WASHINGTON (DC)
Religion News Service
Lauren Markoe | May 15, 2015
WASHINGTON (RNS) A D.C. Superior Court judge on Friday (May 15) sentenced a prominent Orthodox rabbi to nearly 6 1/2 years in prison for secretly videotaping dozens of naked women in a mikvah, or Jewish ritual bath.
Rabbi Barry Freundel pleaded guilty in February to 52 counts of voyeurism, one for each of the 52 women who prosecutors said were the victims of Freundel’s spying with a hidden camera during the three years for which the statute of limitations applies.
“The defendant repeatedly and seriously violated the trust and abused his power,” Judge Geoffrey Alprin said Friday, according to news reports. “The conduct is despicable. There is no justification. The defendant lured victims to the mikvah and secretly recorded them undressed without their knowledge or permission.”
Freundel’s attorney had asked for a sentence of community service, saying that the rabbi’s career and reputation had been destroyed and that he was in intensive therapy to combat his voyeurism. Prosecutors, meanwhile, had asked for 17 years behind bars.
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