Article on Falsely Accused Washington Hebrew Congregation Preschool Teacher

[Anonymous]

After reading this article today it really left out just how badly WHC handled this entire thing from the very very beginning and how it fed this hysteria. From the hiring practices, vetting practices, crisis management (not even mentioning the shady lawyer but they thought it smart to surprise bring in the FBI with zero warning to the first emergency meeting with parents when the news broke when most all parents had zero idea what was going on). It’s no wonder parents flipped. Anyone would. Many many things went wrong to be where we are today.

[Anonymous]

Someone should hire this guy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Someone should hire this guy.

Or do a go-fund-me so he can get his lawyer to try to get partial custody of his kids back. Hopefully this article can be submitted as evidence.

[Anonymous]

So, this guy was attacked by the families in multiple ways when the evidence didn’t support their claims? Instead of fighting that, if they genuinely sought justice, they chose to target WHC for being an environment where such an incident could have occurred? It seems we should delve deeper into the settlement. Does anyone else see what I see?

Furthermore, why would WHC go after them for hiring that attorney? That would make it a tit-for-tat public confrontation. They should maintain a higher standard. It seems like there was a lot that could’ve been said from WHC and this individual that weren’t. I can only imagine what they weren’t allowed to get into. They didn’t engage in making this public; the families and this platform did. We can all say someone should’ve handled something differently, including this platform, and hindsight is 20/20. The tragedy is that these parents got to walk away, probably with money in their pockets, while they left everyone else in rubble.

[Anonymous]

Knew him before the WHC awfulness. We could never figure out why the ex had such incredible vitriol towards him and why, when it was so clear that he deeply cared about his boys and being a father, she continued to fight for sole custody. We have plenty of friends who divorced, but never have I seen a dad who fought so hard to stay engaged with his kids. The only reason we could think of was that he “out momed” her and that’s why she hated him.

He was definitely a fish out of water here and I know people didn’t understand why he was so involved with the PTA etc. Sadly, he operated in a more female space and most people here (men and women) didn’t know what to think of him. If he’d come across as gay, I think people probably would not have given him a second thought. But a straight dude who is highly engaged with kids stood out big time here and there were many who quietly questioned his motives. The fact that he was a photographer also raised red flags for people because he was already different and people were trying to figure him out. Not his fault, but I do wish in hindsight I’d been able to sort of give him a “hey you aren’t in Burly anymore bro” heads up because I genuinely do not think he understood how he was being perceived in the DMV (or maybe he didn’t care?).

Robert and Allison clearly drove the witch hunt and they had the power and influence and money to do it. I’m not sure we’ll ever know if they were acting out of genuine concern for their child or if JS was a convenient scape goat to distract from something that was happening at home. When I read this article I thought of the expression “sometimes the best defense is offense.” Jenny was having issues and they needed an outside source to blame. They didn’t like JS and they were able to flex on the most basic of parental fears because he is so different than the standard DC dad/male.

It’s a very sad story and there are no winners here.

[Anonymous]

Wow wow wow!!!!

I closely followed this case and know many of the families involved before and after the allegations surfaced. While this situation is undoubtedly sad, I am also VERY relieved that this story has come to light. There were numerous inconsistencies in the stories posted, but many individuals felt hesitant to ask questions due to fear of being labeled as a pedophile supporter. These families were also known to target others not joining the lawsuit.

It is long overdue for justice to be served, although this cannot undo the damage that has been done. I am aware that the school, although smaller, is a place where people genuinely feel safe and are happy there. I wish them the best!

Does anyone know how much compensation the families received?

IM SO SAD about this. Honestly… hoping JS & WHC can both heal!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow wow wow!!!!

I closely followed this case and know many of the families involved before and after the allegations surfaced. While this situation is undoubtedly sad, I am also VERY relieved that this story has come to light. There were numerous inconsistencies in the stories posted, but many individuals felt hesitant to ask questions due to fear of being labeled as a pedophile supporter. These families were also known to target others not joining the lawsuit.

