Pressure Builds on O.U. Ahead of Rabbi's Sex Abuse Trial

Pressure Builds on O.U. Ahead of Rabbi's Sex Abuse TrialBy Nacha Catton
Forward - April 26, 2002

With the sex abuse trial of former Orthodox Union youth group leader Rabbi Baruch Lanner set to start June 3, alleged victims are claiming that the organization has not done enough to address the scandal.

Several of Lanner's alleged victims say the O.U. has yet to apologize officially or accept blame for failing to remove Lanner, who allegedly abused dozens of young people over a 30-year period as the director of regions of the union's National Conference of Synagogue Youth.

They are also calling on the O.U. to announce publicly that it will, regardless of the outcome of Lanner's legal trial, stand by the conclusions of a special commission appointed by the organization which determined that Lanner had been sexually, physically and emotionally "abusive."

The union was generally praised for the recent appointment of Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb as the its top professional and for several recent reorganizational steps. But with the national media often invoking the Lanner case in their reports on the spreading sexual abuse and cover-up scandal in the Catholic Church, several critics claim that the organization still seems more worried about protecting its reputation than in making redress to current youth group members and Lanner's alleged victims.

"The O.U. is more concerned with being sued than with any sense of justice or decency or caring about the victims," said Marcie Lenk, a doctoral candidate in religion at Harvard University. Lenk alleges that when she was a teenager active in NCSY in New Jersey, Lanner constantly made lewd comments to her, and would rub up against her while they passed through doorways.

"The O.U. should be saying, 'The trial is irrelevant,'" said Rabbi Yosef Blau, spiritual counselor to students at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary at Yeshiva University. "They should say, 'We accept the report. We recognize all these people are victims and whatever happens in this trial will not change the fact that this man will have nothing to do with Jewish children.'"

In response to the complaints, O.U. President Harvey Blitz said, "I have apologized on behalf of myself and the organization many times. Maybe I haven't captured the right words, but I've tried to convey a deep felt sorrow and regret over what happened. We should have responded to what we knew quicker and more firmly as an organization. We have organizational responsibility for what happened."

Richard Joel, chair of the special commission and an outspoken critic of the way the O.U. initially handled the scandal, came to the organization's defense.

"The O.U. is really en route to taking serious steps to see that [such abuses] do not recur. I don't think there should be any fear that Baruch Lanner will be back at work at the O.U. or anywhere else," said Joel, who is also president and international director of Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life. "I made a statement a few months ago that I'm impatient, but I know what it takes to evolve a culture of an organization, and I think they should be given an opportunity to move to their next step."

Lanner, who resigned from NCSY in 2001, has pleaded innocent to charges that he fondled two female students while principal of Hillel Yeshiva in Monmouth County, N.J.

Several alleged victims and their supporters worry that if Lanner is acquitted in the trial, which focuses only on the charges brought by the two girls, he will challenge the findings of the O.U. commission, which stated that Lanner "engaged in a pattern of inappropriate and abusive behavior (emotional, physical, and sexual) towards a number of NCSY students." Critics want the O.U. to state publicly that it will stand by the commission's report even if Lanner is found not guilty.

Asked whether the O.U. should make such a statement, Joel said, "Frankly, I think it's important to distance the way the Jewish community deals with the issue of Jewish education from the particulars of the trial involving Baruch Lanner."

Critics of the O.U. say that fears of potential lawsuits have prevented the organization from issuing an adequate apology and accepting responsibility for the scandal.

"Their general apologies are very carefully worded so as not to presume any guilt on their part," Lenk said. "Many people are still in power in the O.U. who were vehicles through whom Lanner was able to hurt people."

"There may be lawsuits to force them to take responsibility," Lenk said. Asked if she plans to sue, Lenk said, "We'll see."

Weinreb, the O.U.'s executive vice president, told the Forward that his organization is committed to following the commission's recommendation regardless of the court's verdict. "The Lanner trial, whatever its outcome, will not affect our commitment to zero tolerance of any kind of abuse," Weinreb said. "We stand by the commission report."

But another of Lanner's alleged victims, Elie Hiller, from the northern New Jersey township of Teaneck, is not impressed with the steps taken by the O.U.

"There are a lot of apologetic words but no accountability for their actions and inactions," Hiller said, referring to public apologies from Blitz.

In one letter sent by O.U. to complainants who spoke with the special commission, the organization stated, "We apologize from the depths of our hearts and souls. And as an expression of this regret, we pledge to attempt to learn from the past."

Hiller derided the apology as insufficient. "That's like me hitting you over the head with a baseball bat and saying I'm sorry you're hurt instead of I'm sorry I harmed you," Hiller said.

Several of the commission recommendations have already been implemented, including the appointment of a neutral ombudsman and ombudswoman to receive complaints of abuse. Local commissions are being established to give parents a greater say in how the youth group is run and group leaders have been receiving training in a variety of areas related to abuse prevention.

But Blau has already called into question the neutrality of the newly appointed ombudswoman. Blau complained that she previously worked as a school psychologist at Manhattan Day School under Rabbi David Kaminetsky, who was the principal at the time and is now the national director of NCSY.

Kaminetsky responded: "She's absolutely independent. There's no relationship now. I have 30 years of experience in the field and contact with many other people. We chose her because we knew she could do the job."

Also see:

• Case of Rabbi Baruch Lanner

Case of Murray Massover

Case of Murray Massover

Retired - New Rochelle, NY
Manager - Door Store
Manager - Malca Amit Insurance Brokerage, New Rochelle, NY
General Manger - Brink's, Inc., New Rochelle, NY
Student - Roger Williams University, Bristol, CT
Student (Class of 1967) - Hope High School, Hope, North Dakota

Pleaded guilty to attempted dissemination of indecent materials to minors, a felony, in connection with the ongoing Internet "sex sting" operation run by Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro.

Michael Spingarn and Murray Massover, both 53, had a series of sexually explicit online conversations with someone they believed to be 14 years old. The "teenager" was actually an investigator with Pirro's office. The men were arrested when they showed up to meet the "teenager" at a prearranged spot.

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Table of Contents:

1986

1. Missing Va. Broker Had $500,000, Reports Say  (03/05/1986)

1998

1. Warwick   (03/05/1998)

1999

1. Obituaries  (07/26/1999)
2. Murray Massover Age: 48 Status: Former staff and Member of the Alumni Association (1999)

2002

1. 2 more arrests made in Internet pedophile sting   (04/22/2002)
2. New Rochelle man caught in Internet sting   (04/25/2002)
3. 2 plead guilty in D.A.'s Internet pedophile sting (08/15/2002)

2003

1. New Age for an Ancient Rite  (02/09/2003)

Also see: 

• Case of Michael Spingarn

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Missing Va. Broker Had $500,000 Report Says
By Donald P. Baker Washington Post Staff Writer

Washington Post - March 5, 1986

RICHMOND, March 4-Clyde B. Pitchford Jr. called his secretary from New York just before he disappeared last month and said he was shipping a $500,000 cash loan to Richmond by armored truck, according to a source close to the investigation of Pitchford, who is being sought on embezzlement charges.

The missing stockbroker asked his personal secretary, Karen White, to "meet a Brink's truck at the bank and make sure there was enough room in his safe-deposit boxes" for the money, the source said.

But the money never arrived here, the source said.

In another report, Reeves Mahoney, a Norfolk lawyer retained by Pitchford's parents, said he had been told that Pitchford put $450,000 in cash in a safe-deposit box at the Sherry Netherland Hotel in New York shortly before he disappeared.

The flamboyant 31-year-old account executive with E.F. Hutton & Co. here was last seen Feb. 12 at the Sherry Netherland, where he was staying in New York while attempting to borrow money to cover mounting debts, the source said.

Mahoney said that Pitchford "has the only key to that box, and hotel employes have been told to call the NYPD if anyone tries to use it."

He said the cash "obviously didn't come from a bank-you get cash like that from private parties."

The other source added that "Clyde didn't get a loan in New York. I don't know where the cash came from."

Joseph Irving, the front office manager of the Sherry Netherland, the posh Fifth Avenue hotel where Pitchford often stayed on New York visits, said he had been instructed by the missing persons bureau of the New York Police Department not to discuss the Pitchford matter. Irvin said only that "like all hotels, we have security boxes for our guests."

Murray Massover (2013)

A spokesman for Brink's Inc. in New York said there is no record of a request from Pitchford to transport cash to Richmond.

"If we got such a call," said Murray Massover, manager of Brink's Broadway office, "and if the person didn't have an account with us, we'd ask them to submit the request in writing."

Pitchford was indicted here Monday on four counts of embezzling money from his clients at Hutton, and prosecutors say more charges are likely. A Hutton spokseman in New York said today that Pitchford was "terminated" as of Feb. 28, but that the brokerage house will "protect our clients."

