NEW YORK
Gothamist
This week, Nechemya Weberman—the ultra-Orthodox Jewish counselor who was found guilty of sexually abusing a teen girl in Brooklyn starting when she was 12—will finally be sentenced. Weberman, 54, was found guilty of 59 counts of sexual abuse after a long trial that included illegal courtroom photos, bleach attacks, and damning testimonies. Now, the News reports that Weberman allegedly sexually abused at least 10 more teens and married women who he counseled.
The News says the stories of the other woman who were allegedly abused by him matches up with that of the now 17-year-old woman who testified against him in court for four harrowing days in November. That woman had been forced by her school to meet with Weberman, who is not a licensed therapist, for counseling after she started questioning the strict rules of her ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Satmar sect.
Other women, who told the News they were sexually abused by Weberman, said they were too afraid of retribution from the community to speak out. He allegedly told one young victim, “That ‘I learned Kabbalah and we were a couple in another incarnation,’ ” said a friend of the woman. Rabbi Yakov Horowitz, who runs a Jewish youth program, said he had heard stories like that before from young women who had been sent to meet with Weberman: “The intimate acts he was performing were intended as a form of repentance for sins committed in their previous lifetimes,” said Horowitz.
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