WINNIPEG (CANADA)
CBC News
February 20, 2018
By Kristin Annable
A warrant for Rabbi Yacov Simmonds’s arrest was issued in October
A rabbi well known in Winnipeg’s Jewish community has been on the lam since October after being charged with sexual assault, sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching, CBC News has learned.
Police believe that Rabbi Yacov Simmonds, 42, has been hiding out somewhere in the United States after a warrant was issued for his arrest on three counts of sexual assault, three counts of sexual interference and two counts of invitation to sexual touching.
“We believe this individual has fled to the United States. Yacov Simmonds is aware of the warrant and we feel he is actively evading police,” Winnipeg police spokesman Const. Jay Murray told CBC News.
“We have spoken to this individual … and for that reason, we know this individual is aware there is a warrant.”
Simmonds had been terminated the previous year as the director of development at Chabad-Lubavitch of Winnipeg — the local branch of a larger Orthodox Jewish movement — when police first began their investigation in May of 2017.
It is still an ongoing, active investigation so police could offer few details on the matter. They could not comment on what efforts have been made to locate Simmonds, whether police had made contact with authorities in the United States, or further details on the alleged victims.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.