A recent online operation conducted by child exploitation detectives resulted in seven arrests, including that of a Falls Church High School teacher, the Fairfax County Police Department announced this morning (Tuesday).
Richard Berkowitz, a health and physical education teacher at the school in West Falls Church, was arrested on Jan. 29, two days into the operation, but Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Michelle Reid was asked to hold off on notifying the community so the operation could continue, Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said at a press conference.
“FCPD, like we always do, made immediate notification [of the arrest] to FCPS, but in this particular case, I made a personal request of Dr. Reid to hold onto that information because Berkowitz was, in fact, in custody,” Davis said. “Divulging circumstances and contents surrounding his arrest during the middle of an operation like this would in essence shut down our operation.”
Berkowitz remains in custody at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, according to Davis.
Though his arrest wasn’t publicly announced until today, FCPS “took internal action” to ensure Berkowitz didn’t have access to any schools immediately upon getting notified of the arrest, Reid said, noting that no FCPS students were affected “to our knowledge.”
The FCPD identified the other arrested individuals as men ranging in age from 24 to 50, most of them from across the D.C. area, Criminal Investigations Division Commander Maj. Elizabeth Melendez said.
One of the people arrested was a 45-year-old man from New York who works as a teacher at Amherst Central High School in Buffalo. Taken into custody by the New York Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, he’s being held at the Erie County Correctional Facility, where he’s awaiting extradition to Fairfax County.
According to the FCPD, the arrests came as part of a “traveler’s operation” where detectives with its Major Crimes Bureau’s child exploitation unit pose as children online to identify people who are looking to solicit illegal sex acts from minors.
“Our detectives pose as children. They’re required by law to identify as a child, they’re required to talk about specific sex acts,” Davis explained. “There’s no entrapment associated with these operations. After we establish probable cause, we arrange to meet with a predator and make an arrest.”
With this operation, which launched on Jan. 27, the suspects initiated “explicit” conversations with the detectives posing as children that, in some cases, included sending explicit images of themselves and asking for explicit images in return, Melendez said.
The seven arrested individuals are collectively facing 25 felony charges, the FCPD announced:
- Chad Hockman, 50, of Warrenton was arrested and charged with Solicitation of a Minor and Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor.
- Carlos Antonio Saenz, 47, of Manassas was arrested and charged with Solicitation of a Minor and Indecent Liberties with a Minor.
- Gustavo Ramos Cahuaya, 28, of Sterling was arrested and charged with Solicitation of a Minor, Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor, and Production of Child Sexual Abuse Material.
- Richard Joseph Berkowitz, 36, of Fairfax was arrested and charged with four counts of Solicitation of a Minor and two counts of Production of Child Sexual Abuse Material. Berkowitz was employed as a Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) teacher at Falls Church High School. Berkowitz was placed on suspension upon the allegations and remains suspended. He has been employed with FCPS as a teacher since 2013.
- Enrique Montesflores Espana, 48, of Arlington was arrested and charged with Solicitation of a Minor and Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor.
- Charles Stephen Wolf, 24, of Washington, D.C. was arrested and charged with three counts of Solicitation of a Minor, Use of Vehicle to Promote Unlawful Sexual Intercourse with a Minor, and Indecent Liberties with a Minor.
- Geoffrey Testa, 45, of New York has been charged with four counts of Solicitation of a Minor and Production of Child Sexual Abuse Material. Testa is employed as a teacher at Amherst Central High School in Buffalo, NY. Testa is being held at the Erie County Correctional Facility in New York. Upon completion of the legal process, he will be extradited to Fairfax County.
News of Berkowitz’s arrest emerged just days after the department announced that Fairview Elementary School teacher John Barger has been charged with sexually assaulting two students.
According to Davis, a girl and her mother went to the Fairfax Station school on Friday, Jan. 17 and reported that she had been sexually assaulted. The report was shared with Child Protective Services and the FCPD, which started investigating Barger.
FCPS put Barger on administrative leave on Jan. 18, though at that point, he was just considered a person of interest and hadn’t yet been charged with any crimes, Davis said.
Because of policies limiting communications about personnel matters, FCPS doesn’t notify the community of any criminal allegations until an arrest is made and charges are brought, but school officials have the discretion to place personnel on leave during an investigation, according to Reid.
“We have a very tight partnership [with law enforcement],” Reid said at the press confernece. “At such point when we are faced with charges or arrests, we will notify parents. When we’re notified of allegations, we take immediate action to remove any individual who might not be safe as those investigations take place.”
Davis expressed support for FCPS’ process, calling it “best practice.”
During the investigation into Barger, a second girl was identified as an alleged victim, and he was ultimately arrested and charged with aggravated sexual battery last Thursday, Feb. 6. Detectives haven’t found any evidence so far to suggest there were additional victims, Davis said.
In a Feb. 7 message to the community about the charges against Barger, Fairview Elementary principal Samantha Goldstein advised any parents with concerns or information to use an anonymous FCPS tipline or call the FCPD’s Major Crimes Bureau at 703-246-7800, option 4.
“We also understand that this is upsetting news to our community, and I’m sorry that we have to report news of this nature,” Reid said at the press conference. “We have 40,000 staff that come to school each and every day and work in Fairfax County Public Schools to ensure a world-class education for our students, and our commitment to keep our students safe while we’re ensuring that world-class education continues is a paramount priority.”
