Case of Irachmil ("Jerry") B. Taus, lawyer, Beverly Hills, California and Scottsdale, Arizona
1) (full article not available anymore online, replaced by later abbreviated article in 2)
Promise of underage sex ends in prison
Internet - A Beverly Hills lawyer gets 13 months for arranging for sex through an undercover officer
by Holly Danks
OregonLive.com, OR
April 11, 2006
Thinking he was about to have sex with a 15-year-old virgin, Irachmil B. Taus cautiously glanced around the ritzy hotel room.
After checking the room for police, Taus set down a bag of pastries and a gold-and-diamond tennis bracelet and counted out $1,000 in hundred-dollar bills. The Beverly Hills lawyer had already paid $600 to a man Taus believed was bringing his underage daughter from the Portland area to the Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa in Phoenix.
Hillsboro police Detective Cheryl Banks, a member of the FBI Innocent Images task force out of Portland, watched the November 2004 transaction on a closed-circuit TV in an adjoining room.
"I knew it, it's a setup," Taus said after Banks and other agents arrested him on charges of enticing someone to travel across state lines for the purpose of having sex with a minor.
Taus, 67, was sentenced Monday to 13 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to the charge. Judge Ancer L. Haggerty of U.S. District Court in Portland also ordered Taus to pay a $25,000 fine, stay away from minors for three years of post-prison supervision and register as a sex offender based on the laws of the state where he ends up living.
"I apologize to the court, to my friends and, of course, to my family," Taus said during his sentencing. "My actions were foolish and I regret them very much. I want to make amends."
Haggerty agreed when defense attorney Frederick Petti asked that Taus serve his time at the Otisville federal prison camp in New York, a medium-security facility designed to house Jewish inmates. "Mr. Taus is a deeply religious man," Petti said.
At the time of his arrest, Taus had lived in Scottsdale, Ariz., for about a year while still operating a law practice in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Banks acknowledged that she set up Taus. But, she quickly noted, it was he who contacted her in October 2004 in an AOL chat room labeled "Taboo." Undercover officers, Banks said, give suspects "every chance to back out."
As a member of the task force designed to catch sexual predators who use the Internet, Banks pretended to be a middle-age, single father named Kevin with a 15-year-old daughter. She used the screen name "luvulngtm" and told chat room participants of wanting to help the girl "learn life's lessons."
2)
Promise of underage sex ends with term in prison
Internet - A lawyer gets 13 months for arranging for sex through an undercover officer
by Holly Danks
OregonLive.com, OR
April 11, 2006
Thinking he was about to have sex with a 15-year-old virgin, Irachmil B. Taus cautiously glanced around the ritzy hotel room.
After checking the room for police, Taus set down a bag of pastries and a gold-and-diamond tennis bracelet and counted out $1,000 in hundred-dollar bills. The Beverly Hills, Calif., lawyer had already paid $600 to a man Taus believed was bringing his underage daughter from the Portland area to the Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa in Phoenix.
Hillsboro police Detective Cheryl Banks, a member of the FBI Innocent Images task force out of Portland, watched the November 2004 transaction on a closed-circuit TV in an adjoining room.
"I knew it, it's a setup," Taus said after Banks and other agents arrested him on charges of enticing someone to travel across state lines for the purpose of having sex with a minor.
Taus, 67, was sentenced Monday to 13 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to the charge. Judge Ancer L. Haggerty of U.S. District Court in Portland also ordered Taus to pay a $25,000 fine, stay away from minors for three years of post-prison supervision and register as a sex offender based on the laws of the state where he ends up living.
"I apologize to the court, to my friends and, of course, to my family," Taus said during his sentencing. "My actions were foolish and I regret them very much. I want to make amends."
Banks acknowledged that she set up Taus. But, she quickly noted, it was he who contacted her in October 2004 in an AOL chat room labeled "Taboo." Undercover officers, Banks said, give suspects "every chance to back out."
"You just have to get into the mind-set of a sex offender," Banks said. "I have to think like a pervert. It was very difficult, very strange. I felt creepy."
Banks continues to investigate child abuse cases for the Hillsboro Police Department, which pulled her off the FBI task force this year for budget reasons.
