MASSACHUSETTS
Wicket Local
A Norfolk County Superior Court judge agreed to dismiss one charge of larceny against former Temple Israel Rabbi Barry Starr and continue the embezzlement charge for a year without a finding, meaning it will likely be dismissed if Starr stays out of trouble during that time.
By Neal Simpson
The Patriot Ledger
SHARON – Once the venerated rabbi of Temple Israel of Sharon, Barry Starr now drives a cab in a Cleveland suburb and lives in a rooming house. He is divorced from his wife, estranged from his daughter and has “minimal contact” with his son.
That was the picture Starr’s attorneys painted this week as they tried to convince a Norfolk Superior Court judge to stop short of finding Starr guilty of embezzling some $360,000 from the synagogue even though the former rabbi admitted that prosecutors had sufficient evidence for such a finding.
The judge on Friday agreed, dismissing one charge of larceny and continuing the embezzlement charge for a year without a finding, meaning it will likely be dismissed if Starr stays out of trouble during that time.
The decision could bring to a close a scandal complete with threats of blackmail, pilfered congregational donation and false allegations of child molestation that exposed the congregation of Temple Israel to unwanted national attention and decimated Starr’s rabbinical career, which included 28 years at the Sharon synagogue. Temple Israel ended up losing some $67,000 to Starr’s embezzlement, but prosecutors wrote in a court filing this month that “the greatest harm it incurred was that it was thrust into a spotlight through no fault of its own.”
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