Case of John Joseph Kosky (AKA: Johnathon Kaye)

Case of John Joseph Kosky

(AKA: Johnathon Kaye)

Retired School Teacher

Perth, Australia

Mount Scopus Jewish College, Burwood, Australia

Melbourne, Australia

Thailand

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Convicted for offering to provide a Perth man with young girls and boys for sex in a Thai apartment. The jury was not told Kaye had been arrested twice in Thailand, in 1997 and 1999, on child-sex charges. On his return to Australia, he changed his name by deed poll from John Joseph Kosky, after having problems with the Jewish community.

Kaye lived in Perth but taught at the Mount Scopus Jewish college in the Melbourne suburb of Burwood in the 1960s and 1970s.

The Judge in the case said his crime was "highly exploitive and sexually deviant". He advertised the tour through a gay newspaper. The ad read: "Thai boy, young, fit, hunk, caring and english speaking. Would like to be your personal guide when in Thailand. Prefer older men. Contact my friend in Perth. Kaye organised tours from his retirement home in Perth.  Had his name changed by deed poll from John Joseph Kosky to Johnathon Kaye

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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. Child Sex Tourism Charges (12/31/2002)

2003

1. 
   
2. Man ran child-sex travel service from his retirement home, court told (02/02/2003)
3. Thai child-sex tour teacher guilty (02/24/2003)
4. 71-Year-Old Man Jailed for Six Years over Child Sex Tours (04/04/2003)
5. Six years jail for child sex tour (04/04/2003)

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Child Sex Tourism Charges

ChildWise - December 21, 2002

http://www.ecpat.org/prosecutions.html

1994 - 2002 

1. Anthony Richard Carr (43) Seaforth NSW: was the first person charged under the Child Sex Tourism Law in October 1995 for offences committed against a five year old girl in the Philippines. He was sentenced to six years in jail for overseas and local offences. Carr was first arrested for local offences and when the police searched his home found child pornography involving children in the Philippines. A joint Australian and Philippine investigation found that Carr visited the Philippines to have sex with children and had paid money to a man to use his 5 year old niece in a pornographic video. 

2. Andrew Justin Harman ( ): Victoria was prosecuted for sexual offences committed with the defendants 18 month old niece and 3 year old nephew in the United States. Harman pleaded and was sentenced to a total effective sentence of two years and six months with a minimum term of twelve months. 

3. John Scott Holloway (55) of Canberra: was the second person charged under the Child Sex Tourism legislation for sex offences committed against boys under the age of 16 in Cambodia. The offences allegedly took place between July and Sept 1994. He was charged in April 1996 and the committal proceedings were heard November 1996. The charges were dismissed as the boys evidence was seen by the magistrate to be unreliable. 

4. Jesse Spencer Pearce (76) of Queensland: pleaded guilty of assaulting Thai and Australian children in 1996. He admitted to 32 charges and was sentenced to 9 years in jail. Another Australian was charged (name unknown) with Jesse Pearce but the charges were later dropped. 

5. Name unknown: Brisbane: arrested with Jesse Pearce. Charges were dropped after a few months. 

6. Raymond John Jones (43) of Victoria: was the first Australian charged in October 1996 for encouraging child sex tourism by promoting others to engage in sex with minors in the Philippines. He was committed to trial in May 1997 but the case was dismissed by the Judge due to what he considered to be insubstantial evidence. 

7. John Arthur Lee (43) Karratha, WA: was charged in 1997 of sexually assaulting young girls in Cambodia. He was arrested after he bragged to his workmates about his exploits and showed them pictures of the underage girls. He was convicted in May 1999 and sentenced to 14 years. After an appeal in 2000, his sentence was reduced to 11 years in jail. 

8. Harry Ernst Ruppert (55) of Victoria: was arrested in January 1997 after someone told the police that he was organising a child sex ring in the African country of Ghana. Ruppert pleaded guilty of organising and encouraging adults to have sex with children as young as four to train them into child prostitutes. His trial was in August 1998 and the Judge gave him a suspended sentence of six months. 

