With his wife and two daughters sitting in a Rockland County courtroom, Dovid Kohn of Monsey admitted Monday that he had oral sex with one of his daughter’s female friends beginning when the girl was 12 years old. Kohn, 60, an Israeli national living illegally in the United States, faces eight years in state prison when sentenced May 7 on his guilty plea to first-degree course of sexual conduct with a child. He will likely be deported after serving his sentence, Judge William Nelson told him in a New City courtroom. Nelson said he would sentence Kohn to eight years — though the prosecution wanted nine years — and 10 years’ probation, and place him on the sex offender registry. He would pay fees of $1,025.
Kohn admitted to having oral sex with the girl between 2004 and 2006 in a plea that covered 35 counts of sexual abuse. The girl, now 21, reported the acts to authorities last year. At that time she also spoke with Kohn about the sexual acts while wearing a body wire and through telephone calls recorded by Ramapo police.
Kohn challenged the charges, sitting through one hearing on Jan. 21 when prosecutor Arthur Ferraro played audiotapes of his conversations with the woman, whose identity is being withheld. The hearing was to continue Monday on the admissibility of the tapes, when he pleaded guilty. “We’re just happy the victim didn’t have to testify in open court and be subject to cross-examination,” Ferraro said.
Kohn’s lawyers, former District Attorney Kenneth Gribetz and Deborah Wolikow Loewenberg, said Kohn first found it hard to plead guilty in front of his family. They noted he could have faced 25 years on many of the 35 counts. Under questioning from Ferraro, Kohn admitted to having oral sex with the girl at his house at 65 Saddle River Road. According to one transcript of their recorded conversation, the woman told Kohn “you ruined my life,” saying she cut herself and tried to commit suicide. She told him many men in the religious community would not marry her because of what he did to her. Kohn told her he wanted to apologize and didn’t want to hurt her. He accused her of trying to blackmail him when she said she would go to the police if he didn’t admit what he had done to her. He said he would “fight like hell.”
Authorities are not sure of Kohn’s identity, though he said in court that he’s lived in Monsey for the past 25 to 28 years. Kohn said he was born in Israel and overstayed his visa in the United States. “We have asked the FBI to assist us in determining his actual identity,” said Sgt. John Lynch of the Ramapo police.
