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Retired New York radio personality Dave Herman will no longer be famous for his longtime popular morning show, but instead for his alleged plot to transport a 7-year-old girl from New Jersey to the U.S. Virgin Islands for purposes of sex.
Retired New York radio personality Dave Herman will no longer be famous for his longtime popular show, “The Dave Herman Rock and Roll Morning Show,” but instead for his grotesque plan to transport a 7-year-old girl from New Jersey to the U.S. Virgin Islands for purposes of sex.
Herman, age 77, met “Kris” in a Yahoo! chat room last November and has since been plotting with her to arrange the perverted assault of “Kris’s” then 6-year-old daughter “Lexi”. According to the complaint filed by Homeland Security Agent Mark Lubischer, Herman began opening up to “Kris” about his lust for a girl “Lexi’s” age.
“Age 6 is the perfect time to start her being loved that way,” Herman said, “I find girls that age incredibly sexy, soft, and their innocence is also a huge turn on for me.” Fortunately for “Lexi” and other little girls at risk, Herman had fallen for a sting operation -- “Kris” was an undercover police officer from Bergen County, New Jersey and “Lexi” didn’t really exist.
During a year of explicit phone and online conversations with “Kris”, Herman failed to arrange a meeting in New Jersey or New York but he persisted, suggesting the three travel to his vacation home in the Virgin Islands. The criminal complaint details that Herman purchased airlines tickets for “Lexi” and “Kris” to fly from La Guardia Airport to St. Croix, where he planned to “break Lexi’s hymen” and do a lot of ‘oral’ with her.
According to Lubischer, “Herman promised that he would not hurt Lexi, though he might have to be ‘forceful’ with her.” He also suggested that they give “Lexi” alcohol to relax her before he could attain his “ultimate goal” of oral and vaginal sex with her.
This famous DJ, who hosted on-air visits from John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, The Eagles and Bob Dylan, would never reach his “ultimate goal.” Last week, Herman went to retrieve his young victim at the St. Croix airport, teddy bear in tow. Instead, he was greeted by officers from the Departments of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and a hefty federal charge of attempting to transport a minor in interstate commerce with the intent that the minor engage in illegal sexual activity.
Herman did not enter a plea in his first court appearance in St. Croix last Friday. Once transferred to New Jersey, he will face federal charges that carry a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life along with a $250,000 fine.
Child sexual abuse numbers are thankfully on the decline in the United States, falling by more than 60% from 1992 to 2010, according to David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center. Thanks to greater public awareness, better training and education, child advocacy centers and relentless policing efforts such as the sting that caught Dave Herman, our children are safer than before and “Lexi” represents one less child victim of trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
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