"Scared" Victim of Alleged Perv Rabbi Testifies

By Jennifer Bain and Jose Martinez
New York Post
June 24, 2012

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/victim_of_alleged_perv_rabbi_testifies_mXZNfxvsRFqDOmKZLlaHTO?utm_medium=rss&utm_content=Brooklyn

A teenage boy faced off in court today with the rabbi he accused of molesting him when he was in first grade.

The 13-year-old boy testified that he was "scared" when Rabbi Joel Kolko glared at him and his dad on their way to synagogue - an encounter that now has the notorious Brooklyn rabbi on trial for allegedly violating an order of protection.

"When I crossed the street I turned around and saw him staring like this," the boy said, as he crossed his arms. "Staring at me and my father. I said... 'Why's he looking at me?'"

Kolko escaped sex-offender status by pleading guilty in 2008 to misdemeanor child endangerment of the boy and a first-grade classmate at a Flatbush yeshiva. The boys had accused him of touching their private parts.

The 66-year-old ultra-Orthodox rabbi was arrested again in November 2010 for allegedly leering at the boy and his dad.

"He was right near me," the young accuser said. "I got scared."

If convicted of criminal contempt, Kolko could get a year in jail.

A lawyer for Kolko has said there was "no glaring" and that the rabbi was only wishing the boy and his dad a good sabbath.