Yeshiva Teacher Admits to Sexually Abusing Boy

JTA
May 13, 2013

http://www.jta.org/2013/05/13/news-opinion/united-states/yeshiva-teacher-admits-to-sexually-abusing-boy

A former counselor at a summer camp run by a yeshiva in Lakewood, N.J., admitted three days into his trial to sexually abusing a boy.

Yosef Kolko, 39, made the admission on Monday after two more victims, a male and a female, came forward, the Asbury Park Press reported.

Kolko pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault, attempted aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault and child endangerment. His bail was revoked.

He admitted to committing the sexual assaults on the boy while he was a counselor at a camp run by the Yeshiva Bais Hatorah School.

Kolko was accused of sexually abusing the boy when he was 11 and 12 in 2008 and 2009. The boy and his family have since moved to Michigan.

Kolko’s attorney, Michael Bachner, said his client was “extremely remorseful,” apologizes to the victim and hopes after treatment “to return to society as a benefit to it,” The Associated Press reported.

Kolko, also a teacher at Yeshiva Orchos Chaim in Lakewood, could be sentenced to up to 40 years in prison, but state Superior Court Judge Francis Hodgson has said he would consider no more than 15 years, according to the Asbury Park Press.

Before sentencing, Kolko will be evaluated at the state Corrections Department’s Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in the Avenel section of Woodbridge to determine if he is a repetitive and compulsive sexual offender, according to the newspaper.