Sources said today that two men came to Richmond about the time Pitchford disappeared in connection with arranging a loan for him.

The sources gave differing versions of the encounters: One said the men confronted Pitchford at the exclusive Commonwealth Club and engaged in "an unfriendly conversation." The other said the men called at Pitchford's apartment-office the day after he was last seen in New York and told White that they had arranged a $5 million loan for Pitchford.

White, who worked as a $15,000-a-year secretary out of Pitchford's adjoining penthouse apartments here, has returned to her parents' home in Norfolk since Pitchford's disappearance and could not be reached for comment today.

Late today, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Blackwell N. Shelley, acting at the request of four Richmond banks, appointed a trustee to oversee the affairs of Pitchford and Rex Group Inc., of which Pitchford is secretary-treasurer.

The judge acted after Andrea G. Hoffman, an assistant vice president of the Bank of Virginia, testified that two of Pitchford's partners in Rex Group, State Sen. A. Joe Canada Jr. (R-Virginia Beach) and former Olympic equestrian Hugh Wiley of Fluvanna County, Va., signed statements saying that their names had been forged on documents guaranteeing loans to Rex Group.

Hoffman produced financial statements submitted by Pitchford that said Rex Group owned 13,737 shares in the Florida Center Bank of Orlando, which Pitchford valued at $5 billion.

"Did you make this loan?" the judge asked Hoffman. When she said she did, he asked, "Did you believe this {financial statement} by any stretch of the imagination?"

Hoffman said the loans were made primarily on the basis of the guarantees signed by Canada, Wiley and George H. Morris, a New Jersey horseman who is a director of Rex.

The financial statement, she said, was submitted by Pitchford long after the loan was made.

When Bank of Virginia saw the inflated value of the Florida bank stock, "That's when we started to call in the loans," Hoffman said.

Slayton Dabney Jr., an attorney for Bank of Virginia, said "we hope it {the Florida bank stock} is worth $5 million, but there is no reason to believe it is." Dabney said a spokesman for the Florida bank said "very few shares were turned over to Pitchford."

A source said Pitchford was placed on the bank's board of the directors in October after he presented a certified check for $5 million as part of a takeover effort. Pitchford was removed from the bank board Monday night, a bank spokesman said.

In the financial statements introduced at the bankruptcy hearing, Pitchford listed his personal assets at $2,357,180 and those of the Rex Group at $5,003,115,000.

Among his personal assets, according to the July 1985 statement, were $1.1 million worth of real estate, including condominiums in North Palm Beach, Fla., and Virginia Beach that he owns with Canada; $470,000 in furnishings in his Richmond penthouses and his parents' home in Norfolk, four automobiles worth a total of $198,000, including a $135,000 1983 Rolls-Royce that has since been repossessed.

He listed his annual income at $197,796, including $120,000 from Hutton.

In addition to the Florida bank stock, Rex Group holdings listed by Pitchford included more than a dozen jumping horses from France, Germany, Ireland and the United States worth $1.7 million.

Dabney said the horses were "supposed to exist at various locations around the East Coast, but we're not sure where."

He added that he was "also unsure about the location of some of the other assets."

Judge Shelley told Dabney to instruct the trustee he appointed, Douglas O. Tice Jr., to "get his saddle and go to Florida."

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Warwick
DOROTHY MASSOVER

The Providence Journal-Bulletin - March 5, 1998

DOROTHY MASSOVER, 76, of Shalom Apartments, 1 Shalom Drive, a sales associate at the former Outlet Co. for 25 years, died Tuesday at the Kent Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. She was the wife of Louis Massover.

Born in Pawtucket, a daughter of the late Joseph and Rose (Shapiro) Boslovitz, she lived in Warwick for 20 years, previously living in Providence.

She had been a member of the former Temple Beth Israel, Providence.

Besides her husband, she leaves a daughter, Susan Massover of Providence; a son, Murray Massover of New Rochelle, N.Y.; two sisters, Ida Boslovitz and Bertha Boslovitz, both of Warwick; and four grandchildren. She was the mother of the late Rochelle Alterman and sister of the late Bessie and William Boslovitz and Anna Ettine.

A graveside service will be held today at 2 p.m. in Lincoln Park Cemetery, Post Road, Warwick.

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Obituaries 
The Providence Journal

July 26, 1999

LOUIS J. MASSOVER, 83, of Randall Street, a salesman in the wholesale meat industry in Rhode Island for 18 years, retiring several years ago, died Saturday at Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island, Pawtucket. He was the husband of the late Dorothy (Boslovitz) Massover.

A lifelong Providence resident, he was a son of the late Murray and Katherine (Halpern) Massover.

An Army veteran of World War II, Mr. Massover served in Europe. He was a member of the former Temple Beth-Israel and the Masons. He was a scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 10 and a volunteer at Camp Yawgoog, where he was known for teaching leather crafts to Boy Scouts.

He leaves a son, Murray Massover of New Rochelle, N.Y.; a daughter, Susan Massover of Providence; and four grandchildren. He was the father of the late Rochelle Alterman.

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New Rochelle man caught in Internet sting
By Timothy Gray, Staff

Journal News, (Westchester County, NY) - April 25, 2002

A New Rochelle insurance broker was arrested and accused of trying to arrange a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old boy he met online last week. The "boy," however, was an investigator for the Westchester County District Attorney's office.

Murray Massover, 53, of 84 Rogers Ave., is accused of having sexual conversations over the Internet with someone he believed to be a minor, and discussing specific sexual scenarios he wanted to act out with him. According to the district attorney's office, Massover also tried to set up a meeting with the undercover investigator, who posed as a young boy in a chat room.

The alleged conversations took place from April 2 to April 11.

Massover was charged with attempted dissemination of indecent material to minors, a felony. Such a charge is not limited to the exchange of pornographic images, but also covers explicit conversations between an adult and a minor. Massover faces a maximum of four years in prison if convicted.

"Obviously I made a stupid mistake," said Massover who was home last week, after posting a $10,000 bond. "I'm pleading guilty and am doing everything to correct myself."

Massover is the 53rd man arrested since the Westchester District Attorney' s Office began its Internet Pedophile Sting Operation in July 1999. The office, which has a 100-percent conviction rate with such cases, says it plans to continue the sting as long as it keeps snaring pedophiles.

"The identification and prosecution of Internet pedophiles continues to be one of the highest priorities of District Attorney Jeanine Pirro," said Marianne Walsh, a spokeswoman for the office. "Cyberspace provides anonymity to people intent on harming our children."

Pirro's office has attacked that "anonymity" with each bust, sending press releases to local media outlets detailing the nature of each crime.

Despite the aggressive operation, the actual number of online relationships developed between adults and children is very low, according to a study by National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which says that most sexual solicitations of minors on the Internet are from other minors.

But prosecutors defend the sting operation by claiming that it helps prevent potentially dangerous situations.

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2 more arrests made in Internet pedophile sting
Journal News, (Westchester County, NY) - April 16, 2002

A marine insurance broker from New Rochelle and a financial analyst from the Bronx were accused of trying to set up a sexual liaison with someone they met online and thought was a 14-year-old child, authorities said yesterday.

The "child" was actually an undercover investigator with the Westchester County District Attorney's Office.

Charles Martin, 24, of 2816 Schurz Ave., the Bronx, and Murray Massover, 53, of 84 Rogers Ave., New Rochelle, became the 52nd and 53rd people arrested in District Attorney Jeanine Pirro's Internet pedophile sting operation.

Martin, who authorities said was accused of having the online chats between March 29 and April 11, and Massover, between April 2 and 11, were arraigned Friday in White Plains City Court on a charge of first-degree attempted dissemination of indecent material to minors, a felony. They face up to four years in state prison if convicted.

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2 plead guilty in D.A.'s Internet pedophile sting
Briefing

Journal News, (Westchester County, NY) - August 15, 2002

Two New Rochelle men pleaded guilty yesterday to attempted dissemination of indecent materials to minors, a felony, in connection with the ongoing Internet "sex sting" operation run by Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro. Michael Spingarn and Murray Massover, both 53, had a series of sexually explicit online conversations with someone they believed to be 14 years old. The "teenager" was actually an investigator with Pirro's office. The men were arrested when they showed up to meet the "teenager" at a prearranged spot. Spingarn is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 30 Massover will be sentenced Nov. 16. The defendants each face a maximum of four years in state prison.

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New Age for an Acient Right
By Yilu Zhao 

New York Times, (NY) - February 9, 2003

Miguel couldn't make the plain blue skullcap provided by the synagogue stay on his hair, which he wears in little spikes. Colin, amused, came to his aid with some hair clips. But Colin's skullcap also kept slipping off his fine blond hair, and he used one hand to keep it in place. Finally, they filed into their seats at Congregation Sons of Israel, a synagogue in Briarcliff Manor, where their classmate Brett Caesar was one of two boys becoming a bar mitzvah that day. Colin and Miguel, who are both Catholic, are among the many 12- and 13-year-olds in Westchester who are spending many of their Saturday mornings in synagogues this year attending the bar and bat mitzvahs of their Jewish friends.

