The Awareness Center, Inc. (International Jewish Coaltion Against Sexual Assault): Case of Rabbi David Kaye

Case of Rabbi David A. Kaye
(AKA: Rabbi David Kaye)

THIS PAGE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION AND 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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Table of Contents:

Interesting Photo

2005

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

2006

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

2012

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

Rabbi David A. Kaye, Vice President for Program

Panim - October 30, 2005

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

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.

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Panim staffer departs

Washington Jewish Week - November 2, 2005

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

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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.

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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.

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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."

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Pervert Justice Caught on Tape

By DON KAPLAN

New York Post - November 3, 2005

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

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Rabbi, teacher lose jobs over TV sex sting

Assocated Press - November 4, 2005

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.

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Local Rabbi Caught in 'Dateline' Internet Sting

Associated Press - Friday, Nov. 4, 2005

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.

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Rabbi Caught In 'Dateline' Online Predator Sting

19 Area Men Appear In 'Dateline' Sex Predator Story

NBC News - November 4, 2005

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.

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Maryland Rabbi, Teacher Lose Jobs Over TV Sex Sting

WBAL - November 5, 2005

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.

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Catching potential Internet sex predators

HIDDEN CAMERA INVESTIGATION

By Chris Hansen, Dateline Correspondent

NBC News - Nov. 4, 2005

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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.
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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.

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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.

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.

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.

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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

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 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

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

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.

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?

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 w

e 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.

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Rabbi Heads To Court In 'Sex Sting' Case - Rabbi Faces 60 Years In Prison

NBC News - August 22, 2006

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- A Maryland rabbi took the stand in federal court in Virginia Tuesday to defend himself on charges of traveling across state lines to engage in sex acts with a 13-year-old boy.

David Kaye, 56, of Rockville, Md., was caught on tape last year at a house in Herndon, Va., in a sting operation televised by "Dateline NBC."

Kaye took the stand and revealed his secret life as a homosexual News4 reported on Tuesday. Kaye testified that, unbeknown to his family and his congregation, he had been secretly meeting men since the age of 18 -- a habit that eventually evolved into meeting men online. He said that he usually used a chat room called M4M, or Male for Male, to meet other gay men for sex.

Kaye was one of 19 people who allegedly showed up at the address after chatting online with individuals they believed to be underage boys and girls.

"Dateline" ran the sting in conjunction with an Internet watchdog group called Perverted Justice.

Kaye testified Tuesday that he never thought he was going to the house to meet a child, but instead thought he was going to meet an adult who had been role-playing.

"I believed I was going to meet someone older, a young adult," said Kaye.

Prosecutors highlighted the many times that the officer who had been posing as a child online, known as Conrad, had mentioned that he was underage.

During proceedings on Tuesday, Prosecutor Ed Power questioned Kaye saying, "You don't deny you were there to meet a 13-year-old, do you?"

Kaye answered, "Yes, I do -- vehemently, emphatically."

The judge presiding over the case said he wants to carefully consider the case, so he may not render a decision on whether to proceed with the charges for a couple of weeks.

Kaye resigned from his position as vice president of the Rockville-based Institute for Jewish Leaders and Values in the wake of the sting.

The case is being heard in Alexandria. If convicted, Kaye faces up to 60 years in prison.

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Md. rabbi on trial in case stemming from televised sex sting

Associated Press - August 22, 2006

ALEXANDRIA, Va. A Maryland rabbi took the stand in federal court in northern Virginia today to defend himself on charges of traveling across state lines to engage in sex acts with a 13-year-old boy.

Fifty-six-year-old David Kaye of Rockville was caught last year at a Herndon home in a sting operation televised by "Dateline N-B-C."

Kaye was one of 19 people who showed up at the address after chatting online with individuals they believed to be underage boys and girls. "Dateline" ran the sting in conjunction with an Internet watchdog group called Perverted Justice.

Kaye resigned from his position as vice president of the Rockville-based Institute for Jewish Leaders and Values in the wake of the sting.

The case is being heard in Alexandria.

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Rabbi caught in sex sting denies interest in teenage boys

Associated Press - August 23, 2006

A Maryland rabbi caught in an Internet watchdog group's nationally televised sex sting took the stand in his own defense Wednesday and denied that he intended to have sex with a 13-year-old boy. David A. Kaye, 55, of Rockville, was charged in U.S. district court in Alexandria, Va., with coercing and enticing a minor as well as traveling across state lines for illegal sexual contact.

