NEW YORK
The Journal News
Jonathan Bandler, jbandler@lohud.com May 3, 2016
A video “similar in nature” to the one posted on the Internet this weekend showing a Kiryas Joel principal in close physical contact with a young boy was investigated months ago but did not result in criminal charges, state police said Tuesday.
The new video has sparked an investigation by state police, Orange County prosecutors and the county’s Child Abuse Unit amid claims from anti-abuse activists that it was posted online because school officials and law enforcement authorities had done nothing regarding complaints about the principal’s behavior.
The posting of the video came just before Tuesday’s start of a two-day lobbying effort in Albany by child abuse victims and their advocates to get state lawmakers to finally pass the Child Victims Act, which would end the state’s statute of limitations for civil claims by those sexually abused as children.
New York State police Major Joseph Tripodo, commander of Troop F in Middletown, said the current investigation began early Monday after state police were notified of a complaint to the child abuse hotline in Albany.
He said the caller was from out of state and reported that a young boy had been abused at the Kiryas Joel school, United Talmudical Academy. That led police to the video that was posted first on WhatsApp over the weekend and had been viewed more than 20,000 times on Facebook by Monday afternoon.
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