"It's an honor to be invited," said Colin. "You want to show your friends that you care about them." Colin, Miguel and their classmates will likely be invited to a more than a dozen bar and bat mitzvahs this year.

Rabbis at the county's three dozen Conservative and Reform synagogues say that often one-third to one-half of the children attending the bar and bat mitzvah services are not Jewish. Some non-Jewish children are at the Saturday morning services so often that the rabbis know them by name. Some of them spend far more time in synagogue than they do at their own churches. Some don't go to church at all.

The ease with which children and families mingle with one another across religious and ethnic lines today still astonishes many adults.

"I lived in a Jewish ghetto in the Bronx when I was a boy," said Joel J. Blattstein, 60, a spokesman at the White Plains branch of the United Jewish Communities. "My friends were 100 percent Jewish. At my bar mitzvah, everybody was Jewish."

But both Jewish and Christian children shrug off the Christian teenagers' attendance at bar or bat mitzvahs ceremonies, saying it's just part of today's adolescent experience.

All the children at Brett's service sat together in two back sections of the temple, and at least at the beginning they were relatively quiet. But as the nearly three-hour service, almost all of which was conducted in Hebrew, went on, they began talking among themselves, incurring an angry "shh" and a stern stare from the adult designated by the synagogue to sit in each children's row to supervise them. When Brett stepped onto the podium, to lead the prayers, however, his friends grew quiet and watched him intently.

They were impressed, his friends said after the service. They had known Brett only as their video game pal and their sports buddy and had never seen him in a religious setting.

"At school, you don't go to people and say, 'Hey, so what's your religion?'" said Miguel, who immigrated from Mexico with his parents four years ago. "You say, 'Hey, what's up?'"

Some said they hadn't even known that some of their good friends were Jewish until they received their bar or bat mitzvah invitations.

Miguel and Colin were curious about the difference between synagogues and the churches they attend.

"There isn't a place in the synagogue where you can kneel and pray," said Miguel.

Sam Chalsen, another blond 13-year-old, observed: "The architecture of the synagogue is always more futuristic than the churches. And we don't have kids standing up to lead the prayers."

Pointing out that the Torah reads from right to left, Colin remarked, "The Torah goes the wrong way."

During that service, Colin said, he was often lost about which page of the Torah was being read, since he doesn't read Hebrew. "So I was asking people every minute where we are now," he said.

Miguel had done some homework on Judaism before he arrived at the temple. He grabbed a little booklet about bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies from Food Emporium and learned that the service is a rite of passage into adulthood. He checked out the location of Jerusalem on the map and chatted with his father about Judaism.

"I am going to look up Judaism in the Britannica and Google it on the Internet when I get home," said Miguel.

Almost all of Brett's friends were wearing crisp navy blue suits, and many said their parents had recently bought the outfits for them so they would be appropriately dressed for the bar and bat mitzvah events. One girl said her parents had bought seven party dresses for her, spending almost $1,000. Most children attending Brett's bar mitzvah gave him $36; traditionally gifts are given in multiples of 18, the numerical value of the letters that spell "life" in Hebrew.

Another of Brett's friends, Sam Chalsen, listened carefully whenever Rabbi Steven C. Kane of the Briarcliff synagogue spoke in English during the service and particularly when Rabbi Kane explained the Torah portion that Brett would read. The Torah portion is determined by the calendar year; because this service was in January, the passage was from Exodus.

"Moses stretched out his hand over the sea," the rabbi said, his voice resonant in the temple, "and the sea parted."

Sam decided that although it was the same exodus story in both Catholicism and Judaism, the points emphasized were different. For instance, Sam had not remembered that Moses took Joseph's bones with him on the journey.

"In the Catholic church, the story always comes back to focus on Jesus," Sam said. "In the Torah, it revolves around how the Israelites suffered."

Rabbi Kane smiled at Sam's comments. While Sam's observations on the differences between the two religions were to a certain extent valid, he said, the text of the Torah is exactly the same as the first five books of the Old Testament.

Rabbis have become attentive to the presence of those who are unfamiliar with Hebrew, Jewish or not, at the services. Some intermittently offer explanations in English to the congregations; some insert pages of transliterations into the Hebrew prayer books so that nonspeakers can follow along.

Bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies in conservative synagogues usually go on for three hours, with the most of the service conducted in Hebrew. The child undergoing the rite reads a longer portion of the Torah, sometimes lasting as long as 20 minutes. Services in reform synagogues are conducted mostly in English.

"To have non-Jews in our temple is a good way to let people know about our customs," said Rabbi Michael Z. Cahana of Temple Israel in New Rochelle, a Reform synagogue. "It's hard to have prejudices against other people if you know what their customs are."

Parents of the Christian children invited to the ceremonies did not express any discomfort about sending their children to synagogue week after week.

Izzy Archibald, an eighth grader at the Albert Leonard Middle School in New Rochelle, attended more than two dozen bar or bat mitzvah ceremonies last year. Her last one was at Temple Israel in New Rochelle for her classmate (removed) Massover. Although Izzy's parents go to a Presbyterian church every Sunday, she rarely goes.

"My dad says, why don't you convert to Judaism, since you are going to a synagogue every weekend anyway," Izzy said. "My parents just want me to have some faith. To them, believing in a religion is better than believing in no religion at all."

Nancy McCullough, a public school teacher who went to (removed)'s bar mitzvah ceremony with her two sons, is trying to raise her children Catholic.

"I like religion," she said. "It doesn't matter what religion it is. I just want my children to believe in a religion and believe in tradition and family. I don't think we can be as rigid as we used to be."

Most of the children at the ceremonies, Jewish or not, eventually lose patience. A rare few doze or furtively play video games; most simply glance around or "space out," as they say.  But Murray Massover, (removed)'s father, was not offended.

"The kids will be bored," he said before the service, "but then there'll be the party. They'll be with their friends and there'll be a lot of fun."

The McCullough brothers, Robby, 15, and Andrew, 13, tried to be engaged at the service by winking at Joshua when he was on the podium and giving him supportive smiles.

"I felt lonely when they sang and said the prayers," Andrew said after the service. "I didn't know a thing, but I tried to be involved."

Mia Raftery, a 13-year-old Catholic, went to 25 bar and bat mitzvahs last year, and by the time she attended (removed)'s service, she could sing three or four of the Jewish prayers.

"Ein Keloheinu," she sang for her friends after the bar mitzvah, proud and giggling.

"I don't know the meanings of these songs," she said. "I just get the transliteration."

Sometimes, the teenage guests simply skip the service and go only to the parties, often fancy, expensive events held after the services. But most seem to realize the essence of the bar or bat mitzvahs is spiritual, and out of respect for the religious traditions of their friends and the years of Hebrew school and hard work their friends put in to prepare for their rites of passages, sit through what some call "interminable" boredom and confusion.

But William Lombardi, a lanky 13-year-old attending Anne M. Dorner Middle School in Ossining, said sitting through the service for one of his closest friends, Micah Joselow, was not boring at all.

"If it were a stranger up there having the service," William said, "I probably would have been miserable. But I watched him preparing for the bar mitzvah, and I appreciated what went into it."

Micah, who started learning Hebrew in kindergarten, began his four-and-a-half-hour-long weekly preparation for the bar mitzvah service last June. He skipped basketball practice to take his Hebrew classes.

Both the Joselows and the Caesars are part of Congregation Sons of Israel in Briarcliff Manor. Because of the closeness of Micah's and Brett's birthdays, Rabbi Kane decided to initiate the two 13-year-olds into the adult community at the same bar mitzvah service. Both boys wrote essays on their spiritual development and participation in social service.

The ceremony was also among the first bar mitzvahs for many of the parents of Micah's friends.

"I didn't feel strange being there," Donna Lombardi, William's mother, said after the service, "perhaps because I was surrounded by people I know.

"For kids living in a multifaith, multiethnic environment," she continued, "it's important for them to be exposed to other people's religions, particularly if that's the religion of your best friend."

The Lombardis will hold a confirmation service for William this year, but probably only family members will be invited to the service and the party afterward, Mrs. Lombardi said.

There has been some discussion in Jewish intellectual circles about why many non-Jewish children attend bar and bat mitzvahs, but few Jewish children attend the Catholic confirmations, a similar ritual. While some scholars speculate that Jewish parents feel that having their children attending Catholic services threatens their Jewishness, many Jewish families in Westchester dispute that claim.

"Of course I would let Micah go if people invite him," said Alice Joselow, Micah's mother. She reasoned that fewer Jewish children attend confirmations because the Catholic service traditionally includes a narrower circle.

