WASHINGTON (DC)
NBC Washington
A once-prominent Orthodox rabbi who admitted to secretly videotaping scores of women in a changing room at a Jewish ritual bath was sentenced to nearly six and a half years in prison Friday.
Rabbi Bernard “Barry” Freundel was sentenced in D.C. court Friday, after a long line of victims spoke against him, calling him a “pervert” and a “predator” in impact statements given to prosecutors before the sentencing.
Freundel was sentenced to 45 days on each of 52 counts of voyeurism.
“He used his power over us at our most vulnerable,” one said.
“His manipulation was pre-meditated and calculating,” said another.
“The defendant repeatedly and seriously violated the trust and abused his power,” Judge Geoffrey Alprin said. “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.”
The women were recorded while taking ritual baths associated with rites of family purity and conversion at the National Capital Mikvah, a ritual bathhouse affiliated with Freundel’s former synagogue in Georgetown.
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