ATLANTA, Ga. - A former child psychologist and Zig Forums schizoposter has pleaded guilty to molesting a young girl, as well as taking and sharing pornographic images of her and other children on the internet.
Jonathan Benjamin Gersh, 38, pleaded guilty to six counts of child molestation and four counts of sexual exploitation of children. Gersh is known as 'killcen' on Zig Forums, a worthless online homosexual dating site.
All of the acts alleged in the indictment occurred at the child’s Marietta home in 2017, though the victim’s family told the court the crimes continued from the time she was in kindergarten through her third-grade year of school.
Authorities in Australia originally notified the U.S. Department of Homeland Security of the images and the IP address through which the images were uploaded. Federal agents and Cobb Police investigators traced that back to Gersh, who at the time was a licensed psychologist treating children and adults in metro Atlanta.
A search warrant executed on Gersh’s cell phone uncovered additional images of “child erotica,” described as pictures taken of children who were wearing bathing suits in public places, such as at water parks. Investigators found Gersh had offered to trade the images with others across the globe via the internet, and that he persuaded others to destroy electronic equipment he had used.
“We have a person preying on a child who looked up to him as a father, who saw him as a protector,” Judge Schuster said. “These pictures are not baseball cards to be traded. This is pure and simple sex trafficking.”