It is long overdue for justice to be served, although this cannot undo the damage that has been done. I am aware that the school, although smaller, is a place where people genuinely feel safe and are happy there. I wish them the best!

Does anyone know how much compensation the families received?

IM SO SAD about this. Honestly… hoping JS & WHC can both heal!!!!!!

Washington Hebrew hasn't ever made a statement that the criminal justice system found that the teacher they hired was falsely accused. It may have been a few powerful families at the school who drove the false accusations, but it is long past time for others in the community to have stood up for this man whose career, property and family was (and is still) destroyed by them.

[Anonymous]

Gofundme is here:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-jordan-silverman-rebuild-his-life/cl/s

[Anonymous]

I think the thing that's really hard about this is that there aren't necessarily villains (other than the people who vandalized his house, etc.) It seems possible "Robert" was accusing JS to deflect from something he did, but not at all clear that's true. He and "Allison" could have honestly thought JS abused their child. Presumably the other parents who accused him also believed he did it. His ex-wife and the judges in the custody case probably thought he did it. The main lawyer collected child porn, but the law firm's decision to represent the parents probably came from a legit belief in the case. The CPS investigator probably did the best they could in a very short time with an unsufficient budget. The Radley Balko article addresses this at the end, but the reforms that would be necessary to prevent this from happening are not easy or entirely obvious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow wow wow!!!!

I closely followed this case and know many of the families involved before and after the allegations surfaced. While this situation is undoubtedly sad, I am also VERY relieved that this story has come to light. There were numerous inconsistencies in the stories posted, but many individuals felt hesitant to ask questions due to fear of being labeled as a pedophile supporter. These families were also known to target others not joining the lawsuit.

It is long overdue for justice to be served, although this cannot undo the damage that has been done. I am aware that the school, although smaller, is a place where people genuinely feel safe and are happy there. I wish them the best!

Does anyone know how much compensation the families received?

IM SO SAD about this. Honestly… hoping JS & WHC can both heal!!!!!!

Washington Hebrew hasn't ever made a statement that the criminal justice system found that the teacher they hired was falsely accused. It may have been a few powerful families at the school who drove the false accusations, but it is long past time for others in the community to have stood up for this man whose career, property and family was (and is still) destroyed by them.

I get that. But I disagree that they never made a statement. I do recall seeing statements where they said he was not charged of a crime and the investigation did not find anything. I think during that time people read what they wanted to read.

I went back to look at previous threads on this platform and when it mentioned he was not charged with a crime people lashed out. People, at that time, read those statements as if they were condoning such actions, if it were to have occurred, or were disgusted that someone would even mention the investigations outcome as if that mattered if these children were “actually abused.”

Reading these past threads were heartbreaking. Everyone who said anything contrary to JS being a pedophile or WHC playing a role in fostering pedophiles were attacked. This has me doing a lot of self reflecting. We don’t know what happened. But until there’s evidence that both wrongfully did something to hurt a child, we shouldn’t just assume. And there’s clear evidence that some of these parents intentionally harmed JS, and that’s the only true “fact” we all have.

Just sad, all around!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disturbing role of DCUM in this article too.

A few weeks later, on Halloween night, someone scattered dozens of flyers on Silverman’s lawn. They included his name and photo, with a warning to neighbors to beware of the predator who had been accused of “sexually abusing 2, 3, and 4-year-old children.”

The accusations then began to pop up in online forums, particularly on Facebook and the forum DCUrbanMom.com. “They were accusing me of horrible things,” Silverman says. “There were threats and people posting that if the police don’t arrest me, someone ought to take matters into their own hands. Any posts that defended me were deleted.”

In late 2018, the harassment escalated. Silverman received threatening letters spelled out with characters cut from magazines, similar to a ransom letter. One read, “Evidence is mounting you sick f***.” Another included the line, “You aint worth the blood that runs in your veins.” In mid-December someone spray painted “child rapist” in front of Silverman’s home — the first of several such incidents. On Christmas night, his security camera caught a man smashing out the window and taillight of his car with a club. A month later, someone busted the back window and one of the headlights.

