New York – The Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced today the arrest of Evan Zauder (Aryeh Klonimus Zauder) for possessing child pornography.
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Zauder, 26, is a sixth grade teacher at a private school in New Jersey, was arrested by FBI agents late in the evening on Monday, May 1, 2012, at his Manhattan residence.
According to the criminal Complaint filed yesterday:
Zauder possessed child pornography that had been downloaded from the Internet and saved onto his computer. During a search of Zauder’s residence conducted on Monday, May 1, 2012, a computer containing hundreds of images and videos of minor children engaging in sexually explicit conduct was seized.
Zauder is charged with one count of possessing child pornography, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara stated: “As a teacher, Evan Zauder was supposed to help children not, as alleged, contribute to their xploitation. Protecting children from harm is an important priority shared by our Office and the FBI, and we will continue to work tirelessly to
pursue and prosecute individuals who prey on the innocent.”
FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Janice Fedarcyk stated: “The FBI remains committed to protecting children from exploitation. The market for child pornography creates demand for production of images, and every photo and video is a record of abuse.”
NOTE: A complaint is merely a charge and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
sad
Oy yoy not again!!! This is insane! Are people that stupid? People need to learn to control their Tayvos!!!
This is very embarrasing for us Yidden and I can’t believe a teacher would do this. Maybe someone else downloaded this on his computer. The police should investigate this more before contacting the media.
It’s unfortunate.
The lesson is, one simple mistake and a few clicks can buy you ten years behind bars.
It kinda seems harsh
Nebuch on so many levels. While this is obviously not a good thing, looking at the positive side there is no indication that he actually harmed any children.
There may be many aveiros involved but did he do anything wrong with any Kids?
I am afraid that many people may have remnants of wrong type of images on their computer.
If he ever did anything wrong then lock him up and lose the key.
While it is understandable that people would like to try to view this in whatever semblance of a positive light they can, for those who think that this guy has not actually harmed any kids, please keep in mind that the children that are R”L appearing in this disgusting shmutz are usually kidnapped or forced/sold into it by their parents in poor countries. This results in a life of trauma and misery for the children, even if they are IY”H able to get out of this vicious industry. The only reason that there exists such a perverted, revolting industry is because people such as this gentleman (innocent until proven guilty) are willing to pay money to look at it. No money, no industry, no kids exploited. If it is true that he has done this, then by paying for this service, he has directly affected the lives of many children in the most horrible way, and 10 years is lenient. May Moshiach come immediately and end all such things, and in the meantime, may H” protect us.
What happened with “duna d’malchuta duna:”? Sounds like everybody is human and everybody has a yetzer horah, and some people have it in weird situations, but hasids, litas sefaradim ashkenazim, chiloni, dati, we all are one and a sickness by one indeed. It’s just painfull to see how this parasite disease has culminated every corner of judaism, much more than everywhere worldwide, by other humans.
And then the naysayers out there wonder why we need an Asifa to help klal Yisroel deal with the horribly destructive side of the Internet!
Listen, I know this guy personally and all I have to say is, let’s please hold our judgments until he is guilty. We owe him that much. I have read many stories of predators who hijack other people’s internet to put things on their hard drive to store there. I’m not saying that’s what’s happened here, but I want to believe that he is innocent, and I will believe that until he is proven guilty. Oy is right, though. Innocent or not, his life is basically over….
As I understand, he was a English Teacher Not a Melamed.
I hope he is not a Child molestor.
It is a crime because this material would not be produced if there were no customers. However, it is very scary – how can they prove he put it there? This sounds like an easy law to be abused by an unscrupulous government. If, chas vshalom, obama is reelected, don’t be surprised if the feds start “finding” this stuff on the computers of his “enemies” chas vshalom.
This fella is also a co-youth director of The Bayit shul in Riverdale. That’s Avi Weiss’ shul, fyi. He is now toast.
where did he teach
Although it’s very popular to crucify, he only consumed a product as opposed to coordinating the filming or photo shooting… If anyone is responsible it’s the left wing that has allowed the internet to become riddled with pornography in the name of free press. Somehow political debate against this administration is ‘toxic’ yet pornography shows healthy freedom. Internet pornography is often consumed by people who don’t even want to consume it when they are of sound mind. The problem is that once the yetzer hara, a very perverted existence, makes a man slip, one thing leads to another and he falls further and further. A appropriate approach would be to make that element of the internet available to the public ONLY if they install software to allow their computer to reach that filth. Otherwise, it’s just a death trap for many otherwise decent people that are held captive by their weakness of taivah.
