Case of Mordechai Ehrman
(AKA: Morton
Ehrman)
Simcha's Play Group - Brooklyn,
NY
Pelham, NY
Lakewood, NJ
Pelham, NY
Lakewood, NJ
Accused of molesting dozens of young students.
If anyone has a photograph of Mordechai Ehrman, please forward it to The Awareness Center.
___________________________________________________________________________________
If anyone has a photograph of Mordechai Ehrman, please forward it to The Awareness Center.
___________________________________________________________________________________
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
1990
- Day-Care Abuse Alleged B'klyn DA investigates charges at Midwood center (03/08/1990)
- Inquiry Begun Into Claim Of Child Abuse at Center (03/09/1990)
- Preschool Owner Denies Sex Charges (03/09/1990)
- Child-abuse claims probed; N.Y. day-care centre for Orthodox Jews is under investigation, assemblyman says (03/10/1990)
- Other news to note (03/10/1990)
- B'klyn Rabbis Back Sex-Abuse Charges (05/15/1990)
- In the matter of Morton Ehrman, Appellant, v. Cesar A. Perales, etc., Et Al. Respondents (06/19/1990)
- Food Stamp Charges Stick to B'klyn Man (08/16/1990)
Day-Care Abuse Alleged B'klyn DA investigates charges at Midwood center
Newsday - March 8, 1990
 |
| District Attorney Charles Hynes |
Assistant district attorneys have questioned dozens of children
between 2 1/2 and 5 years old in connection with the investigation begun
last fall into the Simcha Play Group, a 5-year-old day-care center
operated by Mordechai and Tovah Ehrman.
A
source close to the investigation said it centers on allegations that
some of the children were improperly "touched" at the school, but added
that the children "have been unable to identify who touched them."
The Ehrmans, who operated the center at their home, closed it when the probe became known.
David Stern, a cousin of Mordechai Ehrman and the attorney who
represented him until the case was recently taken over by the law office
of Barry Slotnick, said the Ehrman family "has been subjected to months
of unjustified mental torture, harassment, false criminal charges and a
campaign of intimidation."
"The true issue
is how long the community is going to permit the destruction of an
innocent family by sitting silently by," he said.
Stern said that Mordechai Ehrman, who has been the target of
parents' accusations, voluntarily asked Brooklyn prosecutors to
investigate the allegations when they were first made in October. Stern
said Ehrman became aware of allegations when an caseworker for the city
Child Welfare Administration began a probe of cases involving four
children. The city later decided not take further action, Stern said,
and Ehrman provided the names of those children to prosecutors.
He also said that Ehrman, who drove a bus for the school which was
operated by his wife, voluntarily took and passed a lie detector test
organized by a state official.
A spokesman
for Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes, meanwhile, would not
confirm if an investigation is under way.
But
Assemb. Dov Hikind (D-Borough Park), who has been encouraging parents
to cooperate with the investigation, said Hynes met in his office last
month with 70 parents, some of whom complained that the children have
not been properly interviewed by psychologically trained questioners.
Hikind said Hynes promised a thorough investigation.
"There is no doubt that terrible things happened to little children, that acts of sexual abuse
happened, in that school," Hikind said yesterday, before leaving for a
Purim vacation in Israel. "We have to convince the parents to trust the
criminal justice system and talk to investigators and let it work."
Some of the rumors have been fed by an anonymous poster put up in the area charging both Ehrmans with taking part in sexual abuse of the children.
The source, however, said Tovah Ehrman has not been implicated in
the allegations. The source said the questioning of children is expected
to continue until the end of the month, and that a decision would be
made then as to whether the case would be turned over to a grand jury.
Stern said a campaign of harassment aimed based on the allegations
has resulted in one daughter getting fired from a job and a teenaged
daughter getting turned down for babysitting jobs.
Some of the parents say that Kalman Finkel, a member of the state
Law Revision Commission appointed by Gov. Mario Cuomo, has entered the
case on Ehrman's behalf.
But Finkel said
yesterday he did nothing to impede the investigation. Finkel said he
asked a staff member of the Legal Aid Society to give Ehrman a lie
detector test, which Ehrman passed, and that he contacted rabbis to help set up a rabbinical court to consider the case.
Hikind yesterday said a rabbinical court does not have "the authority or the power" to resolve a criminal case.