9. Bruce Steele (40 something) of Newcastle, NSW: gave himself up to police in mid 1997, admitting he had sex with boys in India while posing as a social worker. He was sentenced in December 1998 to 6 years in jail The sentence included local child sexual abuse charges. 

10. Robert Marlow (55) of Melbourne: pleaded guilty to sexually abusing boys in Fiji and was sentenced on 19 May 2000 to 3_ years in jail. Marlow regularly visited Fiji on business and was arrested after the Fijian police commissioner observed Marlow cavorting in a swimming pool with Fijian boys. 

11. John Kosky (70) of Perth: was charged in January 2001 with encouraging child sex tourism. Kosky ­ also known as Jonathan Kaye ­ was charged following a police search of his house in Perth after an investigation into child sex tours in Thailand. The retired school teacher was released on $50,000 bail; the case will be heard in Court in 2002. 

12. Ralph Ian Assheton of Perth: IN May 01 Australian Customs Service intercepted a parcel containing literature and computer images which were then referred to the AFP. The images contained boys under 16 depicting sexual acts. The AFP at the time were investigating allegations of offences committed in Bali. In Sept 2001 He appeared in Kalgoorlie Court and pleaded guilty to 2 charges under the child sex tourism act and 12 charges under the Customs Act. In march 02 Assheton was sentenced to 6 years with a non parole period of 3 years. 

13. Raymond Colin Smith of New South Wales: was convicted on June 7th 2002 under the child sex tourism law for committing 3 sexual acts with two, 6 year old girls in the Philippines. Smith was sentenced to 3 years jail and will be eligible for parole after 21 months. Smith, a convicted sex offender travelled to the Philippines on the Christian Charity the Mercy Ship. Whilst in the Philippines Smith sexually molested 2 girls and produced pornography. Smith¹s manager discovered this abuse and sent him back to Australia for prosecution fearing Smith may receive a death sentence if prosecuted in the Philippines. 

14. David John Gillard 56 of New South Wales: a Baptist church missionary was charged with 7 counts of committing an act of indecency on a child under 16, 5 counts of submitting to an act of indecency and one of attempting to pervert the course of justice. It was alleged that Gillard bribed the victims while in a Philippines jail offering them 100,000 pesos to drop the charges. Gillard was deported and interviewed and later charged by the Australian Federal Police. The AFP alleged that Gillard who is married travelled to the Philippines on behalf of the Baptist Church which ran camps for Filipino children. 

15. Name withheld 52 of Queensland : A retired Australian police officer was arraigned Thursday 15th August 2002 on charges of sexually abusing a 12 year old girl in the Philippines. The man appeared in the Brisbane Magistrate Court to face charges he had sex with a girl under the age of 16 on six occasions in July 1998 at Angeles City the Philippines. The man was released on bail and ordered to reappear on September 6th 2002. 

16. Name withheld 58 of Melbourne : A Melbourne businessman was arrested and charged with child sex offences arising out of a trip to Thailand in 2001. The man faces three counts of engaging in intercourse with a person under the age of 16. Federal agents arrested the man at his home and seized computer files and emails. He was bailed on $100,000 surety and will appear in court on 26 November 2002.

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Man ran child-sex travel service from his retirement home, court told

AAP - February 22 2003

A 71-year-old man had incriminated himself of organising child-sex tours to Thailand by outlining, in phone calls and letters, his ability to arrange boys and girls of any age for sex, a court was told yesterday.

In one letter, former Perth schoolteacher Jonathan Kaye allegedly had inquired of a contact in Thailand as to whether a boy, aged between 12 and 14, had "nice buttocks" and whether he had reached puberty.

Kaye has been on trial in the West Australian District Court, charged with offering to help someone engage in indecent conduct with a person under 16 outside Australia. It is the first trial involving this charge.

The court was told by the Crown that the calls and letters supported evidence given by a prospective traveller, Graham Adair, 70, leaving no doubt Kaye offered to set up children under 16 for sexual conduct in Thailand.

The four-day trial has been told Kaye was running an informal travel business from his retirement home. He would advertise cheap accommodation, and receive calls from people genuinely interested in that service.

