A Long Island child therapist pleaded guilty in federal court this week to sharing sexually explicit videos of children.
Renee “Rina” Hoberman, 37, was initially arrested on October 23, Newsday reported, after posing online as an adult male who bragged about sexually abusing his own children. She sent two video via the Kik app that she presented as the man raping his children and invited other people to come to Long Island to rape them.
One of the videos depicted the rape of an infant less than a year old, The New York Post said.
“The defendant … admitted to distributing extremely vile and unthinkable videos depicting the horrific sexual abuse of babies,” said US Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. “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.”
Authorities said they were tipped off about the horrific material by Kik and launched an investigation. They did not say if they had determined the origin of the videos Hoberman shared.
According to Newsday, Hoberman was working for Lifestance Health in Melville at the time of the incidents, primarily working remotely.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology in 2011 and a master’s in social work in 2015, the newspaper said.
Hoberman, who has been jailed since her arrest, will return to court in November for sentencing, when she faces 5 to 20 years in prison.
