Investigators Set up Hotline for Potential Voyeurism Victims of Georgetown Rabbi

DCist
October 28, 2014

http://dcist.com/2014/10/mpd_sets_up_hotline_for_potential_victims.php

Authorities investigating Barry Freundel, the Rabbi at Georgetown's Kesher Israel synagogue, accused of voyeurism, have set up a hotline number and email for any potential victims to come forward.

The Post reports that Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier said today that "the investigation is expected to take a long time as forensic experts comb through computer storage devices seized in the case." Freundel was arrested on October 14 after it was discovered that he had set up hidden cameras in a room where people change and shower in preparation for a mikveh. The number that the U.S. Attorney's Office has set up is 202-252-7585, and an email address has also been set up.

Police found images of at least six members of Freundel's congregation and has been charged on six counts of voyeurism. Since then, the Rabbinical Council of America released reports of past allegations against Freundel, including conversion candidates who felt "coerced to perform clerical work for him in his home office (there is no office at the synagogue) and to contribute financially," as well as a trip Freundel took to Chicago in a sleeper train with a woman who was not his wife.

Meanwhile, one of Freundel's alleged victims—a 22-year-old George Washington University graduate student—has spoken out, writing an op-ed about her experiences with Freundel in The Jewish Week. In it, she details conversations with Freundel she had that made her uncomfortable:

Over the period of my conversion process, Rabbi Freundel would remark in various conversations that I was a young, attractive female, especially during times I mentioned I was in no rush to get married. I went to several congregants with my concerns but they dismissed them. Eventually it got to the point where I kept my meetings with him brief. I would just simply tell him I was observing and studying as I should, and then just leave. Even attending services on Shabbat I kept brief. I went to pray and avoided associating with other congregants during social activities afterwards. Not only did I feel uncomfortable with him; I felt uncomfortable being in a community where the majority of the congregation seemed to follow him without question.

Freundel is set to appear in court again on November 12.