Rabbi Pleads Guilty to Voyeurism Charges
WBAL
A rabbi and suspended Towson University professor accused of secretly videotaping more than 150 women at a Jewish ritual bath at a Washington, D.C., synagogue pleaded guilty Thursday to dozens of counts against him. Jeffrey Harris, the attorney for Barry Freundel, told 11 News Thursday morning that his client would enter a guilty plea to 52 misdemeanor counts of voyeurism. Freundel entered his plea in Washington, D.C., Superior Court Thursday afternoon. Each count carries a maximum sentence of a year in prison and a fine of up to $1,000 or $2,500. Freundel faces a maximum of 52 years in prison along with potential fines when he is sentenced May 15. Freundel, 63, was arrested in October after a hidden camera disguised as a digital clock radio was discovered in the shower area of the National Capital Mikvah, a ritual cleansing bath affiliated with the Kesher Israel synagogue, where Freundel had worked as a rabbi for more than 25 years. Police said they initially found videos of six women entering and exiting the mikvah shower, and court documents showed that Freundel appeared on film setting up the recording device. A search of his home turned up other media storage devices. "Bernard Freundel exploited his position of power to victimize dozens of women who entered a sacred, intimate space of religious ritual," U.S. Attorney Machen said in a statement. "He betrayed the trust of every woman whose private moments he caught on camera, along with an entire community that counted on him for moral leadership. We hope that this guilty plea will allow each of his victims to move forward and heal. We will be seeking a prison sentence that reflects the gravity of this disturbing assault on the privacy and dignity of so many victims." The incidents were reported to have taken place between early 2009 and October 2014. Prosecutors said computer forensic examinations of all of the electronic devices and digital media storage devices seized from Freundel's home and office found recordings made by Freundel of at least 52 women who were totally or partially undressed in the large showering/changing room of the mikvah on 25 different dates between March 4, 2012, and Sept. 19, 2014. The women are the subjects of the charges to which Freundel pleaded guilty. The charge of voyeurism has a three-year statute of limitations. Prosecutors said that in addition to the 52 recordings that were the subject of the plea, computer forensic examinations revealed that Freundel secretly and surreptitiously recorded approximately 100 additional women totally or partially undressed before and/or after showering in the large bathroom at the National Capital Mikvah between 2009 and September 2014. The women did not know that they were being recorded and did not consent to being recorded. Freundel was fired from the synagogue after the investigation began. He has been on leave with pay as a professor at Towson University since October. Towson University released a statement Thursday afternoon, saying: "Dr. Freundel has been on leave with pay since the news first broke last October, per University System of Maryland policy. He has also been suspended from any and all faculty duties and responsibilities since that time. Now that he has been found guilty by the court, at some point, there will be a university administrative hearing to determine his permanent status. His current 'leave with pay' status is only temporary." At least a dozen students from Towson and at least one from Georgetown University have joined a class-action lawsuit against him in connection with the voyeurism charges.
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