Queens Music School Teacher Sentenced To More Than 11 Years In Prison For Sex Trafficking Of Minors

  Joon H. Kim, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that OLIVER SOHNGEN, a/k/a “Helmuth Moss,” a/k/a “Stephan Weierbach,” was sentenced today to 135 months in prison for sex trafficking of minors.  SOHNGEN pled guilty on August 10, 2017, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald L. Ellis, and was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan.

Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said:  “Oliver Sohngen, a teacher at a music school for children, was a sexual predator.  He paid to have sex with minor girls at least twice, and attempted to engage in sex trafficking of girls under the age of 14.   His significant sentence will ensure that he is no longer a threat to our community, in particular, our children.  We remain committed to prosecuting all those who, like Sohngen, prey on our most innocent and vulnerable victims.”

According to the Complaint and Information filed against SOHNGEN, other court documents publicly filed in this case, and statements made in court proceedings, including today’s sentencing:

Between March 2013 and November 2013, SOHNGEN exchanged text messages with a co-conspirator to arrange paid sexual encounters with minor girls ranging in age from 8 to 17.  On at least two occasions, SOHNGEN engaged in sexual contact with minor girls at the co-conspirator’s apartment in the Bronx, New York.  In addition, between November 2015 and January 2016, SOHNGEN participated in recorded telephone conversations with an undercover NYPD officer who was posing as a 15-year-old girl. SOHNGEN proposed to meet with the purported 15-year-old girl in order to engage in sexual conduct.

In addition to the prison term, SOHNGEN, 52, of Queens, New York, was sentenced to 10 years of supervised release.

Mr. Kim praised the outstanding investigative work of HSI and the NYPD, and expressed gratitude for the efforts of HSI’s New York Trafficking in Persons Unit and the NYPD’s Vice Enforcement Division Major Case Team.  Mr. Kim also expressed gratitude to the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office for its partnership in this investigation.