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Rabbi Barry Freundel gets 45 days in prison for each of the 52 misdemeanor counts

Washington rabbi gets 6.5 years in prison for voyeurism

Rabbi Barry Freundel, 63, head of one of US capital region's most prominent Orthodox congregations, pleaded guilty to secretly videotaping dozens of women naked during ritual baths. 'It's a classic case of abuse of power and violation of trust,' judge says.

A prominent Washington rabbi who pleaded guilty to secretly videotaping dozens of women naked during ritual baths was sentenced to six and a half years in prison on Friday.

 

 

Rabbi Barry Freundel, 63, pleaded guilty in February to 52 misdemeanor counts of voyeurism. He admitted recording the women between March 2012 and September 2014 using devices installed in changing rooms.

 

The court decided to sentence him to 45 days in prison for each of the counts – a total of 2,340 days.

 

District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Geoffrey Alprin handed down the sentence before a packed courtroom after 18 victims gave emotional testimony about their experiences.

 

Prosecutors had sought a 17-year prison term, and Freundel's attorney had asked for a community service sentence.

 

"He lectured us about the evils of porn while turning us into his own porn stars," one victim told the court, choking back tears.

 

Another said she fell into a deep depression and began using drugs. "I fell off the edge of this earth," she said.

 

Rabbi Barry Freundel. 'He lectured us about the evils of porn while turning us into his own porn stars' (Photo: AP)
Rabbi Barry Freundel. 'He lectured us about the evils of porn while turning us into his own porn stars' (Photo: AP)

 

According to NBC, some of the victims had called him a "pervert" and a "predator" in impact statements given to prosecutors before the hearing. "He used his power over us at our most vulnerable," one said. "His manipulation was pre-meditated and calculating," said another.

 

Judge Alprin said there was no excuse for Freundel’s actions, which he called a "classic case of abuse of power and violation of trust," the Forward reported. "The defendant repeatedly and seriously violated the trust and abused his power. The conduct is despicable. There is no justification. The defendant lured victims to the mikvah and secretly recorded them undressed without their knowledge or permission."

 

One victim, Emma Shulevitz, said that when she went to the Capital Mikvah to convert to Judaism in 2012, Freundel told her not to put anything in front of the clock radio as she undressed, NBC reported. She said she felt betrayed after learning it contained a hidden camera.

 

"I feel violated," she said after the case came to light. "This is supposed to be between a woman and God, not between a woman and a rabbi."

 

Freundel was the head of the Kesher Israel synagogue, one of the US capital region's most prominent Orthodox congregations, for 25 years. He also held various academic positions, including as a lecturer at Washington's Georgetown University.

 

The recording devices were installed in the National Capital Mikvah, next to the Kesher synagogue. The mikveh, or ritual bath, is most often used as purification by people converting to Judaism and by Jewish women seven days after their menstrual cycle.

 

Prosecutors said at least 52 women were recorded nude or partly nude on 25 different dates.

 

Seven people spoke in Freundel's defense and asked for leniency. Several called him a changed man since his arrest and said he was inspiring and rehabilitated.

 

The rabbi himself said he was horrified and disgusted by what he did, and noted that he was seeing a psychotherapist to overcome his impulses.

"It tears my guts out to think of the innocent people I've traumatized," Freundel told the judge. "I am sorry."

 

Police began investigating the rabbi after a woman found a camera in a clock radio in a bathing area.

 

Prosecutors say Freundel recorded about 100 other women beginning in 2009, but that those cases fell outside the three-year statute of limitations.

 

They say he created an elaborate system to file and view the recordings, and also that he asked conversion candidates to do a "practice dunk" before the actual conversion, a practice not sanctioned in Jewish law.

 

Kesher Israel fired Freundel in December. The synagogue's congregants have included US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and former Connecticut US Senator Joe Lieberman.

 


פרסום ראשון: 05.19.15, 17:01
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