Long Island child therapist Renee Hoberman pleads guilty to distributing sexually explicit videos of children

A Long Island child therapist accused of sharing sexually explicit videos of children pleaded guilty to receipt and distribution of child pornography in federal court in Central Islip.

Renee Hoberman, 37, of Plainview, acknowledged during Wednesday’s hearing before U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert that she used an app to send another person a sexually explicit video featuring children on June 7, 2024.

Seybert ordered Hoberman, who has been in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since her arrest in October, to return to court Nov. 18 for sentencing. The maximum penalty is 20 years in prison, Seybert said. Hoberman faces a minimum of 5 years.

Hoberman, wearing tan detention center clothes, spoke briefly with her parents after Wednesday’s hearing before she was led away by a U.S. marshal.

Hoberman’s parents and her attorney, Evan Sugar, of the Federal Defenders of New York, declined to discuss the case following the hearing.

"The defendant, a licensed social worker, admitted to distributing extremely vile and unthinkable videos depicting the horrific sexual abuse of babies," said U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District Joseph Nocella Jr. "The defendant’s crimes should outrage and offend every decent member of our society."

Hoberman was arrested by Homeland Security Investigations and Nassau police on Oct. 23, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Hoberman, who also goes by the first name Rina, worked as a therapist for LifeStance Health in Melville, where she advertised that she worked with children up to age 17.

Sugar told Seybert that Hoberman primarily worked remotely before her arrest.

According to court papers, Hoberman used social media between June and October to upload videos of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. 

Hoberman uploaded child sexual abuse materials and engaged in multiple chats concerning child sexual abuse, prosecutors said. Hoberman posed as an adult male who bragged online about sexually abusing his own children. Hoberman also sent two videos presented as the man sexually abusing the kids and invited others to come to New York to abuse the kids themselves.

Hoberman earned a bachelor's degree in sociology in 2011 and her master's in social work in 2015, according to an online biography, which adds that she has experience working with children under 12 and has interned in elementary schools. She received her license as a master social worker in October 2015, according to a New York State Education Department database.

Federal prosecutors said Hoberman's criminal prosecution was part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative started in May 2006 by the U.S. Department of Justice targeting child sexual exploitation and abuse across the country.