New Jersey

New Jersey Rabbi Charged With Paying to Have Sex With Underage Girl: Prosecutors

What to Know

  • Authorities say New Jersey rabbi is one of three people charged in a a human trafficking and child prostitution case of a teenage girl
  • Prosecutors say Gabriella Colon, 18, and Richard Ortiz, 23 sexually exploited a 17-year-old girl out of an East Brunswick hotel
  • Rabbi Aryeh Goodman, 35, was among about 30 men who paid to have sex with the teen girl, investigators say

A New Jersey rabbi is one of three people charged in a human trafficking and child prostitution case of a teenage girl, authorities say.

Prosecutors say Gabriella Colon, 18, and Richard Ortiz, 23, both of the Bronx, sexually exploited a 17-year-old girl out of an East Brunswick hotel. Investigators said Rabbi Aryeh Goodman, 35, was among about 30 men who paid to have sex with the teen girl.

Goodman is charged with engaging in prostitution with a child and endangering the welfare of a child, prosecutors said. Colon and Ortiz are charged with human trafficking, conspiracy to commit human trafficking, promoting prostitution of a child, conspiracy to promote prostitution of a child, endangering the welfare of a child, criminal restraint, and a number of child pornography offenses including the manufacturing, distribution and possession of pornography, according to prosecutors.

Attorney information for the three was not immediately known.

Authorities said Goodman runs a religious learning center out of his East Brunswick home. 

The investigation is ongoing.

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