Visiting wife leads undercover police to suspected American pedophile

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
A suspected American pedophile wanted by the FBI was arrested in Netanya on November 18 after his wife landed at Ben-Gurion Airport and led undercover officers to his hideout, the police's Central District Central Unit said on Tuesday. Arthur Silverman, 69, a psychologist by profession, has an international arrest warrant issued against him by the FBI and Interpol. He is suspected of indecent acts against children under the age of 14, police said. In August, the Interpol office in Jerusalem turned to the Central District with Silverman's address in Netanya. Interpol said Silverman had acquired Israeli citizenship and held an Israeli ID card. Acting on the tip, detectives visited the suspect's address, but found no sign that he had ever lived there. Subsequent efforts to track the suspect down proved fruitless. A breakthrough followed when Interpol received information that the suspect's wife, Sandra Deniston Silverman, was scheduled to arrive from the US on a Continental Airlines flight on the morning of November 18. Detectives confirmed she had booked a ticket, and waited for her flight to land. Officers followed the woman as she boarded a taxi to her husband's Netanya address, where the suspect was waiting "breathlessly" for her arrival, police said. Officers immediately arrested him, and took him to the Central Unit's Ramle headquarters, before transferring him to the police's Russian Compound offices in Jerusalem. Police say Interpol will guide further handling of the case.