Case of Rabbi Yosef Kolko

Case of Rabbi Yosef Kolko

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Teacher, Yeshiva Bais Hatorah School - Lakewood, NJ
Teacher, Yeshiva Orchos Chaim - Lakewood, NJ
Camp Counselor - Lakewood, NJ

Pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault, attempted aggravated sex assault, sexual assault and child endangerment. The abuse occurred from August 2008 to February 2009. It ranged from fondling to oral sex and stopped when the boy told his father, who confronted Kolko.

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Table of Contents

2013

1. Former NJ yeshiva teacher, camp counselor pleads guilty to sexually assaulting boy, is jailed (05/13/2013)
2. Rabbi Yosef Kolko, Ex-yeshiva Teacher, Admits Sexually Assaulting NJ Boy (05/13/2013)
3. Lakewood Yeshiva Teacher Yosef Kolko Admits Abusing Boy (05/13/2013)
4. Ex-Yeshiva Teacher Admits Sex Assault Of NJ Boy (05/14/2013)
5. Former Camp Counselor Yosef Kolko Admits Sex Abuse (05/17/2013)
6. Justice for son came at steep price for family - Father ostracized for going to police (06/15/2013)

Also see:

1. Case of Rabbi Yehuda Kolko

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Former NJ yeshiva teacher, camp counselor pleads guilty to sexually assaulting boy, is jailed
Associated Press - May 13, 2013

TOMS RIVER, N.J. –  With other accusers stepping forward, a former yeshiva teacher changed pleas Monday in the middle of his trial, admitting he sexually abused a boy he met while working as a camp counselor.

Rabbi Yoself Kolko, 36, shifted uncomfortably on the stand as he pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault, attempted aggravated sex assault, sexual assault and child endangerment. The abuse occurred from August 2008 to February 2009. It ranged from fondling to oral sex and stopped when the boy told his father, who confronted Kolko.

The change in plea came after the prosecutor's office was contacted Friday by a representative for a woman who said she had been a victim of Kolko and a man who said he had a victim, Senior Assistant Prosecutor Laura Pierro said.

The case may be a watershed for the prosecutor's office and the Orthodox Jewish community in Lakewood, which has in the past been reluctant to bring criminal matters to civil authorities, preferring instead to handle them through rabbinical courts and senior rabbis.

"I'm hoping that it's going to open the doors" to others in the community cooperating with authorities, Pierro said in an interview after the plea. "We broke ground with this case."

Prosecutors said they would not pursue the other two cases.

Kolko's bail was revoked, and he was ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation before sentencing.

His attorney, Michael Bachner, said Kolko was "extremely remorseful," apologizes to the victim and hopes after treatment "to return to society as a benefit to it."

The plea came after only three of the prosecution's eight witnesses testified. The senior rabbi the father approached was due to testify, as were other members of the insular community who were expected to shed light on internal workings of Lakewood's Orthodox population and how such allegations were handled inside it.

When Judge Francis R. Hodgson asked Kolko if he had received any promises or was threatened or coerced in exchange for his plea, Kolko answered softly that there were things that were "not part of the court system."

Bachner would not comment on Kolko's statement.

The victim's father had initially wanted the case handled within Lakewood's Orthodox community, asking a senior rabbi to help ensure that Kolko stay away from children and go to therapy. In mid-2009, the father decided to take the case to authorities.

The Associated Press generally does not identify accusers in sex-crime cases and is not naming the father to protect the son's identity.

Testifying last week, the father said he went to prosecutors because he felt the case was not being handled appropriately. Kolko was still teaching and planning to work at the summer camp where he met the boy.

"I was more concerned that he was still at his jobs," the father said Thursday. "And I felt that children are being endangered."

The father acknowledged it is not common for members of the Orthodox community to take cases like this to law enforcement.

Prosecutors had said the boy's family was ostracized by the community for pursuing the case in state court. The boy's father, a prominent rabbi, lost his job and the family moved to Michigan.

"There certainly were members of the community who remain outspoken against what the father did on behalf of his son," Pierro said. "I can tell you that there are many more whom are perhaps silently or not as openly are swelled with pride that he took this rather historic step."

The boy, who was 11 and 12 when the abuse took place, testified last week, describing a series of encounters with the rabbi, including molestation and oral sex.

The boy, now 16, said he was uncomfortable but wanted to remain close to Kolko because they were friends and the boy had no other companions in school.

Pierro commended the boy's and his father's bravery.

Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato said that in "securing justice for the victim," prosecutors "have proven our ability to successfully intercede on their community's behalf, affording them the same protections under the law we so tirelessly apply to all Ocean County's citizens."

