Falls Church teacher among seven arrested in Fairfax County child exploitation sting

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The man is the second Fairfax County Public Schools teacher to be arrested for child sex crimes in the past month.

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Author: Sophie Rosenthal
Published: 1:19 PM EST February 11, 2025
Updated: 1:19 PM EST February 11, 2025

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — A Falls Church High School teacher was one of seven men arrested in a child exploitation sting operation in Fairfax County, police said Tuesday.

Fairfax County Police announced the arrests of seven online predators on Tuesday, following a sting operation from the Child Exploitation Unit. According to Chief Kevin Davis, detectives posed as young children to engage online predators who seek to solicit sexual acts from minors.

Richard Berkowitz, a health and physical education teacher at a Fairfax County public school, was identified on Jan. 27 and arrested just three days later, Davis said. Fairfax County Public Schools removed him from having any access to schools immediately, FCPS Superintendent Michelle Reid said.

Because Berkowitz was arrested so soon into the sting operation, police asked FCPS to hold off on announcing his arrest until it was complete, so as to not scare off the other suspects the detectives were dealing with.

Berkowitz was charged with four counts of felonies related to proposing sexual acts to a minor older than 15 and two counts related to enticing a minor older than 15 to perform in porn, according to the Virginia Judiciary online case information system.

In addition to Berkowitz, five more Virginia men and one New York man were arrested from the same operation. Those men are Chad Hockman, Carlos Saenz, Gustavo Cahuaya, Enrique Espana, Charles Wolf and Geoffrey Testa.

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The announcement of Berkowitz’s arrest was just days after another FCPS teacher was arrested for child sex crimes. On Feb. 6, the police department’s Child Abuse Squad arrested John Barger, a teacher at Fairview Elementary School.

Barger was charged with two felony counts of aggravated sexual battery of a minor under 13 years old, according to the online court system.

FCPS was notified by a child and parent on Jan. 17 that the student had been sexually assaulted by Barger. The school system immediately notified both Child Protective Services and Fairfax County Police and placed Barger on administrative leave.

During a three week investigation, police found another child who had been assaulted by Barger on a separate occasion. FCPS notified parents after he was officially arrested, Reid said.

Neither of the two men are working with FCPS anymore. FCPS has around 40,000 staff members, Reid said.

https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/crim ... 0470d02c75

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