The charges came after a November episode of Dateline NBC in which Kaye was one of 19 men who showed up at a Herndon, Va., home after engaging in sexually explicit online conversations with adults from a watchdog group called Perverted Justice who were pretending to be minors. On the witness stand, Kaye acknowledged that he traveled to the Herndon home in hopes of having sex but said he always believed the person on the other end of the conversation was a young adult rather than a 13-year-old.

During the online chats, Kaye makes several references to the chatter's youth and once tells him, "You are so, so young. I've never been with a young man like you, but I'd like to."

Kaye said he was only going along with what he assumed to be role-playing by an adult male. "I was never there to meet a 13-year-old," Kaye said.

Kaye acknowledged that he frequently had homosexual encounters with people he met in online chat rooms but said none were minors. Even though this chatter said in his online profile that he was 13, Kaye said many chatters fabricate their online profiles for various reasons. Kaye's lawyer, Peter Greenspun, said during closing arguments that "lies on the Internet in this area are the norm, not the exception."

Prosecutor Edmund Power said Kaye's story doesn't make sense when his denials are compared with his actions. Power pointed out that Kaye admitted he was doing "something not good" when a Dateline correspondent confronted Kaye with cameras rolling inside the Herndon home.

But Power said the clearest evidence of Kaye's guilt were his own words during the chat sessions, in which he asks the chatter about his age and hesitates to send sexually explicit pictures of himself to someone so young.

Kaye, who had previously been a rabbi for a Potomac, Md., congregation, resigned from his job as vice president of a Rockville-based Jewish youth organization, PANIM: The Institute for Jewish Leaders and Values, in the wake of the sting. He said Wednesday that he hid his homosexual activity over many decades from his wife of 30 years and from his congregants.

Kaye is one of several individuals who were prosecuted by federal and local authorities after being caught in the Dateline sting. A former Army sergeant at Fort Belvoir, Va.—Joseph J. Wunderler—was sentenced last month to five years in prison on similar charges. Perverted Justice says its efforts have led to more than 60 convictions.

U.S. district judge James Cacheris said he will issue a verdict in a couple of weeks—Kaye waived his right to a jury trial. Cacheris told the lawyers that the case "turns on the credibility" of Kaye's testimony. (AP)

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At trial, rabbi snared in sex sting says he believed liaison was with an adult

by Eric Fingerhut, Staff Writer

Washington Jewish Week - August 24, 2006

The local rabbi caught in a Dateline NBC sting of online sexual predators told a federal judge Tuesday that he believed he was going to be meeting a "young adult," despite his Internet chat partner's claims of being just 13 years old.

Testifying in his own defense at his trial on charges of "coercion and enticement" and travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual contact with a minor, David Kaye, 55, said he believed the person he was supposed to meet had been lying about personal details and engaged in a "role play."

Kaye said such role playing was fairly typical over the dozen or so years he had been meeting men via America Online chat rooms. He pointed out that his own chat "profile" on AOL lied about his name, age and occupation, among other characteristics.

Going to the house of someone he met over the Internet also was not out of the ordinary, Kaye said, revealing that he had been hiding a "secret life" of engaging in "secret adult homosexual liaisons" for more than 30 years.

When Kaye arrived at a Herndon house Aug. 17, 2005, expecting, he said, such a liaison, he instead met Dateline NBC reporter Chris Hansen and a camera crew. The network television show had been working with an organization called Perverted Justice, a controversial group whose volunteers pose as children online to expose potential Internet predators.

Kaye, who resigned after three years as vice president for program at the Rockville-based teen educational group Panim: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values after the Dateline broadcast the segment last November, was indicted on charges related to the televised incident in May and waived his right to a jury trial. Alexandria U.S. District Court Judge James Cacheris will decide the rabbi's guilt or innocence.

Kaye previously had been a rabbi for 16 years at Congregation Har Shalom in Potomac.

Closing arguments were made Tuesday afternoon and the judge said the decision would come down in the next couple of weeks.

Each count carries a maximum sentence of 30 years.

Kaye and his lawyer, Peter Greenspun, argued this week that the language used in the chat by the Perverted Justice staffer posing as 13-year-old "Conrad," the photo that "Conrad" sent and the voice on a phone call made by another Perverted Justice staffer posing as "Conrad" all indicated that Kaye's chat partner was older than he claimed.

