East Brunswick rabbi pleads guilty to soliciting prostitution – MyCentralJersey.com

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NEWARK — An East Brunswick rabbi, who is registered as a sex offender, has pleaded guilty to offering payment to have sex with an underage victim. 

Rabbi Aryeh Goodman of East Brunswick pleaded guilty to interstate travel in aid of racketeering enterprises in connection with soliciting prostitution with a minor, according to the Office of the U.S. Attorney, District of New Jersey.

Goodman faces 18 months in prison and one year of supervised release, according to the plea agreement. He had been facing a minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum term of life imprisonment. No sentencing date was listed.  

Goodman is on a curfew home confinement program, which includes electronic monitoring. He is only allowed to travel during the eight days of Passover to pre-approved locations, according to court records signed April 12.

On Feb. 1, 2018 Goodman, a registered sex offender, responded to an advertisement for sex on Backpage.com which featured a photo of an underage girl. He traveled to a hotel in Middlesex County and paid to have sex with the girl. After having sex with the girl, he spent additional time talking to the girl and offered for pay for an additional 30 minutes with her, according to court records.

Eric Kanefsky, a Newark-based attorney representing Goodman, however, said his client maintains he never had sex with the girl, and only responded to an internet ad offering massage services. 

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Goodman told the girl he worked at a cell phone company and that he would buy her a new cell phone. He then attempted to communicate with the girl. A search of the girl’s phone indicated text messages from Goodman, including one in which he asked her to meet him in New York City, according to court records.

A short time later police located Goodman based on the telephone number he had provided to the girl.

When police approached Goodman and informed him they wanted to talk to him about the girl from the hotel, he said “I only went there for a massage. I did nothing wrong, she looked young and I hope she is Ok,” court records said.

In February 2018 Goodman was arrested and accused of having sex with a 17-year-old girl from Lancaster, Pennsylvania after two co-defendants Gabriella Colon, 19, and Richard Ortiz, 24, both of Bronx were accused of allegedly forcing the child into commercial sex acts in multiple hotels throughout Middlesex, Bergen and Essex counties.

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Ortiz, Colon and Goodman were originally arrested on state charges. They were later taken into federal custody. Goodman’s plea does not indicated what happened to Ortiz and Colon.

Colon allegedly used her friendship with the 17-year-old girl to convince her to come to New York for a visit. After the victim arrived in New York, she learned Colon was prostituting herself to support herself and her boyfriend, Ortiz.

Colon and Ortiz transported the victim to a New Jersey hotel where they allegedly took sexually explicit photos of her and posted them with advertisements offering her sexual services on Backpage.com.

Colon and Ortiz allegedly sold the sexual services of the teen girl to about 30 men between Jan. 1 and Feb. 2 at an East Brunswick hotel.

Officials have said Goodman performed in a religious capacity at a Jewish religious center out of his East Brunswick home.

In 2013, Goodman was accused of inappropriately touching a boy at a youth camp in Pennsylvania in 2001 where he worked as a counselor. He was charged with 12 counts of indecent assault.

Pennsylvania court records show he was convicted of two counts of indecent assault of a child under age 13 and in October 2015 was sentenced to up to two years in prison. The remaining charges were dismissed.

Staff Writer Suzanne Russell: 732-565-7335; srussell@mycentraljersey.com

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