Man indicted over sex offenses against minors

Charges also include one count of rape-by-deception.

By JOANNA PARASZCZUK
Computer technology keyboard 311 (R) (photo credit: Reuters/Catherine Benson)
Computer technology keyboard 311 (R)
(photo credit: Reuters/Catherine Benson)
The Northern District Attorney filed an indictment in the Haifa District Court on Sunday, charging a Yehud computer technician with a series of sex offenses against minors and with one count of rape-by-deception.
Avraham Horowitz, 33, was arrested three weeks ago on suspicion of persuading women to perform indecent acts with children under 14. The indictment lists five separate charges against Horowitz, and alleges that he surfed the Internet, including the Israeli social-networking site Tapuz, to find women with children.
Allegedly, Horowitz presented himself on the websites using a series of aliases and tried to persuade the complainants to perform indecent acts on minors under the age of 16.
According to one of the charges listed in the indictment, Horowitz met one of the complainants, a single mother, via Tapuz and talked to her several times on the telephone during 2011, while her daughter was present. Horowitz tried to convince the complainant to molest her daughter, the indictment says.
Last month, Horowitz made a “sex phone call” to the complainant, the indictment continues, during which he asked to speak to her daughter. Afterward, Horowitz tried to persuade the complainant to undress her daughter, the indictment alleges.
The final charge listed on the indictment accuses Horowitz of rape-by-deception, and alleges that in January 2011 he met another of the complainants on Tapuz and made telephone contact with her, this time telling her that he was an IAF pilot, that his father was a top military man and that his brother had been killed in war.
Horowitz further lied to the complainant by telling her he had lost contact with his parents and that his partner and newborn son had died in the hospital delivery room while he was flying, the indictment says.
The indictment charges that Horowitz presented himself to the woman as a serious person interested in marrying her and supporting her.
The complainant grew closer to Horowitz, and as a result he was able to chat with her daughter via Skype; she also emailed him photographs of herself and her daughter, the indictment says.
In February 2011, Horowitz visited the complainant’s house and had intercourse several times with her, acts for which she gave consent only because of the way he falsely presented himself, the indictment further charges.
Alongside the indictment, the district attorney also filed requests that Horowitz be remanded in custody throughout the legal proceedings against him, and for a gag order preventing publication of any details of the complainants in the case.
Last week, the Haifa Magistrate’s Court ruled to lift a gag order preventing publication of the defendant’s name and all details of the case, on the grounds that the public had a right to know this information and to encourage any other complainants to come forward.