WASHINGTON (DC)
Failed Messiah
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Alleged voyeur Rabbi Barry Freundel has a court date in Washington, DC this morning.
Freundel, who allegedly secretly videoed naked women as they prepared to immerse in the mikvah (ritual bath) adjacent to the Kesher Israel Modern Orthodox synagogue he headed in the Georgetown neighborhood of the nation’s capital, was arrested last month and charged with six counts of misdemeanor voyeurism. According to a report in the Washington Post, each count carries a possible one-year sentence, meaning Freundel faces as much as six years in prison.
However, Freundel will likely face additional charges and, depending what evidence police forensic teams have been able to find, he could even face federal charges that carry very long sentences.
It is also possible that prosecutors will allow Freundel to enter special treatment program in lieu of a prison sentence.
Freundel has been suspended without pay from Kesher Israel. He is also suspended from his teaching job at Towson University in Maryland. Freundel allegedly encourage many of his female students to take practice dunks in his mikavh. If they were secretly videoed by Freundel, that would likely allow federal criminal charges to be brought against him.
Update 11:08 am CST – Prosecutors are reportedly working with Freundel’s lawyers to craft a plea bargain, and his next court date is January 16, the Washington Jewish Week tweeted. And no new charges have been added – supposedly because prosecutors are still trying to identify victims on the video recordings, WTOP tweeted. (This is very unlikely. Identifiying the victims should be very easy.)
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