"We will make every effort to assure this is a major step toward a continuing relationship with Ocean County's religious communities," he said.

Kolko faced a maximum penalty of 50 years in prison and a $650,000 fine, but the judge said he will likely cap one count at 15 years and run sentences on any other counts concurrently.

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Rabbi Yosef Kolko, Ex-yeshiva Teacher, Admits Sexually Assaulting NJ Boy
By Kate Zezima
Asbury Press - May 13, 2013

Convicted Sex Offender - Rabbi Yosef Kolko

TOMS RIVER, N.J. -- With other accusers stepping forward, a former yeshiva teacher changed pleas Monday in the middle of his trial, admitting he sexually abused a boy he met while working as a camp counselor.

Rabbi Yoself Kolko, 36, shifted uncomfortably on the stand as he pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault, attempted aggravated sex assault, sexual assault and child endangerment. The abuse occurred from August 2008 to February 2009. It ranged from fondling to oral sex and stopped when the boy told his father, who confronted Kolko.

The change in plea came after the prosecutor's office was contacted Friday by a representative for a woman who said she had been a victim of Kolko and a man who said he had a victim, Senior Assistant Prosecutor Laura Pierro said.

The case may be a watershed for the prosecutor's office and the Orthodox Jewish community in Lakewood, which has in the past been reluctant to bring criminal matters to civil authorities, preferring instead to handle them through rabbinical courts and senior rabbis.

"I'm hoping that it's going to open the doors" to others in the community cooperating with authorities, Pierro said in an interview after the plea. "We broke ground with this case."

Prosecutors said they would not pursue the other two cases.

Kolko's bail was revoked, and he was ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation before sentencing.

His attorney, Michael Bachner, said Kolko was "extremely remorseful," apologizes to the victim and hopes after treatment "to return to society as a benefit to it."

The plea came after only three of the prosecution's eight witnesses testified. The senior rabbi the father approached was due to testify, as were other members of the insular community who were expected to shed light on internal workings of Lakewood's Orthodox population and how such allegations were handled inside it.

When Judge Francis R. Hodgson asked Kolko if he had received any promises or was threatened or coerced in exchange for his plea, Kolko answered softly that there were things that were "not part of the court system."

Bachner would not comment on Kolko's statement.

The victim's father had initially wanted the case handled within Lakewood's Orthodox community, asking a senior rabbi to help ensure that Kolko stay away from children and go to therapy. In mid-2009, the father decided to take the case to authorities.

The Associated Press generally does not identify accusers in sex-crime cases and is not naming the father to protect the son's identity.

Testifying last week, the father said he went to prosecutors because he felt the case was not being handled appropriately. Kolko was still teaching and planning to work at the summer camp where he met the boy.

"I was more concerned that he was still at his jobs," the father said Thursday. "And I felt that children are being endangered."

The father acknowledged it is not common for members of the Orthodox community to take cases like this to law enforcement.

Prosecutors had said the boy's family was ostracized by the community for pursuing the case in state court. The boy's father, a prominent rabbi, lost his job and the family moved to Michigan.

"There certainly were members of the community who remain outspoken against what the father did on behalf of his son," Pierro said. "I can tell you that there are many more whom are perhaps silently or not as openly are swelled with pride that he took this rather historic step."

The boy, who was 11 and 12 when the abuse took place, testified last week, describing a series of encounters with the rabbi, including molestation and oral sex.

The boy, now 16, said he was uncomfortable but wanted to remain close to Kolko because they were friends and the boy had no other companions in school.

Pierro commended the boy's and his father's bravery.

Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato said that in "securing justice for the victim," prosecutors "have proven our ability to successfully intercede on their community's behalf, affording them the same protections under the law we so tirelessly apply to all Ocean County's citizens."

"We will make every effort to assure this is a major step toward a continuing relationship with Ocean County's religious communities," he said.

Kolko faced a maximum penalty of 50 years in prison and a $650,000 fine, but the judge said he will likely cap one count at 15 years and run sentences on any other counts concurrently.

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Lakewood Yeshiva Teacher Yosef Kolko Admits Abusing Boy
Forward - May 13, 2013

A former yeshiva teacher in the Orthodox town of Lakewood, N.J., Yeshiva teacher today admitted sexually abusing a boy after two more victims of his came forward to accuse him, authorities told the Asbury Park Press.

Yosef Kolko pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault, attempted aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault and child endangerment, and was led out of an Ocean County courtroom in handcuffs, the paper reported.