Greenspun also charged that Dateline and Perverted Justice pursued Kaye for a liaison, not the other way around Æ noting that of the several chats conducted over 10 days before Kaye drove to Herndon, the rabbi initiated only the first one. Greenspun pointed to one chat in which Kaye appears to not even remember who "Conrad" was a contention that Sean O'Connor, who posed as "Conrad" online, didn't dispute.

"There were no other chats initiated by David Kaye, no e-mails, no calls," said Greenspun.

In cross-examination, assistant U.S. attorney Edmund Power raised questions about Kaye's story, noting it was Kaye who first referred to "Conrad" as being just 13. Kaye could not say how he knew his chat partner's age, but denied that he had looked at an Internet profile that O'Connor had posted indicating his age as 13.

Power also noted that Kaye asked "Conrad" if he was a cop, an indication that Kaye feared a sting. Kaye responded that "this person represented himself as 13, I didn't believe him, [but] I played both sides of it."

In addition, the assistant U.S. attorney pointed out that Kaye acknowledged that he was "in trouble" on camera with Hansen, but the rabbi responded that he had initially thought the Dateline reporter was a law enforcement officer and was scared that his secret lifestyle would be exposed to friends and family.

Throughout the cross-examination, Kaye often said he had no recollection of the chats or even his encounter with Dateline NBC cameras. He conceded, however, that a DVD the government played of the Dateline case accurately represented the incident.

He said he didn't recall his conversation with Hansen because of "panic."

"I wanted to erase that completely from my memory," he said. "I was hoping never to have to recall that."

Earlier in his testimony, Kaye, who described his urges as an addiction, told the court that he had "struggled with sexual identity issues" since he was a young adult and for his "entire married life" of 30 years.

"It was quite a burden on me," Kaye said, and he felt a "tremendous amount of shame" about it.

Before the advent of the Internet, Kaye said he had carried on anonymous liaisons "in very public places Æ parks, bathrooms," even though they were "dangerous places" and he "couldn't understand why" he exposed himself to such risks.

Once he heard about AOL in the mid-1990s, he switched to meeting men in their "M4M," or male for male, chatrooms. RedBd, his chat name, was short for "Red Beard," a screen name he adopted when, he said, he was younger and his hair was redder.

In spite of the advice and counseling he gave to congregants and others over those years, "I was not able to come to terms and join therapy to deal with my sexual identity questions," Kaye said emotionally. "It was very taxing mentally."

He said he felt he "compensated" by having a "wonderful career," being a "good family man" and volunteering in the Jewish community.

The only person who did know about his secret life was friend Lisa Mandel-Trupp, who testified that Kaye told her about three years ago that he had been involved in a number of "adult homosexual relationships" over the years, including during his marriage. His divorce was finalized in December.

Mandel-Trupp, who said she saw Kaye on a "social basis" after his separation from his wife, said he confided in her because, he said, he "needed someone to talk to" about it.

Mandel-Trupp's Monday testimony followed the government's straightforward presentation of its evidence earlier in the day, which included as witnesses Perverted Justice members O'Connor and Alison Shea, a 24-year-old with a portion of her hair tinted purple who posed as "Conrad" on a telephone call to Kaye.

Greenspun asked O'Connor whether, in reality, he had been the one enticing Kaye into a liaison, not the other way around.

Greenspun noted that the Perverted Justice member told Kaye early in their conversation that his father would be going out of town later in the month and leaving him home alone Æ a hint that they should meet. O'Connor responded that while he "mentioned" that, it was "up to the other person" to suggest a meeting.

While Kaye was the first person to use sexually explicit language in the chat Æ the rabbi explained that his experience in male-to-male chatrooms taught him to "get to the point" quickly Greenspun argued that the sexually explicit language the Perverted Justice member subsequently utilized was atypical of a 13-year-old.

The defense also presented two experts to bolster Kaye's argument that "Conrad" was actually much older than he claimed.

Arlen Rosenbloom, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Florida, testified that the photo that "Conrad" sent Kaye which O'Connor said he took off an "adoption Web site" without permission was "consistent with someone over 18."

He based that contention on an analysis of facial features, noting that the "brow was fully developed" and the subject had a "fully mature nose."

Testimony, though, by the defense's other expert witness, forensic audio and video analyst Bruce Koenig, seemed to backfire.

