UPDATE: Brooklyn DA Talks About Haredi Child Sex Abuse on NPR

Charles Hynes, head of sex crimes unit and head of the Board of Family and Children Services. Listen here:

Brian Lehrer Show, WNYC Radio, 11 am to noon today.

The volume is a bit low, especially for the first 20 seconds:

Hynes 0-3-09 1PBS

Comments

[A. Nuran]

The best cure for this kind of infection - the abuse, not the PBS report - is light.

[steve]

Listen to the first caller from Williamsburg describing the "two camps" and that Niederman represents the "old style" of dealing with child molestation internally. The caller was saying that he is from the "same yeshivah" but he stopped short of naming UTA Satmar where molester Avrohom Reichman continues to teach with Niederman's backing. For some reason, the caller thinks that Niederman is doing a good job. It's amazing what kind of control this Niederman has on the community and how these people follow him. It's about time Dovid Niederman is exposed for the fraud that he is. A second caller from Williamsburg asked Hynes if any of these enablers who threaten the victims and discourage them from reporting their molesters, whether they can be prosecuted. Hynes answered that they can all be brought up on charges of witness tampering, including rabbis and heads of schools. Molester enablers such as Niederman and Lipa Margulies should all be charged with obstruction of justice. Once one of these criminals is prosecuted, we'll see how much longer the rabbis will be calling for handling these matters "internally".

[Ben]

Thanks to all the bloggers for providing information and creating the atmosfere where this type of development could happen. Hats off for UOJ and Smarya.

[Michael Lesher]

I'm not sure why Hynes is boasting about his handling of these cases, but it's important that we remember the facts.

Hynes was well aware that Lazer Ginsberg pressured Colmer victims not to come forward. Did he prosecute Ginsberg for witness tampering -- or did he agree to a weak plea deal from Colmer (when prevented from letting him walk altogether)? We know the answer.

Hynes knew that rabbis lied to prosecutors in the Hafner case, and pressured the alleged victim's family to recant. Did he charge the offending rabbis? Or did he drop the 96-count child abuse case against Hafner without even taking it to the grand jury? We know the answer.

Hynes has publicly claimed that he persuaded the State Department to change the Israel-U.S. extradition treaty in order to bring back Avrohom Mondrowitz. Yet the documentary evidence shows that Hynes tried to bury that case when he thought he could get away with it -- and he absolutely refuses to produce the documents that will establish the truth about his recent behavior vis-a-vis Mondrowitz. (I've filed a lawsuit against him in an effort to force him to share that information; he continues to stonewall.)

I've published the facts in my contributions to the new book, Tempest in the Temple: Jewish Communities & Child Sex Scandals. Hynes is aware of the book; he was questioned about it by a reporter for the Brooklyn Eagle. Has he refuted even one of the charges made there? We know the answer.

At the moment, we have only Hynes' word for his commitment to child sex abuse cases in the Orthodox community. And his word is worth very little.

And if Hynes is protecting the rabbis, don't hold your breath for them to clean up their act.

We must keep telling the truth until it eclipses the lies of the guilty.

[shmuel]

God bless you, Michael. Keep fighting this good fight!