In late January 2019, on the advice of his attorney, Silverman documented 11 incidents of harassment and sent them to local police. During one spray painting incident, he was actually able to take a photo of the perpetrator’s license plate. He would later send that information to a private investigator, who found that the car had been rented by a father whose kids attended WHC — and who was friendly with Robert and Alison.

I think it’s less about the forum and more about the mob mentality of online spaces. Reddit and Facebook also had many active discussions condemning this man and the school director.

I don’t know how to break this to you, but DCUM is an online space.

One that has certainly demonstrated mob mentality at times over the past 20 years.

Uh yes…This isn’t just about DCUM, it’s about all online forums. Nothing I said above excludes DCUM from being an online space that leads to mob mentality.

I've never heard of this preschool, but sounds like the community there was engaging in a mob mentality if they went to spray paint this preschool teacher's house and smashed his car, rather than let the case take its course through the proper channels with the preschool.

The article seems to note a few specific people were involved. It’s a shame that they couldn’t be prosecuted.

The families engaged a lawyer who was a child pornographer.
https://wtop.com/dc/2023/04/lawyer-who-represented-students-in-dc-abuse-case-now-faces-child-pornography-charges/
A digital forensic analysis done by the FBI found nearly 2,000 images and five videos of child pornography, according to the complaint.

While he lived in Florida, Dolce represented families in the D.C. area in 2019 when they filed a civil lawsuit against the Washington Hebrew Congregation preschool after allegations that a male teacher sexually abused at least eight children.

The irony. He was also in bed in the process of downloading more images when he was arrested. And he was only given 4 years.

I couldn’t find any articles where the families spoke out against him.

Nope no one at WHC spoke out against the pedophile lawyer they hired to pursue its false accusations again a preschool teacher. Nor can you find any articles other than the one posted in the OP that mentions that the preschool teacher was cleared, or any public apology from WHC or its community to him for making his life hell. And that poor man still lost custody to his kids and any hope of gainful employment because his reputation is ruined.

It’s awful there is no restitution for him. At least from Racine’s office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, this guy was attacked by the families in multiple ways when the evidence didn’t support their claims? Instead of fighting that, if they genuinely sought justice, they chose to target WHC for being an environment where such an incident could have occurred? It seems we should delve deeper into the settlement. Does anyone else see what I see?

Furthermore, why would WHC go after them for hiring that attorney? That would make it a tit-for-tat public confrontation. They should maintain a higher standard. It seems like there was a lot that could’ve been said from WHC and this individual that weren’t. I can only imagine what they weren’t allowed to get into. They didn’t engage in making this public; the families and this platform did. We can all say someone should’ve handled something differently, including this platform, and hindsight is 20/20. The tragedy is that these parents got to walk away, probably with money in their pockets, while they left everyone else in rubble.

Are you suggesting the parents just made these claims to get money from WHC? Not following what you’re implying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disturbing role of DCUM in this article too.

A few weeks later, on Halloween night, someone scattered dozens of flyers on Silverman’s lawn. They included his name and photo, with a warning to neighbors to beware of the predator who had been accused of “sexually abusing 2, 3, and 4-year-old children.”

The accusations then began to pop up in online forums, particularly on Facebook and the forum DCUrbanMom.com. “They were accusing me of horrible things,” Silverman says. “There were threats and people posting that if the police don’t arrest me, someone ought to take matters into their own hands. Any posts that defended me were deleted.”

In late 2018, the harassment escalated. Silverman received threatening letters spelled out with characters cut from magazines, similar to a ransom letter. One read, “Evidence is mounting you sick f***.” Another included the line, “You aint worth the blood that runs in your veins.” In mid-December someone spray painted “child rapist” in front of Silverman’s home — the first of several such incidents. On Christmas night, his security camera caught a man smashing out the window and taillight of his car with a club. A month later, someone busted the back window and one of the headlights.

In late January 2019, on the advice of his attorney, Silverman documented 11 incidents of harassment and sent them to local police. During one spray painting incident, he was actually able to take a photo of the perpetrator’s license plate. He would later send that information to a private investigator, who found that the car had been rented by a father whose kids attended WHC — and who was friendly with Robert and Alison.