Koenig said that his analysis of Shea's voice found a "fundamental frequency" consistent with an adult female. Yet, under cross-examination, he said that the "fundamental frequency" of Shea's taped voice also was consistent with that of a boy between the ages of 12 and 13 1/2.

Kaye testified that the voice he heard "clearly was a mature voice," and indeed he did say in the chat that "Conrad" sounded "very mature."

Also as part of the government's case, a staffer at Kaye's former employer, Panim, told the court that Kaye, in the days following the Dateline sting last August, had asked her how he could remove personal items from his computer.

Debbie Monroe, chief financial officer and manager of the organization's computer network, said she "told him if he deleted the items most people wouldn't be able to find them," but that the "only way" to guarantee such items wouldn't be located would be to "take the hard drive out."

After Kaye's Nov. 1 resignation from Panim, Monroe said she searched the hard drive and found two photos of Kaye naked, then took the hard drive out of the computer and gave it to Keith Rosen, an attorney with Chadbourne and Parke.

Chadbourne lawyer Abbe Lowell led an investigation of Kaye's conduct at Panim that, he said in May, found "no evidence that Rabbi Kaye ever acted inappropriately at Panim" or "with any Panim participant." (The hard drive was eventually turned over to law enforcement authorities, while the computer from which it was taken was given to another Panim staffer.)

Lowell at the time would not comment on whether Kaye ever carried on chats while at work with Panim, although the transcripts of the chats do contain two instances in which he responds that he's at work.

Kaye testified that no child pornography was found on his work computer, and the government presented no evidence of any such materials in Kaye's possession, nor of any past sexual encounters with minors. None of Kaye's previous employers has found any evidence that the rabbi behaved inappropriately with minors during his employment.

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Rabbi denies paedophilia

Associated Press - Thursday 24 August, 2006

A Maryland rabbi caught in an Internet watchdog group's nationally televised sex sting took the stand in his own defense Wednesday and denied that he intended to have sex with a 13-year-old boy.

David A Kaye, 55, of Rockville, was charged in US district court in Alexandria, in US state Virginia, with coercing and enticing a minor as well as traveling across state lines for illegal sexual contact.

The charges came after a November episode of Dateline NBC in which Kaye was one of 19 men who showed up at a Herndon, Virginia, home after engaging in sexually explicit online conversations with adults from a watchdog group called Perverted Justice who were pretending to be minors.

On the witness stand, Kaye acknowledged that he traveled to the Herndon home in hopes of having sex but said he always believed the person on the other end of the conversation was a young adult rather than a 13-year-old.

During the online chats, Kaye makes several references to the chatter's youth and once tells him, "You are so, so young. I've never been with a young man like you, but I'd like to."

Kaye said he was only going along with what he assumed to be role-playing by an adult male. "I was never there to meet a 13-year-old," Kaye said.

Kaye acknowledged that he frequently had homosexual encounters with people he met in online chat rooms but said none were minors.

Even though this chatter said in his online profile that he was 13, Kaye said many chatters fabricate their online profiles for various reasons. Kaye's lawyer, Peter Greenspun, said during closing arguments that "lies on the Internet in this area are the norm, not the exception."

Kaye, who had previously been a rabbi for a Potomac, Maryland, congregation, resigned from his job as vice president of a Rockville-based Jewish youth organisation, PANIM: The Institute for Jewish Leaders and Values, in the wake of the sting.

He said Wednesday that he hid his homosexual activity over many decades from his wife of 30 years and from his congregants.

Kaye is one of several individuals who were prosecuted by federal and local authorities after being caught in the Dateline sting.

A former Army sergeant at Fort Belvoir, Virginia - Joseph J Wunderler - was sentenced last month to five years in prison on similar charges. Perverted Justice says its efforts have led to more than 60 convictions.

US district judge James Cacheris said he will issue a verdict in a couple of weeks -- Kaye waived his right to a jury trial. Cacheris told the lawyers that the case "turns on the credibility" of Kaye's testimony.

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Rabbi Caught in TV Sex Sting Convicted

Associated Press - September 07, 2006 6:15 AM EST

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - A Maryland rabbi caught in a nationally televised Internet sex sting has been convicted of traveling to Virginia for sex with what he believed to be a 13-year-old boy.

A federal judge found 56-year-old David Kaye, of Rockville, guilty of coercing and enticing a minor and of traveling across state lines for illegal sexual contact.

