Press Release from US Attorney's office
Licensed Social Worker Distributed Videos of Infants Being Raped
Earlier today, in federal court in Central Islip, Renee Hoberman, also known as “Rina,” a licensed social worker, pleaded guilty to receipt and distribution of child
. The proceeding was held before United States District Judge Joanna Seybert. When sentenced, Hoberman faces a minimum sentence of five years’ imprisonment, and up to 20 years in prison.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Michael Alfonso, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations, New York (HSI); and Patrick Ryder, Commissioner, Nassau County Police Department, announced the guilty plea.
“The defendant, a licensed social worker, admitted to distributing extremely vile and unthinkable videos depicting the horrific sexual abuse of babies. The videos the defendant distributed and sought for her own perverse pleasure showed the most innocent members of our society being restrained and violently raped,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “The defendant’s crimes should outrage and offend every decent member of our society. My Office will relentlessly pursue predators like this defendant who victimize those who often cannot speak for themselves. We will work tirelessly to ensure that those who harm children and perpetuate the plague of child sexual abuse and child
are held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
Mr. Nocella expressed his appreciation to HSI and the Nassau County Police Department for their work on the case.
As set forth in court filings and on the record at today’s plea proceeding, Hoberman admitted to using encrypted social media messaging applications to upload, receive, and trade digital videos and images depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, including several videos of infants six months to one year of age being physically restrained and raped by an adult male as the infants cried and frantically screamed for the duration of the videos. The defendant also engaged in multiple online “chats” concerning child sexual molestation. In these chats, the defendant, posing as the father of several minor children, claimed to have sex with the children and punish them by getting naked, stripping the children naked, and spanking them while the other children watched. The defendant invited another user to visit “his” family in New York to spank and sexually abuse the children. In addition, the defendant described sexually abusing “his” children and their friends, and then uploaded and sent two videos containing child sexual abuse material, claiming that these videos depicted the defendant’s own children.
According to public records and as alleged in court documents, during the same time period that Hoberman was distributing child sexual abuse material online, she was also working as a therapist with an organization based in Melville, New York, which serves children up to the age of 17.
This prosecution is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit
Project Safe Childhood.
Anyone with information about sexual exploitation by the defendant is asked to contact HSI’s tip line: 1-877-4-HSI-TIP or website:
ICE Tip Form.
The government’s case is being handled by the Criminal Section of the Office’s Long Island Division. Assistant United States Attorney Kaitlin McTague is in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Paralegal Specialist Janelle Robinson.
The Defendant:
RENEE HOBERMAN (also known as “Rina”)
Age: 37
Plainview, Long Island
E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 24-CR-463 (JS)
Contact
John Marzulli
Denise Taylor
United States Attorney’s Office
(718) 254-6323
Updated June 18, 2025Press Release from US Attorney's office