For Protestant teenagers who feel left out -- Jewish children have bar and bat mitzvahs and Catholic children have confirmations -- some Episcopalian churches in Westchester have installed Rite 13, a similar service to the bar and bat mitzvah ceremony where the teenager becomes an adult in the eyes of the church.

"These services give the children a sense of connection with God at an important age," said Graham Gulian, who attended Micah's bar mitzvah with his son, Max, and applauded it as an important religious lesson for Jewish and non-Jewish children alike. The Gulians will hold a Rite 13 service for Max later in the year.

"These services give them a sense of spirituality," he said, "teach them to accept other people's beliefs in God as equally valid, and provide a healthy alternative to video games."

Caption:

Photos: (removed) Massover, left, with a friend, Josh George, at Temple Israel in New Rochelle, where (removed) rehearsed for his bar mitzvah. Left: Christopher Luboja, left, and Jake Lesser, posed for a picture at the party after Brett Caesar's bar mitzvah. Top: The main dining room at the Ridgeway Country Club in White Plains was decorated for Brett's party. Far left: A placard depicting some of Brett's favorite things was placed in the foyer at the club for his party. (Photographs by John W. Wheeler for The New York Times)(pg. 6); Joshua Massover and Rabbi Michael Z. Cahana, left, rehearse for Joshua's bar mitzvah at Temple Israel in New Rochelle. Grouped together at the party after the bar mitzvah ceremony for Brett Caesar, are, from left, Colin O'Rourke, Miguel Barcenas, Mark Cipollina and Sam Chalsen. Far left, Jackie Friedman, Izzy Archibald and Emily Rubenstein attend the party for (removed) Massover. Joshua's cake is displayed on a cart used for the ceremony of the candles. (Photographs by John W. Wheeler for The New York Times)

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Murray Massover Age: 48 Status: Former staff and Member of the Alumni Association

Guest (#208):

Email: Badboy820

Referred by: Word of Mouth

http://www.campyawgoog.org/guestbook/archives/1997_11.shtml

Hi Chris:

Excellent quality I espically like the photo's. Why not consider opening a store and sell some Yawgoog hats, T-shirts, etc...

Best Regards,

Murray Massover

Sat Nov 8 09:26:29 EST 1997

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2 more arrests made in Internet pedophile sting

Journal News, (Westchester County, NY) - April 16, 2002

A marine insurance broker from New Rochelle and a financial analyst from the Bronx were accused of trying to set up a sexual liaison with someone they met online and thought was a 14-year-old child, authorities said yesterday.

The "child" was actually an undercover investigator with the Westchester County District Attorney's Office.

Charles Martin, 24, of 2816 Schurz Ave., the Bronx, and Murray Massover, 53, of 84 Rogers Ave., New Rochelle, became the 52nd and 53rd people arrested in District Attorney Jeanine Pirro's Internet pedophile sting operation.

Martin, who authorities said was accused of having the online chats between March 29 and April 11, and Massover, between April 2 and 11, were arraigned Friday in White Plains City Court on a charge of first-degree attempted dissemination of indecent material to minors, a felony. They face up to four years in state prison if convicted.

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"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." –– Margaret Mead

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Case of Baron Bloom

Case of Baron Bloom

 London, England
St John's Wood, North London, England

Baron Bloom was convicted of indecently assaulting a 15-year-old girl. The judge ordered Bloom's name to be placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years and sentenced him to one year's imprisonment. He was taken from the court to Belmarsh Prison where he is in a high security unit.

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Disclaimer: Inclusion in this website does not constitute a recommendation or endorsement. Individuals must decide for themselves if the resources meet their own personal needs.

 

Table of Contents: 

2002

1. Mag date hunk in 'rape' quiz (04/19/2002)
2. The Playboy a girl aged 14 ad illegal sex after night out at Tramp (12/16/2002)
3. Sex case playboy takes stand (12/18/2002)
4. Tycoon guilty of indecent assault on schoolgirl (12/20/2002)
5. London businessman convicted of indecent assault  (12/21/2002)
6. Sex-crime conviction  (12/27/2002)

2003

1. Girls behaving badly (01/09/2003)
2. Baron Bloom convicted of sexual assault (01/10/2003)
3. Playboy faces jail for sex assault (04/16/2003)
4. Tycoon cleared of sex assault (04/16/2003) 
5. Sex charge playboy cleared (04/17/2003) 
6. Playboy in clear over sex assault on girl,14 (04/17/2003)
7. Businessman cleared over sex attack (04/17/2003)
8. Bloom cleared on indecent assault charge (04/25/2003) 
9. Schoolgirl assault man jailed (05/17/2003)
10. Bloom jailed for one year (05/19/2003)
11. The playboy predator, his 14-year-old victim, and the disturbing question: how did her mother let it happen? (05/22/2003)
12. Appeal for tycoon's son (05/24/2003)
13. Sentence Slashed (06/11/2003)
14. Millionaire's son has sex assault sentence cut (06/11/2003)
15. PERVERT property tycoon Baron Bloom is plotting his comeback (06/11/2003)

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Mag date hunk in 'rape' quiz 
By Mike Sullivan
The Sun - April 19, 2002

A WEALTHY hunk featured as an ideal date in a women's mag is on bail for the alleged date rape of a 14-year-old girl. 

Marie Claire has been urging readers to write in saying why they fancy playboy Baron Bloom - one of their Men of the Month. And one reader could win a night out with him. 

But Bloom, 28, was arrested in January after a schoolgirl said he forced her to have sex after a night out clubbing. 

Embarrassing
He was released on police bail pending further inquiries and is due to report to a West London police station today to discover if he will be charged.

A magazine source said: "This is highly embarrassing to say the least."


Multi-millionaire Bloom, son of property magnate Desmond Bloom, denies the allegations. The playboy lives in London's exclusive St John's Wood area and drives a Pounds 165,000 Lamborghini Diablo. 

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The Playboy a girl aged 14 ad illegal sex after night out at Tramp
By Paul Cheston
Evening Standard - December 16, 2002  

PLAYBOY Baron Bloom had sex with a 14-year-old girl he had charmed at the Dorchester and Tramp nightclub, the Old Bailey heard today. 

The girl became infatuated with Bloom, 28, after he showed off his Lamborghini, the jury was told. 

When she told him she was only 14, Bloom, replied: "Oh, you are a baby," Mark Gadsden, prosecuting, told the court. 

However, when she repeatedly protested she did not want sex, the defendant son of property tycoon Desmond Bloom - became so angry he sexually attacked her at his west London flat. 

DNA tests on the girl's underwear showed there was a one billion to one chance that Bloom had not had sex with her, Mr Gadsden added. 

Months later he plied her with so much champagne that she vomited and Bloom turned his attention to her 15-year-old schoolfriend and sexually assaulted her twice on the same day.
Bloom has pleaded not guilty to four charges of indecent assault on two girls under the age of 16. 

The younger girl told the court she was only 13 when she met him in February last year in a King's Road coffee bar. He approached her as she sat with her sister aged nine and asked: "Is this your daughter?" 

She said Bloom pestered her with phone calls and text messages before luring her out a few days after her 14th birthday when her mother was away. 

Bloom drove her in his Lamborghini to the Dorchester for coffee and then invited her to Tramp, where he is a member. 

She felt ill after he had bought her some Cranberry juice, and he took her home and started to unbutton her jeans. 

"He said it would make me feel more comfortable," the girl told the court. 

"He was lying next to me and started touching me. I could not really move and all I could do was speak. I 'When she told him her age he said: Oh you are a baby' told him not to take advantage of me." 

The next day she found blood in her underwear but Bloom convinced her that no sex had taken place. 

"He said I should trust him and he would not do anything to hurt me because he really liked me," the girl said. 

Mr Gadsden told the court the girl's mother was disturbed by the relationship and told Bloom to get a girlfriend of his own age. 

However, after a summer away in Monaco, Bloom asked the girl out for coffee again in September last year then whisked her back to his flat. 

"He began touching her intimately and kissing her, she made it clear she was not interested but he asked her for sex and she firmly replied no," said Mr Gadsden. 

"Bloom was angered by her refusal and slapped her before taking hold of her hands and saying he was going to have sex with her whether she liked it or not and proceeded to do exactly that. 

"Bloom had full sexual intercourse with her despite the fact she was in a lot of pain and was crying." 

The case continues.
 

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Sex case playboy takes stand
By Colin Freeman, Evening Standard


Associated News - This is LONDON - December 18, 2002A property tycoon today admitted having sex with a 14-year-old girl as he gave evidence for the first time - but denied knowing how old she was at the time.

Baron Bloom, 28, who dated the girl for several months, told the Old Bailey he was "horrified" when the girl's mother told him her age.

He said he stopped seeing her immediately, only for her to start bombarding him with abusive emails.