But while on the phone, he would also put out feelers to see if callers were after "additional services" such as Thai children.

The Crown prosecutor, Graeme Allen, told the jury Kaye met Mr Adair and spoke to him specifically about providing children aged under 16. One of the boys, Mex, was between 12 and 14.

Mr Allen said Kaye was in control of planning a trip with Mr Adair to Thailand, arranged for February 5, 2001. This was clear from a letter Kaye had sent to a contact there, in which he said he could take up to two boys in his apartment but "more than two I will give to Graham".

Police investigated Kaye after an ad was placed in a Perth newspaper. They intercepted 1323 phone calls to and from Kaye's home in January 2001.

The jury has been told Kaye is not on trial for his own sexual activities in Thailand, but that evidence about his sexual proclivities was relevant to his ability to provide underage boys.

To this end, the court was read letters Kaye had written to Thai contacts. One was to someone he described as a Buddhist monk, known as Mo, whose son, Moo, was among boys whose services Kaye had procured for himself.

"Mo, tell me more about Mex. What is his correct age? Is he tall, small? Body? Does he have ... nice buttocks and has he reached puberty?" the letter read in part. "I need a boy who's sexy and horny."

Kaye's counsel David Moen has said Kaye's business, JK Imports, was a legitimate, registered business. The jury was expected to retire late yesterday.

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Thai child-sex tour teacher guilty

AAP - February 24, 2003

A 71-year-old former Melbourne school teacher has been told to expect a long jail term for his sexual deviance in organising child-sex tours to Thailand.

Jonathon Kaye has been convicted after the first trial of its kind in Australia, for offering to provide a 70-year-old Perth man with young girls and boys for sex in a Thai apartment.

A jury of eight men and four women deliberated for less than three hours before finding Kaye guilty of a crime for which he was arrested in January 2001 after police tapped 1,323 phone calls made to and from his retirement home.

His four-day West Australian District Court trial was told Kaye ran a travel business from his home, and had canvassed callers' possible interest in sex tours to Thailand.

Police pounced after Kaye told 70-year-old Graham Adair he could provide boys and girls of any age.

Mr Adair denied in his evidence that he was interested in young boys or child pornography.

The jury was not told Kaye had been arrested twice in Thailand, in 1997 and 1999, on child-sex charges.

He had been caught in raids linked to a British school teacher and two Dutch men.

The charges did not go to trial there, but Kaye was eventually deported to Australia.

On his return, he changed his name by deed poll from John Joseph Kosky, after having problems with the Jewish community.

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71-Year-Old Man Jailed for Six Years over Child Sex Tours

AAP Information Services - April 4, 2003

A 71-year-old self-proclaimed child-welfare proponent was today jailed for six years for organising a child sex tour in Thailand from his Perth retirement home.

But former Melbourne schoolteacher Jonathan Kaye maintained he was framed and would appeal his conviction - the first of its kind in Australia.

Kaye was sentenced in the West Australian District Court after being found guilty of the crime for which he was arrested in January 2001 after police tapped 1,323 phone calls made to and from his retirement home.

Judge Shauna Deane told Kaye today the jury last month had been convinced he offered an additional service to his travel business, and had offered to arrange child sex for a client, Graham Adair, 70.

Adair - who responded to Kaye's travel advertisement in a gay newspaper which he found in a sauna - testified that Kaye claimed to have had sex with a 16-year-old boy and to have "smoked" an even younger child's penis.

Adair, who denied any interest in child sex, said Kaye advised him to take a honey dispenser and stimulation items, to Thailand.

Defence lawyer David Moen said Kaye denied the crime and would appeal his conviction.

However Kaye had expressed remorse for placing the ad in a gay newspaper where it could have been misconstrued, Mr Moen said.

The ad read: "Thai boy, young, fit, hunk, caring and English speaking, would like to be your personal guide when in Thailand. Prefer older men. Contact my friend in Perth."

Judge Deane told Kaye his crime was "highly exploitative and sexually deviant".

She said the Australian parliament clearly felt, through the wording of the Child Sex Tourism provisions of the Crimes Act, there was no difference whether a sex act took place or not.

