Dov Katz was arrested Dec. 21 near Seattle in a police sting operation. (Carnegie Mellon University)
A top tech executive was arrested Wednesday near Seattle after police said he tried to pay for unprotected sex with a girl he allegedly thought was 15 years old.
Dov Katz, the head of computer vision at Oculus VR, was charged with attempted commercial sexual abuse of a minor after he allegedly fell victim to an undercover sting operation orchestrated by the Tukwila Police Department, Gizmodo reported.
A 38-year-old Israeli citizen who lives in America, Katz told cops when he was arrested “that he was there to rescue [the girl] and call the police,” according to charging documents.
“I told Katz he should’ve called the police first,” an officer wrote.
Katz came to the hotel after allegedly texting for hours with a police officer who portrayed herself as an underage teen.
“Can I be honest with u? I’m new to all this and a little younger then my ad says but I promise u won’t be disappointed,” the officer texted, according to the charging documents. When Katz asked “How much younger?” the undercover officer told him “15” and asked that he not “say anything ok?”
“Katz replied ‘sure’.”
Katz’ arraignment was set for Jan. 5, KING5 reported.
Facebook acquired Oculus VR in 2014.
Carnegie Mellon University listed Katz as a postdoctoral fellow at the school's robotics institute. He is no longer a member of the institute, according to its website.
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