FORMER SCHOOL SAFETY OFFICER CAUGHT IN A TEENAGE INTERNET SEX STING OPERATION IS SENTENCED

Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced today that a 47 year-old former School Safety Officer has been sentenced to a term of up to 6 months in jail for attempting to disseminate indecent material to a minor.

Ben Auerbach, of 1687 Jerome Avenue, the Bronx, pled guilty in October to 1 count of Attempted Disseminating Indecent Materials to Minors in the 1st degree, a class "E" felony offense. Under the terms of the plea agreement Acting State Supreme Court Justice Robert E. Torres promised the defendant a term of six months in jail to be followed by 4 ½ years probation. In addition, Auerbach must register as a level one sex offender.

Auerbach was arrested by Detective Investigators from the Bronx District Attorney’s Office pretending to be a teenager, after going to an apartment he believed to be that of the thirteen year-old girl he met in an Internet chat room, for the purpose of having sex with her. Investigators confiscated four condoms that were in the defendant’s possession at the time of his arrest.

This arrest and prosecution is the result of an ongoing initiative of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The Bronx District attorney’s Office is part of a satellite task force that is funded by a grant from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Assistant District Attorney’s Andrew Kampel and Robert Bergida prosecuted this case.