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Inquiry Begun Into Claim Of Child Abuse At Center
By Frank J. Prial
By Frank J. Prial
The New York Times - March 9, 1990
A spokesman for District Attorney Charles J. Hynes
refused to confirm or deny that an investigation was under way, but Assemblyman
Dov Hikind, a Brooklyn Democrat, said he and more than 70 parents of children
who had attended the school met with Mr. Hynes on Feb. 6 to discuss what
they contended was slow progress in the investigation.
The operator of the school was Mordechai (Morton) Ehrman,
participants in the case said. He ran the school, known as the Simcha Play
Group, at his home at 1444 East Fifth Street in the Midwood section. Working
with him were his wife, Tova, several of his 10 children and an undetermined
number of hired teachers, participants in the case said.
Mr. Ehrman's lawyer, his cousin, David Stern, said
that four complaints by parents about the Ehrmans had been investigated by
the Special Services for Children Division of the Human Resources Department.
He said the files had been closed earlier this year for lack of
evidence.
'No One Gives a Damn'
He said that the Ehrmans had been intimidated, threatened
and harassed since the allegations first surfaced last year, and that they
had received no help from the city. ''No one gives a damn,'' he said.
The controversy, which was reported yesterday in New
York Newsday and The Daily News, has prompted several angry encounters between
the Ehrmans and parents, participants in the case said. Several weeks ago,
Mr. Ehrman went to court to answer charges of harassment brought by one father,
Sam Antar. The case was postponed.
No charges have been filed against Mr. Ehrman or anyone
in his family, but Mr. Hikind said he understood that evidence was being
heard in the case.
Reached by telephone in Israel, where he is vacationing,
Mr. Hikind said parents first began coming to him last fall. ''Some of them
didn't even want to tell me their names,'' he said.
Dozens of Children Questioned
 |
| NY Assemblyman Dov Hikind |
Mr. Hikind said dozens of children had been question
by assistant district attorneys since the investigation began.
All the families involved are Orthodox Jews, Mr. Hikind
said, and some had been cautioned by their rabbis not to make their complaints
public because they might embarrass the Jewish community. The Ehrmans are
Orthodox Jews, too, and advertised their day-care center as a school for
Orthodox Jewish children.
Mr. Hikind said the controversy began when a mother
went to her rabbi complaining that her 3-year-old daughter had been molested
at the school. Mr. Hikind said some rabbis in the neighborhood encourged
parents to press charges against the Ehrmans. ''Some rabbis even urged them
from the pulpit,'' he said.
Mr. Stern said Mr. Ehrman first heard the accusations
when he was summoned before a Beth Din, a traditional rabbinical tribunal.
''They demanded that he sign away his right to deal with children for the
rest of his life,'' Mr. Stern said.
Accusations of Rape and Fondling
Mr. Ehrman refused and called Mr. Stern, a former assistant
district attorney in Brooklyn, who said he called the District Attorney's
office and demanded an investigation. ''I sent the District Attorney the
names of all the children in the school and all the children in the summer
program,'' he said.
Mr. Ehrman later demanded another rabbinical court
so he could present his side of the controversy. ''They met three weeks ago,
but not since,'' Mr. Stern said.
According to Mr. Hikind, the charges against the Ehrmans
include sexual abuses ranging from fondling to rape. ''There are some things
I can't bring myself to discuss, even on the telephone,'' the Assemblyman
said.
Mr. Stern said anonymous phone calls about the controversy
had cost Mr. Ehrman and one of his daughters the jobs they had taken after
they closed the school.
GRAPHIC: Photo: A former day-care center at 1444
East Fifth Street in the Midwood section of Brooklyn is under investigation
by the Brooklyn District Attorney concerning charges that children were sexually
molested there last year, according to participants in the case. (The New
York Times/Vic DeLucia)
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As several parents yesterday continued to say their children were sexually abused at a closed Brooklyn preschool for Orthodox Jewish youngsters, the owner of the preschool denied the charges and said she and her husband will be vindicated.
Meanwhile, the predominantly Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Midwood, where Mordechai and Tova Ehrman ran the Simcha Play Group from their home, was embroiled in a bitter round of accusations and counteraccusations growing out of parents' claims that more than 50 children were abused at the preschool.
