Howard Kaplan
Posted by Webmaster in Hall of Shame, ME-IS-FV, Math, Ohio, Private SchoolsHoward Kaplan, 57, a former math teacher at Western Reserve Academy, in Hudson, Ohio has been charged with nine counts of importuning and 1 count of possession of criminal tools.
Kaplan was arrested and indicted as the result of an internet sex sting conducted by officers with the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
It is alleged that Kaplan began chatting with the undercover agent posing as a 12-year-old girl in May and continued until August 21. On August 23 search warrants were executed on his home and office, located on the academy campus, and Kaplan was arrested following the search.
Reportedly, since his arrest Kaplan has been “released” by the school.
At last report Kaplan is in the Cuyahoga County jail and no mention of bail has been made.
He will be arraigned in September.
Update 9/01/07:
Reportedly Kaplan has been freed on $10,000 bail.
News reports indicate that Kaplan voluntarily left the employ of the academy after his arrest and that he and his wife have vacated campus housing.
Kaplan is scheduled for arraignment on September 12th.
Update 9/11/07:
Howard Kaplan was arraigned today and pleaded not guilty.
He remains free on $10,000 bond.
04/01/08 – Guilty On All Charges
A jury has found Howard Kaplan guilty on all charges, nine counts of importuning (soliciting sex) and one count of possessing criminal tools.
Sentencing is set for April 29th.
04/29/08 – Sentencing
Howard Kaplan has been sentenced to five years in prison.
Kaplan was also labeled a Tier 1 Offender which requires him to report his address annually for fifteen years.
References:
Prosecutor: Former teacher at Western Reserve Academy sentenced to 5 years (04/29/08)
Jurors Find Former Teacher Busted In Internet Sex Sting Guilty On All Counts (04/01/08)
Teacher Sex Sting Trial Begins (3/19/08)
Former Western Reserve Academy Teacher Pleads Not Guilty in Sex Sting (9/11/07)
Hudson teacher arrested in internet sex sting (8/28/07)
Teacher indicted on Web sex charges (8/28/07)
Entries (RSS)
December 26th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
I’m a freshman at WRA this year,and I just want to say that if the WRA administration allows Howard Kaplan another chance to teach at reserve, Iam leaving and am never coming back, Iadvise all reserve students to do the same.
June 9th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Here’s the truth. Inappropriate teachers at WRA are put on paid leave for one year and then either return in a different capacity or go somewhere else. That’s what happened to the guy who was giving out keys to his house AND the guy who was dating the student. WRA staff and administration are the most immoral group of people in Ohio. Congrats to all of you who pay an extremely large amount of money to have your child go to that school. You’ve been ripped off! Did you think anything less from a chauvinistic headmaster who cared more about coaching lacrosse? How about a business manager that is an absolute scum bag? Everyone that has gone to that school since about 1992 knows that WAY more has gone on compared to what you’ve read in the newspaper.
June 1st, 2008 at 1:16 am
And for those who all grads and you pioneer women should be ashamed. Just b/c you hear stuff in the news you feel like you have to defend you right since you were aquanted with the school. WRA will remain one of the best school communties and you should be ashamed. ALl of you
June 1st, 2008 at 1:13 am
Howard Kaplan is and will always remain a great teacher,someone who students can trust, a great friend. The Chem Teacher is one of the best and it could of happened to anyone. THe headmaster changed Western Reserve Academy for all pros and not cons. Without his years and effort he has put into the school, the school would be no where. And for everyone who thinks “everything is just swept under the rug” yes i would like to know how you know for recent years. I don’t see you sitting in the school 24/7. And quiet frankly western reserve academy offers students a chance of a life time. Sure there have been some accidents in it. Just like any other school. Just because the school is private every thing gets published in the news and what not. Well i would like to know how many things Hudson High School keeps under wraps. the two teachers at western reserve academy will always remain great teachers and great advisors. You don’t even know them for who they are. You only know them of what you hear in the news which quiet frankly isn’t right. It’s like judging a book by it’s cover. Sure all books have problems with them but they all turn out to be alright.
April 5th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Howard Kaplan was my advisor when i attended american hebrew academy. i always noticed something wierd about him, especially when he would pull me out of class and take me to get ice cream or something to eat. im not shocked at al
September 13th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
Per my comments earlier, let me be very, very clear: WRA was once nearly a great school. When I was there, the clouds of near-greatness still clung to it, but they were thinning. The headmaster despised the intelligentsia on the faculty because, frankly, they despised him and tried hard to oppose his more brutish policies and practices. One by one, they left (including me), and what remained was essentially a mediocracy. I’m told by friends there that the place has become a training ground for recent college grads who are “friends of the school” (read: children of rich donors or would-be donors, or friends of the headmaster), who then leave the school after a few years’ of apprenticeship there. It is nothing at all like it used to be when I was there–there was once a real enclave of passionately devoted teachers and intellectuals, but they were either driven out or so disgusted that they left, as I did.
And let’s not kid ourselves about where the moral failures have their origin. I recall catching a student, a jock very favored by the head, cheating on an exam. I dutifully brought him to the headmaster for the consequence–expulsion–dictated by school policy for cheating. No expulsion occurred; I was told, as I’m sure many teachers there have been told, to look the other way and let the kid remain. The implication was clear: do this or else. Do that often enough and long enough and the school has no moral rudder anymore. The fish rots from the head down.
September 11th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
I certainly understand the “ex-” in “ex-shrink” – yowza. “If Deuteronomy is correct, then” … now a Torah expert?
The guy slimed his way into the confidence of an imaginary 12 year old. Was he entrapped? Who cares? That’s for his lawyers, family and him to worry about. For everyone else, especially the real 12 year olds of the world, things are looking up.
Or maybe I’m just the victim of Lax Fever…
Class of ‘97 Roooles!