Dave Herman Due in New Jersey Court Today
Retired New York radio personality Dave Hermann is due in a Newark courtroom on charges he tried to transport a 7-year-old girl to the U.S. Virgin Islands for sex.
Holding a teddy bear, the 77-year-old was arrested at the St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands airport in October where instead of meeting a girl named "Lexi" and her mother "Kris" he was met by agents from the departments of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement who say he initiated a series of sexually explicit chats that led to their "meeting."
Herman's appearance in federal court is the latest stop since his arrest that has taken him from St. Croix to Puerto Rico and Oklahoma according to the Star-Ledger. A judge will read the charges against him to which Herman's lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, expects him to plead not guilty.
The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office says Herman initiated a series of chats on a website with a woman named “Kris” about her daughter “Lexi” but was actually talking to an undercover officer from Bergen County according to U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman.
The graphic conversations went on for several months in multiple telephone and online communications and attempts by Herman to arrange illegal sexual encounters with the “Lexi” in New York and in Bergen County.
“Age 6 is the perfect time to start being loved that way,” wrote Herman in one message. In subsequent chats, Herman suggested that he may have to give “Lexi” alcohol in order to relax her.
Agnifilo tells the Star-Ledger that his client, whose career started in Philadelphia before moving to New York where he worked at WPLJ and later WNEW, "understands the reality of it." He and Herman have yet to work out a "substantial" bail package to allow him to leave jail. He says the moving from location-to-location has left Herman tired and run down.
Herman is charged with a count of attempting to transport a minor in interstate commerce with the intent that the minor engage in illegal sexual activity. If convicted, the charge can carry up to life in prison and a maximum $250,000.
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