Judge Deane said Kaye had a long history of working with children as a teacher in Melbourne, WA and overseas.

He had sponsored several male Asian students and supported Save the Children Australia.

Kaye changed his name by deed poll from John Joseph Kosky, after having problems with the Jewish community.

The problems arose after he was arrested, but not convicted, in Thailand in 1997 and 1999, over child sex related offences.

Kaye was today sentenced to six years jail with a non-parole period of three years. The commonwealth offence carries a 17 year maximum penalty.

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Six years jail for child sex tour

Townsville Bulletin - April 4, 2003

A 71-year-old self-proclaimed child-welfare proponent has been jailed for six years for organising a child sex tour in Thailand from his Perth retirement home.

But former Melbourne schoolteacher Jonathan Kaye maintained he was framed and would appeal his conviction - the first of its kind in Australia.

Kaye was sentenced in the West Australian District Court after being found guilty of the crime for which he was arrested in January 2001 after police tapped 1,323 phone calls made to and from his retirement home.

Judge Shauna Deane told Kaye today the jury last month had been convinced he offered an additional service to his travel business, and had offered to arrange child sex for a client, Graham Adair, 70.

Adair - who responded to Kaye's travel advertisement in a gay newspaper which he found in a sauna - testified that Kaye claimed to have had sex with a 16-year-old boy and to have "smoked" an even younger child's penis.

Adair, who denied any interest in child sex, said Kaye advised him to take a honey dispenser and stimulation items, to Thailand.

Defence lawyer David Moen said Kaye denied the crime and would appeal his conviction.

However Kaye had expressed remorse for placing the ad in a gay newspaper where it could have been misconstrued, Mr Moen said.

The ad read: "Thai boy, young, fit, hunk, caring and English speaking, would like to be your personal guide when in Thailand. Prefer older men. Contact my friend in Perth."

Judge Deane told Kaye his crime was "highly exploitative and sexually deviant".

She said the Australian parliament clearly felt, through the wording of the Child Sex Tourism provisions of the Crimes Act, there was no difference whether a sex act took place or not.

Judge Deane said Kaye had a long history of working with children as a teacher in Melbourne, WA and overseas.

He had sponsored several male Asian students and supported Save the Children Australia.

Kaye changed his name by deed poll from John Joseph Kosky, after having problems with the Jewish community.

The problems arose after he was arrested, but not convicted, in Thailand in 1997 and 1999, over child sex related offences.

Kaye was today sentenced to six years jail with a non-parole period of three years. The commonwealth offence carries a 17 year maximum penalty.

Kaye's sentence was handed down just a day after legislation was introduced before the WA parliament to raise the maximum jail term for travel agents who arrange overseas paedophile sex tours to 20 years.

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For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml . If you wish to use copyrighted material from this update for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

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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 the Unnamed Repeat Teenage Sex Offender

Case of the Unnamed Repeat Teenage Sex Offender

Tel Aviv, Israel

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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:  

1. Boy, 16, charged with rape of girl, 10 (12/26/2002)

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News in brief:

Boy, 16, charged with rape of girl, 10

By Itim

The Jerusalem Post - Thursday, December 26, 2002 

A 16-year-old boy was charged in Tel Aviv District Court on Wednesday with the rape and sexual assault of his 10-year-old neighbor.

The boy, who is from the country's center, is accused of repeatedly abusing the girl in his home and the yard of their building over the course of a year.

While making a case for the accused's remand, the defense pointed out that he has already been convicted of sexually assaulting a seven-year-old boy and has confessed to the allegations in the current case. The accused is being held in custody for the time being. 

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FAIR USE NOTICE

Some of the information on The Awareness Center's web pages may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.

We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml . If you wish to use copyrighted material from this update for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

___________________________________________________________________________________

"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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The Victims' Lament - Sexual abuse in the community is all too

The Victims' Lament - Sexual abuse in the community is all too 

By Faygie Levy, Jewish Exponent Staff

Jewish Exponent - December 19, 2002

(NAME REMOVED) was 11 years old when it happened.   

