Sex offender rabbi admits paying for sex with trafficked girl – NJ.com

A rabbi and registered sex offender has admitted he paid to have sex with a 17-year-old girl who was forced into prostitution and trafficked by a New York couple.

Aryeh Goodman, 35, remains on house arrest after his guilty plea in U.S. District Court in Trenton Friday. Under the plea agreement, he is expected to be sentenced to a year and a half in prison and a year of supervised release, according to court records.

The rabbi, who previously did time in prison for indecent assault on a child in Pennsylvania, ran a religious learning center out of his East Brunswick home.

In February of 2018, police discovered that a Bronx couple had forced a 17-year-old girl to have sex with 30 men over the course of a month in hotels in Middlesex, Bergen and Essex counties, using the proceeds to buy a Jaguar car, according to court records. Goodman was one of the “Johns” who paid for sex.

Gabriella Colon, 19, and Richard “Ace” Ortiz, 23, have both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit child sex trafficking but have yet to be sentenced.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that the couple knew the victim and coerced her to work for their prostitution business. They took illicit photos of her and posted them on a website to advertise sexual services, and that’s where Goodman came across them.

N.J. sexual-assault victims will soon have more time to sue abusers under bill that just passed

Despite opposition from the Catholic Church, lawmakers passed a bill expanding the statute of limitations for sexual assault in New Jersey.

He had sex with her in an East Brunswick hotel, prosecutors said. Goodman then offered to buy additional time with her, gave her his number and later asked her to come to New York to meet him.

Police used those text messages to track him down, according to court documents.

When authorities first asked to speak to Goodman, he said, “I only went there for a massage. I did nothing wrong. She looked young and I hope she is OK,” according to court records.

No sentencing date has been set.

Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips

Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.com’s newsletters.