A year after handball coach Beno Reinhorn was convicted of over a dozen instances of sexual offences, Tel Aviv's Magistrate Court ruled Wednesday that he will serve 14 years in prison, in addition to probation and compensation of NIS 262,000 to the victims of the offenses.
Reinhorn is a handball coach who was convicted of a long line of online sexual offences with 24 minors, three adults, and attempted to commit sexual offences with 38 other young women, in a case that was publicized almost three years ago, in August 2018.
Reinhorn confessed to over 30 crimes, eight of which were virtual rape or virtual sodomy under the circumstances of rape, and the remaining were offenses of virtual obscene acts, the publication of indecent images of a minor, possession of indecent material, and stolen identity (impersonation).
According to the indictment to which he was convicted, Reinhorn impersonated an agent at a modeling agent network, using fake Instagram accounts. He contacted dozens of minors and convinced them to message him on Instagram and WhatsApp, and later to "audition" for acceptance as models for the agency.
In order to gain the minors' trust, Reinhorn used age-appropriate language, shared false details, and promised to send them gifts and to publicize them on leading TV shows and clips of well-known artists.
Attorney Shiri Rom, who oversaw the proceedings against Reinhorn on behalf of the Cyber Department of the State Attorney's Office and was in contact with the victims throughout the trial, in their absence, petitioned for a sentence of no less than 16 years in prison. The defense attorneys, Haim Yitzhaki and Vigal Dotan, petitioned for only a few years in prison.
In the verdict, the court noted that "the many acts of the defendant that emerged from the indictment are harsh and offensive, especially in light of the nature of the victims of the crime - naïve minors, whose consent to perform sexual acts and send nude photos and videos of sexual acts they committed was fraudulently taken while impersonating another.
"The offenses for which the defendant was convicted are offenses that harm the minors' psyche and distort their perception of intimate relations between sexes."
"In addition, the charges show that the defendant talked to the minors about particularly blatant sexual content, which is not appropriate for their age and maturity, and in some cases even distorted sexual content. In these circumstances, the degree of violation of social values due to the defendant's actions is significant."
The Cyber Department of the State Attorney's Office noted the great sophistication of Beno Reinhorn's actions, and the fact that a "manhunt" followed him for several months. The defendant created various Instagram accounts, through which he corresponded with the minors and used proxy servers while surfing the Internet to make it difficult to locate the IP address associated with him.
He also employed other means, such as creating virtual numbers, running software that constantly deletes the content that is created and documented in his computer, and a TOR browser for browsing the "dark web".
Reinhorn's arrest put an end to the sequence of his criminal acts and prevented the risk of further sexual assault.