A student at the Chisuk Emuna Congregation's Hebrew school in Harrisburg, she had lagged behind her classmates during a break between lessons. That's when she says the synagogue's cantor, Philip Wittlin, "came up behind me and did that gross old-man thing."

(Name Removed) defines that behavior as Wittlin touching her breasts, one time, during that afternoon a decade ago. In August 2001, about a month after Wittlin was arrested for abusing minors, (Name Removed) approached the district attorney in Dauphin County, where she grew up and where her family still resides, and recounted the incident.

At 21, (Name Removed) is still troubled by the encounter, saying, "I have a big problems trusting men."

She is not alone.

Today, you can't pick up a newspaper or turn on a television station without hearing about the latest sexual-abuse claim within the Catholic Church. Although the known number of cases of child sexual abuse by cantors and rabbis is presumed to be nowhere near that of priests and other clergymen right now, even a single instance is a problem for the Jewish community.

The victims of abuse have been both boys and girls, and their attackers are often trusted members of the community who have known the children's families for years. Abuse has occurred in synagogues and day schools, places where families look for the installation of Jewish ethics and values, places where people should feel safe.

Those who prey on children, say the experts, often build up a relationship with the child, gaining his or her trust before making a move.

"Whether the child is an alter boy or a girl in Sunday school, who loves and respects the person in authority, the scene is set, the dynamic is there. That's so with any religion," says Wendy Demchick-Alloy, an assistant district attorney in Montgomery County who prosecuted many such crimes over the years. "You inherently want to respect and put trust and faith in your religious leaders."

She goes on to explain that sexual assault of children "is, as disgusting as it sounds, a very quiet event committed by a very warped person and doesn't leave physical evidence." What they do leave behind, she says, are "devastating emotional scars."

Rabbi Juda Mintz pleaded guilty earlier this year to possessing child pornography.

"These cases often are based on a dynamic of authority, power and trust that's violated in the deepest way," explains Demchick-Alloy.

Technically, the words "sexual abuse" as defined in Pennsylvania's crimes code deal with criminality of making or disseminating photos, videos, pictures and films of children engaging in sexual acts. Lay people often use that term interchangeably with what the crimes code calls "sexual offenses," the actual criminal act ranging from indecent exposure to sexual contact and intercourse.

Among the most recent cases involving rabbis or cantors are:

·Cantor Philip H. Wittlin, formerly of Chisuk Emuna Congregation in Harrisburg, Pa., pleaded guilty on Feb. 12 to a number of charges, including five counts each of corruption of minors and two counts of aggravated indecent assault. His sentencing hearing earlier this month will be continued next month.

Rabbi Juda Mintz, formerly of Mount Freedom Jewish Center in Randolph Township, N.J., pleaded guilty on Feb. 26 to possessing child pornography and is expected to be sentenced on June 12. He faces up to five years in prison.

Rabbi Richard M. Marcovitz, religious leader of Emanuel Synagogue in Oklahoma City, was charged Feb. 26 with numerous counts of indecent or lewd acts with minors, as well as sexual battery. The charges stem from allegations by two students and two adult employees at the Oklahoma City Jewish Community Day School, which is housed in the synagogue.

Cantor Howard Nevison, of Temple Emanu-El in New York, was arrested Feb. 20 by Lower Merion Police after his nephew told authorities that Nevison had sexually abused him from the time he was 3 until he was 7.

Facing the problem

For all the known cases - these are just a few - those involved in the issue say other perpetrators are probably out there, and that the Jewish community has yet to step forward and deal with the problem head-on.

"It's not something we ever thought could happen here, and now we realize it is happening," says Rabbi Abraham Twersky, a Pittsburgh-area psychiatrist who founded the Gateways Rehabilitation Center, a drug- and substance-abuse center, in Aliquippa, Pa.

Twersky, who was consulted on a number of cases involving sexual abuse by religious leaders, is credited in part with bringing social issues like domestic violence and drug abuse to the forefront of Orthodox Judaism.

"In English, you say it's a shame, it's an embarrassment, a disgrace," but in Hebrew, Twersky says, "you would use the word shandah, the most disgrace possible. And the Jewish community has always been careful not to have a shandah. ... We're just reluctant to accept that these problems are within us."

