Top Tweets for #TedPike

***Update on Jake Walden's Arraignment and Bail Revocation*** After getting access to a transcript of his arraignment, more information is now available about Jake Walden's current situation, as well as the support he's receiving from the community, and Rabbi Bender in particular. Walden was initially arrested on a single charge of receipt and possession of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) after he was found in possession of CSAM from a number of sources at the airport. He was, at the time, on the way to Italy with his family for Pesach. Following his arrest he was released to house arrest on bail. Following his initial release the prosecution continued investigating Walden. He was arraigned on new charges in late January including two counts of production of CSAM with two different victims, receipt, possession, and access with intent to view CSAM. Two to three dozen people from the community were present in the courtroom to support him, mostly friends and family. Notably also in attendance was Rabbi Yaakov Bender, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Darchei Torah, which honored Walden at its annual dinner a number of years ago. According to Benjamin Brafman, Walden's former lawyer, Bender has been meeting with Walden in his home to try and explain what was wrong with what he did. If someone needs the great Rosh Yeshiva, HaRav Yaakov Bender, Shlita, to personally visit several times and explain why having teenagers produce sex tapes for them is a bad thing, it may already be too late for them. It was also noted by Brafman that already, in preparation for Walden's eventual sentencing, Walden has already collected 75 letters of support from members of the community which he offered to present to the judge at arraignment in support of allowing Walden to stay out on bail despite the new charges. Walden has not yet even pled guilty to any of the charges levelled against him. Walden has reportedly been tireless in soliciting letters of support from everyone he can. When those eventually become available ahead of his sentencing they will be made available to the public. No doubt Rabbi Yaakov Bender has already written at least one. The new charges against Walden carry a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison. Given the seriousness of the charges, the length of the potential sentence, and the danger Walden may pose to his community, the primary purpose of the hearing, aside from arraignment, was to determine whether Walden would be remanded to jail pending trial or allowed to continue his release on bail. Ahead of this hearing Walden's lawyers solicited letters from five mental health professionals, including Walden's psychiatrist, as well as Dr. Gavriel Fagin, who has never met a pedophile he actually thought was a threat. The general purpose of the letters was to portray Walden as someone who was in treatment, being successfully treated, and who didn't pose an active threat to his community. The judge, remarking on the submission, said it read more like a sentencing hearing than anything he'd seen before when considering bail. The prosecutor, in arguing for remand, told the judge that despite only being charged for production of CSAM with 2 victims, Walden had actually tried to procure CSAM directly from as many as 11 minor victims. He described Walden as "motivated, determined, and compulsive" in his actions. Walden's lawyers pointed to the 5 letters from mental health professionals to demonstrate that he posed no threat. They also argued that remanding him in a jail ahead of trial would cut off his access to sex offender treatment, which, according to his treatment team, was going well. They also tried claiming some sympathy from the judge by saying that Walden himself had been a victim of sexual abuse as a child for several year. Finally, they claimed that some of the meds he'd been on previously to treat his addictions had actually had the effect of increasing his need for sexual gratification instead of reducing it. They also mentioned the 75 letters of support already gathered and the presence of community, family, and Rabbi Bender in the court that day. Walden's lawyers argued that the experience of being arrested and held on house arrest has already discouraged any further bad behavior. The judge responded saying “You would think the specter and the experience of a federal arrest for child pornography charges back in August would have been enough to say, I better knock it off. But if I look at the report I have from pretrial services from August –what was this. I’m sorry, September 5th of last year – after his arrest, he’s online. He’s doing chats with females – I don’t know how old they are – about sexual activities, and he’s doing it in code, and they’re not giving him access to certain computers that he has access to, that worries me more than anything else. In other words, if a federal arrest isn’t going to say, knock it off, what will? My words today? I don’t think so.” Brafman responded by saying that the texting incident was from 6 months prior, before he was in therapy. The judge quoted from Walden's psychiatrist's report: "[W]hile the path to sustained success may still present challenges, his progress thus far provides a foundation for optimism as he continues to evolve towards decreased compulsions and improved mental clarity.” He then commented, “That’s not a lock, right? That’s not a ringing endorsement. That’s a, oh, this is a risky think, but it looks like we’re doing okay. I don’t know that I have the luxury of adopting a conclusion like that and saying, well, let’s hope for the best.” Brafman responded saying that the report from Fagin indicates he doesn't think Walden is a threat. AUSA Leonid Sandlar responded quoting from Fagin's report: “Under the heading called, “Consumption versus Solicitation as an Additional Factor of Risk Reduction…In addition to the research regarding the low base rate of future hands-on offenses on the part of individuals who had online only offenses, there is an additional mitigating factor in Mr. Walden’s profile. Namely, by all accounts, Mr. Walden did not enter chat rooms/forums to convince minors to engage in sexual activity, did not groom potential victims, not did he personally create content…Those that consume preexisting content are far less risky than those that are seeking it out, grooming, and manipulating minors to engage in illegal activity.” Sandlar then said, "We know that he did enter chat rooms allegedly. The doctor seems to be saying that he bought content that already existed, but he’s being charged with production, engaging multiple minors in the creation of new child pornography, which is the content charged in count one and count two. These reports were reacting to the initial charges, not the new charges." Turning to address the support Walden was receiving, especially from Rabbi Bender, AUSA Sandlar said, “The government’s other observation is that the offense conduct as described in the detention memo took place from 2020 to 2024, just last year, when the defendant was encountered at JFK and later arrested. It appears from the defendant’s submission that during those years, the defendant was seen by many therapists, some of whom who write letters to your honor. That therapy did not appear to have prevented the defendant from engaging in the alleged charged conduct. The presence of two or three dozen supportive people in this room did not appear to have prevented the defendant from engaging in that conduct. The presence of Rabbi Bender did not appear to have prevented the defendant from engaging in that conduct.” Brafman then argued that Walden wasn't really grooming these kids, and that Fagin's assessment stood, because he was just buying what these kids were already offering online, in other words, they were selling themselves online. He didn't have to groom them. The judge rebutted that claim by asking Brafman that if that were the case, why did some of the kids he tried getting to produce CSAM for him say no? The judge then discussed Walden's alleged messaging of two women on WhatsApp for sex during his home detention, noting that in trying to arrange that encounter, Walden deliberately switched to voicenotes and deleted messages to avoid monitoring by pretrial services. It was also noted during that exchange that at least one of the women Walden was talking to actually showed up at his house on Friday night, and messaged him that she was there. At the end of the hearing the judge, unconvinced that Walden didn't pose a danger to the community, ordered he be remanded to jail pending trial. There was a brief discussion about the logistics of ensuring that he'd be given his tallis and tefillin and then he was taken away. Next hearing for Walden is on 2/24 at 12 PM in the Central Islip federal courthouse for the Eastern District of New York.