The conversations became more sexually explicit as time passed “as he persistently suggested and requested that (the investigator) perform sexual acts for his own gratification,” according to an affidavit filed in federal court May 1.
On Monday, May 4, FBI agents arrested Greenberg at his Kettering law office and charged him with 12 counts of violating federal obscenity law. Authorities claim Greenberg used computers at his office and his Centerville home to engage in graphic sexual conversation and to transmit obscene images, including videos of himself masturbating.
Investigators traced the bballguy5555 screen name, as well as the screen name aig2010@aol.com, to Greenberg’s office.
Last month, Greenberg told an undercover investigator posing online as a 13-year-old girl from New York that he had purchased airline tickets to fly there to meet the girl for sex, according to an affidavit filed in support of the federal obscenity charges against him.
But Greenberg never made the trip. He told the investigator his wife had discovered a credit card bill with the airline charges and asked him about it. Greenberg said he told his wife the credit card had been stolen and he had canceled the trip, according to the affidavit.
Greenberg, 32, appeared Monday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sharon Ovington wearing a white dress shirt, black slacks and handcuffs. He answered a simple “yes” to Ovington’s questions, indicating he understood the charges he faces.
“At this point he is presumed not to have committed any criminal offense,” said Thomas R. Schiff, Greenberg’s attorney. Schiff said that until he sees more evidence, he presumes Greenberg is not guilty.
Greenberg will be held without bail until his detention hearing at 11 a.m. Thursday.
Conviction on each count carries a maximum punishment of 10 years imprisonment.
A federal complaint alleges that between February and April, Greenberg, 32, sent the images to individuals who he believed were underage females.
The affidavit in support of the complaint alleges that beginning in late January, a New York law enforcement officer, posing as an underage female, began electronic communication with an individual using the screen names bballguy5555@aol.com and aig2010@aol.com.
These conversations became increasingly sexually explicit and included requests by the subject to the underage female to send sexually explicit images of herself and to meet the subject in New York to engage in sexual acts, authorities said. Eventually the subject sent streaming video of himself masturbating.
The affidavit further alleges that the subject, using the same screen names, also engaged in similar conversations with a person who he believed was an underage daughter of a military service member but who was, in fact, a Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigator. Requests for subscriber information from AOL revealed that the screen names were registered to IP addresses at Greenberg’s office in Kettering.
The charges against Greenberg do not allege any illegal conduct by him in his role as the Chaminade Julienne girls basketball coach. FBI investigators and Dayton police have been in contact with officials at CJ and those officials are cooperating in this ongoing investigation.
“We are shocked (by) the news,” said Dan Meixner, Chaminade Julienne president. “We are saddened and troubled in knowing that our students and families — and community — are in a position to experience, at the very least, broken trust with an adult who was in a position to mentor students at our school.”
The FBI and Dayton Police department on Monday interviewed students involved with the girls basketball program, according to school officials. The students’ parents were notified of the interviews and invited to morning briefing sessions.
“At this time, we have no reason to believe that CJ students are victims,” Meixner said. “Administrators and guidance counselors are working with members of the girls team and their families in offering open communication, support, assistance and personal counsel through this difficult situation.”
Greenberg, who led the CJ girls basketball team to a state championship in 2005, has been involved with the program since the 1996-97 season, according to school officials.
Frank Goldsberry, director of basketball operations for the University of Dayton’s women’s basketball program, coached Greenberg at Northmont High School. Greenberg also was an assistant to Goldsberry at Chaminade Julienne before Greenberg became CJ’s head coach. Under Goldsberry and Greenberg, CJ’s girls basketball program has appeared in the state championship game six times since 1998 and won three state championships in that time.
“I’m saddened for him, his family, obviously his wife and kids,” Goldsberry said. “He made a huge mistake. It just makes my stomach sick. My wife and I have known him since he was 16-17 years old. He played for me two years at Northmont and was an outstanding player with outstanding work ethic.”
Goldsberry was head coach at Northmont 1993-96. Greenberg is a Northmont High graduate.
According to bio posted on his law firm’s Web site, Greenberg is a 1999 graduate of the University of Dayton with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, and a 2003 graduate of the UD School of Law, where he graduated with honors.
A woman who answered the phone at Sherrets Law Offices in Kettering, where Greenberg is employed, said: “We’re in shock.”
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