CHICAGO (IL)
Haaretz
A Chicago rabbi was found guilty on Monday of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy in 2006.
Rabbi Aryeh “Larry” Dudovitz assaulted the boy when he was supposed to be counseling the teenager for questioning his Orthodox Jewish faith, Cook County Judge Evelyn Clay ruled Monday in the bench trial, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Judge Clay found Dudovitz guilty “after roughly two hours of testimony,” DNAinfo reported, and “ordered electronic monitoring for Dudovitz pending sentencing.” She also said Dudovitz is required to surrender his passport. Post-trial motions, which could include sentencing, are slated for mid-December.
The boy, now 22, had seen Dudovitz as a father figure, he said in 2013. He was initially reluctant to come forward due to, he says, his Orthodox community.
He told that court “I grew up with no sexual education at all — none whatsoever,” he testified of his insular Orthodox community, which did not urge him to come forward with allegations of abuse. “… It wasn’t spoken of and, unfortunately, it still isn’t,” the Chicago Tribune reported.
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