As many as 60 children from the ages of 2 1/2 to 5 have been interviewed by assistants to Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes, and perhaps five of the children's comments are being further investigated, a source familiar with the case said yesterday. The source said while some medical evidence exists indicating abuse might have occurred, it is inconclusive and has not been linked to Mordechai Ehrman, who also drove the bus for the preschool operated by his wife. The couple closed the preschool in the fall when allegations first surfaced.
An investigation by the city's Child Welfare Administration into allegations involving two children led to a letter the Ehrmans received late yesterday from the state Department of Social Services - which has oversight for city child abuse investigations - deeming those accusations "unfounded," according to A. David Stern, Ehrman's attorney and cousin.
"No credible evidence was found that the child (children) has been abused or maltreated," the letter said, as read by Stern. "The report has therefore been considered unfounded."
Soon after accusations began spreading in the neighborhood in October that Ehrman, 49, had abused children, he was called before a special rabbinical court - where observant Jews often resolve differences - and ordered to sign what Ehrman described as a confession.
Ehrman, an Orthodox Jew, refused, and sent out an open letter to "parents and rabbis" in which he called the accusations "vile and disgusting," and said they were "false and slanderous."
Some neighborhood leaders say the community is split between Syrian-born parents who are Sephardic Jews, who are cooperating with Hynes' investigation, and Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish parents of European descent, who wanted to keep the dispute before a Beth Din, or rabbinical court.
On several occasions over the last five months, angry parents confronted Ehrman at his East Fifth Street house, according to Ehrman and parents. One occasion resulted in fisticuffs between Ehrman and the father of one of the children, with each man filing charges against the other.
"We are the only victims here, my husband, my children and me," Tova Ehrman, who started the preschool six years ago, said yesterday. The couple has 10 children. She described the allegations against her husband as "total lies and falsehoods, willful and calculated."
While anonymous posters in Midwood accuse Ehrman's wife of taking part in abuse, an investigative source said Wednesday no allegations have been made involving Tova Ehrman.
"Only him," the source said. Ehrman has cooperated with investigators, and voluntarily took a lie detector test, which he passed, according to documents supplied to investigators by Stern.
Meanwhile, four parents of children who attended the preschool yesterday called New York Newsday to say their children, some as young as 3 years old, described events the parents called sexual abuse.
"My son has been waking up every night screaming," said the mother of a 4 1/2-year-old boy who, she said, has a scar on his penis that doctors believe may be the result of abuse. "You tell me how a child that age can even make up these things."
Another Brooklyn mother yesterday said her daughter, who was 4 when she attended the preschool, described games involving many children that the mother described as abuse. State Assemb. Dov Hikind, D-Borough Park, who brought 70 parents to meet with Hynes last month, said Wednesday "there is no doubt terrible things happened" at the preschool.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Child-abuse claims probed; N.Y. day-care centre for Orthodox Jews is under investigation, assemblyman says
By Frank J. Prial
The Gazette - March 10, 1990
NEW YORK - The Brooklyn district attorney is investigating charges that dozens of children were sexually molested last year at an unlicensed day-care centre in Brooklyn which has now closed, according to participants in the case.
A spokesman for district attorney Charles Hynes refused to confirm or deny that an investigation was under way, but the Democratic assemblyman from Brooklyn, Dov Hikind, said he and more than 70 parents of children who had attended the school met with Hynes on Feb. 6 to discuss what they contended was slow progress in the investigation.
The operator of the school was Mordechai "Morton" Ehrman, participants in the case said. He ran the school, known as the Simcha Play Group, at his home in the Midwood section.
Working with him at the school were his wife, Tova, several of his 10 children and an undetermined number of hired teachers.
Ehrman's lawyer, his cousin, David Stern, said that four complaints by parents about the Ehrmans had been investigated by the Special Services for Children division of the Human Resources Department.
He said the files had been closed this year for lack of evidence.
He said that the Ehrmans had been subject to a campaign of intimidation, threats and harassment since the charges first surfaced last year and that they had received no help from the city.
"No one gives a damn," he said.
No charges have been filed against Ehrman or anyone in his family, but Hikind said he understood that evidence is being heard in the case.
All the families involved are Orthodox Jews, Hikind said, and some had been cautioned by their rabbis not to make their complaints public because they might embarrass the Jewish community.
