Hasidic Child Molester Rabbi Baruch Lebovits Free

By Shmarya Rosenberg
Failed Messiah
September 30, 2014

http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2014/09/child-molester-rabbi-baruch-lebovits-free-345.html

Rabbi Baruch Lebovits, perhaps Brooklyn’s most notorious hasidic child molester, walked out of prison a free man last night after serving less than three months in prison.

Rabbi Baruch Lebovits, perhaps Brooklyn’s most notorious hasidic child molester, walked out of prison a free man last night after serving less than three months in prison.

Lebovits was originally convicted for molestation and sentenced to up to 32 years in prison, but that conviction was overturned on appeal after the then-Brooklyn DA Charles J. Hynes indicted Samuel Kellner, another Brooklyn hasid, for alleged extortion of Lebovits and for attempting to bring a false witnesses to testify against him.

The charges against Kellner were eventually shown to be trumped up and the DA’s conduct in the case was exposed for what it truly was – unethical and likely illegal – not surprising because the tainted and often false evidence against Kellner came from Lebovits’ family and his attorneys, Alan Dershowitz and Arthur Aidala.

Nevertheless, Lebovits was still free pending a new trial.

A Brooklyn judge gave Lebovits a two-year plea deal that, with time already served from the original conviction, saw Lebovits serve only about three months in prison. He walked free last night.

He was released from the Rikers Island jail after doing the absolute minimum time allowed and being credited for good behavior.

Despite much clear, hard evidence against him, Lebovits’ family still maintains his innocence.

"We thank God. The charges and proceedings in the case were trumped up by individuals for their own monetary gains,” the family said in a statement reported by the New York Daily News.

Local anti-abuse activists, however, believe Lebovits is a serial molester with more victims.

Even so, and despite the fact that many hasidic rabbis know of many of these victims, Lebovits retained the support of the hasidic rabbinic establishment throughout the years his latest case wound through the courts.

He was designated a level-2 sex offender.

Despite clear evidence that Sam Kellner should never have been charged and that much of the evidence against him was fabricated, current Brooklyn DA Kenneth Thompson has failed to bring charges against those who allegedly fabricated it.