Oculus Rift Executive Dov Katz Arrested For Allegedly Trying To Have Sex With A Minor

A top figure in Oculus VR’s offices has been arrested following a police sting operation to snare potential pedophiles. The Oculus figure is said to be Dov Katz, who is the Oculus’ head of computer vision.

According to the official police report, the charges brought before him are for commercial sexual abuse of a minor. The arrest was made on December 23 and the whole case is still unfolding.

According to Heavy, Katz is a major in computer science at the University of Tel Aviv. After which he joined the Oculus team after getting some higher education in the U.S. Plenty of details about the case has already leaked in the media.

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The same website also reported that the anti-crime team in Tukwila formed the sting operation where the plan was to have some of their detectives put up an ad on Backpage about soliciting individuals for sex. This is where Dov Katz of Oculus responded to the ad and messaged one of the officers who was undercover as a 15-year-old girl.

This is where things start unraveling for the Oculus figurehead as he allegedly agreed to pay the equivalent of $300 for sexual intercourse with the minor without the use of a condom. The pair agreed to meet up at the Embassy Suites Hotel at 15920 West Valley Highway.

Katz was promptly arrested when he showed up at the hotel room with $600. He then tried to argue that he was only there to save the girl. This is part of the transcript that allegedly took place between Dov Katz and the undercover police officer posing as a minor according to the police report.

“The two of them continue to text each other with Katz stating that he would be there 2100 hours. Katz also texts for a photo which was sent to Katz. At 1843 hours Katz texted ‘how old are you anyways?’ Officer Sudel texted ’19 u?’. Katz replied ’30’. Officer Sudel then replied ‘K younger girls ok with u?’. Katz replied ‘Yes. More energy to keep up.'”

The next part is where the entire sting operation was concluded. According to Polygon, Officer Sudel, who was the undercover cop in this case then revealed that his character was just 15-years-old.

This does not seem to be a problem with Dov Katz and the two proceeded to text each other and send photos. According to the official report, the two proceeded to seal the deal.

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The high-profile arrest is part of a major cracking down on the sex trade in King County. The whole sting operation program has been in effect since 2014 and has led to numerous arrests of sex buyers as well prostitutes.

The program has thus been effective as the detectives have stated that they got roughly around 200 responses to the undercover ads within two hours. It has also been a reason why the county has been experiencing a steep decline in prostitution activities.

Katz played a big role in the creation of the Oculus rift. According to the source, he was put in charge of making the VR experience less jarring for the user. He also relayed the biggest challenges for the VR platform such as delayed responses in 3d and the inaccuracy in mapping motions.

Dov Katz is also the big reason why the Oculus rift is such a great immersive experience with his development of a low latency optical position tracking system. It is worth noting that the case is still pending and that the public should withhold any judgment until after the case has been settled. Dov Katz bail starts at $125,000 and is set to be arraigned on January 5.

[Featured Image by Anders Behring Breivik/AP Images]