Article on Falsely Accused Washington Hebrew Congregation Preschool Teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Read the link the OP posted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Read the link the OP posted.

I did. Racine's office was stupid and sloppy (mixed up WHC with another preschool case), but more of the blame (IMO) lies with the parents of "Jenny" and the other WHC community members who took the law into their own hands and destroyed this preschool teacher's reputation and damaged his property and car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Or a go fund me to help him w/ his legal debt. I wish someone would represent him to go after the firm that did a horrible job on his case. If they could even refund a fraction of their fees, it would go a long way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

It was odd that his ex had such hatred towards him. And for years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know this person! Worked with him on our elementary school's PTA. Wow, poor man. I had no idea he was the person accused in the preschool investigations, which I did not follow closely.

Is it too much to hope that some of his accusers will apologize?

I don’t think they will ever apologize, especially after the lawsuit. No one seemed to acknowledge the investigation cleared him.

The whole story is horrible. I know such things happen, but it's horrendous to think that posters on DCUM had a part in this and that it happened in my neighborhood.

Yes, the DCUM excerpts are right in the article! I remember this thread!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gofundme is here:

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

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Not my comment but when i read that i kinda did pause to think…. Mayyyyybe people were being antisemitic? Or maybe it was an opportunistic money grab. Or honestly a mob mentality of people who got lost in something a bit too big. It’s giving “conspiracy” vibes per my mom and my closest friends. If they wanted justice then why sue the organization for what “could’ve” happened and take a financial settlement? Odd. But I also want to be sensitive that this thread doesn’t lead to another witch hunt. There are just a lot of feelings here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Read the link the OP posted.

I did. Racine's office was stupid and sloppy (mixed up WHC with another preschool case), but more of the blame (IMO) lies with the parents of "Jenny" and the other WHC community members who took the law into their own hands and destroyed this preschool teacher's reputation and damaged his property and car.

I’m a WHC member and have been. I am having a hard time with the “WHC community members taking the law into their own hands” and accusing them of the harassment and vandalism. When I read the article I read that it was the group of parents. Yes, I suppose they WERE once WHC community members. So if that’s what you mean then I get it. Living through it as a WHC member, a lot of people who had that kind of hatred for JS also had the same hatred for WHC and left. WHC took a big hit, though nothing anywhere near the hit JS took. During the investigation JS was the center of it (being an active investigation I assume no one could talk about it). But then when that concluded WHC became the center for these families (and again became another active case no one could talk about). There was a group of the families and their friends that were very outspoken about WHC and the current members. I had a few interactions myself and it was despicable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a disturbing article all around, but seems like a WHC preschool teacher's life was ruined by a dad who falsely accused the male preschool teacher after the school reported the preschool kid “drew a picture of a snake between ‘daddy’s’ legs that ‘tickled’ the whole family” to DC Children Services.

https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/accusing-jordan-silverman

Is there a non sensationalist article about these events?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a disturbing article all around, but seems like a WHC preschool teacher's life was ruined by a dad who falsely accused the male preschool teacher after the school reported the preschool kid “drew a picture of a snake between ‘daddy’s’ legs that ‘tickled’ the whole family” to DC Children Services.

https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/accusing-jordan-silverman

Is there a non sensationalist article about these events?

The article isn’t sensationalist at all. It’s rather dry and a detailed accounting of what happened to this man.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a disturbing article all around, but seems like a WHC preschool teacher's life was ruined by a dad who falsely accused the male preschool teacher after the school reported the preschool kid “drew a picture of a snake between ‘daddy’s’ legs that ‘tickled’ the whole family” to DC Children Services.

https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/accusing-jordan-silverman

Is there a non sensationalist article about these events?

The article isn’t sensationalist at all. It’s rather dry and a detailed accounting of what happened to this man.

100%

[Anonymous]

What is Bradley balco?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is Bradley balco?

Did you read the article and not comprehend the concept of a byline? Many journalists have left places like Washington post since it's taken over by bezos and created their own substacks.

[Anonymous]

It’s hard not to suspect that the original accusers whose picture with the snake opened up this whole mess had a number of skeletons and some unhealthy background in their own family. The whole thing felt like a diversion. If this forum feels like it would like to make amends to Jordan for their involvement in the hysteria, by all means please feel free to give to his gofundme campaign. https://gofund.me/45efd35da
Marc Richter

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s hard not to suspect that the original accusers whose picture with the snake opened up this whole mess had a number of skeletons and some unhealthy background in their own family. The whole thing felt like a diversion. If this forum feels like it would like to make amends to Jordan for their involvement in the hysteria, by all means please feel free to give to his gofundme campaign. https://gofund.me/45efd35da
Marc Richter

I agree with the bolded.

As to the donations, it’s really the participants of the prior threads that should be making amends, not this forum. Hopefully they see this thread getting bumped routinely.