“In terms of [accused pedophile] Ricky [Andron], it didn’t seem suspicious for him or anyone to come and visit any of the boys. Sometimes kids had visitors from their home neighborhoods who were on campus who took the boys for dinner or a movie. There were no red flags.…any expectation on my part or that of any of the counselors was unrealistic, given that the building had no security, no guard, no access code…. It was unreasonable to expect that we could have monitored who was coming in. There was simply no way to do that.”
The Forward reports:
…The suit [by alleged victims of sexual abuse in Yeshiva University's affiliated high school] also alleges that Richard Ehrlich and Elan Adler, described as “senior residence hall officials” at Y.U., knew that [alleged pedophile Richard] Andron visited the [high school] dormitory and entered boys’ dorm rooms.
Adler, a director of Y.U.’s school dormitory from 1981 to 1986, told the Forward in an email several months ago that he recalled Andron’s name but not his face. Adler said there “was simply no way of restricting access to the high school dormitory.”
He added: “In terms of Ricky [Andron], it didn’t seem suspicious for him or anyone to come and visit any of the boys. Sometimes kids had visitors from their home neighborhoods who were on campus who took the boys for dinner or a movie. There were no red flags.”
Adler also said that “any expectation on my part or that of any of the counselors was unrealistic, given that the building had no security, no guard, no access code…. It was unreasonable to expect that we could have monitored who was coming in. There was simply no way to do that.”… [emphasis added]
Past YU's atrocious lack of security and its clear lack of concern for the safety of the minors in its care, we have what may be the larger issue – Andron's alleged sexual abuse was reported to the Orthodox Union's (OU's) National Conference of Synagogue Youth (NCSY) because Andron volunteered with NCSY and met many of his alleged victims through NCSY events.
NCSY's regional director at the time, Rabbi Baruch Lanner, was later convicted of sexual abuse and served several years in prison. Lanner allgedly molested dozens of girls, physically abused even more boys, and emotionally abused students of both genders.
Lanner allegedly got one of the reports of Andron's abuse but did nothing about it.
But this latest Forward story seems to indicate that more NCSY leaders than Lanner knew about Andron but did not report him to police:
…On July 16, another man, who said he was abused around 1983 and 1984, told the Forward that NCSY was aware of Andron’s problem.
The man said that he was abused by Andron twice when Andron slept over at his home during late 1983 and early 1984.
The man, then age 14, said he was too afraid and ashamed to tell his parents what happened. But a few months later, after his parents told him that Andron would be sleeping at the house again, the boy confided in school friends. They, in turn, told the head of the yeshiva, who called the boy’s mother.
The man, now 43, said that he pleaded with his parents not to press charges. Instead, his mother called every family that was friendly with or had hosted Andron to warn them about him.
The man said his mother also spoke to an official at NCSY who told her that Andron was receiving counseling for his problem. His mother was assured that Andron would never be associated with NCSY again, the man added. He believes that it was this last episode, in 1984, that forced Andron to leave New York for Florida, where he has lived ever since.…
I'm told that the Boca Raton Synagogue, of which Andron was a leading member until the scandal broke, is holding a closed board meeting tonight to deal with fallout from the case.