Detailed Rape Suit against Connecticut Rabbi

By Nick Rummell
Courthouse News Service
May 4, 2016

http://www.courthousenews.com/2016/05/03/detailed-rape-suit-against-connecticut-rabbi.htm

A prominent Connecticut rabbi raped and sodomized a teenage boy at the yeshiva where he was principal dozens of times over a four-year period, the former student claims in a federal complaint.

Now a resident of New Jeresy, Eliyahu Mirlis says the abuse began in 2002 when he was a 15-year-old sophomore boarding at the Gan School in New Haven.

Along with Rabbi Daniel Greer, The school and its yeshiva are also named as defendants in the suit.

Mirlis says Greer was in his 60s hen he "forced the minor Eli to engage in acts of sex with him, including forced fellatio, anal sex, fondling, and masturbation."

Greer frequently plied Mirlis with alcohol before raping him and occasionally showed him pornographic films, the complaint states.

At one time, Greer was on the board of police commissioners for the New Haven police department. The New Haven police department is reportedly investigating the allegations.

Mirlis, now 28, alleges "dozens and dozens" of such encounters, each "lasting on average from one to four hours, and sometimes all night."

The rapes took place in various locations, the lawsuit states, from Greer's private residence on campus to motels around the state and even in rental properties in New Haven owned and managed by the school.

Mirlis says senior administrators at the school knew about the rapes and did nothing. They also did not report the alleged rapes to state officials, which is required by law.

"The school employed a pedophile, and allowed that pedophile free reign to gratify his perverse sexual desires by molesting a young, vulnerable boy in the school's care and custody," according to the lawsuit.

"The harm inflicted on Eli has severely interfered with his ability to enter into and maintain physical, sexual, and emotional relationships," the lawsuit continues.

Mirlis also alleges that Greer molested at least one other boy at the school, though that individual is neither named nor a plaintiff in the suit.

"There have been rumors flying for a very long time" about Greer, said Mirlis' attorney, Antonio Ponvert III of the Koskov Kosvov & Bieder law firm.

As with other sex-abuse victims who delay in bringing action, Mirlis hesitated in coming forward because Greer was like a father figure and very charismatic, Ponvert noted.

"There came a time came in his [Mirlis'] life where he saw the harm being done and did not want the weight of this abuse to affect his current relationship with his wife and children," Ponvert said in an interview. "He chose to come forward publicly with his own name to announce to the community that this is what happened."

Mirlis is open to working with authorities but has not sought criminal charges yet, Ponvert said.

Greer is still listed as the rabbi on the Yeshiva's website, which names Sarah Greer as the principal of the Yeshiva's elementary school. It is unknown if she is related to Daniel Greer.

The Yeshiva's website boasts of a strict orthodox curriculum that take place in classes with no more than eight students, and claims "studies are supplemented by an exciting array of extra-curricular events."

Calls to the Gan School, which went to voicemail, were not immediately returned. Greer's lawyer, William Ward, issued a statement asking why Mirlis waited 15 years to come forward with the allegations through a civil suit seeking damages, instead of through the police.

Calling it "a difficult time for my client and his family," Ward also noted that Greer had been asked to serve as a witness at Mirlis' wedding, delivered the principal address at the memorial service for Mirlis' father, and had been invited to the weddings of Mirlis' two sisters in March and April of last year.

"Ask yourself why Mr. Mirlis, well into his adulthood, repeatedly honored the man he now accuses," Ward said.

Ponvert acknowledged that Greer was invited to the sisters' weddings but said his client's family, who at the time did not know about the allegations, sent the invites.

"It is not evidence that he didn't do the things he's being accused of doing," Ponvert said in an interview. "If that's your excuse for having sex with a little boy, that you were invited to his sisters' weddings, please say that to a jury. ... Please make that the centerpiece of your defense."