ABOVE: Goodman is caught on webcam ushering children into his home in Brooklyn!
Orthodox sex abuse scandal
117 kid victims and 85 arrests in Jewish enclave
By SUSAN EDELMAN
Last Updated: 9:31 AM, December 11, 2011
Andrew Goodman, 27, who worked for Jewish social-service agencies, is charged with sexually abusing two Orthodox boys for years in Flatbush — one from age 11 to 15, the other from age 13 to 16.
Goodman filmed sex acts with the youngsters on a Web cam, according to the 144-count indictment, which alleges numerous violations since 2006. He has pleaded not guilty.
The handsome Goodman, who held parties in his home with liquor and child porn, also “threatened the life” of a boy who reported him to authorities, court papers and sources say.
Andrew Goodman is one of 85 sex-abuse suspects arrested over the last three years by Project Kol Tzedek, has been accused of preying on the boys of Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community and — even after his arrest on sex-assault charges — was caught on video ushering teens into his Flatbush home. He is being held on Rikers Island in lieu of a $1 million cash bail.
He’s one of an astounding 85 accused Orthodox child molesters that Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes’ office says it has busted in the past three years in an initiative called Kol Tzedek, Hebrew for “voice of justice.”
The cases involve 117 victims — a number that has the community reeling from the extent of the horrors of pedophilia.
Launched amid complaints that Hynes was soft on Orthodox child predators, Kol Tzedek aims to coax victims to come forward, despite strong pressure in the insular religious community to cover up such crimes.
All but two of the suspects are men, and more than half the victims are male, said Assistant DA Rhonnie Jaus, chief of the sex abuse and crimes against children division.
Of the 38 cases closed so far, 14 perps got jail time, ranging from a month to 10-to-20 years for crimes that included sex abuse, attempted kidnapping, and sodomy, Jaus said.
The other 24 have walked free. They got probation, pleaded to minor charges, or saw their cases dismissed — often because victims or their parents backed out under community pressure.
Agudath Israel of America, a body of Torah sages, requires anyone alleging sex abuse by a fellow observant Jew to first report to its rabbis, who decide whether the case should go to secular authorities.
Goodman’s case, which Hynes’ office hasn’t publicized, shows how the community’s response has started to change. Rather than keeping it among the Orthodox, some alleged victims turned to sympathetic religious leaders and outside authorities to help lock up a menace.
“Andrew Goodman is known in our community as a lifelong molester who preys on young boys and ruins their lives,” a Talmudic scholar at Congregation Bais Torah wrote to Brooklyn Judge Martin Murphy, who is hearing the case.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/orthodox_sex_abuse_scandal_Vzaqd3TbKtikUv0h6b3clI#ixzz1gF45LZ16
11 comments:
I don't believe a word of this. Goodman is probably innocent and this nonsense against him is trumped-up garbage because he's adopted and "stopped being religious." Notice how the parents of these boys aren't involved in the finger pointing? No - the loudest voice is that of Rabbi Shea Hecht of the Hasidic Lubavitch group. The video tape was planted by members of the community - not the police. The fact that Goodman the accused actually worked for the DA's initiative to "out" victims of abuse is also important. I wonder if he discovered something on the job that would implicate Rabbi Hecht. If so, that would certainly explain Hecht's non-stop campaign to smear Goodman's before a trial has taken place.
85 arrests - thus far, 24 walked. That is about one quarter of them. wow, what a lousy DA, out of 85 arrests, thus far 25% get off (and we'll see those numbers climb as the other ones go to trial). Unsurprisingly, it will be the guys who look outwardly "holy" who will get the green light to get out of jail free from the corrupt system at our Brooklyn DA.
Another day, another farce from a Queens Vaad member.