Bloom, son of millionaire Desmond Bloom, denies two charges of indecently assaulting the 14-year-old last year and a further indecent assault charge against her 15-year-old friend. A fourth charge against the second girl was dropped today for legal reasons.

The prosecution alleged that Bloom, who was having a meteoric rise as a property dealer at the time, used fast cars and his wealth as a honey-trap to feed his attraction for under-age girls.

After Bloom's arrest he felt obliged to resign as managing director of his company, Euro City Properties. Today he said he was convinced that the 14-year-old was at least 18 when he first met her in a King's Road coffee bar. They began dating and began having sex once a week with her as a willing participant, he said.

Asking him of his impressions of her, his barrister William Clegg QC, said: "Is she a fully developed lady?"

He said: "Yes." Mr Clegg: "Did it ever occur to you that she was 14?" Bloom replied: "No." He added that she could converse "sensibly" and showed the maturity of an 18-year-old as the couple dined around West End night spots.

Bloom claimed that the relationship came to an end when he met the girl's mother and learned of her true age. Mr Clegg asked: "Did you ever sleep with her again?" Bloom replied: "No."

Mr Clegg told the jury that while ignorance of the girl's age was no defence in law to the crime of having underage sex it was clear that the girl looked older than she is.

The girl has accused Bloom of sexually attacking her twice at his west London flat, once in February last year and in September.

Mr Clegg said that records of mobile calls between Bloom and the girls would show that he had not begun seeing them or had terminated the relationships at the times of the alleged offences.

The trial continues.

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Tycoon guilty of indecent assault on schoolgirl
December 20, 2002
http://pda.ananova.net/news/story/sm_731540.html?menu=news.story


Wealthy property developer Baron Bloom has been convicted of indecently assaulting a 15-year-old schoolgirl.

The jury at the Old Bailey failed to reach a verdict on another charge of indecent assault against her 14-year-old friend and was discharged.

Bloom, 28, of Hammersmith, west London, had pleaded not guilty to four charges.

He was cleared of one on the direction of the judge and the jury found him not guilty of another.

The jury of six men and six women took six hours and 46 minutes to find him guilty by an 11-1 majority.

The 15-year-old told the court she had taken her friend to hospital after she collapsed from drinking too much champagne with Bloom and his friends at a Mayfair nightclub.

Later, the two girls went to Bloom's flat because it was too late to go home.

She said Bloom fondled her as she lay in a double bed with him, his friend and the 14-year-old.

Bloom was remanded on conditional bail to a hearing on January 27.

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London businessman convicted of indecent assault
Local London - December 21, 2002


Property developer Baron Bloom was yesterday convicted on a charge of indecently assaulting a 15-year-old girl.

The 28-year-old who lives in Hammersmith, west London, had pleaded not guilty to four charges.

The jury failed to reach a verdict on a remaining indecent assault charge and the prosecution informed the court it intended to seek a retrial.

On the direction of the judge, Bloom was cleared of another charge and found not guilty by the jury of the final charge.

Bloom has been remanded on conditional bail to a further hearing on 27 January.

The jury took six hours and 46 minutes to find Bloom guilty by an 11-1 majority.

The 15-year-old schoolgirl told the court she had taken a 14-year old friend to hospital after she passed-out after drinking too much champagne with Bloom and his friends at a Mayfair nightclub.

The court heard that after leaving the hospital the two girls went to Bloom's flat because it was too late to return home.

The 15-year-old schoolgirl said Bloom fondled her when she was on a bed with him, his friend and her friend.

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Sex-crime conviction
Jewish Chronicle - December 27, 2002

Baron Bloom, 28, has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a schoolgirl at his London penthouse by an Old Bailey jury.

He is to be sentenced next month and was given conditional bail after his father, the property magnate Desmond Bloom, paid £20,000 as surety. He will be registered as a sex- offender.

Bloom attacked the 15-year-old girl as she lay in bed beside a sleeping schoolfriend, aged 14, and one of his friends after they had all gone to the Tramp nightclub in London's Mayfair district.

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Girls behaving badly
by Barbara Hewson
Spiked On Line - January 9, 2003The UK government and the public prosecution service are currently struggling to increase the numbers of rape convictions. But the dubious cases already reaching court should cast doubt on official aims.

In December 2002, Baron Bloom, a 27-year-old property tycoon and playboy, was convicted at the Old Bailey of indecently assaulting a 15-year-old girl ('Ms B'). The jury could not agree on another charge, of indecently assaulting a 14-year-old ('Ms A'). The prosecution may seek a retrial (1).

Ms A had told Bloom she was 18. In court, she admitted lying about her age. She also admitted bombarding Bloom with letters, emails, cards and flowers after he took her out (2). Later, after he broke off the relationship, she emailed him: 'Ha ha ha, heard you have gone bankrupt.... If all Jewish people are like you Hitler should be made a saint. I feel embarrassed to have ever known you.' (3)

What was Bloom convicted for? Apparently, one night Ms A and Ms B went out with Bloom and his friends to a Mayfair club. Ms A got so drunk on champagne that she collapsed and had to be taken to hospital. Afterwards, she and Ms B went to Bloom's flat, according to press reports, 'because it was too late to go home'. There they undressed, and went to bed with Bloom and his friend. Bloom's offence was to fondle Ms B, who complained that she was too tired. The girls later declined to appear at the Old Bailey, and testified against Bloom by video-link (4).

However discreditable Bloom's behaviour, is an indecent assault conviction really warranted in these circumstances? You don't go out on the town with someone at his expense, insist on going back to his place, take your clothes off and go to bed with him and his mate, and not expect some sort of sexual advance. These girls weren't prepubescent children - nor could they plead sexual ignorance.

In fact, it's remarkable that a prosecution was brought at all. Ms A and Ms B invited sexual attention. Yet it seems that no matter how provocative or misleading a girl's conduct, objectively speaking, she must be absolved of all responsibility.

Current orthodoxy assumes that women are entitled to, and indeed should complain to authority figures about sexual misconduct by others, whatever the context. But in the move to 'support victims' of sex crime - or, as it's now more ambiguously called, 'sexual victimisation' - few seem willing to consider whether official intervention can do any good, or is even justified.

Interestingly, the numbers of women said to have undergone 'sexual victimisation' do not always meet official expectations. For instance, the 2000 British Crime Survey found that 32 out of the 6944 women surveyed were raped in the previous year. Because of this tiny number, Home Office researchers combined the figures for 1998 and 2000 for analysis. Yet only 60 percent of female rape victims called their experience 'rape', and only 70 percent of women who described themselves as the victim of 'attempted rape' viewed this as a crime (5).

Thanks to official policy, we are becoming inured to the spectacle of men in court facing serious criminal charges, despite the ostensibly consensual conduct of some complainants. In summer 2002, the snooker star Quinten Haan was acquitted of raping a 21-year-old student. She had accompanied him back to his hotel suite, after he met her in a bar. She allowed him to start removing her clothes, sat astride him, and didn't resist intercourse. She later told the court that this was because 'she didn't like conflict' (6).

Haan's acquittal led to pleas for men accused of such crimes to enjoy the same anonymity as their accusers, unless convicted. Official policy, first mooted in 1975 after a nasty gang-rape case called Morgan, is that complainants of sexual assault should be guaranteed anonymity (7). The argument is that the public interest in investigating and prosecuting serious sexual crime outweighs the normal rule that justice should be done in the open.

Men consistently object that the present regime leaves them with one hand tied behind their backs: they get all the adverse publicity, while the complainant remains anonymous, even if there is an acquittal.

I have staunchly defended official thinking in the past. I now believe we should rethink some cherished assumptions.

The premise underlying complainant anonymity is that there are lots of serious sex crimes just waiting to be uncovered, if only their victims could complain anonymously. But this has created unrealistic expectations. While increasing numbers of women are now coming forward with complaints of rape and sexual assault, convictions in rape cases have fallen by 77 percent (8).

Debate rages as to why this is so, though at base the problem seems to be one of proof. Research has shown, for example, that cases in which complainants are injured stand a better chance of success (9). In March 2002, a senior defence lawyer (who is also a part-time judge) complained that police and Crown prosecutors were proceeding with 'ridiculous' cases (10).

During the past 25 years, there has been a seismic shift in sexual attitudes and in the position of women. The argument for complainants' anonymity now looks weak. Justice is not done when court time is taken up by anonymous complainants whose behaviour is, to say the least, ambiguous.

Why shouldn't publicity be a legitimate means of deterring unrealistic complaints? I'm now attracted by law lecturer Helen Reece's argument, that the law should treat complainants of sexual assault the same way as complainants in other criminal matters (11).

If women want equality, we must accept that this extends to all walks of life - including having to identify yourself when you testify against someone who may face jail if your evidence is believed.

