Shielding the children

When Marc H. Rosenberg drove to Franklin Mills Mall on Sept. 14, allegedly for a date with a 13-year-old girl he had met via an Internet chat room, he got some action all right.

But according to federal investigators, it definitely wasn’t the kind he had been anticipating.

FBI agents were waiting for the 58-year-old Abigail Vare Elementary computer-skills teacher at one of the mall entrances. There they arrested Rosenberg, of the 9400 block of Ashton Drive in Northeast Philadelphia, in an Internet sex sting, charging he tried to meet and have sex with a teen, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

After a year-long dalliance that began in August 2003 and ended in July, Rosenberg arranged a rendezvous with who he thought was a teenager at the mall off Woodhaven Road in the Northeast, investigators said.

Using the Internet name "mhrlin," the suspect allegedly thought he had been corresponding with a 13-year-old girl he met in a chat room called "younggirlsex."

Instead, officials said, the husband and father was revealing erotic desires in graphic detail to an undercover FBI agent.

A sampling of some of the defendant’s more printable statements, per a copy of an affidavit the Review obtained, included: "I want to kiss you … explore you … and eventually have great sex with you … I’d have a lot to teach you … about enjoying pleasures."

The tone became more titillating later in the correspondence, with lurid talk about giving and receiving oral sex and making sure nobody found out about their statutory union: "But as you know, it would have to be a big secret … because of your age and mine."

In one post, Rosenberg allegedly tried to arrange a "teaching" session with the correspondent, the affidavit stated. "Teaching" was described as "from kiss to caress … and exploration of the most intimate kind."

On Tuesday morning, U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle 3d ordered house arrest for Rosenberg. That decision came on the heels of Friday’s appeal by federal prosecutors to overturn U.S. Magistrate Charles B. Smith’s order that the suspect be released on bail. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Troyer originally argued that Rosenberg would be a threat to society if released on bail.

The suspect’s father, retired Common Pleas Court Judge Edward B. Rosenberg, posted bail for his disgraced son by putting up his home in the city’s Oxford Circle section. The house is valued at $100,000, said U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesperson Rich Manieri.

Rosenberg’s bail comes with several conditions, the first of which is ceasing employment with the School District of Philadelphia. The judge also ordered the defendant to have no access to computers, cell phones or hand-held electronic devices, Manieri said.

And he must undergo psychiatric counseling.

"We’re satisfied that the judge has added to the conditions of bail, and we have no plans to appeal," the spokesperson said.

Rosenberg’s lawyer, Gerald Stein, said he’s pleased he persuaded two judges to release his client on bail despite prosecutors’ aggressive attempts to have it denied. With bail hearings behind him, the attorney said he can focus on defending his client.

"We have a case here where there is no victim, no meetings and the contacts were limited to computer messages. It’s well known that people lie in the context of computer communications — and those are areas we are going to focus on in preparing a defense for our client," Stein told the Review shortly after Rosenberg was released on bail.

At least one local parent, meanwhile, is taking little comfort in the arrest of a teacher from her child’s school.

Anique Hayman’s 6-year-old son, Laseer, attends first grade at Vare.

"I’m surprised. I’m shocked. Kids are not safe anywhere," Hayman said Monday outside the school at Moyamensing Avenue and Morris Street.

"He’s a grown man. What do you want with a child? How could you have sex with a child? Why would you want to hurt a child?"

The 26-year-old mom said the school district should be doing more to safeguard children against potential perverts.

The district conducts criminal and child-abuse checks on all its 25,000 employees — 11,000 of which are teachers, said schools spokesperson Vince Thompson.

Rosenberg passed both checks, he added.

However, Hayman believes background checks should be conducted every six months, not just at the start of the hiring process. In addition, she said, school officials need to conduct regular teacher evaluations and periodically monitor employees’ Internet usage.

School district officials are conducting their own investigation into the allegations against Rosenberg, Thompson said.

Immediately after the teacher’s well-publicized arrest, the district reassigned him to its South Regional Office pending the outcome of the internal inquiry, said the spokesperson.

"The district takes the allegations against Mr. Rosenberg very seriously and we will assist the U.S. Attorney’s Office and law enforcement in any way necessary concerning this investigation," Thompson said.

The district hired Rosenberg as a literacy intern — one who assists teachers in class — in November 2001. Over the summer, he was reclassified as a teacher intern. When he was assigned to Vare on Sept. 1, Rosenberg was attending classes for his teacher certificate.

He taught a total of five days — Sept. 7-13 — at Vare before his arrest, Thompson confirmed. Rosenberg previously was assigned to a Northeast school.

In an attempt to allay parents’ fears, Vare principal Joanne Capriotti sent letters home with all 420 students earlier this week addressing the Rosenberg arrest.

"Parents at Vare should rest assured that our initial investigation reveals that none of the students at Vare were involved in what he is alleged to have done," Thompson said. "There is no indication at this time that school district computers were used."

The spokesperson contended that the incident should not be a reflection on Vare, its teachers, students or the school district in general.

Yet, Rosenberg is the third district employee this year to be arrested or convicted in connection with a sex offense.

In April, Fitzsimmons Middle School principal William Joseph, 44, resigned after his arrest for soliciting prostitutes in Kensington. Last month, substitute teacher Zachariah Mathai, 55, was found guilty of fondling five 10- to 13-year-old middle-school students at Creighton School, Grover Washington Middle School and Stetson Middle School, according to the District Attorney’s Office. The assaults took place between January 2003 and March 2004.

In light of the latest allegations against Rosenberg, Vare parent Hayman worries that the district isn’t doing all it can to protect the young lives placed in its care.

For starters, she said, Vare should hire more NTAs and mobilize parents in the community.

"No matter where you go, you think the kids are safe in school, but they’re not."