Fairfax Teacher Among 7 Arrested In Child Exploitation Sweep

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — A teacher at Falls Church High School was one of the seven men arrested as part of a sting targeting online predators conducted last week by the Fairfax County Police Department’s Child Exploitation Unit.

“On occasion, we'll do an operation like this one to engage online predators who seek to interact with children — boys and girls — and solicit sex or sex acts from children,” Fairfax Police Chief Kevin Davis said, during a news conference Tuesday at Public Safety Headquarters.

As part of this “travelers operation,” CEU detectives posed as children and talked about specific sex acts online.

“There's no entrapment associated with any of these operations whatsoever,” Davis said. “We are remarkably transparent to people who are soliciting sex for children, and then, in fact, after we establish probable cause, we arrange to meet that predator and we make an arrest.”

One of the suspects arrested as part of the operation was 36-year-old Richard Joseph Berkowitz of Fairfax, who has been employed by Fairfax County Public Schools since 2013. Until his arrest, he worked as a P.E. teacher at Falls Church High.

Police charged Berkowitz with four counts of solicitation of a minor and two counts of production of child sexual abuse material. The school system suspended Berkowitz once the criminal allegations were made against him.

The full video of Tuesday’s news conference is available online.

“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 as a paramount priority,” said FCPS superintendent Dr. Michele Read, during the briefing.

“Our detectives conducted an operation where they utilize online platforms and phone applications to engage in conversations with individuals,” said Major Elizabeth Melendez of the police department’s Major Crimes Unit, during Tuesday’s briefing. “During these online encounters, the perpetrators initiated explicit conversations with detectives posing as children, soliciting sex acts from their underage personas. When the suspects agreed to meet the juvenile persona at a location, detectives were waiting to take them into custody.”

On several occasions, the suspects sent explicit images of themselves to detectives and requested the explicit photos from minors, according to Melendez.

Police released the following information about the seven suspects arrested as part of the investigation.

• 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 teacher at Falls Church High School. He 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.

“Twenty-five felony charges were placed, ranging from taking indecent liberties with children, production of child pornography, the use of a communication system to facilitate certain offenses involving children, using vehicles to promote unlawful sexual intercourse with a child, and causing or encouraging acts rendering children delinquent,” Melendez said.

During Tuesday’s news briefing, Davis and Read mentioned John Barger, 47, of Springfield, who was arrested Thursday and charged with two counts of aggravated sexual battery.

According to authorities, on Jan. 17, Child Protective Services received a referral that a Fairview Elementary School teacher had sexually assaulted one of his students. Police said the student was not injured.

Also See: Fairfax County Teacher Accused Of Sexually Assaulting 2 Students

Fairfax County detectives were notified and took over the investigation, during which they determined Barger had sexually assaulted two students on separate occasions, police said.

Like Berkowitz, Barger was placed on administrative leave following his arrest and remains suspended from teaching, police said. He has been employed with Fairfax County Public Schools as a teacher since 2017.

Detectives are asking anyone with information regarding these incidents or others with a similar nexus to call our Major Crimes Bureau at 703-246-7800, option 6. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through Crime Solvers by phone – 1-866-411-TIPS (866-411-8477), and by web – Click HERE. Download the ‘P3 Tips’ App “Fairfax Co Crime Solvers.” Anonymous tipsters are eligible for cash rewards. Please leave contact information if you wish for a detective to follow up with you.