Rabbi Moshe Faskowitz who defends the evil behavior of his cousin Mordechai Tendler and his mechutan Ephraim Bryks, put on the annual dinner for his college yeshiva Madraigas HaAdam. (Faskowitz resigned from the modern orthodox RCA to protest their sanctions against those two menuvolim)
The master of ceremonies was National Council of Young Israel President Steve Mostofsky Esq., who is perhaps the most valiant friend that molesters have in the legal community. He is a very vicious man.
Faskowitz had the nerve to tell the crowd that his college yeshiva is being mamshich the derech of Novardok. What an insult to the Alter who left behind his life as a baal habos and locked himself in a room to learn yomam velaylah.
yes mr. wick i know, blame the victims, the molestors are really just great. uh-huh.
Anyone know about Kaufman and Elefant in Yeshiva in Waterbury? I hear they pulled off a foreclosure fraud that ended them up in court, and the yeshiva had their bank accounts frozen for months.
As an askan, I was alerted to this perp a few years ago, & launched my amateur investigation. I am aware of a local Rav who was consulted, met with him, & decided that his warning to behave would suffice. A few years later, a parent complained to this Rav again, and he again felt calling to meet would work. The perp came to the meeting tagging along the victim! At this meeting, he was told that if he would have any further contact with the victim, that the Rav was instructing the parent to report to police. That warning was either effective in producing the police report, or it was another victim that reported. I respect that Rav for much else he does, but I protested to him about being so soft when there were known strings of allegations. I believe that there was pressure from the perp's family.
I am glad he was apprehended, & I anticipate a conviction with serious incarceration.
I must add an addendum to a previous comment. The parents were guided to report immediately. The Rav's involvement was prior to my knowledge of the parsha.
I want EVERYONE to read this post that U.O.J (the owner of the blog)put up a while back.
Look under June 2005, the first entry
"Jewish Genius" - in the comments section at 5:27 pm early on you should be able to find it.
"Un-Orthodox Jew said...
They must have intermarried with ashkenazim,pure blooded sephardim aint that smart."
You are completely unrepentant. You are so full of yourself that even the concept of admitting you are wrong is beyond you.
But that's cool. I have no problem with you keeping this issue alive. The more people that see the true level of hatred in your heart the better. I want no one to be under any illusions whatsoever as to what it is that truly motivates you.
And they will see the truth UOJ. Daily. I promise. Every time your 5000+ readers come to this site, one of the first postings they will read in the comments will be mine.
Every time you come up with an article trying to pass yourself off as a crusader, my post will be there, right behind yours reminding everyone that you believe in the GENETIC inferiority of middle eastern Jews.
Every day you ignore the issue I am addressing, they will wonder, why is UOJ ignoring this, why is he brushing it off? Why isn't he denying that he believes these things?
Then they will see YOUR words staring back at them.
"must have intermarried with ashkenazim pure blooded sephardim ain't that smart"
"pure blooded".
The same phrase that the Nazis used when they murdered millions of our brothers.
It would be bad enough if you simply stuck with asserting the Racial superiority of Ashkenazim over sephardim. But that isn't good enough eh? You had to assert the racial INFERIORITY of "pure blooded" sephardim.
You are a lie UOJ. Your blog, your words, your claims, your false outrage. All of it is a LIE.
And I will be here, every day, day after day, reminding every single thoughtful compassionate Jew of that FACT.
As for those Jews whose hearts are made of rocks, and who have the minds of rodents, I could care less. Such midgets are of no relevence to themselves or the world in any case.
But the ones that MATTER. The ones that make a difference, they will begin to smell that foul odour you give off. I will make certain that they have that opportunity. Those are the people who will see my postings and turn away from you in well earned contempt.
So sorry UOJ, your cleverness doesn't get you out of it this time.
Lighten up my friend above; the Rambam is my role model of who every Jew is suppose to emulate.
I was a wiseguy back in 2005...relax.
Hey...it's 100,000 plus readers...!
UOJ
OMG- looks like East 15th between Aves. J and K!
As and answer to Koufer I can only point out that the "inbreeding defense" was proclaimed to the media by Levi Aron's lawyer.
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