Kolko was expected to stand trial on charges of sexually abusing a boy, now 16, when he was 11 and 12, in 2008 and 2009, the paper said.

Kolko’s trial on the charges involving that one boy got underway last week, but prosecutors told the judge that the defendant decided to plead guilty after learning that two more victims had come forward to authorities.

Kolko admitted committing a variety of sexual acts on a boy who attended Yachad, a summer camp that is run by the Yeshiva Bais Hatorah School where Kolko was a counselor. He also was a teacher at Yeshiva Orchos Chaim in Lakewood.

Kolko faces up to 40 years in prison but will likely be sentenced to no more than 15 years under sentencing guidelines.

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Ex-Yeshiva Teacher Admits Sex Assault Of NJ Boy
Townsquare Network News - May 14, 2013

With other accusers stepping forward, a former yeshiva teacher changed pleas Monday on the third day of his trial and admitted he sexually assaulted a 12-year-old boy he had met while working as a camp counselor.

Rabbi Yosef Kolko, 36, shifted uncomfortably on the stand in state court as he pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault, attempted aggravated sex assault, sexual assault and child endangerment. The abuse occurred from 2008 to early 2009 and ranged from fondling to oral sex.

The change in plea came after the prosecutor’s office was contacted Friday by a representative for a woman who said she had been a victim of Kolko and a man who said he had been a victim, Senior Assistant Prosecutor Laura Pierro said.

Prosecutors said they would not pursue the two other cases.

Kolko’s bail was revoked, and he was ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation before sentencing.

His attorney, Michael Bachner, said Kolko was “extremely remorseful,” apologizes to the victim and hopes after treatment “to return to society as a benefit to it.”

The victim’s father, also a rabbi, had initially wanted the case handled within Lakewood’s Orthodox Jewish community but decided in mid-2009 to take the case to authorities.

The Associated Press generally does not identify accusers in sex-crime cases and is not naming the father to protect the son’s identity.

Testifying last week, the father said he went to prosecutors because he was unhappy with how the case was being handled and that Kolko was not following his recommendations and was still teaching.

“I was more concerned that he was still at his jobs,” the father said Thursday. “And I felt that children are being endangered.”

The victim’s father also acknowledged it is not common for members of the Orthodox community to take cases like this to law enforcement.

Prosecutors had said the family was ostracized by the community for pursuing the case in state court. They have since moved to Michigan.

Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato said that in “securing justice for the victim,” prosecutors “have proven our ability to successfully intercede on their community’s behalf, affording them the same protections under the law we so tirelessly apply to all Ocean County’s citizens.”

“We will make every effort to assure this is a major step toward a continuing relationship with Ocean County’s religious communities,” he said.

Kolko faced a maximum penalty of 50 years in prison and a $650,000 fine, but the judge said he will cap one count at 15 years and run sentences on any other counts concurrently.

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Former Camp Counselor Yosef Kolko Admits Sex Abuse
JTA - May 17, 2013

A former counselor at a summer camp run by a yeshiva in Lakewood, N.J., admitted three days into his trial to sexually abusing a boy.

Yosef Kolko, 39, made the admission on Monday after two more victims, a male and a female, came forward, the Asbury Park Press reported.Kolko pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault, attempted aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault and child endangerment. His bail was revoked.

He admitted to committing the sexual assaults on the boy while he was a counselor at a camp run by the Yeshiva Bais Hatorah School.

Kolko was accused of sexually abusing the boy when he was 11 and 12 in 2008 and 2009. The boy and his family have since moved to Michigan.

Kolko’s attorney, Michael Bachner, said his client was “extremely remorseful,” apologizes to the victim and hopes after treatment “to return to society as a benefit to it,” The Associated Press reported.

Kolko, also a teacher at Yeshiva Orchos Chaim in Lakewood, could be sentenced to up to 40 years in prison, but state Superior Court Judge Francis Hodgson has said he would consider no more than 15 years, according to the Asbury Park Press.

Before sentencing, Kolko will be evaluated at the state Corrections Department’s Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in the Avenel section of Woodbridge to determine if he is a repetitive and compulsive sexual offender, according to the newspaper.

Kolko is reportedly the nephew of a rabbi, Yehuda Kolko, who was accused of abusing children at Yeshiva Torah Temimah in Brooklyn and pleaded guilty to lesser charges in 2008.

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Justice for son came at steep price for family - Father ostracized for going to police

By Kathleen Hopkins
Asbury Press - June 15, 2013

LAKEWOOD — The choice before a deeply religious father was one he never wanted to make.

