NEW YORK
Albany Times Union
By Robert Gavin
Updated 12:39 pm, Wednesday, December 26, 2012
ALBANY — A Loudonville rabbi who admitted having inappropriate physical contact with two 13-year-old boys in 2007 is being sued by their families for alleged sexual assault.
Yaakov Weiss, the founder of Chabad of Colonie and the Chabad Hebrew School, also is being sued for allegedly defaming the youths when he claimed the allegations were “100% untrue” and concocted by a rival, according to court papers reviewed by the Times Union. Weiss has since been suspended and is no longer affiliated with the Colonie Chabad.
The case is set for trial in Jan. 22 before state Supreme Court Justice Eugene “Gus” Devine, though it could be assigned to another judge.
Weiss complained about the civil lawsuit to a rabbinical tribunal in Rockland County, according to people with knowledge of the situation. That body could potentially excommunicate the parents of the victims for taking the matter outside a religious setting.
Weiss, now 32, was convicted of misdemeanor child endangerment in January 2010 when he admitted he knowingly had inappropriate physical contact with the boys separately while naked in a small pool, known as a mikvah, used for ritual purification.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.