Orthodox Jew sex abuser gets 2 years in jail

By Josh Saul
New York Post
July 9, 2014

http://nypost.com/2014/07/09/orthodox-jew-sex-abuser-sentenced-to-jail-again/

Baruch Lebovits was sentenced to jail Wednesday on charges of sexual abuse.

The victim of an Orthodox Jewish sex abuser tore into his attacker Wednesday as the pervert was sentenced to two years behind bars.

“He still wouldn’t apologize to me in person. He never apologized to me,” the teen, who is now in his 20s and had a therapy dog with him in court, said in Brooklyn Supreme Court before Baruch Lebovits, 62, was sentenced.

Lebovits pleaded guilty in May 2014 to engaging in oral sex with the then-teenage boy on eight different occasions in 2004 and 2005.

The sex abuser didn’t speak in court except to thank Judge Mark Dwyer, who acknowledged the high-profile nature of the case.

“I know this is a controversial case. I know this is a community that’s badly split,” said Dwyer.

“We’re all Americans and this American court is going to treat everybody the same.”

The case against Lebovits became a political hot potato in the 2013 race for Brooklyn district attorney when then-DA candidate Ken Thompson sent then-DA Charles Hynes a letter in November asking that no plea deal be given to Lebovits before Thompson took office.

Lebovits was convicted in 2010 of the same charges he pleaded guilty to Friday and sentenced to 32 years behind bars before that conviction was overturned in 2012.

The deal gives Lebovits two years in a city jail, but because defendants typically serve just eight months on a one-year jail sentence — and because Lebovits already served 13 months behind bars — he’ll likely only do about three months in a city jail.

Lebovits was ruled a Level 2 sex offender before he was led out of court in cuffs.