His son had been molested by a fellow Orthodox Jew, and the local rabbis to whom he reported the abuse did nothing to remove the offender from his positions as camp counselor and schoolteacher.

The father had to choose: He could follow Orthodox tradition and allow the local rabbis to continue to handle the matter, or he could go to the police.

The father went to the police. Now the molester, Yosef Kolko, is headed to state prison.

But some in the community saw the father as the offender for involving the secular authorities in an Orthodox matter. He was ostracized from his community in Lakewood, where he was a respected rabbi, Ocean County prosecutors said. He resigned from his job at Lakewood’s prestigious rabbinical college and moved his family to the Midwest.

Now, debate swirls around the wisdom of the religious taboo that protects suspected abusers from authorities and defies state law.

The ancient taboo, known as “mesirah,” forbids Jews from turning over fellow Jews to secular authorities, but some say the concept is no longer relevant in today’s society.

“The bottom line is there’s no justification for not participating in the process for reporting these crimes,” said Rabbi Daniel Eidensohn, a psychologist in Jerusalem who has written three reference books on child and domestic abuse in the Jewish community.

As New Jersey law stands now, anyone with knowledge of suspected child abuse is mandated to report it to authorities, whether it be to police or child-protective services. But failure to report the suspicions is only a disorderly persons offense, which is why some state legislators want to come down harder on those who hide molesters.

State Sen. Christopher “Kip” Bateman, a Republican who represents portions of Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex and Somerset counties, sponsored a bill that would make it a fourth-degree indictable offense for anyone with knowledge of a child being sexually abused to fail to report the abuse. As a fourth-degree offense, failing to report sexual abuse of a child would result in up to 18 months imprisonment or a fine up to $10,000, or both.

To move the bill forward in the Democrat-controlled Legislature, Bateman relinquished sponsorship to state Sen. Donald Norcross, D-Camden. The measure was approved June 6 by the Senate Law and Public Safety Committee and is heading to the full Senate for a vote.

The impetus for the bill was not the Lakewood case, but that of convicted molester Jerry Sandusky at Pennsylvania State University, as well as cover-ups by the Catholic Church of sexual abuse by priests, Bateman said.

“If you look at Penn State, if a number of individuals had done what they were supposed to do, it would not have gone on,” Bateman said of the molestation at Penn State by Sandusky. “Sometimes the cover-up is as bad as the crime.

“With the Catholic Church, unfortunately, they have a terrible track record of moving these priests (accused of sexual abuse) from one parish to another,” Bateman said. “I’m hoping this (bill) will help.”

'I felt that children were in danger'

Ben Hirsch, co-founder of Survivors for Justice, a New York-based advocacy group for survivors of sexual abuse in Orthodox communities, said he knows of similar situations in Lakewood’s Orthodox community, where the organization also does advocacy work. In one case, a man suspected of sexually abusing a boy was sent to a prestigious yeshiva in Israel, Hirsch said.

What came to light during the recent Kolko trial, through the testimony of the victim’s father, was that a number of rabbis in the community knew of the allegations of molestation against Kolko and did nothing to remove him from his positions as a counselor at Yachad, a summer camp run by Yeshiva Bais Hatorah School in Lakewood, and as a teacher at Yeshiva Orchos Chaim, also in Lakewood. That is what prompted the father to go to the Prosecutor’s Office five months after he first brought the abuse to the attention of the rabbis.

Testifying at Kolko’s trial, the father explained how difficult the decision was for him.

“Going to law enforcement is not, at this time, common within the Orthodox Jewish community,” he said. “Even when it’s necessary, it’s considered unusual. ... People might believe that the alleged molester is innocent, and they would give the person going to law enforcement a very hard time.”

But the father also explained why he would rather face the repercussions: “I felt that children were in danger.”

The Asbury Park Press is withholding the father’s name to protect the identity of the victim.

Kolko, 39, of Geffen Court, Lakewood, pleaded guilty May 13 to sexually assaulting the boy, who met his abuser while attending Yachad at age 11. Kolko could face 40 years in prison, although Superior Court Judge Francis R. Hodgson said he is not inclined to give him more than 15 years.

The guilty plea came in the midst of Kolko’s trial, after two more young people came forward to authorities and claimed they, too, were victimized by Kolko.

Laura Pierro, a supervising assistant Ocean County prosecutor who handled the Kolko case, said by the time she learned of all the people who had knowledge of the boy’s molestation and failed to report it, she was hamstrung to prosecute them because the one-year statute of limitations to bring a disorderly persons charge already had lapsed.

