Synagogue education director on leave after child enticement charge
Kerem Shalom’s rabbi said there is “no indication that any of this type of behavior” took place in the temple community.
An employee of Kerem Shalom synagogue is facing charges after prosecutors said he tried to solicit explicit images and sexual acts from an Ohio detective posing as a 12-year-old girl.
Rabbi Darby Leigh said Scott Newman, 51, of Natick, was placed on administrative leave when the temple learned of the allegations.
“We were surprised, horrified, and saddened to learn that these charges had been filed,” Leigh said in a statement emailed by a spokesperson.
Leigh said Newman “no longer has contact with our community.”
He also said Kerem Shalom leaders “have no knowledge of and there is no indication that any of this type of behavior detailed in these charges took place within our synagogue community or impacted any of our member families.”
Multi-state investigation
Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan, Massachusetts State Police Col. Geoffrey Noble, and Natick Police Chief James Hicks announced Newman’s charges in a joint statement Wednesday.
Newman was charged with enticement of a child under 16 and attempting to commit a crime. He had a not-guilty plea entered on his behalf at his arraignment last Friday. Reached Thursday morning, Newman’s attorney said, “No comments [are] available at this time.”
Officials said they started investigating this month after police in Defiance, Ohio, said a man “engaged in sexually explicit conversations with an undercover officer and encouraged them to send sexually explicit images.”
Ryan said Newman used encrypted messaging apps to ask the detective, who he believed was a child, to keep their conversations private and sent images of himself.
In a document detailing reasons to order Newman’s bail, officials said Newman told the “alleged 12-year-old not to talk to mom” and asked to “FaceTime when mother not in room.”
Bail conditions
Massachusetts officials didn’t name Kerem Shalom in their statement, but said Newman “worked in a role overseeing family education and leadership and likely worked in close proximity to children.”
Newman was working as Kerem Shalom’s director of education and engagement. A since-deleted post welcomed him to the staff and said his first day would be July 1, 2024.
Kerem Shalom president David Luberoff said the synagogue will conduct its own review of Newman’s interactions with community members over the last year.
He said the temple leaders conveyed their plans to the congregation earlier this week and will “continue to consider additional steps we can take to provide care and comfort to our community.”
Court records show Newman was ordered held on $25,000 cash bail and must surrender his passport if he posts it.
The judge ordered Newman to have no contact with any child under the age of 16, excluding his own, and also banned him from using social media.
Newman’s next court date is August 14.
In a statement, Ryan said the case “underscores the very real dangers young people face online.”
Thursday, 3 p.m.: This breaking story has been updated.