Other rabbis in the neighborhood encourged the parents to press charges against the Ehrmans. "Some rabbis even urged them from the pulpit," Hikind said.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Other news to note
Orlando Sentinel - March 10, 1990
DAY-CARE TROUBLES. The Brooklyn district attorney is investigating charges that dozens of children were sexually molested at a now- closed, unlicensed day-care center in Brooklyn last year, participants in the case say. A spokesman for District Attorney Charles J. Hynes refused to confirm or deny that an investigation was under way, but Assemblyman Dov Hikind, D-Brooklyn, said he and more than 70 parents of children who had attended the school met with Hynes on Feb. 6 to discuss what they contended was slow progress in the investigation. The operator of the school was Mordechai "Morton" Ehrman, participants in the case said. He ran the school, known as the Simcha Play Group, at his home. The controversy first came to light when a mother went to her rabbi complaining that her 3-year- old daughter had been molested at the school.
___________________________________________________________________________________
B'klyn Rabbis Back Sex-Abuse Charges
By Alexis Jetter
Newsday - May 15, 1990
"Both the accusers and the accused have been waiting for this Jewish court to act," said Assemb. Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn). "They are very respected, and now that they have made a very clear statement in regard to this, I hope the DA's office will follow through."
They formally requested that Ehrman continue to abide by a pledge, which they said he signed in October, 1989, to refrain from opening another preschool while the investigation is continuing. Ehrman closed the school in the fall when allegations first surfaced.
Some neighborhood leaders said the Bais Din was necessary because Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish parents of European descent preferred to keep the matter before a Jewish court. Syrian-born, Sephardic Jews whose children were allegedly abused are said to be cooperating with the District Attorney's office.
___________________________________________________________________________________
IN THE MATTER OF MORTON EHRMAN, APPELLANT, v. CESAR A. PERALES, ETC., ET AL., RESPONDENTS
June 18, 1990
In a proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78, inter alia, to review a determination of the respondent Commissioner of the New York State Department of Social Services, dated August 20, 1985, which denied the petitioner's application for food stamp benefits, the petitioner appeals from an order and judgment (one paper) of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Hutcherson, J.), dated September 27, 1988, which denied his motion for an award of attorneys' fees pursuant to 42 USC ? 1988.
Lawrence J. Bracken, J.p., Sybil Hart Kooper, Isaac Rubin, Sondra Miller, JJ.
DECISION & ORDER
Contrary to the petitioner's contention, we conclude that the Supreme Court properly denied his request for attorney's fees pursuant to 42 USC ? 1988 inasmuch as his cause of action is not a bona fide civil rights cause of action pursuant to 42 USC ? 1983 (see, Matter of Cruz v Perales, A.D.2d [2d Dept., Feb. 20, 1990]; Matter of Rashid v Perales, A.D.2d [2d Dept., Dec., 26, 1989]).
Disposition
___________________________________________________________________________________
Food Stamp Charges Stick to B'klyn Man
By Patricia Hurtado
Newsday - August 16, 1990
The head of a defunct Brooklyn day-care center is accused of illegally obtaining $3,000 worth of food stamps, the Brooklyn District Attorney's office announced yesterday.
Mordechai Ehrman, 49, of Brooklyn's Midwood section, surrendered to authorities yesterday and was charged with 13 counts that include grand larceny, filing false applications with the state Department of Social Service and falsifying false business records.
He pleaded innocent to the charges at his arraignment before State Supreme Court Justice Michael Curci yesterday afternoon. In an unusual move, Curci ordered Ehrman held overnight without bail. Leonard Robertson, a spokesman for the district attorney's office, said that the judge had issued the order because of a delay in processing fingerprints.
Ehrman faces 2 1/3 to 7 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge of grand larceny.
Ehrman, who operated the Simcha Play group at his home, is at the center of allegations that dozens of children were sexually molested at his facility. Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said he had "no comment" on the the five-month-old grand jury investigation.
But Assemblyman Dov Hikind, a Brooklyn Democrat, said yesterday that he had been told that the grand jury had concluded its investigation. He said he was concerned that Ehrman has not been charged in that case.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Preschool Owner Denies Sex Charges
By Bob Liff
Newsday - March 9, 1990
By Bob Liff
Newsday - March 9, 1990
As several parents yesterday continued to say their children were sexually abused at a closed Brooklyn preschool for Orthodox Jewish youngsters, the owner of the preschool denied the charges and said she and her husband will be vindicated.
