A now-former elementary school teacher who has admitted trading videos depicting the sexual abuse of children the same age as children in his classroom was allowed to withdraw his guilty plea Tuesday.
Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Jennifer Branch granted a request by 62-year-old Amit Netanel’s attorney to withdraw his plea to three counts of pandering sexually oriented materials involving minors.
Netanel – who taught for about eight years at Rockwern Academy, a private Jewish school in Sycamore Township – initially pleaded guilty in September 2024. It was during a sentencing the next month that his attorney, Richard Goldberg, realized that he had advised Netanel to plead to a higher-level felony than he could have.
“I gave Mr. Netanel bad advice,” Golberg told Branch Tuesday. “It was a mistake on my part.”
Netanel pleaded guilty to a subsection of the state’s pandering law that is a higher-level felony crime and includes a presumed prison sentence. But a subsection that is a lower-level felony crime – and does not include a presumed prison sentence – uses similar language, according to Goldberg.
There was extended discussion during Tuesday’s hearing about the definition of the words “exchange” and “disseminate.”
Netanel was charged with four counts of possessing and four counts of disseminating sexually abusive videos. One video showed a man sexually assaulting a girl approximately between the ages of 4 and 6 and “causing her to choke.”
Assistant Prosecutor Chris Lipps said Netanel pleaded guilty to three counts involving disseminating the videos, in exchange for the remaining five counts being dismissed.
Lipps said Netanel used the messaging app Kik to share the videos with others as well as to discuss apparent fantasies about sexually abusing children.
But Goldberg argued that he intended for Netanel to admit to an “exchange” of videos, which would be a lesser crime.
The lower-level subsection of the law says that no person shall “knowingly solicit, receive, purchase, exchange, possess or control” such sexually abusive material. The higher-level subsection says no person shall “sell, distribute, transport (or) disseminate” it.
Goldberg argued that Netanel was not involved in dissemination when he traded videos with other Kik users. He said the trading was an exchange.
Branch is expected to set a trial date on Jan. 21.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ex-Rockwern teacher withdraws plea in sex abuse videos case