The Borough Park Shomrim have a member who has been accused (but not charged) of pedophilia and accused of rape. Worse yet, the man participated in the search for Leiby Kletzky, driving throughout Borough Park in an SUV, wearing a Shomrim vest, and broadcasting that he was looking for the 8-year-old missing boy.
The alleged pedophile is David Shea Friedman, who own's Friedman's Photography in Borough Park.
A Brooklyn hasidic source told me yesterday that Friedman is "well known" in the community and by rabbis as a pedophile. He told me Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg repeatedly warned about Friedman on his hotline several years ago.
So I called Rabbi Rosenberg and asked about Friedman.
Rabbi Rosenberg told me he did indeed have two reports about Friedman on his hotline several years ago.
Friedman used to be the "candy man" in the Munkatcher Rebbe's synagogue, giving candy to kids, until the rebbe found out what Friedman was allegedly doing to some of those boys in the basement of his synagogue. From that point on, Friedman was banned from going to the basement of the synagogue or using its bathrooms.
The hotline also had a story about a rape Friedman allegedly committed against a bride-to-be who came to his photography studio. He allegedly lured her to the basement and raped her there. He was arrested, but the charges were dropped when the bride's family convinced her not to cooperate with law enforcement.
Several years ago, Rabbi Rosenberg told a senior coordinator of Borough Park's Shomrim about Friedman's alleged crimes. The coordinator told Rabbi Rosenberg that Shomrim had done a background check on Friedman, and it came up clean, and that was enough for Shomrim. This is especially egregious behavior in a community where many crimes are never reported to police, so there is no police record to find in a background check. And it is even more egregious when you realize Shomrim keeps it own list of suspected criminals – especially of pedophiles – that it has not reported to police.
There are still two unsolved Borough Park child abductions, one of a 4-year-old girl, the other of 14-year-old girl.
Both cases involve luring or forcing the child into a vehicle and committing a sexual assault.
In both cases, parents refused to cooperate with police. Yanky Mayer, known as a "fixer" for the haredi community with police and the Medical Examiner, was thought to be heavily involved in those decisions.
Should the former candy man of Munkatch be a suspect in these abductions?
And why is he driving the streets of Brooklyn wearing a Shomrim vest and driving an official looking vehicle with a public address system?
That's a question Borough Park's Shomrim still need to answer.
Update 8:00 pm CDT – I received this in an eamil earlier today from a reader who wants to remain anonymous:
Friedman was the photographer at my sisters wedding some 12+ years go. He gave me a ride to the park house hotel but first stopped off at his studio to show me some photo tricks that i had expressed interest in on the way. It only took me a few minutes to realize that what he really wanted to do was play with my crotch. He kept moving his hand onto my lap and i kept moving away. BH he didn't manage to do anything that night but i did report it to the police.