Tried To Lure Girl; Got Cop Instead
A Brooklyn rabbi has been charged with sending explicit messages to, and trying to arrange a sexual rendezvous with a person whom he believed to be a 14-year-old girl who was actually an undercover NYPD detective, law enforcement sources announced.
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown identified the suspect as Nathan David Rabinowich, 59, of Avenue R in Marine Park. Also located at his home address are the defendant’s synagogue and a business he runs, Jewish Heritage Tours, which operates tours of Europe and South Africa.
Rabinowich was arrested last Wednesday night, Feb. 13, when he is alleged to have gone to a prearranged meeting in Queens to meet the purported underage girl for sex. He was subsequently charged with of second-degree attempted rape, second-degree attempted criminal sexual act, first-degree attempted dissemination of indecent material to minors and attempted endangering the welfare of a child.
If convicted, he faces up to four years in prison.
“This arrest is the latest in a series of child luring cases that this office, in conjunction with the NYPD, has pursued over the years,” Brown said. “It is disturbing that a man who is supposed to be held in high esteem by the community in which he lives would allegedly try to lure a child to meet him for sex. It is imperative that parents monitor their children’s online activities to protect them from the Internet predators that we know are out there looking for victims.”
According to the criminal complaint, an NYPD vice detective was operating in his undercover persona as a 14-year-old girl from Queens on Dec. 5, 2012, during which time he was contacted by Rabinovich, who used the screen name NYCNORMAL100@aol.com.
Rabinovich’s instant messages were allegedly sexually graphic in nature and continued through Dec. 22, 2012, at which time they suddenly stopped.
On Feb. 4, according to the complaint, the undercover was contacted by Rabinovich who was using a different screen name, NORMALGENTNYC@aol.com.
The defendant allegedly told the undercover that his “girlfriend” had the password to his email account and saw the emails between the two, which were not sexual in nature and did not mention the age of the undercover, so he was using a new screen name.
Rabinowich allegedly sent the undercover graphic sexual instant messages on Feb. 4, 11 and 12.
Finally, according to the criminal complaint, the suspect arranged to meet with the alleged 14-year-old girl last Wednesday night in Queens and was arrested when he showed up at the location.
The investigation and arrest were conducted by Det. Sean Ryan of the NYPD Major Case Squad Vice Enforcement
Division, under the supervision of Sgt. Robert Minca and Lt. Michael Costello, and the overall supervision of Deputy Inspector Anthony Favale, coordinator of Vice Enforcement, and Chief Anthony Izzo, chief of the Organized Crime Control Bureau.
Senior Assistant District Attorney Kateri A. Gasper of the District Attorney’s Special Proceedings Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Robert D. Alexander, chief of the Computer Crimes Unit, and Assistant District Attorneys Anthony M. Communiello, bureau chief, and Oscar W. Ruiz, deputy bureau chief, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Peter A. Crusco and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Linda M. Cantoni.
It was noted that a criminal complaint is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