During a bench trial last month, prosecutors presented sexually graphic chats between Kaye and adults from an Internet watchdog group called Perverted Justice who were pretending to be minors The group was working with the NBC newsmagazine "Dateline."

Kaye was one of several men who showed up at a Herndon home and were confronted on camera by correspondent Chris Hansen.

Kaye acknowledged during his trial that he traveled to the home in hopes of having sex, but said he always believed the person on the other end of the conversation was a young adult role-playing as a 13-year-old.

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Rabbi Caught on TV Is Convicted of Seeking Sex With Boy

By Jerry Markon

Washington Post - Thursday, September 7, 2006; B02

A Maryland rabbi caught in a television sting operation was convicted yesterday of traveling to Herndon for what he thought would be sex with a 13-year-old boy he met over the Internet.

In a written opinion issued yesterday, a federal judge in Alexandria found David A. Kaye, 56, guilty after a bench trial last month in which prosecutors presented evidence of sexually graphic chats between him and the boy. In reality, the boy was a 26-year-old man working for Perverted Justice, a group that tries to expose adults who use the Internet for sexual activity with children.

Perverted Justice was working with the NBC newsmagazine "Dateline," which paid the watchdog group to create a pedophile sting that ran as a series of television reports called "To Catch a Predator." Men lured to the house they set up in Herndon last year also included a schoolteacher from Prince George's County and a physician from the Eastern Shore.

Kaye, a Potomac resident, is the former vice president of program at Rockville-based PANIM: The Institute for Jewish Leaders and Values, an educational foundation that trains Jewish leaders. He resigned in October after informing the organization that he would be featured on "Dateline."

"You know I'm in trouble. I know I'm in trouble," Kaye told NBC correspondent Chris Hansen when he was confronted on camera after traveling to the Herndon house in August 2005, according to the opinion by U.S. District Judge James C. Cacheris. The judge convicted Kaye on one count of coercion and enticement and one count of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

Kaye, who has been jailed since his arrest in May, faces up to 60 years in prison when he is sentenced Dec. 1.

U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg said he was "very pleased because we've always thought the evidence in this case was extremely compelling. The judge's opinion makes it clear that our case was strong."

Peter D. Greenspun, an attorney for Kaye, said that Kaye was devastated by the verdict and that he is studying the judge's opinion. "This decision should put anyone who engages in explicit chat over the Internet on notice of the risks involved," Greenspun said. Some defense lawyers have challenged the television sting operations as entrapment, and experts in media ethics have questioned NBC's decision to pay Perverted Justice because mainstream news organizations typically do not pay sources for their cooperation.

NBC has defended the arrangement, saying the programs have raised public awareness of the growing problem of Internet pedophilia. Cacheris's opinion said NBC paid Perverted Justice $100,000.

Rabbi Sidney Schwarz, PANIM's president, said his "heart goes out to David and his family."

Cacheris wrote that prosecutors presented overwhelming evidence during the two-day trial, including outtakes from the NBC show and a log of Kaye's chats with the supposed 13-year-old. Using the America Online screen name "REDBD," Kaye initiated the chats, Cacheris wrote.

At one point, court documents said, Kaye wrote to the "boy": "You are only 13?"

"Uhh yea," the boy responded.

"That's rape," Kaye said. ". . . I've never been with a young man like you but I would like to."

Defense attorneys argued that Kaye didn't believe the boy was 13. Kaye, who is divorced, testified that he had had numerous homosexual experiences with adults and thought he was talking to a young adult.

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Breaking News

Predator rabbi convicted

JTA - September 7, 2006

A U.S. rabbi caught in a television sting focused on Internet predators was convicted.

A judge on Wednesday found David Kaye guilty of traveling for sex with what he thought was a 13-year-old boy he met on the Internet.

The "boy" actually was a man working for a group that exposes Internet predators, and the meeting was filmed and aired on "Dateline NBC."

Kaye resigned his position as vice president of programs for the Rockville, Md.-based Panim: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values days before the "Dateline" episode aired in August 2005.

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Sex Predators TV Show Raises Rights Issues

By Tresa Baldas

The National Law Journal - November 13, 2006

The NBC television series "To Catch a Predator," which features confrontations with men allegedly seeking sex with minors online, may be popular with viewers, but not with criminal defense attorneys, who claim the show raises a range of civil rights issues.

Seating an unbiased jury when a client's face has been splashed all over national television is nearly impossible, they argue. Miranda rights and search-and-seizure issues are also compromised by the show, they add.

