June 4, 2007 -- State officials have slapped a self-styled psychotherapist to the Hasidic community with a $1,000 fine and probation after a judge found he extracted a phony "confession" from a father accused of sexually abusing his daughters.
William "Zev" Ballen of upstate Monsey, a licensed social worker who was reprimanded last year for calling himself a psychotherapist without a state psychotherapy degree, treated the father in 2005 after the dad agreed to counseling to help defuse his wife's accusations.
At the end of the sessions, the dad, Abraham Landau, a cook in the Hasidic community of Kiryas Joel, signed a statement admitting that he'd had sexual contact with his girls. But a family-court judge found the counseling sessions were a trap for Landau and dismissed the statement as not credible.
Judge Andrew Bivone said: "The statements made by Mr. Landau were as a result of the coercive impact of this 'investigation' in which all involved made it clear to Mr. Landau what he was required to admit."
Ballen later admitted to the charge of failing to keep records during the meetings with Landau in exchange for a fine and one year of probation.
"There has never been any filing with the disciplinary board in almost 30 years that questioned my competency or care for my clients," Ballen told The Post.
