A Long Island health care executive and father of five allegedly targeted nearly a dozen teenage girls over four years to produce child pornography.
Jacob Walden, 38, is president and co-owner of Emerald Healthcare, a Woodmere-based company that oversees assisted living and nursing homes in the US. He was transferred to a federal prison on Wednesday.
At his arraignment in Islip Central Federal Court, Walden entered a not guilty plea to a six-count indictment charging him with sexually exploiting two teenagers, ages 16 and 17, and receiving and possessing child pornography, reported The New York Post. .
“As alleged, the defendant enticed minors to take sexually explicit photos and videos of themselves and send them to him over the Internet for a fee. Protecting children from predators who sexually exploit them will always be a priority of my office” , the US attorney said. John Durham, of the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement.
Prosecutors said Jacob Walden, a married man and father of five children, purchased at least 500 images and 5,000 videos of child sexual abuse from a massive production and distribution network that targeted adult male buyers in the U.S. and abroad.
They also alleged that Walden encouraged minors to take sexual photographs of themselves by engaging in sexually explicit online chats with them through social media and encrypted messaging systems.
Jacob Walden was arrested on July 31, 2024. He was placed under house arrest at his home in Valley Stream, with restrictions placed on his use of technological devices and interactions with children.
The suspect broke his terms within a month of his arrest after he made an unscheduled stop at a Verizon store and offered a lady money for sex on WhatsApp.
According to law enforcement officials, Walden is currently being held without bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn until his trial after prosecutors alleged he poses an escape risk and a danger to society.
His next court date is February 24. If found guilty, he could spend up to 30 years behind bars, prosecutors said.