Ex-synagogue education director pleads guilty to child enticement
Scott Newman, 52, of Natick, changed his plea just under a year after police arrested him in a sting.
A former Kerem Shalom synagogue employee has pleaded guilty to a child enticement charge and will have to register as a sex offender, court records show.
Scott Newman, 52, of Natick, changed his plea this month, just under a year after police arrested him in an interstate sting. Natick District Court Judge Sarah Kennedy sentenced him to two years of probation.
Newman allegedly had explicit text exchanges with an Ohio detective posing as a 12-year-old girl, per a state trooper’s report, and “encouraged them to send sexually explicit images,” as described in a Middlesex District Attorney’s office statement.
Newman had been Kerem Shalom’s director of education and engagement. Rabbi Darby Leigh said after Newman’s arrest that there was “no indication that any of this type of behavior” happened within the synagogue community.
Temple leaders placed Newman on leave after learning about the allegations, Leigh said. The synagogue terminated him last August, Kerem Shalom President David Luberoff told The Acton Bridge.
Newman formally admitted to enticing a child under age 16 during a June 2 court appearance, records show.
Judge Kennedy dismissed a misdemeanor count of attempting to commit a crime.
Newman must avoid unsupervised contact with children other than his own. He’s barred from using social media unless it’s for job-related tasks and must continue with mental health counseling.
Neither Newman’s attorney nor a DA’s office spokesperson responded to Bridge questions about the plea before press time.
