ב"ה אנדעקט דעם עלילת דם קעגין ר' ברוך מרדכי לעבאוויטש

Brooklyn man testifies Rabbi Baruch Lebovitz molested him as teenager
BY Scott Shifrel
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Originally Published:Wednesday, March 3rd 2010, 3:31 PM
Updated: Wednesday, March 3rd 2010, 3:31 PM



In a halting voice, a 22-year-old man on Wednesday accused a Brooklyn rabbi of repeatedly molesting him when he was a teenager.

Supporters of Rabbi Baruch Lebovits packed the courtroom as the accuser took the witness stand to describe a series of assaults in a car between 2004 and 2005.

"Did he say anything?" Assistant District Attorney Miss Gregory asked.

"He said something but I don't remember," murmured the young man, dressed in jeans, white shirt, tie and a yarmulke on shoulder-length black scraggly hair.

He spoke so softly and with such hesitation that Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Patricia DiMango repeatedly asked him to speak up.

"How did you feel?" Gregory asked of the alleged attacks.

"Very uncomfortable and confused," he said.

He sat less than 20 feet from Lebovits, 59, who was surrounded by supporters.

The rabbi, who owns a Borough Park travel agency, faces up to seven years in prison if convicted of a criminal sexual act in the second-degree.

He's also awaiting trial on charges of molesting two others.

The man accusing him yesterday admitted he was in rehab for heroin and crack addiction that began after the incidents.

"It's a shame to talk about it and I have low self-esteem," he said, explaining to jurors why he didn't lodge charges until he'd left the Hasidic community.

Lebovits' lawyer hammered him in opening statements, calling him a con man with a history of drugs, crime and missed court dates.

"You're going to be sold a bill of goods," lawyer Arthur Aidala said, claiming the accuser intends to sue his client. "This is a con man that's going to take the stand.

"There's no video,
there's no eyewitness,
no DNA, there's no fingerprints...
That evidence doesn't exist
because all these acts Miss Gregory described didn't happen."

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Brooklyn Rabbi Baruch Lebovits convicted in sex assault on boy, faces decades behind bars
BY Scott Shifrel
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Tuesday, March 9th 2010, 4:00 AM

A Brooklyn rabbi faces decades behind bars - and sentencing on the eve of Passover - after a jury quickly convicted him of sexually assaulting a teenage boy.

Rabbi Baruch Lebovits showed no reaction as Brooklyn Supreme Court jurors found him guilty on eight of 10 counts after three hours of deliberations.

"Thank God, justice is served," the victim's father said in the packed courtroom
as Lebovits family members wiped tears from their eyes.

"This makes a statement to the Jewish community," said Beth Kaplan of the group Sacred Lives, one of several advocates who sat through the week-long trial.

"There is denial. The majority of the Orthodox community doesn't believe this can happen. Here we see it can happen."

There was no physical evidence,
and the accuser was a recovering drug addict and a thief -
points defense lawyer Arthur Aidala hammered home.

He claimed the victim was trying to shake down Lebovits, who owned a Borough Park travel agency - and said a detective withheld a document showing the victim had talked about being paid off.

Lebovits, who still faces charges he molested two other minors, could get up to four years on each count.
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Rabbi Baruch Lebovits is sentenced to 10 2/3 to 32 years in prison for molesting teen
BY Scott Shifrel
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Originally Published:Monday, April 12th 2010, 2:09 PM
Updated: Monday, April 12th 2010, 2:40 PM

A Brooklyn rabbi convicted of molesting a teenage boy was sentenced to the Monday to the maximum - 10-2/3 to 32 years in prison.

Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Patricia DiMango gave Rabbi Baruch Lebovits consecutive sentences for eight sexual abuse counts.

"It is important for the courts to send a clear message that abusing and harming children will not be tolerated," she told a courtroom packed with Lebovits' supporters and victim advocates.

Asked whether he wanted to address the court, Lebovits said: "No thanks."

His lawyer called Lobovits a "saint" and asked the judge to set aside the verdict,
 claiming the allegations were just a shakedown for cash.

The lawyer, Arthur Aidala, he charged that the teen's family didn't press charges
until the rabbi's son, in Israel, got rich.

"They came forward when his son Chaim hit the lottery and became a multimillionaire," Aidala said.

A jury found Lebovits guilty 
The victim, who is now 22, said he was relieved at the outcome of the case.

"My experience here has given me hope and optimism I thought was lost forever," he said in court.

"Every day Baruch Lebovits is in prison is a day that kids in our community are safe from him."

Several advocates said the harsh sentence will send a message to the Orthodox Jewish community where, they say, frank discussion of abuse is rare.

"It's not going to change overnight," said Beth Kaplan, director of Sacred Lives. "The sense of denial in this community is starting to stop.

"The Jewish community at large needs to hear the message, accept the message and understand the message: this happens all the time and it needs to stop happening."
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