(continued) Where I would agree that a crime was committed is if he actually participated in the internal workings of that website or if he actually physically molested children. Otherwise he is just a typical person who isn’t properly equipped to fight his impulses. There is a website for frum people struggling to stay away from bad sites with thousands of members. Are you suggesting that all their members belong in jail? Chase after the real molesters and not the people struggling who have never directly had negative sexual encounters with children. If Mr. Zauder is clean from molestation… I do not know, but if he merely downloaded images, cut him some slack.
most pornography is free on the internet. what makes you think he paid for this? a few clicks on google and you get everything on it for free.
Sad to say, this man’s life in public Jewish work is over. At best, he has very poor judgement. I must say that the FBI is thorough and they proceed slowly and gather much evidence before arresting anyone. It is literally a federal case. How you think this has anything to do with Obama is beyond me. You think they are picking on us? Please. This is very sad.
The police do not contact the media.
Court is open to the public in a democratic society.
This includes the media.
If the guy was a garbage collector or some such they would not report it as unfortunately it is very common.
If it is a person of trust such as clergy, teacher, policeman etc well that’s news, isn’t it?
While it is very unfortunate that he got involved in looking at that type of material, he never harmed a person. I agree that it is illegal, and wierd but for all we know other than this he is a very caring person. Why don’t you condemn Yitzchak for living with Rivka when she was three. It’s wierd but just because the U.S. says something is illegal does not make him a threat to anyone, even children. All of a sudden someone turns a day older and everything is ok to be involved in pritzus. I’m just saying just because it’s illegal to HAVE IN YOUR POSSESION, even if you had no involvement in forcing anything, is not a reason to judge him on anythig else.
Nebech, on his poor parents and sister. His brother passed away not long ago and now this. His lawyer must bring out that the stress of that caused him mental issues and he should throw himself on the mercy of the court.
Here’s my view. The alleged behavior is sick, yes, mental illness. In most cases, those with mental illness belong in a psychiatrist’s office, not the criminal justice system. When there is crime involved, such as violence, danger, or victimization, then we need police and court. I am sure this behavior was not criminalized many years ago. However, legislators responded to public outcry and found it necessary to make it illegal and with serious consequences. Disagree, if you like, but that’s the law. It is not difficult to understand the need for this. So even if this individual never touched a minor, the depravity of it involves victimization, either promoting that which is done by others, or just indication that one is prone to it is enough to make it a crime.
Now that it is a known crime, enforce it and punish it. This is not a Jewish issue. It is a criminal issue.
Sure didn’t take long for the Obama – is -it the – source – of – all – evil crowd long to figure out some twisted way to make this guy’s alleged crimes Obama’s fault.
What next? The sinking of the Titanic? The Black Plague? The churban bayis? Shibud mitzrayim?
On the one had, he needs to be identified and caught so he is not teaching children.
On the other hand, his crime so far does not involve direct harm to a child yet his punishment and the consequences for him personally are huge.
Wish there was a way for police to contact a person, say we have caught you, sign this agreement that you are getting help in an approved program and not working with kids, submit your computers to law enforcement tracking devices, submit your home to spot checks by parole officers, submit affidavit from program that you are attending sessions, and we will leave it as an open file with no publicity and hopefully no further action taken against you.
So much misinformation in these threads…first of all, where does it say anywhere that he paid for these images? If he didn’t pay, then no credit card was used.
Even if he is guilty (which, in the majority of the cases, is true), that does not mean that he “contributed” to the injury of children anywhere. Especially if he did not pay. That doesn’t go to say that what he did wasn’t incredibly wrong, but there may not have been any victims. Just something to consider before you hang him out to dry.
If he is in fact guilty of downloading these images, then he should get help. And he shouldn’t work with children anymore. But it’s a shame that no matter what he does for the rest of his life, this error in judgement, or “giving in to his taiva,” will impact whatever future prospects he has in employment, shidduchim, etc. There is no clearing your name after this, as people have already judged you.
All forms of this shmutz is terrible, even legalized shmutz. But we need more details before judgement is passed. How old were the people portrayed? (young can look old and old can look young)