Policeman sexually pressures woman in crisis, gets community service

"The defendant abused his job and his uniform to satisfy his sexual desires for a weak and vulnerable woman," said the judge.

By EVE YOUNG
Israel Police vehicle (Illustrative) (photo credit: ISRAEL POLICE)
Israel Police vehicle (Illustrative)
(photo credit: ISRAEL POLICE)
Former Israel Police officer Shmuel Katz, who was convicted of breach of trust after making sexual overtures to and sexually pressuring a woman in distress he was sent to help, was sentenced to six-months of community service on Sunday.
The judge who sentenced Katz said the sentence was too light, calling it "unworthy and wrong," but saying that the Justice Ministry’s Police Investigation Department asked for the six-month sentencing and that the court does not generally lengthen sentences beyond the demands of the suit.
"The defendant abused his job and his uniform to satisfy his sexual desires for a weak and vulnerable woman," said the judge.
"If not for the longstanding practice by which courts are not more severe with defendants that what the suit claims, I would have sentenced the defendant to [a longer sentence]."
In addition to the community service, Katz will also be on probation for five months and pay NIS 4,000 to each member of the woman's family.
According to the indictment, Katz went to the woman's home in 2018 to ensure that she was not a danger to herself after police received a report from a hotel that the women called saying she was mentally unstable.
Katz had inappropriate conversations with the woman and put pressure on her to have sex with him, according to the sentencing document. The woman committed suicide two days after her interaction with Katz.
On the night Katz was sent to help her, Katz began to flirt with the woman over the phone before arriving at her home to check on her. When he was there, Katz asked the woman if she "messes around with married men," telling her he was married. Katz continued to contact the woman after leaving her home, saying sexually explicit things, including telling her she needs a "man to wake up with in the morning...  to occasionally get hit in a way that moves your bones."
He later returned to her house another time that night. Katz went to the woman's house alone on the second visit, and it is unknown what happened when he was in her house, according to the sentencing.
Katz ensured that the woman's son was not home before returning to her home.
The woman's children also expressed frustration that Israel Police sent a police officer instead of a social worker.