Former N.Y.P.D. Dispatcher Sentenced to 60 Months in Prison for Traveling to New Jersey to Engage in Sexual Acts with a Minor and Distributing Child Pornography

CAMDEN—A former New York Police Department dispatcher was sentenced to 60 months in prison today for traveling to the Deptford Mall in Gloucester County to engage in illicit sexual conduct with an individual whom he believed was a 14-year-old female and for sending the supposed 14-year-old female images of child pornography, Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph J. Marra, Jr., announced.

U.S. District Judge Joseph E. Irenas also ordered Ira Shimshi, 56, of New York, to comply with all applicable sex offender registration requirements and to serve 10 years of supervised release upon the completion of his prison term. Shimshi, who has been held in federal custody since his arrest on Aug. 15, 2008, was remanded to the U.S. Marshal to begin serving his prison term.

Shimshi pleaded guilty before Judge Irenas on Feb. 10, 2009, to a two-count Information that charged him with traveling in interstate commerce for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a person whom he believed was a minor and distribution of child pornography.

At his plea hearing, Shimshi admitted that from September 2007 until Aug. 15, 2008, he communicated via e-mail and telephone with an individual he knew as “Angie” and believed was a 14-year-old girl. Shimshi stated that he later learned that the individual was actually an undercover law enforcement officer. Shimshi admitted that during the communications he discussed his wish to engage in illicit sexual conduct with “Angie.”

During the course of their communications, Shimshi arranged to meet “Angie” at the Deptford Mall on Aug. 15, 2008. In anticipation of the meeting, Shimshi admitted that he reserved a hotel room in the area of the Deptford Mall.

On the day of the scheduled meeting, Shimshi drove a rental vehicle from New York to the Deptford Mall and then proceeded to an area inside the mall where he and “Angie” had arranged to meet. Shimshi admitted that he brought condoms, personal lubricant and a digital camcorder from New York.

Furthermore, on Feb. 6, 2008, Shimshi sent two separate videos containing child pornography via e-mail from his computer to “Angie” in New Jersey, he admitted.

In determining the actual sentence, Judge Irenas consulted the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provide appropriate sentencing ranges that take into account the severity and characteristics of the offense, the defendant's criminal history, if any, and other factors. While the judge is not bound by those guidelines in determining a sentence, he was bound by the statutory mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years for the charge of distributing child pornography.

Parole has been abolished in the federal system. Defendants who are given custodial terms must serve nearly all that time.

Marra credited Special Agents of the FBI’s South Jersey Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Janice K. Fedarcyk in Philadelphia, with the investigation leading to the guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacqueline M. Carle of the U.S.
Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.

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