Rabbi Admits to Sex Abuse of Students in 1970s

San Francisco Chronicle
August 1, 2012

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Rabbi-admits-to-sex-abuse-of-students-in-1970s-3754403.php

BOSTON (AP) — Authorities say a rabbi admitted to sexually abusing three students while working in the Boston area as a religious teacher in the 1970s.

Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley said Stanley Levitt's trial on four counts of indecent assault and battery on a child was set to begin when the defendant pleaded guilty on Wednesday.

A judge is scheduled to sentence Levitt on Thursday.

Prosecutors say the 66-year-old Philadelphia man lived in Boston and worked in Brookline when he abused three boys in his care.

A grand jury indicted him in 2009 after two victims disclosed Levitt assaulted them in 1975 while they were his students. A third victim later came forward.

Authorities say Levitt assaulted one of the victims in a Boston hospital room while visiting after the boy hurt his hand in an accident.

Two assaults to another victim happened at Levitt's Boston home while that boy's parents were out of town for the weekend, according to prosecutors.

Another victim's assault also took place at the rabbi's home while he was there for a sleepover, the district attorney's office said.

Conley called the defendant's plea proof that the men who shared their secrets about being abused as sixth-graders were telling the truth.

"This is a victory not just for the victims in this case, but for every person who suffered abuse at the hands of a trusted adult," the district attorney said in a statement.

Levitt's attorney couldn't be reached by phone Wednesday.