As part of his sentencing by Judge Dorothy Chin Brandt, Laufgraben waived his right to appeal, will be on probation for five years, must enroll in a sex offender treatment program and not engage in a job that puts him in direct contact with children. He will also have to register as a Level II sex offender.
According to police, Laufgraben repeatedly communicated with the detective for a month last May, and admitted sending a digital photo of himself and asked several questions about the intended victim’s sexual development and if he wanted to sexually experiment with him.
Police also say that Laufgraben gave the detective a password to gain access to a web site to view video clips of gay sex. He then set up a meeting at a Nathan’s Famous hot dog restaurant on Queens Boulevard in Kew Gardens, near Forest Park. He said the park was a good place to have a sexual encounter.
Laufgraben admitted in his messages that he was concerned about getting in trouble and that he knew he could go to jail and lose his teacher’s license. “People will think I’m a pedophile like Michael Jackson,” he said. The Fresh Meadows man was arrested at the restaurant by detectives assigned to the NYPD’s Computer Crimes Squad.
The former teacher had worked at Cardozo in Bayside for four years, where he was popular with students. In an informal student poll, teens called him “pretty cool” and “easygoing.”
In announcing the verdict, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said last Thursday that the case shows that law enforcement is “vigilantly patrolling the Internet to protect children from sexual predators and prosecute and punish those who would do harm to them.”
He added that the case should serve “as a clear and unmistakable warning to those who would seek to steal the innocence of children that law enforcement is alert and prepared to apprehend, prosecute and punish them.”
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