If this reduces the number of cases reaching court, so be it. If would-be complainants decide that going to court is too much hassle, that is a decision they are entitled to take. It should not be seen as a failure of the criminal justice system.

Barbara Hewson is a barrister at Littman Chambers, Gray's Inn, London.

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Baron Bloom convicted of sexual assault
Property Week (UK) - January 10, 2003


Baron Bloom, son of property entrepreneur Desmond Bloom, is facing a jail sentence for indecently assaulting a 15-year-old schoolgirl.

Bloom, who is 28 and headed AIM-listed property company Eurocity until last May, has also been placed on the sex offenders register after being found guilty at the Old Bailey two days before Christmas day.

He was charged in total with four counts of indecent assault against two girls aged 14 and 15 and was cleared of two counts.

The millionaire playboy, who lives in St John's Wood, London, molested the 15-year-old girl in his double bed, which they were sharing with another man and a girl of 14, the Old Bailey heard.

The girl told the jury how Bloom rubbed his penis against her. 'He didn't do it for long because I said "stop it" and he pulled his boxers up,' she said. She also described him as charming and persistent in asking for dates.

Bloom admitted having regular sexual intercourse with the 14-year-old girl, but insisted he thought she was 18 or 19 and that he was not breaking the law.

The jury was unable to agree a verdict on one of the charges involving the 14-year-old. A hearing is set for 27 January to decide the matter, after which sentencing will take place.

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Playboy faces jail for sex assault
By Paul Cheston Courts Correspondent, Evening Standard
Associated News Media/This is London - April 16, 2003

The playboy son of a property tycoon faced the threat of prison today even though he was cleared of sexually assaulting a schoolgirl.

Baron Bloom, 28, of Mayfair, once considered one of London's most eligible bachelors, was this afternoon found not guilty of indecent assault against the 14-year-old.

But last December he was found guilty of indecently assaulting the girl's 15-year-old friend and will be sentenced next month.

The maximum sentence is 10 years and Bloom is likely to be ordered to sign the Sex Offenders' Register.

During a two-day trial the prosecution claimed that he had deliberately targeted the schoolgirls because of his desires for underage sex.

Bored by a string of girlfriends his own age Bloom relentlessly hunted down underage girls because he desired "forbidden fruit," said Mark Gadsden prosecuting at the Old Bailey.

On a video link to court the younger teenager said his friends had told her not to pretend she was 18 because Bloom would not even consider approaching her.

But Bloom told the jury that he had thought the younger girl had been 18 when he had a sexual relationship with her over a number of months, and was "quite horrified" when her mother told him her true age.

When he dumped the 14-year-old he said she turned on him "like a woman scorned" and invented the assault allegation. However even his own counsel William Clegg QC described Bloom as "flash, the driver of flash cars and, you may think, immature - he may make a lot of money but he has not grown up."

He said that if Bloom was a contestant on the TV show I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, he would be the first to be voted off.

Bloom is the brother of former "It" girl Beverly Bloom and son of multi-millionaire property developer Desmond Bloom. He drives a £165,000 Lamborghini and enjoys long holidays in Monaco.

He was arrested in January last year when the 14-year-old told police she had been attacked after Bloom had taken her to the Dorchester hotel, Tramp nightclub, the Eclipse bar and a number of the most expensive West End restaurants.

Her mother had tried to ban Bloom from seeing her daughter but he pretended to drive the girl to a coffee bar in the brand new Bentley he had bought that day and instead took her home again. She told the court that she begged Bloom not to molest her.

Months later DNA tests showed that Bloom had had sex with her. Bloom admitted he had a sexual relationship but had ended it as soon as her mother told him she was only 14. Bloom used to boast of a failsafe way to "pull" pretty girls. He would buy a £275 bottle of vintage Cristal champagne and spray it all over the one he liked.

When she complained, he would tell her to meet him at Versace the next day and he would buy her another dress.

"It's expensive but it works," he boasted to a journalist. "The girl always turns up."

His Whitechapel-born father left school at 15 and worked as a chimney sweep before establishinghis property empire. Bloom enjoyed the fruits of his father's labours. Privately educated, he left school with half a dozen poor GCSE passes. Not that it mattered.

"These are the carefree years," he once said. "I don't have the responsibility of a wife or children and I have started to really enjoy my life. I enjoy champagne and if I have to fly longhaul I fly first class or business - I just wouldn't travel with the cattle." The money aside, Bloom is not known as a man of great charm.

Even his defence counsel, Mr Clegg, admitted in court that there was little to like about his client.

He told the jury: "I don't expect any of you to like Bloom.

If I was in a competition to make him sound an attractive and pleasant person I would lose."

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Tycoon cleared of sex assault
BBC NEWS - April 16, 2002


A wealthy property developer has been cleared of indecently assaulting his 14-year-old girlfriend after he said she lied about her age.

Baron Bloom, of St John's Wood, north London, was found not guilty by a jury following a three-day trial at the Old Bailey in London.

But the 28-year-old still faces a jail sentence for indecently assaulting the girl's 15-year-old friend which he was convicted for in December.

The jury could not agree in the case of the 14-year-old so it led to a retrial on Wednesday.

She lied about her age...I believed she was 18

Baron Bloom

Bloom told the court he met the younger teenager in June 2001 and thought she was older.

He said he found out her true age after he met her mother in September.

"She lied about her age," said Bloom. "I believed she was 18. We had sex on many occasions."

Bloom said the girl, who is now 16, had been his girlfriend and she told the court she had fallen in love with him.

But the love turned to hate when he called off the relationship.

'Forbidden fruit'

She sent him an e-mail saying: "Happy birthday in advance. A bottle of Viagra is on its way" and a fax saying: "I was very stupid to offer you my virginity."

The prosecution had alleged he was attracted to the 14-year-old because she was "forbidden fruit".

Bloom was found guilty at the earlier trial of indecently assaulting her 15-year-old friend.

The older teenager told the court she had taken her 14-year old friend to hospital after she collapsed from drinking too much champagne with Bloom and his friends at a Mayfair nightclub.

Later, the two girls went to Bloom's flat because it was too late to go home.

The girl said Bloom fondled her as she lay in a double bed with him, his friend and the 14-year-old.

Bloom has been bailed to appear next month when he will be sentenced.

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Sex charge playboy cleared  
Daily Mail - April 17, 2003

A MILLIONAIRE playboy has been cleared of indecently assaulting a 14-year-old girl after having sex with her. 

Baron Bloom, 28, son of property magnate Desmond Bloom, took the teenager for a drive in his new Bentley, then drove her to his flat in Kensington, West London, where they had sex. 

He said he thought she was 18 and he ended the relationship as soon as her mother told him her real age. 

Yesterday, an Old Bailey jury acquitted him of indecently assaulting the girl, who is now 16. In December, Bloom was convicted of indecently assaulting her 15-year-old friend after plying her with champagne at a nightclub. He is awaiting sentence.

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Playboy in clear over sex assault on girl, 14
 By Ian Hepburn
The Sun - April 17, 2003


A WEALTHY playboy was cleared yesterday of indecently assaulting his 14-year old girlfriend -but still faces jail for molesting her pal. 

An Old Bailey jury took less than 90 minutes to find Baron Bloom not guilty after he said his girlfriend lied about her age. 

But Bloom, 28, was convicted last December of indecently assaulting her 15-year-old friend. That jury failed to reach a verdict in the case of the 14-year-old, leading to a retrial.
Dazzled 

Property tycoon Bloom, of St John's Wood, North London, was granted bail until he is sentenced next month. The maximum penalty for indecent assault is ten years' jail, and he may be ordered to register as a sex offender. 

Bloom dazzled girls with his champagne lifestyle and Pounds 165,000 yellow Lamborghini sports car, jurors heard. 

Marie Claire magazine even featured him as one of its Men of the Month. It invited readers to try to win a date with Bloom -but withdrew the offer after discovering he faced sex charges. 

Prosecutors said Bloom wanted the 14-year-old virgin because she was "forbidden fruit". He said she was a "well-developed, mature young lady," adding: "She lied - I believed she was 18. We had sex on many occasions." 

He said he was horrified when her mum told him her true age, and ended the relationship.
Bloom's first trial heard he repeatedly groped the 15-year-old and tried to remove her underwear as she pushed him away and begged him to stop. 

She was sharing a bed with Bloom and her sleeping friend after a champagne fuelled night out in Mayfair. 

The girl said Bloom stopped after telling her: "You're so boring. You're 15, you should have more energy than me."

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Businessman cleared over sex attack
Birmingham Post - April 17, 2003

A wealthy businessman was cleared yesterday of indecently assaulting his 14-year-old girlfriend after he said she lied about her age. 

An Old Bailey jury took less than 90 minutes to find 28-yearold property developer Baron Bloom (left) not guilty following a three- day trial. 

But Bloom, of St John's Wood, north London, still faces a jail sentence for indecently assaulting the girl's 15-year-old friend. 

