted Kaye on one count of coercion and enticement, and one count of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. Kaye eventually was sentenced to 78 months in prison and 10 years of supervised release.

Last January, he was released from a transitional house in Baltimore. Now 61, Kaye said he is divorced, living in suburban Washington and still wants to pray in a congregation.

"I've done teshuvah," he told the newspaper. "And I feel that God has forgiven me."

Kaye had been attending Shabbat services at Adat Shalom since February. He believes that because "Dateline NBC" rebroadcasts “To Catch a Predator” periodically that someone in the congregation may have recognized him, which triggered the congregational debate over his presence.

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Bethesda synagogue grapples with presence of rabbi convicted of sex crime

By Michelle Boorstein

Washington Post - October 26, 2012

 
The early months of 2012 at Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Synagogue were busy with the things typical for a liberal congregation: a phone bank for gay marriage, a silent retreat, a weekend study session on unorthodox ideas such as observing Sabbath through dance and movement.
 

Then in February, David Kaye, a longtime Montgomery County rabbi and registered sex offender, started attending Saturday services.

Adat Shalom’s three clergy had quickly agreed to a request from Kaye to pray at the synagogue, believing his presence to be in keeping with Adat Shalom’s identity as an open, diverse spiritual community where all are welcome.
Through the spring and early summer, Kaye was a part of the congregation. He came for Sabbath and oneg, the post-service lunch. He stood with other mourners to say the communal prayer for the dead, for his parents. He went to the silent retreat.
But over the months, discomfort with Kaye’s presence in some quarters of the 500-family congregation grew. Finally, he was asked to leave.
The matter came to a head last month in the days before Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the holiest days of the Jewish calendar, a time when Jews pray desperately for forgiveness, for themselves and others.
But even now, the issue continues to release a torrent of emotional arguments about judgment, inclusion and the purpose of a synagogue. Is it meant to be a sanctuary from the day-to-day world? Or a spiritual ER for even the most broken of souls? Is true forgiveness and redemption even possible in cases of pedophilia, which can be difficult to treat and, many experts believe, impossible to cure?
“Long-term friends aren’t speaking to one another,” said a member, whose children worked with Kaye at a youth program called Panim and who spoke on the condition of anonymity, like a dozen others, for fear of appearing to perpetuate discord. “People aren’t sleeping in the same way, they’re dreaming about it. People have made arguments that have fundamentally changed how people view one another.”

The horrific crime
Kaye had been a longtime rabbi at Potomac’s Har Shalom congregation and was a leader of Panim, a large organization that trained young Jews in social activism, when he was caught in a televised sting by Dateline NBC’s “To Catch a Predator.”

He was captured on tape waiting to meet for sex someone he thought would be a 13-year-old boy. His 2005 arrest hit like a bomb in Washington’s Jewish community. 

Kaye was found guilty in 2006 in federal court of using the Web to persuade a juvenile to have sex and traveling from his Montgomery home to a sting house in Herndon to do it. He was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison and 10 years of supervised release. 

To those who initially welcomed Kaye to Adat Shalom, the rabbi had served his time. To reject him would challenge whether people believe in repentance, a core Jewish value, and whether they believe a synagogue is a place where all people can work on personal redemption.

Reconstructionism, in particular, has long led Judaism in pushing the boundaries of inclusion, including equality in synagogue life for women, gays and lesbians, non-Jews and the disabled. Adat Shalom’s Web site describes Jewish life as a journey “from which no one should be excluded.”