Meanwhile, the predominantly Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Midwood, where Mordechai and Tova Ehrman ran the Simcha Play Group from their home, was embroiled in a bitter round of accusations and counteraccusations growing out of parents' claims that more than 50 children were abused at the preschool.
As many as 60 children from the ages of 2 1/2 to 5 have been interviewed by assistants to Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes, and perhaps five of the children's comments are being further investigated, a source familiar with the case said yesterday. The source said while some medical evidence exists indicating abuse might have occurred, it is inconclusive and has not been linked to Mordechai Ehrman, who also drove the bus for the preschool operated by his wife. The couple closed the preschool in the fall when allegations first surfaced.
An investigation by the city's Child Welfare Administration into allegations involving two children led to a letter the Ehrmans received late yesterday from the state Department of Social Services - which has oversight for city child abuse investigations - deeming those accusations "unfounded," according to A. David Stern, Ehrman's attorney and cousin.
"No credible evidence was found that the child (children) has been abused or maltreated," the letter said, as read by Stern. "The report has therefore been considered unfounded."
Soon after accusations began spreading in the neighborhood in October that Ehrman, 49, had abused children, he was called before a special rabbinical court - where observant Jews often resolve differences - and ordered to sign what Ehrman described as a confession.
Ehrman, an Orthodox Jew, refused, and sent out an open letter to "parents and rabbis" in which he called the accusations "vile and disgusting," and said they were "false and slanderous."
Some neighborhood leaders say the community is split between Syrian-born parents who are Sephardic Jews, who are cooperating with Hynes' investigation, and Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish parents of European descent, who wanted to keep the dispute before a Beth Din, or rabbinical court.
On several occasions over the last five months, angry parents confronted Ehrman at his East Fifth Street house, according to Ehrman and parents. One occasion resulted in fisticuffs between Ehrman and the father of one of the children, with each man filing charges against the other.
"We are the only victims here, my husband, my children and me," Tova Ehrman, who started the preschool six years ago, said yesterday. The couple has 10 children. She described the allegations against her husband as "total lies and falsehoods, willful and calculated."
While anonymous posters in Midwood accuse Ehrman's wife of taking part in abuse, an investigative source said Wednesday no allegations have been made involving Tova Ehrman.
"Only him," the source said. Ehrman has cooperated with investigators, and voluntarily took a lie detector test, which he passed, according to documents supplied to investigators by Stern.
Meanwhile, four parents of children who attended the preschool yesterday called New York Newsday to say their children, some as young as 3 years old, described events the parents called sexual abuse.
"My son has been waking up every night screaming," said the mother of a 4 1/2-year-old boy who, she said, has a scar on his penis that doctors believe may be the result of abuse. "You tell me how a child that age can even make up these things."
Another Brooklyn mother yesterday said her daughter, who was 4 when she attended the preschool, described games involving many children that the mother described as abuse. State Assemb. Dov Hikind, D-Borough Park, who brought 70 parents to meet with Hynes last month, said Wednesday "there is no doubt terrible things happened" at the preschool.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Child-abuse claims probed; N.Y. day-care centre for Orthodox Jews is under investigation, assemblyman says
By Frank J. Prial
The Gazette - March 10, 1990
NEW YORK - The Brooklyn district attorney is investigating charges that dozens of children were sexually molested last year at an unlicensed day-care centre in Brooklyn which has now closed, according to participants in the case.
A spokesman for district attorney Charles Hynes refused to confirm or deny that an investigation was under way, but the Democratic assemblyman from Brooklyn, Dov Hikind, said he and more than 70 parents of children who had attended the school met with Hynes on Feb. 6 to discuss what they contended was slow progress in the investigation.
The operator of the school was Mordechai "Morton" Ehrman, participants in the case said. He ran the school, known as the Simcha Play Group, at his home in the Midwood section.
Working with him at the school were his wife, Tova, several of his 10 children and an undetermined number of hired teachers.
Ehrman's lawyer, his cousin, David Stern, said that four complaints by parents about the Ehrmans had been investigated by the Special Services for Children division of the Human Resources Department.
He said the files had been closed this year for lack of evidence.
He said that the Ehrmans had been subject to a campaign of intimidation, threats and harassment since the charges first surfaced last year and that they had received no help from the city.
"No one gives a damn," he said.
