Alleged Mikvah Voyeur Rabbi Barry Freundel Due In Court Today

By Shmarya Rosenberg
Failed Messiah
November 12, 2014

http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2014/11/alleged-voyeur-rabbi-barry-freundel-due-in-court-today-456.html

Freundel, who allegedly secretly videoed naked women as they prepared to immerse in the mikvah (ritual bath) adjacent to the Kesher Israel Modern Orthodox synagogue he headed in the Georgetown neighborhood of the nation’s capital, was arrested last month and charged with six counts of misdemeanor voyeurism. According to a report in the Washington Post, each count carries a possible one-year sentence, meaning Freundel faces as much as six years in prison.

However, Freundel will likely face additional charges and, depending what evidence police forensic teams have been able to find, he could even face federal charges that carry very long sentences.

It is also possible that prosecutors will allow Freundel to enter special treatment program in lieu of a prison sentence.

Freundel has been suspended without pay from Kesher Israel. He is also suspended from his teaching job at Towson University in Maryland. Freundel allegedly encourage many of his female students to take practice dunks in his mikavh. If they were secretly videoed by Freundel, that would likely allow federal criminal charges to be brought against him.

Update 11:08 am CST – Prosecutors are reportedly working with Freundel's lawyers to craft a plea bargain, and his next court date is January 16, the Washington Jewish Week tweeted. And no new charges have been added – supposedly because prosecutors are still trying to identify victims on the video recordings, WTOP tweeted. (This is very unlikely. Identifiying the victims should be very easy.)

Meanwhile, attorneys for potential victims oppose any plea deal and are now considering a lawsuit against the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA), Fox 5 News' Melanie Alnwick tweeted. Freundel was top RCA rabbi who headed its  committee that wrote the organizations conversion to Judaism standards and practices. The RCA was repeatedly informed of misbehavior ny Freundel that fell short of his alleged mikvah voyeurism. But each time, the RCA failed to act to publicly reprimand Freundel or strip him of his membership.

A lawyer for victims said Freundel "shouldn't be called rabbi" should face felonies, not misdemeanors, CBS Baltimore tweeted.