Beth Anne Steele, FBI spokeswoman in Portland, said the local task force is one of about two dozen across the country focused on child porn and online predators.
The Portland team has won more than 20 convictions since it started in 2002, Steele said. A Beaverton detective is joining the task force now that Banks has left.
Holly Danks: 503-221-4377; hollydanks@news.oregonian.com
3)
FBI PRESS RELEASE
Portland Field Office
--------------------------------------------------
FBI | 1500 SW First Ave., Suite 400 | Portland, OR 97201 | http://www.fbi.gov/
For Immediate Release
Date: November 22, 2004
Contact: Beth Anne Steele
FBI - Portland
(503) 552-5238
FBI ARRESTS ARIZONA ATTORNEY IN INNOCENT IMAGES CASE
FBI agents and members of the Innocent Images Task Force arrested IRACHMIL B. TAUS, age 66, on one count of enticing someone to travel interstate with the purpose of engaging in criminal activity, in this case illicit sexual contact. The arrest occurred at approximately 4:20 pm on Friday, November 19, at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona. The arrest was without incident. TAUS, who lives in Arizona, is a practicing attorney with a law office in Beverly Hills, California. If convicted of this charge, TAUS could face up to 20 years in prison.
A Hillsboro (Oregon) Police Detective, who is on the Portland FBI's Innocent Images Task Force, posed as the father of a 15-year-old girl. The detective was contacted through an on-line instant messaging service starting October 5, 2004, by a person who identified himself as "Itisi66b". Agents later determined that "Itisi66b" was TAUS. According to court documents in this case, TAUS paid to have the "father" bring his daughter to Phoenix so that he could have sex with her. Anyone with information concerning this case or other potential victims is encouraged to contact the Portland Office of the FBI at (503) 224-4181 or the Phoenix Office of the FBI at (602) 279-5511.
TAUS made an appearance before a federal judge in Phoenix on Monday, November 22. In the coming weeks, he will be transported to Portland for further court proceedings. An arrest is only an accusation of a crime, and every defendant is afforded the right to the court process. Assistant United States Attorney Greg Nyhus is prosecuting this case.
These charges arose in connection with the Innocent Images National Initiative. Innocent Images is an investigative program designed to crack down on those who make and traffic in child pornography and those who prey on children on-line. The Portland FBI's Innocent Images Task Force includes representatives from the Hillsboro Police Department and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
According to a recent survey done by I-Safe, Inc., an Internet Safety organization:
80% of students spend at least one hour per week on the Internet. 11% spend eight hours or more on the Internet.
60% of online teens have received e-mail or instant messages from a stranger. 63% of those who received a message responded.
39% of online teens trusted those with whom they chatted.
10% of online teens met a new person from the Internet face-to-face.
55% of online teens joined at least one website requesting personal information.
25% of online teens saw nothing wrong with chatting with a stranger online.
10% of online teens believed it was OK to post their picture online.
The FBI began the Innocent Images National Initiative in 1995 to address the illicit activities of those who were using commercial and private on-line services. Now, nine years later, the Innocent Images program focuses on three areas:
Investigating those who indicate a willingness to travel interstate for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity with a minor
Investigating major producers and/or distributors of child pornography
Identifying child victims and obtaining the proper assistance for them
There are currently 22 other FBI offices in the United States that are running Innocent Images programs. Nationally, the program is so successful that President Bush has called for significantly increased funding in the new fiscal year so that the program can be expanded even further.
Community members may report on-line predators and child pornography by calling the Portland office at (503) 224-4181, by e-mailing the information to portland@ic.fbi.gov or by contacting the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at www.cybertipline.com. DO NOT E-MAIL THE PORNOGRAPHIC PICTURES THEMSELVES -- ONLY INFORMATION ABOUT THE LOCATION OF THE PICTURES.
Parents will find quite a bit of useful information concerning kids on-line in the Parent's Guide to Internet Safety booklet. The FBI has posted that booklet on its web site: www.fbi.gov.
###
Note to Media: Per United States Department of Justice Guidelines, no pictures of the defendant will be released.
