Saturday, May 24, 2014

Rabbi Samuel Waldman, one of the main child porn purveyors named in ‘Operation Caireen,’ is only the latest in a series of scandals buffeting Brooklyn's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community

Among the 71 people charged in the recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement child porn ring bust, there are more than a handful of surprising offenders, including a Little League coach and a former Westchester police chief. But for those familiar with the Brooklyn ultra-Orthodox Jewish community’s repeated failure to report sexual abuse, seeing Rabbi Samuel Waldman arrested for the possession of child pornography is no shocker. It was Waldman’s own disturbing collection of child pornography, law enforcement officials say, that helped lead them to uncover dozens of other purveyors in “Operation Caireen.” His was one of two initial investigations that eventually led to the announcement of 71 arrests. On March 5, 2014, Waldman, 52, was charged with the transportation and distribution of child pornography. According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court, Waldman shared multiple child pornography files on publicly available peer-to-peer networks out of his home in the Kensington section of Brooklyn. These files included a video of girls “between the ages of approximately four and eleven years of age” performing oral sex and being anally and vaginally penetrated by older men, and a clip of a naked prepubescent boy “being masturbated by another unknown person until the child ejaculates.” At the time, Waldman was a teacher at the all-girls Beth Jacobs Teachers Seminary in Brooklyn. The National Center for Education Statistics says that Beth Jacobs offers ninth- through 12th-grade education. Waldman has been ordered not to engage in any employment with access to children.

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