Cops: Hauppauge woman's online ad targeted child

A Hauppauge social worker has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child for posting a sexually suggestive ad on Craigslist directing callers to the home of a 9-year-old girl, Suffolk prosecutors said. The point of the ad was to get revenge for a dispute between her daughter, also 9, and the girl, prosecutors said. Margery Tannenbaum, 40, pleaded not guilty Thursday in First District Court in Central Islip. After her arrest in May, Tannenbaum was charged with aggravated harassment. The second charge was added after further investigation by prosecutors, a district attorney's office spokesman said. Police said the ad was posted in the "casual encounters" section of the Web site in February. "I need a little affection," the ad read, according to a criminal complaint filed in court. "I am blonde and very cute! I'll be waiting." The first name of the girl, whom Newsday is not identifying, was also included in the ad. Tannenbaum replied via e-mail to those who expressed interest, giving them the home phone number of the girl, who lives about a mile away in Smithtown, the complaint said. The ad generated nearly two dozen calls from men seeking sex, police said. The criminal complaint also states that Tannenbaum used her computer to subscribe to at least eight magazines, a book and DVD to be sent to the victim's home. Judge Toni Bean issued orders of protection for the girl and her mother Thursday. Tannenbaum, who was released without bail, is due back in court on July 16. "She really is a good, hardworking professional," said her defense attorney, Tad Scharfenberg of Bohemia. He said Tannenbaum is a classroom mother at her daughter's school. Tannenbaum has been licensed as a clinical social worker since 1992, according to the state Education Department's Office of the Professions.