4) http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/LocateInmate.jsp
Name Register Number Age Race Sex Release Date Actual / Projected Location
IRACHMIL B TAUS 83588-008 67 White M 12-09-2004 RELEASED
(he's at Otisville federal prison camp in New York now)
Promise of underage sex ends in prison
Internet - A Beverly Hills lawyer gets 13 months for arranging for sex through an undercover officer
by Holly Danks
OregonLive.com, OR
April 11, 2006
Thinking he was about to have sex with a 15-year-old virgin, Irachmil B. Taus cautiously glanced around the ritzy hotel room.
After checking the room for police, Taus set down a bag of pastries and a gold-and-diamond tennis bracelet and counted out $1,000 in hundred-dollar bills. The Beverly Hills lawyer had already paid $600 to a man Taus believed was bringing his underage daughter from the Portland area to the Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa in Phoenix.
Hillsboro police Detective Cheryl Banks, a member of the FBI Innocent Images task force out of Portland, watched the November 2004 transaction on a closed-circuit TV in an adjoining room.
"I knew it, it's a setup," Taus said after Banks and other agents arrested him on charges of enticing someone to travel across state lines for the purpose of having sex with a minor.
Taus, 67, was sentenced Monday to 13 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to the charge. Judge Ancer L. Haggerty of U.S. District Court in Portland also ordered Taus to pay a $25,000 fine, stay away from minors for three years of post-prison supervision and register as a sex offender based on the laws of the state where he ends up living.
"I apologize to the court, to my friends and, of course, to my family," Taus said during his sentencing. "My actions were foolish and I regret them very much. I want to make amends."
Haggerty agreed when defense attorney Frederick Petti asked that Taus serve his time at the Otisville federal prison camp in New York, a medium-security facility designed to house Jewish inmates. "Mr. Taus is a deeply religious man," Petti said.
At the time of his arrest, Taus had lived in Scottsdale, Ariz., for about a year while still operating a law practice in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Banks acknowledged that she set up Taus. But, she quickly noted, it was he who contacted her in October 2004 in an AOL chat room labeled "Taboo." Undercover officers, Banks said, give suspects "every chance to back out."
As a member of the task force designed to catch sexual predators who use the Internet, Banks pretended to be a middle-age, single father named Kevin with a 15-year-old daughter. She used the screen name "luvulngtm" and told chat room participants of wanting to help the girl "learn life's lessons."
2)
Promise of underage sex ends with term in prison
Internet - A lawyer gets 13 months for arranging for sex through an undercover officer
by Holly Danks
OregonLive.com, OR
April 11, 2006
Thinking he was about to have sex with a 15-year-old virgin, Irachmil B. Taus cautiously glanced around the ritzy hotel room.
After checking the room for police, Taus set down a bag of pastries and a gold-and-diamond tennis bracelet and counted out $1,000 in hundred-dollar bills. The Beverly Hills, Calif., lawyer had already paid $600 to a man Taus believed was bringing his underage daughter from the Portland area to the Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa in Phoenix.
Hillsboro police Detective Cheryl Banks, a member of the FBI Innocent Images task force out of Portland, watched the November 2004 transaction on a closed-circuit TV in an adjoining room.
"I knew it, it's a setup," Taus said after Banks and other agents arrested him on charges of enticing someone to travel across state lines for the purpose of having sex with a minor.
Taus, 67, was sentenced Monday to 13 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to the charge. Judge Ancer L. Haggerty of U.S. District Court in Portland also ordered Taus to pay a $25,000 fine, stay away from minors for three years of post-prison supervision and register as a sex offender based on the laws of the state where he ends up living.
"I apologize to the court, to my friends and, of course, to my family," Taus said during his sentencing. "My actions were foolish and I regret them very much. I want to make amends."
Banks acknowledged that she set up Taus. But, she quickly noted, it was he who contacted her in October 2004 in an AOL chat room labeled "Taboo." Undercover officers, Banks said, give suspects "every chance to back out."
"You just have to get into the mind-set of a sex offender," Banks said. "I have to think like a pervert. It was very difficult, very strange. I felt creepy."
Banks continues to investigate child abuse cases for the Hillsboro Police Department, which pulled her off the FBI task force this year for budget reasons.
Beth Anne Steele, FBI spokeswoman in Portland, said the local task force is one of about two dozen across the country focused on child porn and online predators.
