LI Social Worker Pleads Guilty To Distributing 'Extremely Vile, Unthinkable' Child Pornography: Feds

CENTRAL ISLIP, NY — A licensed social worker from Plainview pleaded guilty on Wednesday to distribution of child pornography, the U.S. Attorney's office for the Eastern District announced.

Renee Hoberman, also known as “Rina,” a licensed social worker, pleaded guilty in federal court in Central Islip, prosecutors said.

When sentenced, Hoberman faces a minimum sentence of five years’ imprisonment, and up to 20 years in prison, U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella, Jr. said.

As part of the plea proceeding, Hoberman admitted to using encrypted social media messaging applications to upload, receive and trade digital videos and images depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, including several videos of infants six months to one year of age being physically restrained and raped by an adult male, Nocella said.

Hoberman, 36, also engaged in multiple online “chats” concerning child sexual molestation, prosecutors said. In these chats, she posed as the father of several minor children, claimed to have sex with the children and punish them, Nocella said.

In addition, Hoberman described sexually abusing “his” children and their friends, and then uploaded and sent two videos containing child sexual abuse material, claiming that these videos depicted Hobeman's own children, the U.S. Attorney said.

According to public records and as alleged in court documents, during the same time period that Hoberman was distributing child sexual abuse material online, she was also working as a therapist with an organization based in Melville, which serves children up to the age of 17, prosecutors said.

“The defendant, a licensed social worker, admitted to distributing extremely vile and unthinkable videos depicting the horrific sexual abuse of babies. The videos the defendant distributed and sought for her own perverse pleasure showed the most innocent members of our society being restrained and violently raped,” said Nocella. “The defendant’s crimes should outrage and offend every decent member of our society."

This prosecution is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Anyone with information about sexual exploitation by Hoberman is asked to contact Homeland Security Investigations' tip line: 1-877-4-HSI-TIP or website: https://www.ice.gov/webform/ice-tip-form.

Patch attempted to reach Hoberman's attorney Evan Sugar of Federal Defenders of New York.