No charges have been filed against Ehrman or anyone in his family, but Hikind said he understood that evidence is being heard in the case.
All the families involved are Orthodox Jews, Hikind said, and some had been cautioned by their rabbis not to make their complaints public because they might embarrass the Jewish community.
Other rabbis in the neighborhood encourged the parents to press charges against the Ehrmans. "Some rabbis even urged them from the pulpit," Hikind said.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Other news to note
Orlando Sentinel - March 10, 1990
DAY-CARE TROUBLES. The Brooklyn district attorney is investigating charges that dozens of children were sexually molested at a now- closed, unlicensed day-care center in Brooklyn last year, participants in the case say. A spokesman for District Attorney Charles J. Hynes refused to confirm or deny that an investigation was under way, but Assemblyman Dov Hikind, D-Brooklyn, said he and more than 70 parents of children who had attended the school met with Hynes on Feb. 6 to discuss what they contended was slow progress in the investigation. The operator of the school was Mordechai "Morton" Ehrman, participants in the case said. He ran the school, known as the Simcha Play Group, at his home. The controversy first came to light when a mother went to her rabbi complaining that her 3-year- old daughter had been molested at the school.
___________________________________________________________________________________
B'klyn Rabbis Back Sex-Abuse Charges
By Alexis Jetter
Newsday - May 15, 1990
"Both the accusers and the accused have been waiting for this Jewish court to act," said Assemb. Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn). "They are very respected, and now that they have made a very clear statement in regard to this, I hope the DA's office will follow through."
They formally requested that Ehrman continue to abide by a pledge, which they said he signed in October, 1989, to refrain from opening another preschool while the investigation is continuing. Ehrman closed the school in the fall when allegations first surfaced.
Some neighborhood leaders said the Bais Din was necessary because Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish parents of European descent preferred to keep the matter before a Jewish court. Syrian-born, Sephardic Jews whose children were allegedly abused are said to be cooperating with the District Attorney's office.
___________________________________________________________________________________
IN THE MATTER OF MORTON EHRMAN, APPELLANT, v. CESAR A. PERALES, ETC., ET AL., RESPONDENTS
June 18, 1990
In a proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78, inter alia, to review a determination of the respondent Commissioner of the New York State Department of Social Services, dated August 20, 1985, which denied the petitioner's application for food stamp benefits, the petitioner appeals from an order and judgment (one paper) of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Hutcherson, J.), dated September 27, 1988, which denied his motion for an award of attorneys' fees pursuant to 42 USC ? 1988.
Lawrence J. Bracken, J.p., Sybil Hart Kooper, Isaac Rubin, Sondra Miller, JJ.
DECISION & ORDER
Contrary to the petitioner's contention, we conclude that the Supreme Court properly denied his request for attorney's fees pursuant to 42 USC ? 1988 inasmuch as his cause of action is not a bona fide civil rights cause of action pursuant to 42 USC ? 1983 (see, Matter of Cruz v Perales, A.D.2d [2d Dept., Feb. 20, 1990]; Matter of Rashid v Perales, A.D.2d [2d Dept., Dec., 26, 1989]).
Disposition
___________________________________________________________________________________
Food Stamp Charges Stick to B'klyn Man
By Patricia Hurtado
Newsday - August 16, 1990
The head of a defunct Brooklyn day-care center is accused of illegally obtaining $3,000 worth of food stamps, the Brooklyn District Attorney's office announced yesterday.
Mordechai Ehrman, 49, of Brooklyn's Midwood section, surrendered to authorities yesterday and was charged with 13 counts that include grand larceny, filing false applications with the state Department of Social Service and falsifying false business records.
He pleaded innocent to the charges at his arraignment before State Supreme Court Justice Michael Curci yesterday afternoon. In an unusual move, Curci ordered Ehrman held overnight without bail. Leonard Robertson, a spokesman for the district attorney's office, said that the judge had issued the order because of a delay in processing fingerprints.
Ehrman faces 2 1/3 to 7 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge of grand larceny.
Ehrman, who operated the Simcha Play group at his home, is at the center of allegations that dozens of children were sexually molested at his facility. Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said he had "no comment" on the the five-month-old grand jury investigation.
But Assemblyman Dov Hikind, a Brooklyn Democrat, said yesterday that he had been told that the grand jury had concluded its investigation. He said he was concerned that Ehrman has not been charged in that case.
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