Rabbi Mark Dratch, religious leader of Agudath Sholom in Stamford, Conn., who wrote about the issue for the Rabbinical Council of America, and who sits on the Jewish advisory committee for the Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence, agrees. "My impression is the lack of the Jewish community's ability or desire to deal with these issues is based not on halachic grounds, but on denial, on the willingness to deal with difficult situations and believe these kinds of allegations."

But, he continues, when people use halachah (Jewish laws), such as the obligation against lashon hara, or speaking bad about another, to justify their actions in keeping silent or not turning in an alleged abuser, "that's an abuse of the halachic system itself."

Charlotte Schwab, Ph.D., a Florida-based psychotherapist who has been counseling victims of sexual abuse for 10 years, knows firsthand the devastation such abuse can cause. At one time, she was married to a New York rabbi who was accused of such crimes. Though now divorced from him, she acknowledges that it has led to her current work.

The victims of sexual abuse by rabbis or cantors, explains Schwab, "feel worthless, shamed, that it's somehow their fault."

Often, she says, "they don't dare tell anybody. They hide themselves, and it affects their lives in many ways - in their ability to function, to take care of their families."

The victims, according to Schwab, "often never recover. It's very traumatic."

And like people who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, these victims "relive the experience" in their minds over and over again, even through adulthood, she insists.

(Name Removed), one of Philip Wittlin's victims, tried to tell her family years ago what the cantor had done, but at the time believed somehow that "it was my fault." Instead, she told her parents that he had caressed not her private parts, but her back.

Her stepmother, (Name Removed), recalls that Wittlin is "a touchy-feely kind of guy, and at the time, "we brushed it off."

But when victims do step forward, they are often the ones put on trial, not necessarily in the criminal courts, but in the court of public opinion.

"They are often accused of being troublemakers, or making it up or wanting revenge," says Schwab, adding, "that's preposterous, because ... who'd want to go make that up?"

Says Dratch: "There needs to be a lot of support for people coming forward, so they find the personal support, the congregational support, so they are not victimized a second time."

But, he acknowledges, "it's hard because many times an alleged perpetrator is known by the community, and they have a hard time accepting the accusation against him. And they may be themselves in a state of denial."

"The real tragedy of all of this," adds Schwab, "is the cover-up and denial by spokespeople of [religious] denominations who say this doesn't exist."

Educating the community

For those who have been abused by rabbis or cantors, the abuse can sometimes overshadow any feelings they have for Judaism, according to Schwab. Some, she says, leave the religion and their communities. "I try to help them see that there are some safe places, and even some male rabbis who are trying to change things," says Schwab.

Many believe that it is time for a sea change to occur in the way the Jewish community deals with the issue. "We need to be more aggressive with education, and while we're concerned with internally issues of tzinnus [`modesty'] or shandah," says Dratch, "we cannot sacrifice the safety and well-being of our children.

"There needs to be more open discussions in the schools, shuls and families with regard to this issue," he continues. "And, I think, there needs to be more of a grass-roots effort" to address it and combat it.

"If there's a situation where [communal] leaders are negligent in their leadership, then lay people need to step forward and change the facts on the ground on how the issue is discussed or addressed."

To be sure, some steps are being taken to educate upcoming rabbis and cantors about appropriate behavior and how to deal with the issue of sexual abuse by religious leaders when it is brought to their attention. The education, some say, is also to help cantors and rabbis avoid being in a position where false allegations can occur.

The Cantors Assembly of the Conservative movement, for example, issued guidelines last year in the form of a letter to members. According to Stephen Stein, the group's executive vice president, those recommendations include having parents sit in on Bar/Bat Mitzvah lessons or having another child in the room. Cantors should also sit across, not next to, the child. The group also advises cantors to avoid any physical contact with kids.

Rabbinic movements have codes of ethics that members are expected to abide by, but so far none are believed to have issued such in-depth guidelines.

The religious movements say they address the issue at conferences or in classes at the rabbinical schools. Several rabbinical groups mentioned that candidates must pass, at the very least, one interview and have several letters of recommendations, which they say help weed out potentially troublesome candidates.