I think it’s less about the forum and more about the mob mentality of online spaces. Reddit and Facebook also had many active discussions condemning this man and the school director.

I don’t know how to break this to you, but DCUM is an online space.

One that has certainly demonstrated mob mentality at times over the past 20 years.

Uh yes…This isn’t just about DCUM, it’s about all online forums. Nothing I said above excludes DCUM from being an online space that leads to mob mentality.

I've never heard of this preschool, but sounds like the community there was engaging in a mob mentality if they went to spray paint this preschool teacher's house and smashed his car, rather than let the case take its course through the proper channels with the preschool.

The article seems to note a few specific people were involved. It’s a shame that they couldn’t be prosecuted.

The families engaged a lawyer who was a child pornographer.
https://wtop.com/dc/2023/04/lawyer-who-represented-students-in-dc-abuse-case-now-faces-child-pornography-charges/
A digital forensic analysis done by the FBI found nearly 2,000 images and five videos of child pornography, according to the complaint.

While he lived in Florida, Dolce represented families in the D.C. area in 2019 when they filed a civil lawsuit against the Washington Hebrew Congregation preschool after allegations that a male teacher sexually abused at least eight children.

The irony. He was also in bed in the process of downloading more images when he was arrested. And he was only given 4 years.

I couldn’t find any articles where the families spoke out against him.

Nope no one at WHC spoke out against the pedophile lawyer they hired to pursue its false accusations again a preschool teacher. Nor can you find any articles other than the one posted in the OP that mentions that the preschool teacher was cleared, or any public apology from WHC or its community to him for making his life hell. And that poor man still lost custody to his kids and any hope of gainful employment because his reputation is ruined.

It’s awful there is no restitution for him. At least from Racine’s office.

Why should Racine (and ultimately the DC taxpayer) pay restitution to him? It's the parents of the WHC kid who should pay for these false accusations, plus the other WHC community members who vandalized his car and house--they should be prosecuted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gofundme is here:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-jordan-silverman-rebuild-his-life/cl/s

Thanks. I was the one who said someone should hire this guy. I knew him when our kids were in elementary school. Just donated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow wow wow!!!!

I closely followed this case and know many of the families involved before and after the allegations surfaced. While this situation is undoubtedly sad, I am also VERY relieved that this story has come to light. There were numerous inconsistencies in the stories posted, but many individuals felt hesitant to ask questions due to fear of being labeled as a pedophile supporter. These families were also known to target others not joining the lawsuit.

It is long overdue for justice to be served, although this cannot undo the damage that has been done. I am aware that the school, although smaller, is a place where people genuinely feel safe and are happy there. I wish them the best!

Does anyone know how much compensation the families received?

IM SO SAD about this. Honestly… hoping JS & WHC can both heal!!!!!!

Washington Hebrew hasn't ever made a statement that the criminal justice system found that the teacher they hired was falsely accused. It may have been a few powerful families at the school who drove the false accusations, but it is long past time for others in the community to have stood up for this man whose career, property and family was (and is still) destroyed by them.

I get that. But I disagree that they never made a statement. I do recall seeing statements where they said he was not charged of a crime and the investigation did not find anything. I think during that time people read what they wanted to read.

I went back to look at previous threads on this platform and when it mentioned he was not charged with a crime people lashed out. People, at that time, read those statements as if they were condoning such actions, if it were to have occurred, or were disgusted that someone would even mention the investigations outcome as if that mattered if these children were “actually abused.”

Reading these past threads were heartbreaking. Everyone who said anything contrary to JS being a pedophile or WHC playing a role in fostering pedophiles were attacked. This has me doing a lot of self reflecting. We don’t know what happened. But until there’s evidence that both wrongfully did something to hurt a child, we shouldn’t just assume. And there’s clear evidence that some of these parents intentionally harmed JS, and that’s the only true “fact” we all have.

Just sad, all around!

This is what mob mentality does. Whenever something like this happens, I'm reminded that the average IQ is 100.