Woman Who Posed as Man to Lure Women for Sex Acts Remanded
The Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court extended by four days the remand of a city resident suspected of posing as a man and conducting relationships with women under the alias "Oreal Hazan." Police suspect she committed sexual offenses against complainants by asking them to touch themselves while they believed they were speaking with a man. Four women filed complaints. The defense attorney argued concerns of investigation contamination.
The Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court extended on Monday morning until Thursday the remand of a city resident suspected of posing as a man and conducting relationships with women under the alias "Oreal Hazan." Police suspect that during the relationships she formed with several women online, four of whom filed complaints against her, the detainee committed sexual offenses against the complainants by asking them to touch themselves while they thought they were speaking with a man. Her attorney, Adv. Erez Bar Tzvi, noted in court that even before her arrest, representatives from investigative journalist Haim Etgar's program contacted her and asked for her response to the suspicions. According to him, she approached him to formulate a response, and afterward Etgar arrived with several complainants to the Petah Tikva police station so they could file complaints against her. A police representative confirmed these details but denied the defense's claim that the complainants coordinated their versions. He also emphasized that the suspect never met the complainants physically, and all the offenses she is suspected of were committed online. The defense argued: "Clearly these are old events, there is a journalistic investigation, she sends a letter to sue for defamation, and then a day later all the complainants come to the police together - there is a heavy suspicion of investigation contamination. It's a shame the police aren't checking this. In her version, she says she impersonated someone else, but there were no photos, videos, or sexual offenses. Why aren't they confronting her with these things? What are the grounds for arrest?" In his decision to extend the remand, Judge Erez Melamed said: "This involves multiple offenses in which the suspect impersonated another, made contact with complainants, and during the contact, according to suspicion, caused some of them to perform sexual acts on themselves. At this stage of the proceedings, the extensive investigation materials establish reasonable suspicion that she committed the offenses. "I emphasize that this is only suspicion, but this is the evidentiary basis that the police must present to the court regarding dangerous sexual offenses and an inherent suspicion of obstructing the investigation. I am not ignoring that the suspect did not remain silent and answered questions, but that is not enough. The list of investigation actions submitted tells me that if the suspect is released, she could obstruct them. The request for four days of remand aligns with the progress of the investigation. Some actions are complex, and it is easy to assume they will not be completed by the end of the remand request."