Even with the most rigorous interview and screening processes, abusers can make it through the system, some say. The question then becomes what to do with them.

The experts say that a thorough and immediate investigation must be conducted into any claim of abuse against a child, no matter what the circumstances.

That's something that did not happen in the case of Rabbi Baruch Lanner, a former leader of the National Council of Synagogue Youth. Though rumors and allegations persisted for years about possible sexual misconduct with minors, no one - including the Orthodox Union, which oversees the youth group - investigated until a story appeared in The New York Jewish Week.

Likewise, according to members of Harrisburg's Jewish community, whispers of sexual-abuse allegations against Philip Wittlin date back at least 10 years.

Dratch hits the point home to the community in a single, albeit frightening, sentence: "Most pedophiles do not have one victim, they have many victims, and unless they are taken out of circulation, they will not be stopped."

No Remorse on Accuser's Part, as Ex-Cantor Has His Day in Court.

HARRISBURG, Pa.

Inside the cavernous, poorly lit courtroom, the tension was palpable on May 16 as victims of sexual abuse gathered for the sentencing of their attacker, Philip H. Wittlin, formerly a cantor at Chisuk Emuna Congregation in Harrisburg.

Wittlin had pleaded guilty in February to a number of charges, including two counts of aggravated indecent assault and five counts of corruption of minors.

The charges were based on the abuse of two girls, but authorities say Wittlin victimized others, though the statue of limitations had run out on those crimes. At the time of the abuse, the victims were under 18 and affiliated with the congregation.

Some of Wittlin's older victims, including (Name Removed), 21, were on hand to lend moral support to the two teens who had reported the abuse that led to the former cantor's arrest.

Wittlin's victims and their supporters filled the middle four rows of benches behind the prosecutor's desk. They sat beside family members who occasionally would lean over and whisper in their ears, or touch them on the shoulder for encouragement.

At one point, a male relative of one of the young girls appeared to ask a woman with the district attorney's office whether Wittlin would just walk into court. The official put her hands by her waist, moved them close together and mouthed the words, "in handcuffs."

Indeed, when Wittlin entered the court nearly an hour later, he was shackled.

A stocky man with a beard, receding hairline and thick, black-rimmed glasses, the 56-year-old Wittlin didn't glance at his accusers as he entered the courtroom.

The prosecutor, Kimberly Alfieri, led the sentencing hearing with testimony by Dr. Barry Zakireh, a licensed psychologist and a member of the sexual-offenders' assessment board who testified about Wittlin's actions.

Zakireh noted that when questioned by police, Wittlin said that he may have touched the victims, but that it was "accidental."

According to the psychologist, "that suggests that he does not consider himself guilty of intending to commit sexual [assault]. It tells me he does not have much remorse or empathy toward the victim."

He also noted that over the years, Wittlin's actions escalated from touching young girls inappropriately to actual "penetration."

Wittlin, Zakireh testified, "meets the criteria for a sexually violent predator, ... considering only the two cases of which he's charged. If you consider the other victims that have since come forward, it would only strengthen that case."

Looking at the "number of times abuse occurred against the two victims," said Zakireh, you see a "deliberate, intentional pattern in which [Wittlin] planned his offenses."

Both the prosecutor and the defense attorney are allowed to call witnesses during the sentencing hearing to help the judge weigh the case and dole out an appropriate punishment. The proceedings ended in the middle of the prosecutor's presentation.

The hearing is expected to resume on June 14, when the prosecution will call additional witnesses to make statements, including (Name Removed) and other of Wittlin's victims. To date, the defense has no witnesses listed to speak on Wittlin's behalf.

Orthodox Rabbi Issues Warning on Sexual Abuse

Orthodox Rabbi Issues Warning on Sexual Abuse
Says Community Needs To Learn From Catholic Church Scandal
By AMI EDEN


FORWARD - December 7, 2002

The rabbi of a prominent Manhattan synagogue is using the occasion of the Catholic Church's sex scandal to warn that Orthodox institutions are often "dismissive" of abuse complaints.