In the last two years, 183 alleged online sexual predators have been formally charged as a result of being caught on the show, which has run sting operations in California, Florida, Georgia, New York and Ohio with the help of an online predator-watchdog group. More than 20 of those cases have resulted in guilty pleas or convictions, with the remaining cases still pending.

'TOWN SQUARE' TRIAL?

"Without question, it tramples on their constitutional rights to due process and a fair trial," said Blair Berk of Tarlow & Berk in Los Angeles, who is representing a doctor featured on the show that aired on Oct. 6. The man allegedly showed up at a house hoping for a date with who he thought was a 13-year-old girl he met online. People v. Wolin, No. SCR 495892 (Sonoma Co., Calif., Super. Ct.).

Berk likened the show's tactics to "trying someone in town square without giving them due process.

"How do you, with a ratings-driven TV show, with a client as the poster child for the theme of the show -- which is that everyone featured on the show is a sexual predator by definition -- how do you have any chance at securing that person the presumption of innocence, due process or the right to a fair trial?" Berk said.

"They are being tried on TV from a purely prosecutorial prospective."

"Dateline NBC" correspondent Chris Hansen denied claims that the program fails to guard against entrapment and violates defendants' right to a fair trial. He noted that the sting operations always start with the alleged predators initiating the contact with the decoy, not the other way around.

"We are very cautious about this. We understand that everybody is due their day in court," Hansen said. "But at the end of the day, it's no different than if [the alleged predators] walked into an investigation that was run by law enforcement."

He said that "the reality is that the proof of intent in many cases is in the chat log. And the chat logs speak for themselves."

Gary Bostwick of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton in Los Angeles, an attorney for NBC Universal Inc., was unavailable for comment.

Chat logs spoke loud and clear to one federal judge who, in August, convicted Maryland Rabbi David Kaye -- snared in an NBC investigation -- of traveling across state lines to have sex with who he thought was a 13-year-old boy he met on the Internet. U.S. v. Kaye, No. 1:06 cr205 (E.D. Va.).

In his opinion, U.S. District Judge James C. Cacheris cited chat logs as "providing more than sufficient evidence that defendant persuaded, enticed and induced the young boy to engage in a sexual act."

According to court documents, Kaye's lawyers argued that Kaye was " simply dirty talking," and that Kaye was induced and enticed by the sting volunteer.

Cacheris rejected both arguments. Kaye is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 1.

Steven Harmon, who is defending five California men caught on the NBC show, including a lawyer, a homeland security officer and a teacher, said his main concern is whether or not he can get a fair trial.

"I'm just anticipating that dreadful moment of being in the courtroom when the judge informs the prospective jurors that this is one of those 'Dateline NBC' cases, and hear all the groans and see the rolling of the eyes and stares at my client," said Harmon of Harmon and Harmon in Riverside, Calif. "It's going to be very difficult to find a jury that will be able to listen to the whole story."

But "To Catch a Predator" doesn't tell a full story, argued Ian Friedman, an Ohio criminal defense lawyer whose firm is currently representing some men featured on the show.

To do so, Friedman said, "they'd have defense lawyers on who can explain to the viewers that this isn't a one-sided story."

Friedman, of Ian N. Friedman & Associates in Cleveland, said his firm has represented and advised about 100 men arrested in online predator stings, including a handful caught on the NBC show

"This show makes our jobs more difficult, just like 'CSI' makes a prosecutor's job more difficult," Friedman said, referring to a popular CBS television show about crime scene investigations.

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Sentencing Set For Rabbi Caught In Sting

NBC 4 - December 1, 2006

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- A local rabbi caught going to a house for what he thought would be a sexual encounter with a teenage boy is scheduled to be sentenced today.

The boy turned out to be a 26-year-old man working for Perverted Justice, a group that exposes adults who use the Internet to arrange sex with children.

Rabbi David Kaye, from Potomac, Md., was shown on "Dateline NBC" walking into a home in Herndon, Va.

A federal judge convicted Kaye on one count of coercion and enticement and one count of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

Kaye faces up to 60 years in prison.

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Rabbi Sentenced In Internet Sex Sting

By Jerry Markon

Washington Post - Saturday, December 2, 2006

A Maryland rabbi caught in a television sting operation was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison yesterday for trying to solicit sex from a 13-year-old boy over the Internet.

