NEW JERSEY
USA Today
Wayne Parry, Associated Press 11:34 a.m. EDT October 17, 2013
TOMS RIVER, N.J. (AP) — A former New Jersey yeshiva teacher who admitted sexually assaulting a young boy wants to withdraw his guilty plea, saying he was pressured by members of his Orthodox Jewish community to take responsibility for something he didn’t do.
Yosef Kolko said in court papers that members of the Lakewood community carried out an unrelenting campaign to get him to plead guilty and to spare the community negative publicity. He claims they showed him YouTube videos “of how inmates kill people in jail for being molesters in order to pressure me into taking a plea and avoiding trial.”
“If not for the extreme pressure by members of my community, I would not have pled guilty as charged,” he said. “I reject plea bargains offered by the state because I am innocent of the crimes alleged.”
Prosecutors said the boy’s family was ostracized by the community for pursuing the case in state court instead of letting religious leaders deal with it. The boy’s father, a prominent rabbi, lost his job and the family moved to Michigan.
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