BOSTON (MA)
The Raw Story
By Travis Gettys
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
A nationally known leader in Conservative Judaism is accused of misusing funds to pay off the brother of a teen he’d engaged in a sexual relationship.
Authorities said Rabbi Barry Starr paid up to $480,000 to a Massachusetts man who threatened to reveal his 16-year-old brother’s sexual relationship with the religious leader, reported the Boston Globe.
Starr, who resigned May 6, is accused of transferring money from the rabbi’s discretionary fund set up at Temple Israel of Sharon, which he led for 28 years.
Authorities said 29-year-old Nicholas Zemeitus, of Milton, threatened to expose the rabbi’s affair with his teen brother unless Starr paid him.
Zemeitus told police the rabbi suggested he alter checks written by elderly congregants to increase their value.
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