The pending Senate bill, in addition to enhancing penalties for failing to report suspected child abuse, would extend the statute of limitations to prosecute the crime from one year to five years, Bateman said.

Reports to police are rare

Thomas F. Kelaher, the mayor of Toms River who served as Ocean County prosecutor from 2002 to 2007, said he thinks the bill is a good idea.

“If there’s only a one-year statute of limitations, you can pretty much do a good job of covering something up for a year,” Kelaher said.

In the Kolko case, a Beis Din, which is a rabbinical tribunal, sent Kolko to therapy, but the tribunal disbanded and Kolko quit his counseling sessions.

“The idea that a Beis Din has the right to bypass the police is very problematic,” Eidensohn said in a telephone interview from Jerusalem. “They have no authority to force anyone to testify or to even show up. ….If a person doesn’t agree with the Beis Din, they can ignore it.”

Lakewood police chief Robert Lawson acknowledged how rare it is for members of the township’s Orthodox Jewish communities to report crimes to the police.

“It is not the norm,” he said. “It does happen on occasion and usually it is when someone is frustrated, as is what happened in the Kolko case.”

Kelaher said he recalls few prosecutions emanating from Lakewood’s Orthodox Jewish community during his tenure as prosecutor.

“I don’t remember having any domestic violence or sexual abuse cases,” Kelaher said. “It would be strange for me to think that domestic violence doesn’t occur in communities like Lakewood’s Orthodox community.”

But there was a case involving the abduction and rape of an Orthodox woman in Lakewood that occurred in 2006, while Kelaher was prosecutor.

“Some of the people in that community said, ‘The only reason you people are involved is because we need your help in finding her,’ ” Kelaher recalled of the case.

The woman’s assailant was not Jewish.

Obsolete rule today?

A main obstacle to Orthodox Jews reporting crimes to police is the concept of mesirah, which has been the subject of sharp debate in recent years.

The taboo, traced to ancient times, existed because Jews were persecuted by abusive governments throughout the centuries. Turning over a fellow Jew to non-Jewish authorities placed the entire community under scrutiny and at risk, Eidensohn explained.

“The well-being of the community was in such a delicate state that anybody who caused the king to be angry at the Jewish community was a threat to the community of Jews,” he said.

Some say it is obsolete today.

“That premise no longer exists once you enter modern society and you have a justice system that doesn’t discriminate against Jews, which is what we have in America,” said Hirsch of Survivors for Justice.

Eidensohn said the concept of mesirah never applied to violent criminals and sexual predators in the first place because society needs to be protected from them.

“The Jewish Halacha (law) is very clear,” Eidensohn said. “If someone is a threat to you, you are allowed to go to the police. If someone is a threat to other people, you are allowed to go to the police. … Five years ago, the most senior rabbis wrote a letter about the horrible consequences of sexual abuse and gave permission to go to the police.”

Eidensohn said Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, who is deputy to the head of Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox rabbinical court, has written that child abuse should be reported to the police — something Eidensohn said he has publicized in his own books.

Michael Salamon, a psychologist on staff at North Shore Long Island Jewish Medical Center and author of Abuse in the Jewish Community (and the Vice President of The Awareness Center), said Sternbuch is considered brilliant by many, but is not followed by everyone.

“Jewish law is based on the rabbinic tradition of debate,” Salamon explained. “The debate is not whether you can report (sexual abuse), but whether you should go to your local rabbi first for permission to report it. My position is, you need to report it, period. It’s not a rabbi’s job.”

Eidensohn said some rabbis view sexual abuse as a sin, but not something that is damaging to the victim, and they try to conceal the allegations because they are concerned about the perception of the community, he said.

“There are rabbis who think they can control a molester,” Eidensohn said. “That attitude is dying.”

But not for everyone in Lakewood, he asserted.

“They still hold by the original views,” Eidensohn said of the Orthodox leadership in Lakewood. “They are not only ignorant of the psychological consequences (of sexual abuse), they are unaware of the Jewish law published in the last five to 10 years that allows going to the police. They’re basically out of touch.”

Eidensohn followed the Kolko case closely and wrote about it on his blog, Daas Torah.

The Press made attempts to reach representatives of the Vaad, a council of Lakewood’s Orthodox Jewish leaders, and Beth Medrash Govaha, its rabbinical college, to obtain comment for this article, but was unsuccessful.

Hirsch said he believes the only way the problem will be addressed is if authorities prosecute those who cover it up.

“Law enforcement in Lakewood should be doing everything possible to encourage reporting (of sexual abuse) and making arrests for obstruction of justice,” Hirsch said.