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A corporate lawyer for Goldman Sachs thought he was making online overtures to a 15-year-old but it turned out it was just a sting, culminating in the 33-year-old being charged with "trying to disseminate indecent material to a minor" yesterday in a Westchester County court. According to the Daily News, Upper West Side resident—and married father of three— Todd Genger was apparently "caught in a sting operation aimed at perverts who solicit young girls for sex." Genger had allegedly been chatting with a 15-year-old girl—who turned out to be an investigator in the Westchester DA's office—since April and went to Westchester this week, in an attempt to do the deed. The News also reports that the DA's office said that Genger "admitted to participating in the online conversations about the intended tryst, which included 'specific explicit sexual acts.'" Genger was released without bail and faces up between 15 months and four years if convicted.
To Catch A Predator, Goldman Sachs Edition
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Have NONE of these people seen Dateline?
I think when they're thinking with the Johnson, they must imagine they cannot get caught?
This happened to an accountant I knew - having met him, it was difficult to believe he would do such a thing, especially with so much (family, house, job, life) to lose.
Yeah, brain in the pants syndrome is the only explanation I can think of for why these sickos are stupid enough to keep doing this.
A true traditional conservative, at least according to his facebook page.
A scumbag of the highest order but let's face it, he perpetrated a thought crime. There is no 15 year old -- she is fictional. It's like arresting someone for plotting to kill Frodo Baggins just because he thought Frodo was a real person.
Yeah, this kind of contrived entrapment scenario has always bothered me. Our society so thoroughly and reflexively reviles anyone facing even allegations of sex crimes or terrorism that no one will step up to defend their rights when the police or federal authorities cross the line.
This is precisely how everyone else's rights get gradually chipped away -- pick on the despised class du jour (blacks, gays, terrorists, perverts) and start setting legal precedents that will eventually apply to all (warrantless wiretapping, on-demand searches, "offender registries" and other restrictions that extend beyond a jail sentence, etc.)
Think about it. In this case, the police were pretending to be a 15 year old girl for literally months. Presumably this imaginary girl also just happened to be one that was interested in this guy, who actively filled in some emotional void that he had, etc. All so they could spring a trap on him for a "crime" against a victim who didn't exist, and to score some PR points for the DA and ratings for Dateline NBC.
Now exactly who is "sick" here?
Oh absolutely. I gotta agree.
I think it's a universal imperative among civilized human beings that we protect our young from exploitation in any way be it sexual, financial, or otherwise. That goes without saying. It's also completely irrelevant here.
If we've learned anything from Nabokov's Lolita, it's that there's two sides to every story. And while this man is no doubt in severe need of psychological assistance, he is also the victim of a malicious program designed to aggravate his condition to the point of creating a real threat to the well being of him and those around him.
What if this program were to send an unstable individual into an area of psychosis that led him/her to molest a very real young person? Would the investigators hold no culpability for being actively engaged in a practice designed to make an at risk personal a full on threat to others?
And, the very notion of this perversion being the basis for some form of entertainment is disgusting to me. Who in their right mind would watch this and draw any sort of value from it? It's disturbing is what it is.
Everyone involved in this show should be facing criminal charges in my opinion. Every last one of them. It's sick, it's disturbing, and it's utterly dangerous.
I am also almost certain it is not in any way legal. But you know... money talks.
But he was only arrested after he acted on his thoughts and went to westchester to meet up with this fictional girl.
It's called conspiracy, and yes, it IS a real crime. Conspiracy charges require the defendant to actually make some kind of action towards carrying out the act that they are charged with conspiring to commit.
For example, if you say "I'm gonna rob a bank.", you won't be charged (or at least convicted) of conspiracy to rob a bank. However, if you say, "I'm gonna rob a bank." and then proceed to buy a ski mask, a gun, and pull up in a car to the front of the bank, you have taken at least 3 actions towards robbing a bank, and now you are guilty of conspiracy.
Dumbass here told the "girl" he wanted to have sex with her. This, in and of itself, is not a crime. What makes it a crime is the fact that he went to Westchester. That is why he will be charged with conspiracy to commit statutory rape. Therefore, your statement about him merely perpetrating a thought crime, I believe, is wrong.
So to summarize:
Thinking about banging a 15 year old = No crime
Traveling to Westchester with the intention to bang a 15 year old = Crime
Summary's about right, but doesn't actually apply because he wasn't charged with conspiracy. It's illegal to attempt to commit a crime (in New York, see Penal Law Section 110). It's illegal to distribute indecent material to minors.
He was charged with attempting to disseminate indecent material to minors. Not with having sex with her, not with thinking about having sex with her, but presumably because at some point in their communication online he sent her something that could be judged "indecent." In doing so, he tried to give it to a minor but failed because the person he thought was a minor actually wasn't. Still, there was an attempt to break that law.
Setting up the meeting then just provided an opportunity to arrest him.
But if I say I'm going to rob a bank that's on the corner of 35th Avenue and 36th Street in Long Island City and there's no bank there, then what?
I sure hope he didn't do this on company time. He could get fired if he did.
He's a lawyer, give him the four years not the fifteen months.
And kick him out of the bar association, so he's no longer allowed to practice law. Lawyers are supposed to protect those who cannot protect themselves; preying on children negates that ability.
"Lawyers are supposed to protect those who cannot protect themselves"
You are thinking of Spiderman. Lawyers are supposed to protect their clients' interests, but that's about it.
He will be disbarred if convicted of the crime, that's a rule. The bar association is just a group though. You become a member of the state bar when you get your law license, but the various "bar associations" have nothing to do with being authorized to practice law.
Don't forget about his divorce from the wife too. That might be a positive and not a negative.
You are thinking of Spiderman. Lawyers are supposed to protect their clients' interests, but that's about it.
Your response just made me blow water through my nose. Genius response - kudos to you.
couldn't he at least wait 3 more years? he'll be 36.
it's not like billy joel years.
No need to wait that long, less than two would do. NY's age of consent is 17.
Imaginary 15 year-olds don't age like the rest of us.
Sick bastard needs to have his short eyes poked out.
What chat rooms do you go to meet people? Aren't all of them fulled with bots anyway?