by Adam May
CBS News (Baltimore) - December 19, 2007
Click here to watch video:
http://wjz.com/local/rabbi.molesting.yisroel.2.614587.html
PIKESVILLE,
Md. (WJZ) — At a kosher deli off Reisterstown Road in a Pikesville
stripmall, Eyewitness News found Rabbi Yisroel Shapiro, a butcher who jumped
out from behind his desk and hid from our cameras when we tried to ask him
about new criminal charges that he sexually abused two young boys during
Bar Mitzvah lessons.
Shapiro never came out, but a coworker did. The man
later yelled at Eyewitness News after we walked out the door that the allegations
against Shapiro were "fabricated."
City prosecutors say "Over the past several months,
police and prosecutors have conducted an extensive investigation that led
to the charges."
The alleged abuse took place at Shapiro's home off
Olympia Street in 1988 and 1994. Some neighbors caught wind of the allegations
a few years back and posted flyers.
One victim tells police he was forced to chant passages
from the Torah as he was inappropriately touched.
"The problem is that we don't know if there's more
victims. We know a few but not how many there have actually been," said
Vicki
Polin.
Polin heads
a support group for victims of rabbi abuse. She's concerned that some
leaders in the Orthodox community keep abusers quiet.
"They're told they shouldn't report it to secular
authorities because it could start another holocaust. Unfortunately, it starts
another type of holocaust where an accuser has access to hundreds of children
and each time they perfect their skills," she said.
No comments:
Post a Comment