Onetime WMMR DJ arrested on child sex charges

PHILADELPHIA David Herman, who launched a prolific radio career at WMMR-FM in the 1960s, arrived at the St. Croix airport Thursday expecting to meet a 7-year-old girl he wanted to sexually assault at his Virgin Islands home, according to prosecutors.

Instead, Herman, 77, who had unknowingly been chatting online with an undercover officer for nearly a year, was arrested by Homeland Security and customs agents and charged with attempting to transport a minor for sex.

That was the case made Thursday by the U.S. Attorney's Office in a complaint released after Herman's arrest.

His preliminary hearing was set for Friday in St. Croix, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Herman, who also has a home in Airmont, N.Y., could not be reached for comment. The U.S. Attorney's Office said Thursday he did not yet have a lawyer.

Known across the country for his various radio programs - including The Marconi Experiment, a late-night show he launched on WMMR in 1968 - Herman became a fixture on WNEW-FM in New York City, getting the chance to interview rock legends including Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger, and David Bowie, according to a biography on his website.

He also had a new online venture, the Dave Herman Music Project, to "reminisce and debate" about classic rock.

According to the criminal complaint, Herman's arrest followed nearly a year of online chatting with an undercover agent, whom he believed to be a 36-year-old woman named Kris living in Bergen County, N.J.

The complaint says Herman told "Kris" - who said she had a 6-year-old daughter, "Lexi" - that he was attracted to young girls and that he wanted to have sex with her daughter.

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