Rice: Online Sexual Predator Already in Prison Rearrested by DA Investigators

Former teacher serving up to 6 years in prison; arraigned on new charges after instant messages are discovered on work computer

MINEOLA, NY - Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced today that a Levittown man, already a convicted sexual predator currently serving a two-to-six-year prison sentence on a probation violation, has been rearrested after investigators discovered sexually explicit conversations with minors on his work computer in Great Neck.

Bradley Dieffenbacher, 34, has been charged with Disseminating Indecent Material to Minors in the First Degree. He faces up to seven years in prison if convicted. He was arraigned today in First District Court, Hempstead. Bail was set at $500,000 bond or $250,000 cash. He is due back in court November 12.

Rice said that in June 2008, Dieffenbacher, then a math teacher at a Queens junior high school, pleaded guilty in Queens to engaging in sexually explicit instant message and webcam conversations with a number of his students. He received six months in jail in that case.

After losing his teaching license, Dieffenbacher began working for the Highway Toll Administration, LLC (HTA), a private Great Neck company. HTA learned that Dieffenbacher was using his work computer to have sexually explicit instant message conversations with minors. The Queens Probation Department and Queens District Attorney’s Office were notified, and Dieffenbacher was sentenced to two to six years in prison for violating the terms of his plea.

After being contacted by the Queens District Attorney’s Office, Nassau DA Investigators and members of the Nassau County Police Department’s CAP Squad discovered 16 explicit instant message conversations on Dieffenbacher’s work computer.

“This defendant is in a prison cell where he belongs, and after my office prosecutes this case, I am confident that his sentence will get even longer,” Rice said. “I will continue to doggedly pursue and aggressively prosecute online sexual predators that prey on our children.”

Assistant District Attorney Stephen Treglia of the Technology Crime Unit is handling the case for the District Attorney's Office. Dieffenbacher is represented by the Legal Aid Society of Nassau County.

The charges are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.