The Portland team has won more than 20 convictions since it started in 2002, Steele said. A Beaverton detective is joining the task force now that Banks has left.
Holly Danks: 503-221-4377; hollydanks@news.oregonian.com
3)
FBI PRESS RELEASE
Portland Field Office
FBI | 1500 SW First Ave., Suite 400 | Portland, OR 97201 | http://www.fbi.gov/
For Immediate Release
Date: November 22, 2004
Contact: Beth Anne Steele
FBI - Portland
(503) 552-5238
FBI ARRESTS ARIZONA ATTORNEY IN INNOCENT IMAGES CASE
FBI agents and members of the Innocent Images Task Force arrested IRACHMIL B. TAUS, age 66, on one count of enticing someone to travel interstate with the purpose of engaging in criminal activity, in this case illicit sexual contact. The arrest occurred at approximately 4:20 pm on Friday, November 19, at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona. The arrest was without incident. TAUS, who lives in Arizona, is a practicing attorney with a law office in Beverly Hills, California. If convicted of this charge, TAUS could face up to 20 years in prison.
A Hillsboro (Oregon) Police Detective, who is on the Portland FBI's Innocent Images Task Force, posed as the father of a 15-year-old girl. The detective was contacted through an on-line instant messaging service starting October 5, 2004, by a person who identified himself as "Itisi66b". Agents later determined that "Itisi66b" was TAUS. According to court documents in this case, TAUS paid to have the "father" bring his daughter to Phoenix so that he could have sex with her. Anyone with information concerning this case or other potential victims is encouraged to contact the Portland Office of the FBI at (503) 224-4181 or the Phoenix Office of the FBI at (602) 279-5511.
TAUS made an appearance before a federal judge in Phoenix on Monday, November 22. In the coming weeks, he will be transported to Portland for further court proceedings. An arrest is only an accusation of a crime, and every defendant is afforded the right to the court process. Assistant United States Attorney Greg Nyhus is prosecuting this case.
These charges arose in connection with the Innocent Images National Initiative. Innocent Images is an investigative program designed to crack down on those who make and traffic in child pornography and those who prey on children on-line. The Portland FBI's Innocent Images Task Force includes representatives from the Hillsboro Police Department and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
According to a recent survey done by I-Safe, Inc., an Internet Safety organization:
80% of students spend at least one hour per week on the Internet. 11% spend eight hours or more on the Internet.
60% of online teens have received e-mail or instant messages from a stranger. 63% of those who received a message responded.
39% of online teens trusted those with whom they chatted.
10% of online teens met a new person from the Internet face-to-face.
55% of online teens joined at least one website requesting personal information.
25% of online teens saw nothing wrong with chatting with a stranger online.
10% of online teens believed it was OK to post their picture online.
The FBI began the Innocent Images National Initiative in 1995 to address the illicit activities of those who were using commercial and private on-line services. Now, nine years later, the Innocent Images program focuses on three areas:
Investigating those who indicate a willingness to travel interstate for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity with a minor
Investigating major producers and/or distributors of child pornography
Identifying child victims and obtaining the proper assistance for them
There are currently 22 other FBI offices in the United States that are running Innocent Images programs. Nationally, the program is so successful that President Bush has called for significantly increased funding in the new fiscal year so that the program can be expanded even further.
Community members may report on-line predators and child pornography by calling the Portland office at (503) 224-4181, by e-mailing the information to portland@ic.fbi.gov or by contacting the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at www.cybertipline.com. DO NOT E-MAIL THE PORNOGRAPHIC PICTURES THEMSELVES -- ONLY INFORMATION ABOUT THE LOCATION OF THE PICTURES.
Parents will find quite a bit of useful information concerning kids on-line in the Parent's Guide to Internet Safety booklet. The FBI has posted that booklet on its web site: www.fbi.gov.
###
Note to Media: Per United States Department of Justice Guidelines, no pictures of the defendant will be released.
4) http://www.bop.gov/iloc2
Name Register Number Age Race Sex Release Date Actual / Projected Location
IRACHMIL B TAUS 83588-008 67 White M 12-09-2004 RELEASED
(he's at Otisville federal prison camp in New York now)
posted by Jewish Survivors at Wednesday, April 26, 2006
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