David A. Kaye, 56, told the judge that he traveled to Herndon for what he thought would be sex with a boy "as a cry out for help to fight my personal demons." Sobbing as he acknowledged his father, who sat in the courtroom in a wheelchair, Kaye said his conviction had made him face "the reality of who I am. . . . I know I need help. I pray that God allows me to get that help."

Kaye's attorney, Peter D. Greenspun, said the rabbi, who was featured last year on the "To Catch a Predator" series on "Dateline NBC," kept his sexuality secret and spent thousands of hours chatting online in search of liaisons.

Kaye thought that he was chatting online with a young adult, Greenspun said. He said Kaye, who is divorced, is in therapy, and he urged a sentence on the low end of federal guidelines, which recommended a term of 63 to 78 months in prison.

"There is a very decent core to this man," Greenspun said.

But U.S. District Judge James C. Cacheris in Alexandria settled on 78 months and said 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.

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."

U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg said the lesson of the case "is pretty simple: Stay away from our children."

Kaye, of Potomac, is the former vice president of program at Rockville-based PANIM: The Institute for Jewish Leaders and Values, an educational foundation that trains Jewish leaders. He resigned last year after informing the organization that he would be on "Dateline."

Kaye was convicted in September after a two-day bench trial in which prosecutors presented evidence of sexually graphic chats between him and the boy. In reality, the boy was a 26-year-old man working for Perverted Justice, a group that tries to expose adults who use the Internet for sexual activity with children.

Perverted Justice was working with "Dateline," which paid the watchdog group to create a pedophile sting that ran as a series of TV reports. When Kaye arrived at the Herndon house that the group had set up, he was confronted on camera by NBC correspondent Chris Hansen.

"You know I'm in trouble. I know I'm in trouble," Kaye told Hansen, according to Cacheris's opinion. The judge convicted Kaye on one count of coercion and enticement and one count of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

Other men lured to the Herndon home included a schoolteacher from Prince George's County and a physician from the Eastern Shore.

Some defense lawyers have challenged the TV sting operations as entrapment, and experts in media ethics have questioned NBC's decision to pay Perverted Justice, because mainstream news organizations typically do not pay sources for their cooperation. NBC has defended the arrangement, saying that the programs have raised public awareness of Internet pedophilia.

Cacheris's opinion said that NBC paid Perverted Justice $100,000.

During the trial, prosecutors presented outtakes from the NBC show and a log of Kaye's chats with the person posing as a 13-year-old. Using the screen name "REDBD," Kaye initiated the chats, Cacheris wrote.

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Md. Rabbi Gets 6 1/2 Years in Prison

By MATTHEW BARAKAT

The Associated Press - Friday, December 1, 2006

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- A Maryland rabbi ensnared in a nationally televised sex sting was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison Friday for attempting to have sex with someone posing as a 13-year-old boy.

David A. Kaye, 56, of Rockville, Md., was convicted in September on federal charges of enticement and traveling across state lines to engage in illegal sexual conduct.

Most of the evidence came from a sting on "Dateline NBC" that was conducted in conjunction with an Internet watchdog group called Perverted Justice.

A Perverted Justice member posing as a 13-year-old boy met Kaye in an online chat room in 2005, and Kaye solicited sex acts. When Kaye drove to what he thought was the boy's home in Virginia, he was instead confronted by a TV reporter and camera crew and admitted he was there for "not something good."

At his sentencing, prosecutors said Kaye's crime was not an isolated incident, and submitted affidavits from others who claimed Kaye engaged in improper conduct, including one incident at a youth camp as far back as 1974.Kaye denied any improper conduct in those instances.

He said that he now believes his actions last August were "a cry out for help."

Kaye was a rabbi at a congregation in Potomac, Md., for 16 years and at the time of the sting was vice president of a Jewish youth organization called PANIM: the Institute for Jewish Leaders and Values.

Perverted Justice says its stings have resulted in more than 100 convictions nationwide since 2004. The group has a partnership with NBC to produce additional shows, titled "To Catch a Predator."

Critics claim Perverted Justice's methods border on vigilantism. Last month in Texas, a man about to be arrested after being caught in a Perverted Justice sting shot and killed himself when police came to arrest him.

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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.

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.”

Then in February, David Kaye, a longtime Montgomery County rabbi and registered sex offender, started attending Saturday services.

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"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." –– Margaret Mead

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Friday, December 01, 2006

Case of Rabbi David Kaye

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