The founder of a Brooklyn safety patrol has been charged with grooming and sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl

• The founder of a well-known Brooklyn neighborhood watch group was federally indicted on Thursday.
• Prosecutors allege he groomed and sexually abused a 15-year-old girl for months in 2017.
• Jacob Daskal, 62, has pleaded not guilty to the charges, The New York Times reported.

The founder of an ultra-Orthodox safety patrol in Brooklyn has been charged by federal prosecutors with grooming a 15-year-old girl in 2017 and sexually abusing her for months.

Jacob Daskal, 62, was arrested Thursday and charged in a three-count indictment with coercing a minor to engage in illicit sexual conduct, transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

Daskal pleaded not guilty to the charges on Thursday, The New York Times reported.

Daskal had originally been charged in 2018 in state court and released on bail, but federal prosecutors added new information alleging that Daskal abused the girl not only at his Brooklyn home, but also at a summer home in upstate New York, and at a hotel in Chicago.

Daskal was the chief of the Borough Park Shomrim Society, a volunteer-based watch group that often responds to crimes in the neighborhood and monitors anti-Semitic attacks. Prosecutors said in a court filing that the victim was afraid of Daskal due to his "position of power in her community."

They also alleged that Daskal threatened the girl to keep her quiet about the abuse, and also told her he loved her. Prosecutors said in court documents that Daskal helped the girl find a new school in Chicago and placed her with a family there, and would regularly text and video chat with her, often requesting nude photos.

Prosecutors alleged that Daskal once traveled to Chicago for just 10 hours, booking a hotel room where he further abused her. The girl eventually reported Daskal to authorities in the spring of 2018 after confiding in a mentor, prosecutors said.

Daskal's defense attorney did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, but told The Times that his client had not been part of "any inappropriate sexual relationship with the alleged victim."

In a court filing on Thursday, Daskal's lawyers requested that he be released on a $4.5 million bond and subject to electronic monitoring, curfews, and travel restrictions. Prosecutors argued in their own filing that Daskal posed too much of a threat to the public, and was a flight risk.

"A man who founded an organization aimed at creating a safer community should know the difference between right and wrong," FBI assistant director-in-charge William Sweeney said in a statement. "Mr. Daskal's position of influence may have helped him attempt to silence his victim, but it won't stop the FBI from holding him accountable."