Israeli Facebook engineer nabbed in underage sex sting in US
Dov Katz, a top employee at social media giant’s Oculus VR, allegedly sought to pay for intercourse with 15-year-old girl
A senior Israeli employee at Facebook was arrested in Seattle for soliciting sex from someone posing as an underage prostitute, as part of a police sting operation.
Dov Katz, 38, a top engineer at Oculus VR — a leading virtual reality company owned by Facebook — is accused of agreeing to have sex with a 15-year-old girl for $360.
But the “girl” was in fact an undercover police officer, and Katz was arrested in the Seattle-area suburb of Tukwila after he arrived for a rendezvous at a hotel carrying $600 in cash, according to the indictment obtained by technology website GeekWire.
The engineer allegedly told police officers during the course of his arrest that he wanted to “rescue” the 15-year-old girl.
Katz was released after posting bail of $125,000 and is being charged with commercial sexual abuse of a minor, according to the court’s website.
His arraignment hearing was set for January 5, 2017, according to King 5, a local Seattle-area news station that first reported the story.
The Israeli, who now resides in California, obtained an undergraduate degree in computer science and electrical engineering from Tel Aviv University before moving to the United States for graduate and post-graduate studies.
The Times of Israel Community.