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Washington DC “Peeping Tom” Rabbi Pleads Guilty to Voyeurism

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Rabbi Barry Freundel, 62, the fallen spiritual leader of Washington, DC synagogue Kesher Israel pled guilty last week to 52 counts of misdemeanor voyeurism.

Rabbi Barry Freundel, 62, the fallen spiritual leader of Washington, DC synagogue Kesher Israel pleaded guilty last week to 52 counts of misdemeanor voyeurism.

The recent plea raises the possibility that Freundel could receive a maximum sentence of 52 years in prison and be compelled to pay hefty fines in the range of tens of thousands of dollars. Sentencing was postponed until May 15.

Freundel’s problems with the law began in October of 2014 when he was charged with clandestinely recording six women showering at his synagogue’s mikvah.

As was previously reported in The Jewish Voice, Rabbi Freundel had installed a clock radio with a hidden camera in the women’s showers of the congregation’s mikvah.

The leading Modern Orthodox rabbinical association admitted knowing in 2012 that Rabbi  Freundel acted inappropriately in his role overseeing conversions, but that it decided not to bar him from working with converts and did not make his synagogue aware.

On October 20, in a press release the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) said that in 2012 it discovered that Freundel had coerced conversion candidates to do clerical work at his home and make financial donations to his rabbinic court. Also, it had been revealed that he shared a checking account with a conversion candidate.

Until his arrest Freundel was on the RCA’s executive committee, but has since been suspended by the organization. The RCA announced in October of 2014 that all rabbinical courts under their auspices performing conversions will “appoint a woman (or group of women) to serve as ombudsman to receive the concerns of female candidates to conversion.”

Several weeks ago, authorities said that the number of women that Freundel had secretly recorded while showering had swelled to over 150, rather than the six that were originally reported in October.

The afternoon hearing was moved to a larger courtroom that could accommodate the number of victims, according to a JTA report.

JTA also reported that during the hearing, Freundel appeared red-faced, kept his head bowed low and made no eye contact with the more than a dozen victims who packed the second-floor courtroom. He wore a black fur hat, a black rumpled and dirty suit, a black-and-gray tie and a black-and-gray kippah.”

The plea deal that Freundel agreed to was detailed in a letter from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia to Freundel’s victims. A copy of the letter was obtained by the Washington Jewish Week.

Judge Geoffrey Alprin released Freundel on his own recognizance after gaining assurances that Freundel would not flee the jurisdiction prior to sentencing in May.

“Rabbi Freundel’s plea today in Superior Court is the first step in achieving justice for his victims,” said David Haynes, the managing attorney at the Cochran Firm in Washington, one of the firms handling civil litigation.

“I didn’t expect it to be over. I am glad it is,” said Jeffrey Shulevitz, the husband of Emma Shulevitz, one of Freundel’s victims. “The rabbi was a brilliant man, and he used it to harm people instead of making the world a better place.”

The synagogue and the mikvah issued statements following the plea hearing.

“Despite this great betrayal by Rabbi Freundel and our communal pain, we have seen a community that has come together and whose members have leaned on one another for support,” Kesher Israel said. “As we move forward, we will continue to grow stronger and are committed to ensuring that our community remains a warm, welcoming, and safe place to gather, worship, and learn.”

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