New York – Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) is calling on Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes to drop all charges against his constituent Sam Kellner.
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Kellner, a father who reported his son’s allegations of child abuse against Boruch Lebovitz in 2010, was in turn accused by Lebovitz’s son of bribing and extorting witnesses. But recent revelations indicate that these allegations were false.
“The charges against Sam Kellner seem to be based on a Yiddish tape that was presented to the DA’s office by Lebovitz’s son,” said Assemblyman Hikind. “But it now seems clear that this tape in Hungarian Yiddish, which I’ve also listened to, was mistranslated. Without this tape, there’s no smoking gun. Moreover, reports from reliable sources indicate that prosecutors have told the trial judge that their key witnesses are unreliable. No evidence? No witnesses? What is the D.A. waiting for?”
Lebovitz was convicted in 2010 on 8 out of 10 counts of molestation and was sentenced to 10 ½ to 32 years in prison. But his conviction was overturned by an appellate court due to a technicality. Subsequently, Kellner was accused of extortion. Noting that Assemblyman Hikind was the first elected official in his district to address the issues of child abuse, Kellner first approached Hikind in 2008 for counsel.
“Sam Kellner and his family have been victimized enough. His son’s life will never be the same. It’s unfair to drag out a case against Sam that seems to have no witnesses. The financial burden and stress that Sam continues to endure by the continuance of this case is unjust. The D.A. should immediately drop these charges.”
Meanwhile, Child victim activists plan a protest today at 11am outside the DA’s office at 350 Jay Street in Brooklyn to show their support for Kellner.
Dov Hikind is on target. Dov opened the door to the way our community deals with child sexual abuse. Kellner did the right thing in filing charges. Everything since questions how the DA handled the case unacceptably.
Brooklyn is changing for the better, but New Square and Monsey are taking steps backwards.
Mr. Kellner deserves an apology and compensation for all he endured! This is what I call a “great Father”, someone that is willing to go through all this abuse just to show his kids I will stand up for you, not someone that says I am scared of the community lets be quiet!
Hopefully this community will wake up and see that we have a problem and deal with this issue and YES, apologies to Rabbi Nuchen Rosenberg for all the abuse he endured over the years!. It does not matter what his intentions were ( fame, personal issues, etc.), the fact is that he had valid points and they tried to hush him. Thank God change is coming!
According to newspaper story by Hella Winston, Kellner got his witness for the trial that convicted Baruch Lebovits from Dov Hikind. I will bet Dov could come up with a list of Lebovits victims. I just wonder why it took Dov so long to come out in defense of Kellner. But I am glad that he finally did take a public stance.
I hear so many arguments about this tape, and I have to believe the writer of an article. The Jewish Week had their own translator who told them so and so. I do understand Yiddish, can I please get the tape, and listen on my own?
One thing I wanna say, Nuchem rosenberg did good things I am not saying he didn’t but I do think he did a lot of bad things, and put people on his hotline that are innocent and just did it because he woke up with a bad dream… As far as abuse in the community I do think it needs to be stopped but come on, 30 years ? Life in prison? The worst murderer doesn’t get that! My personal opinion ( not that someone will listen to me ) is that 5 years in prison and then 2-3 times a week by a psychiatrist for the next 10 years, and if he violates again then a harsher sentense…
It’s true that Reb Nochem Rosenberg is very outspoken and holds back at nothing to reveal corruption amongst Rabbi’s and other Orthodox and Chassidish Leaders who corruptly and criminally cover up Molestation in the frum community.
Who cares if Reb nocum Rosenberg seems at times to be a little “nuts”?
We, in the frum community, need many more such “nuts” to eliminate all the corrupt cover ups of molestations in the frum community.
Sometimes it’s good to be a little “crazy” over doing something good and setting the record straight and ratting on our corrupt leadership, the enablers of the Molesters.
Those who are perceived as “the normal ones” sit back and do nothing to expose the corruption in our leadership that promotes and feeds the corruption of the coverup of frum Molesters.
It’s only those of us who are sometimes perceived as being “crazy” about exposing the truth, and only “crazy” people are whistle blowers who end corruption.
Why are they “crazy” then?
Because Whistleblowers need a tremendous amount of Mesiras Nefesh because they are at war with the most influential and most powerful corrupt frum leadership who seek to discredit them far worse…
What a giant step backward for the Brooklyn DA’s office!!!. So many of us were hopeful that the DA’s office was cleaning up its act. We hoped it was stopping to cave in to political and financial pressure from those who want to cover up molestation in the Orthodox community. We thought the DA was becoming a harbinger of light, entering a new era of ethics, morality, integrity, and justice. What happened Charles Hynes? Who is pressuring you behind the scenes? What happened to your promise to bring perpetrators to justice and champion victims? Why are we back at square one, with your office now actively seeking to prosecute Samuel Kellner, a whistleblower and father of a sexual abuse victim, and protecting Boruch Lebovitz, a convicted pedophile? Disappointment is an understatement. The fact that your office is regressing to an ethical Stone Age is a tragedy for us all.
Sure we need to defend Mr. Kellner. He is the father of a victim of abuse suffering, and we need to stand up for him join me at new blog. defendkellner.blogspot.com