He was convicted in December but the jury could not agree in the case of the 14-year-old, leading to yesterday's retrial. 

Bloom was bailed to next month when he will be sentenced. He told the court he met the 14-year-old girl in June 2001 and thought she was older. 

He found out her true age after meeting her mother in September. 

The prosecution had alleged he was attracted to the 14-year-old because she was 'forbidden fruit'.
He was a sophisticated businessman who drove a sports car and she was a schoolgirl. 

In the earlier trial, the jury accepted he indecently assaulted her 15-year-old friend after she spent the night at his flat. 

The girl said she had taken the 14-year-old to hospital after she collapsed from drinking too much champagne with Bloom at a Mayfair nightclub. Later, the two girls went to Bloom's flat because it was too late to go home. 

She said Bloom fondled her as she lay in a double bed with him, his friend and the 14-year-old. 

A few months after his arrest in January last year, Bloom was featured in Marie Claire magazine as an ideal date. 

Readers were invited to write in saying why they fancied him in order to win a date with him. 

The magazine said it was embarrassed by the item and withdrew the offer after discovering Bloom had been charged.

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Sex case tycoon is facing jail
By Don MacKay
The Daily Mirror - April 17, 2003 

A PROPERTY developer aged 28 was cleared yesterday of indecently assaulting his 14-year-old girlfriend after he said she lied about her age. 

But Baron Bloom still faces a jail sentence for indecently assaulting her 15-year-old friend. 

Bloom told the jury he found out the girl's real age after meeting her mum. He said: "She lied about her age. I believed she was 18. We had sex on many occasions." 

The girl, now 16, told the court love turned to hate when she was dumped. 

In an earlier trial, a jury ruled he indecently assaulted her 15- year-old friend after the girls spent the night at his flat.
Bloom impressed girls with his pounds 165,000 Lamborghini sports car and champagne lifestyle.
And after his arrest last year, Bloom was featured in Marie Claire magazine as an ideal date. 

Bloom, of St John's Wood, North London, was bailed. He will be sentenced next month at the Old Bailey.
 

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Bloom cleared on indecent assault charge
Property Week - April 25, 2003

Baron Bloom, the former managing director of AIM-listed property company Eurocity Properties, was cleared last week at the Old Bailey of indecently assaulting a 14-year-old girl.

The jury found the 29-year-old not guilty of the charge, which related to events that took place two years ago when Bloom began dating the girl.

He admitted having sex regularly with her at his west London flat but insisted that he thought she was 18.

William Clegg, defending, said the 14-year-old lied when she claimed she was the victim of rape. After sex with Bloom, she called him more than 100 times.

However, Bloom still faces prison. After clearing Bloom, the jury was then told how he had been convicted of the same offence last December against a 15-year-old girl.

The two girls were friends and were impressed by Bloom's Lamborghini and Bentley cars, the court heard. He took them to top restaurants, clubs and bars together.

He molested the 15-year-old when she was in bed with him at the same time as the 14-year-old. Sentencing is due to take place next month.

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Schoolgirl assault man jailed
Birmingham Post - May 17, 2003

Wealthy businessman Baron Bloom was jailed for a year yesterday for indecently assaulting a 15-year-old girl. 

Property developer Bloom, (28), the son of millionaire businessman Desmond Bloom, was said to have taken advantage of the schoolgirl after impressing her with his wealth. 

Old Bailey judge Recorder Stephen Kramer QC told him: 'You were a businessman with all the trappings of wealth and success.' 

The girl had gone to his flat at 6am. 'Instead of giving her sanctuary, you indecently assaulted her in a predatory way.' 

Bloom, of St John's Wood, north-west London, had denied the attack but was found guilty following a trial in December. He was later cleared following a retrial of indecently assaulting her 14- year-old friend. 

The judge ordered that Bloom's name be placed on the sex offender's register for 10 years.
The judge told him: 'Under-age girls must be protected by these courts.' 

The judge also ordered Bloom's solicitors to pay back pounds 2,412 legal aid costs which he had claimed from the Legal Services Commission. 

The judge said Bloom had tried to put his hands in the girl's knickers and when she asked him to stop he had told her: 'You are 15, you should have more energy than me.' 

The judge added: 'You are immature and self-willed.' 

The 15-year-old girl had told the court she had taken the 14- year-old to hospital after she collapsed after drinking too much champagne with Bloom and his friends at a Mayfair nightclub, in September 2001. 

Later, the two girls went to Bloom's flat because it was too late to go home. 

She said Bloom fondled her as she lay in a double bed with him, his friend and the 14-year-old. 

The girl said she told her mother, who put a note under Bloom's door warning him she would go to the police if he contacted her again. 

A few months after his arrest in January last year, Bloom was featured in Marie Claire magazine as an ideal date in its Men of the Month feature. 

The magazine said it was embarrassed by the item and withdrew the prize offer of a date with Bloom after discovering he had been charged. 

He was cleared of assaulting the 14-year-old girl last month after he told the jury he had a sexual relationship with her thinking she was an older teenager. 

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Bloom jailed for one year
By Katherine Rushton
Property Week - May 19, 2003

Baron Bloom, the former managing director of AIM-listed property company Eurocity Properties, was jailed for one year on Friday after being found guilty of indecently assaulting a 15-year-old girl.

The Old Bailey heard how Bloom, 28, had used his wealth to lure the girl and a 14-year-old friend into bed. He was cleared of indecently assaulting the14-year-old last month, following a retrial in which Bloom told the court he thought the girls were older teenagers.

The 15-year-old girl told the court that she took the 14-year-old to hospital when she collapsed after drinking too much champagne with Bloom and his friends at a Mayfair nightclub in September 2001.

It was too late to go home when they left hospital, so the girls ended up going to Bloom's flat. Bloom fondled the 15-year-old in a double bed, where she lay with him, his friend and the 14-year-old. The teenager told the court: 'I kept pushing his hand off me. Repeatedly he kept trying and I kept saying, "Stop it, stop it." '

She told her mother what had happened, who put a note under Bloom's door warning him she would go to the police if he contacted her again.

Old Bailey judge Recorder Stephen Kramer QC told Bloom, 'Instead of giving her sanctuary, you indecently assaulted her in a predatory way.'

The judge ordered Bloom's name to be placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years and sentenced him to a year's imprisonment. He was taken from the court to Belmarsh Prison where he is in a high security unit.

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The playboy predator, his 14-year-old victim, and the disturbing question: how did her mother let it happen? 
By Sue Reid
Daily Mail - May 22, 2003

TO HER close-knit family she is known by the pet name of (NAME REMOVED). She chats for hours on her mobile phone and listens to Kylie Minogue songs.  (NAME REMOVED) loathes the taste of alcohol and has never had a real boyfriend. 

In many ways she is a typical teenager, except that  (NAME REMOVED) may never again enjoy the carefree confidence of her peers. For two years ago, this naive and trusting schoolgirl became the target of a wealthy playboy who ensnared her in a sordid affair. 

Her ill-fated liaison with the millionaire property developer Baron Bloom, almost twice her age, ended with  (NAME REMOVED) losing her virginity to him at 14. 

Full of shame, she has tried to commit suicide twice. From being a straight-A student with a scholarship at a private girls' school, she floundered in her GCSE mock exams last year after her life was devastated by the wild-living bachelor. 

The story of how he ensnared her illuminates not just his wickedness, but the failure of B (NAME REMOVED)'s bewildered mother to cope with her daughter in fast-living London. 

At the Old Bailey last week, Bloom, 29, once picked as a perfect date by the women's magazine Marie Claire, was jailed for 12 months for indecently assaulting (NAME REMOVED)'s 15-year-old best friend. The judge described him as predatory, self-willed and immature. He will be placed on the sex offender's register for ten years. 

Bloom got his kicks, the jury was told, from chasing young girls and enticing them into his bed.  (NAME REMOVED)'s mother described him as a wolf searching for prey. 

As she spoke for the first time about her family's ordeal, she was often near to tears. Her apartment by the Thames in London is decked with family photographs, which she glanced at ruefully while describing how her daughter introduced her to Bloom. He was, she says, wearing his shirt undone. 

'I could see the hairs all over his chest. It was disrespectful to me. He pretended that one day he might propose to my daughter. But I wouldn't want a son-in-law who greets me with his chest hairs showing.' MANY people will wonder how any mother could have allowed her daughter, who had barely reached puberty, to go out with this evidently unsuitable, flashy man. Or how the girl herself, however young and innocent, chose to continue seeing him after he pestered her for sex. 

(NAME REMOVED)'s mother acknowledges all of this. She was, she says, desperate to avoid a confrontation that might cause her daughter to turn away from her family. She allowed the relationship to continue, not realising how serious it had become. It is a mistake for which she rebukes herself today. 

