‘Perv’ Rabbi: Chance Meet

By Jose Martinez
New York Post
June 24, 2012

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/perv_rabbi_chance_meet_Ed4PLTsvrbd7o5s4ZgnmhN

Even a rabbi who’s been accused of being a pervert can live wherever he darn well pleases.

A defense lawyer for Rabbi Joel Kolko insisted yesterday that his client did no wrong when he had an up-close encounter near his Brooklyn home with a 13-year-old boy he was barred from contacting.

“Is there anything in that order that directs Mr. Kolko to turn and run in the opposite direction if he sees [the alleged victim]?” lawyer Jeffrey Schwartz asked a state court clerk who was testifying about the order of protection.

“No,” said associate court clerk Peter Montella.

The boy and his dad got the order of protection in 2008 after accusing the ultra-Orthodox rabbi of being a child molester — allegations from 2006 that did not stick.

The 66-year-old rabbi faces up to a year behind bars if he is convicted of violating the five-year order of protection.