Settlement Reached In D.C. Mikveh Voyeurism Case

As reported by yesterday's Washington Post, a $14.25 million settlement has been reached in the class action lawsuit growing out of the secret taping by Rabbi Barry Freundel of women using the mikveh (ritual bath) affiliated with Freundel's synagogue. The spying took place between 2005 and 2014. Under the settlement, which still must be approved by the court, each woman who was videotaped will receive at least $25,000. Other women who used the mikvah may receive $2.500. Defendants' insurance company will pay the settlement. Freundel was sentenced in 2015 to six and one-half years in prison.

Rabbi Freundel's Voyeurism Sentence Reduced For Good Behavior

According to the District of Columbia Department of Corrections, the prison sentence of Rabbi Barry Freundel has been shortened by more than a year.  Under a plea agreement, in 2015 Freundel was sentenced to six and one-half years in prison on 52 counts of voyeurism.  Freundel had secretly videotaped 150 women in the changing room of the mikveh (ritual bath) at Washington's Kesher Israel Synagogue. (See prior posting.)  JTA reports that the sentence reduction for good behavior was granted because Freundel participated as an instructor in an educational program for inmates.  Freundel's new release date is Aug. 21, 2020.

Voyeuristic Rabbi's 6+ Year Sentence Upheld On Appeal

In Freundel v. United States, (DC Ct. App., Sept. 15, 2016), the D.C. Court of Appeals upheld the trial court's sentence totaling over 6 years in prison imposed on Rabbi Barry Freundel who, under a plea agreement, pleaded guilty to 52 counts of voyeurism. Freundel had secretly videotaped 150 women in the changing room of the mikveh (ritual bath) at Washington's Kesher Israel Synagogue. The trial court sentenced Freundel to consecutive 45-day sentences on each count. On appeal, Fruendel argued that the consecutive sentences violate the double jeopardy clause, contending that his offenses involved only a single course of conduct. The appeals court disagreed, saying in part:

Under Mr. Freundel’s interpretation, once a defendant unlawfully recorded one victim, all future voyeuristic recording, even of different victims with different recording devices in different locations and at different times, would not be separately punishable as long as the defendant in some sense had a single voyeuristic purpose....“This is surely not a result which the legislature intended.”

AP reports on the decision. [Thanks to Tom Rutledge for the lead.]

Court Refuses To Reduce Sentence of Rabbi Convicted of Voyeurism

According to the Washington Post, a D.C Superior Court judge on Friday denied a motion to reduce the six-and-one-half year prison sentence of Barry Freundel, former rabbi of Washington, D.C.'s Kesher Israel Synagogue who plead guilty in May to 52 counts of voyeurism. Freundel's attorneys argued that he should have been sentenced only for one act of videotaping women preparing to use a mikveh, instead of 45 days for each of the 52 incidents. (See prior related posting.)

D.C. Rabbi Sentenced To Over 6 Years On Voyeurism Charges

A Washington, D.C. Superior Court judge on Friday sentenced Rabbi Barry Freundel to nearly six and one-half years in prison after Freundel plead guilty to 52 counts of voyeurism (see prior posting).  Freundel secretly videotaped 150 women in the changing room of the mikveh (ritual bath) at Washington's Kesher Israel Synagogue.  AP reports that after a 3-hour sentencing hearing at which 16 of his victims testified, Freundel was sentenced to 45 days in prison on each of the 52 counts (a total of 2,340 days). (See prior related posting.)

D.C. Rabbi Pleads Guilty To Voyeurism Charges

In Washington, D.C. Superior Court yesterday, Rabbi Barry Freundel pleaded guilty to 52 counts of voyeurism.  AP reports that the rabbi, charged with videotaping women in the changing room of the National Capital Mikvah, admitted as part of the plea agreement that his secret recording of women began in 2009, sometimes utilizing three cameras at the same time.  A sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 15.

Rabbi May Be Charged In Up To 88 Cases of Voyeurism

Times of Israel reports on a closed-door meeting held Wednesday evening in Washington, D.C. between federal prosecutors and alleged victims of Rabbi Barry Freundel who was arrested in October for secretly photographing women using the mikveh at Washington's Kesher Israel Synagogue. (See prior posting.)  Currently Freundel has been charged with six misdemeanor counts of voyeurism under D.C. Code Sec. 22-3531(b)-(c).  However, those attending were told that Freundel taped a total of 152 women. Prosecutors say that charges may be filed in a total of 88 of the cases. Either the statute of limitations has run, or the victim cannot be identified, in the other 64 cases. If convicted, Freundel could be sentenced to a $1000 fine and one year in jail on each count.  Prosecutors may negotiate a plea deal, but they say it would have to include jail time. If the cases go to trial, victims would have to identify themselves in the videos, and would be subject to cross-examination.

Georgetown Law Student Sues Rabbi Accused of Mikvah Voyeurism

As previously reported, in October Rabbi Barry Freundel, head of Washington, D.C.'s Kesher Israel synagogue, was arrested for electronic voyeurism. Freundel was charged with using hidden cameras at the synagogue's mikvah (ritual bath) so he could view women disrobing there. Freundel was also an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law School where he co-taught a seminar.  The Washington Post and The Forward report that last Tuesday a female Georgetown Law student filed a class action against Kesher Israel, the National Capital Mikvah and Georgetown Law School, alleging that:

Defendants turned a blind eye to obvious signs of Freundel’s increasingly bizarre behavior, ignoring the bright red flags that Freundel was acting inappropriately with women subjected to his authority.

The Jewish student says that she used the Mikvah twice as part of her research for a paper titled "The Mikvah: Expanding the Ritual for Jewish Women," and each time Freundel accompanied her to the changing room and then left.

UPDATE: The Forward (Dec. 24) reports that two additional suits, also seeking class action status, were filed against Kesher Israel and the Rabbinical Council of America on Dec. 2 and Dec. 18 respectively.  The suits claim that defendants should have acted sooner to remove Freundel from his positions of authority.