(NAME REMOVED), seduced by the gaudy trappings of Bloom's wealth, believed she was in love with this spoilt, only son of selfmade millionaire Desmond Bloom. 

Bloom junior was able to party in Mayfair, take skiing breaks in Gstaad and parade around nightspots attracting girls by offering them as much Cristal champagne (at pounds 275 a bottle) as they could drink. 

His favourite trick was spraying any girl he fancied with expensive champagne. When she protested about her spoilt dress, he would invite her to meet him the next day at Versace to buy a new one. 

'They always turn up, sometimes there are four or five waiting for me. It is why I get the most beautiful girls,' he bragged. 

(NAME REMOVED)'s mother was from a well off traditional Asian family. After her arranged marriage collapsed, she moved to England when  (NAME REMOVED) was a toddler and began bringing up two daughters alone. 

She hoped that  (NAME REMOVED) would one day meet a suitable boy and marry him with her blessing. This dream was shattered by a chance encounter in a Starbucks coffee shop on a winter Sunday afternoon two years ago, where a few weeks before her 14th birthday,  (NAME REMOVED) was sipping tea with her younger sister. 

Bloom went up to their table and asked her name. He flirted. The next time she visited the coffee bar, he was waiting. 

'I thought he looked like a cross between John Travolta and Pete Sampras when I first saw him,' she admits, her brown eyes wide open. 

'I told him my true age very early on. He would laugh and say "Oh, you're just a baby". He knew I was still at school because he picked me up there in his yellow Lamborghini and chatted about my classes, my pocket money. Of course, he took advantage of me.' BLOOM squired  (NAME REMOVED) to intimate dinners at London restaurants including the hip Joe's Cafe in Chelsea, and fashionable Montpeliano in Knightsbridge. Her mother thought she was with schoolfriends, sometimes on sleepovers - but she did not check thoroughly. 

It was several months before she grew suspicious about the phone calls to her daughter from Bloom. She confronted  (NAME REMOVED), who confessed, promising never to see the playboy alone again. But Baron was not content with that arrangement. When he took delivery of a new pounds 110,000 Bentley, he wanted to show it off. He rang  (NAME REMOVED)'s home and asked her mother if he could drive her daughter to Richou's coffee shop in Knightsbridge. 

She agreed - but on condition that she accompanied her daughter. 

It was 10am on a Sunday morning. As  (NAME REMOVED)'s mother finished the washing-up, Bloom whisked the girl away. The mother tried to call him on his mobile phone, but he switched it off - a sign, if one were needed, that by this time  (NAME REMOVED) was running out of her control. 

Bloom drove (NAME REMOVED) to his Kensington flat. 'He said I was his girlfriend. 

He touched my body and asked if I had had sex before,' she told the Old Bailey. She insisted she was a virgin and began crying before sex took place. 

Afterwards, he drove her home. The terrified girl hid her underwear in a drawer so her mother would not discover her guilty secret. It was later tested by police to prove that Bloom had sex with  (NAME REMOVED). 

However, he was acquitted of indecently assaulting her after telling the court that he thought she was over the age of consent. 

When, a few days after the incident at the flat, Bloom invited  (NAME REMOVED) and her best friend, aged 15, to the London nightclub Tramp, she foolishly accepted - she says she was still in awe of him. There, he plied  (NAME REMOVED) with Cristal champagne. The gullible teenager says her glass was filled two or three times. 'I had never tasted alcohol before. I drank champagne in Tramp because I wanted to appear grownup,' she admitted. 

(NAME REMOVED) collapsed and was taken to hospital where it took until six in the morning to revive her. 

Both girls had told their families they were staying with friends. 

Foolishly, they agreed to go to Bloom's apartment, terrified at what their parents would say if they arrived home in the middle of the night. 

AT BLOOM'S flat, he, a friend called Jack, and the two girls ended up lying on the playboy's double bed. As  (NAME REMOVED) slept, Bloom began touching her best friend's legs and body. She begged him to stop but Bloom continued to indecently assault her. For this assault he was jailed From that night, Bloom lost interest in  (NAME REMOVED). The phone calls became less frequent. 

'He has taken one girl's virginity. She has nothing more she can give him so he drops her and goes on to the next one. This was his cynical manipulation of young girls,' the prosecutor told the Old Bailey. 

But  (NAME REMOVED) was still infatuated. 'It was only when I began to tell my friends, and later my mother, about how badly Baron was treating me that I realised it was wrong. I became very depressed because I was ashamed.' Soon afterwards, she slashed her wrists. She attempted suicide again by taking pills, and had to be taken to hospital to be resuscitated.
(NAME REMOVED)'s mother said: 'What age is 14? Fourteen is nothing. You have no clue about men or love. This Bloom man made my lovely daughter believe, at least for a time, that his crude sex was love.' What does the future hold for  (NAME REMOVED)? At 16 she is slowly beginning to recover. 

She did not go to the Old Bailey to hear Bloom sent to prison. Instead, she was revising for her GCSE exams at home. 

'I did love him once,' she says quietly, 'but I definitely don't now. It has taken me two whole years to be strong enough to say that, and to really mean it.' Clear

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News in brief
Appeal for tycoon's son
Telegraph News - May 24, 2003

A wealthy businessman's son who was convicted of indecently assaulting a 15-year-old girl was yesterday given leave to appeal against his 12-month prison sentence.

Baron Bloom, 28, of St John's Wood, north-west London, a former property developer and the son of the millionaire businessman Desmond Bloom, was said to have taken advantage of the schoolgirl after impressing her with his wealth.

He had denied the attack but was found guilty after a trial in December. He was jailed at the Old Bailey last Friday. Mr Justice Beatson refused to grant Bloom bail at the Court of Appeal yesterday, despite his parents' readiness to put up £250,000. He ordered an expedited hearing of the appeal.

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Sentence Slashed
by Alex Sholem
Totally Jewish - June 11, 2003


A millionaire playboy who indecently assaulted a 15-year old girl had his jail sentence slashed this week.

The court of appeal found that the one-year sentence handed to Baron Bloom last month was excessive, so the 28-year-old property tycoon will now serve just three months. But judges rejected Bloom's lawyers' argument that he should be freed immediately on a community service order.

Bloom, who was found guilty of the assault at the Old Bailey last December, denies attacking the girl. He admitted to meeting her in a (Name withheld) coffee shop in February 2001 and taking her out on dates to restaurants and nightclubs, but claimed they had consensual sex in his Kensington flat. Bloom said he later discovered her real age and ended the relationship.

He was also accused of indecent assault against one of the girl's friends, who was 14-years-old at the time.

She later e-mailed him saying: "If all Jewish people are like you Hitler should be made a saint." But she acknowledged she had told the defendant that she was 18. He was cleared of the attack.

Bloom, from St John's Wood, recently declared himself bankrupt and closed down his property business, but his appeal was funded by his millionaire businessman father, Desmond Bloom.

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Millionaire's son has sex assault sentence cut  
The Independent - June 11, 2003

A PROPERTY developer convicted of indecently assaulting a 15- year-old girl had his 12-month jail term cut to three months by the Court of Appeal yesterday. Three judges ruled that Baron Bloom's sentence, handed down four weeks ago, was "excessive". But they rejected an argument by defence lawyers that he should be freed immediately under a community service order. The decision means that Bloom, 29, the son of the millionaire businessman Desmond Bloom, will be released in about two weeks. Bloom, of St John's Wood, north- west London, had denied the attack.  

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PERVERT property tycoon Baron Bloom is plotting his comeback
By Andrew Penman, Michael Greenwood and Guy Dennis
The Daily Mirror - June 13, 2003

The Lamborghini-driving ex-managing director of Eurocity Properties is currently banged up in Belmarsh Prison after being convicted of indecently assaulting a girl of 15. 

But his sentence has just been cut from one year to three months, meaning he'll be out in a couple of weeks. 

Bloom, the 29-year-old son of self-made millionaire Desmond Bloom, is relishing the prospect of getting back to business. 

"Upon my release I intend to take a two-month vacation in the South of France and consider my next move," he said in a statement. 

"I'm already working on other property deals. I like the public arena and I'm looking at shell companies that I can take control of." 

At his original trial the court heard that his victim's 14-year- old friend collapsed and was taken to hospital after drinking too much Cristal champagne with Bloom at a Mayfair nightclub in September 2001. 

Later the girls ended up in his double bed at his flat in Kensington, West London. 

Described in court as predatory, self-willed and immature, Bloom was once picked as the perfect date by women's magazine Marie Claire. 

Cutting his sentence this week, appeal judge Mr Justice Richards, sitting with Lord Justice Latham and Sir John Blofeld, said that after his conviction Bloom was forced off the board of his company and, unable to pay his debts, became bankrupt. 

Baron, by the way, is his first name, and not a title. Trust us, there's nothing noble about him.
 

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"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead

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