Non-Profit’s Founder Charged in Sex Tourism Case

March 31, 2010 - PHILADELPHIA—A two-count indictment was unsealed today charging attorney Kenneth Schneider with traveling for the purpose of engaging in sex with a minor, and transporting a person for criminal sexual conduct, announced United States Attorney Michael L. Levy and Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent-in-Charge John P. Kelleghan. Schneider, founder and president of the Apogee Foundation, was arrested March 27, 2010 in Larnaca, Cyprus, pursuant to a notice issued by Interpol.

According to the indictment, in the summer of 1998, Schneider traveled to Moscow, Russia where he told two ballet instructors at the Moscow State Academy of Choreography that he was willing to provide “assistance” to students attending the academy. The instructors identified a 12-year-old student whose family could no longer afford to pay his board. Schneider convinced the boy’s parents to allow him to live with Schneider in an apartment a few blocks from the school. The indictment further alleges that from the fall of 1998 until 2004, Schneider engaged in a sexual relationship with the victim, bringing him to Philadelphia for a summer program in 2001, then returning to Moscow with the victim in August 2001 to continue the sexual relationship.

“According to the indictment, the defendant used his wealth and position as a supporter of the arts to victimize a young dancer,” said Levy. “The boy’s family had limited means and they viewed Mr. Schneider’s offer of aid as a philanthropic gesture. The defendant allegedly betrayed the trust of a young boy and of his family, by taking the opportunity to molest the boy.”

‘It is always troubling when a person indicted for a serious crime such as child exploitation flees the country before answering the charges,” said John P. Kelleghan, special agent in charge of the ICE office of investigations in Philadelphia. “This case is a message to predators that ICE and our international law enforcement partners will scour the globe to find them in order to bring them to justice and protect our children.”

INFORMATION REGARDING THE DEFENDANTS

NAME: Kenneth Schneider

ADDRESS: Philadelphia, PA

AGE OR YEAR OF BIRTH: 45

If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum possible sentence of 15 years for count one and 10 years for count two.

The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the Investigative Committee of the General Procuracy of the Russian Federation, the ICE Attache-Moscow, Russia, and Interpol. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michelle Morgan-Kelly.

The U.S. Attorney wishes to thank the Investigative Committee of the General Procuracy of the Russian Federation, without whose investigative assistance the investigation could not have been completed.