Rabbi Ari Berman, the religious leader of the Jewish Center, a well-heeled Modern Orthodox congregation on the Upper West Side, issued the warning last weekend during a Saturday morning sermon. Berman said the Orthodox community needs to learn from the sex abuse scandal racking the Catholic Church. While asserting that sexual abuse cases are far more common in the Catholic community than in Orthodox circles, Berman criticized Orthodox institutions for dismissing many of the claims that do arise in their own backyard. 

"Perhaps in the outside world there might be an exaggerated tendency to launch a witch hunt, to fire people and prosecute immediately," said Berman, whose predecessors at the Jewish Center include Rabbi Norman Lamm, president of Yeshiva University, and Rabbi J.J. Schachter, dean of a Modern Orthodox think tank in Brookline, Mass. "But in the Orthodox world we have the opposite tendency: to circle the wagons and deny wrongdoing. The concern for the reputation of the teacher or school is given greater weight than the child's words."

Berman's sermon comes as American Jews are struggling to understand the ramifications of the church's sex scandal for their own religious institutions. It also comes as the most prominent Orthodox organization in America, the Orthodox Union, attempts to recover from its own sex scandal involving Rabbi Baruch Lanner, a popular leader of its youth group, the National Council of Synagogue Youth.

An independent commission set up by the O.U. determined that the organization had failed to act on complaints about Lanner, who allegedly abused dozens of students over 30 years. In his sermon, Berman said that allegations of sex abuse were not limited to Lanner and had not disappeared in the wake of the O.U. scandal.

"Just a short time ago, a much publicized case of abuse and negligence in the Modern Orthodox world raised this issue in the public consciousness," Berman said, in an apparent reference to the Lanner scandal. "I wish I could say that these were the only cases that I have heard in our community, but they are not. There are others, and some with tragic endings."  

To hammer home his point, Berman told the story of a pre-teen child who claimed he had been molested by a rabbi at summer camp. According to Berman, even though the rabbi had been the subject of previous complaints, the camp rejected the allegation, and a teacher at the child's school told the student "to stop making up stories, to forget about it and to move on." The family was ostracized, Berman said, and had trouble enrolling the child in another school.

Rabbi Steven Dworken

Rabbi Steven Dworken, executive vice president of the Modern Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America, argued that Orthodox sensitivity to sex abuse has greatly improved since the Lanner scandal became public almost two years ago. He cited one Orthodox school that, when faced with a credible complaint just a few months ago, immediately fired the teacher, contacted law enforcement authorities and supplied the student in question with psychological counseling.

"The Lanner incident really awoke and sensitized the community," said Dworken, whose group represents more than 1,000 Orthodox rabbis. "We are surely more sensitized now than five years ago. You don't think that the entire world is more sensitized since the Catholic Church scandal?

Unfortunately it takes such a scandal to sensitize people."

Rabbi Avi Shafran

Meanwhile, Rabbi Avi Shafran, spokesman for Agudath Israel of America, a leading ultra-Orthodox group, said leaders of his community have no tolerance for sex abuse, and that those who commit such acts are blackballed from holding educational positions.

Rabbi Yosef Blau

But Rabbi Yosef Blau, a religious adviser to students at Yeshiva University and harsh critic of the O.U.'s handling of the complaints against Lanner, argued that in both the Modern Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox worlds, organizations still do not adequately respond to sex abuse complaints. He acknowledged, however, that some progress has been made, with several prominent rabbis, including the O.U.'s new professional head, Rabbi Zvi Hersh Weinreb, instructing followers to bring sex abuse complaints to law enforcement agencies.

Many rabbis, especially older ones, simply find it hard to believe that any of their colleagues would sexually abuse children, said Blau, who sat on a three-person rabbinical court that decided not to take severe action against Lanner in 1989. But, Blau said, after hearing additional complaints and learning more about sexual abuse, he realized that he had made a mistake in not pushing for Lanner to be barred from working with young people. Blau said that even when rabbis are dismissed or leave their job under suspicion, they often manage to find educational work in another city. Blau said he is strongly in favor of Berman's call for the creation of a "national registry" for schools, camps and youth groups to check before hiring staffers.