Rabbi pleads guilty to taping naked women 52 times

Delia Gonçalves and Debra Alfarone | WUSA-TV, Washington

Show Caption Hide Caption Rabbi pleads guilty after videotaping naked women A rabbi accused of secretly taping hundreds of women while they participated in a Jewish ritual bath has pled guilty.



WASHINGTON — A rabbi accused of secretly videotaping more than 150 women inside a Jewish ritual bath pleaded guilty Thursday to some of the charges against him.

Rabbi Barry Freundel, 63, who had been rabbi at the prominent Kesher Israel synagogue for more than 25 years before his Oct. 14 arrest, pleaded guilty to 52 counts of misdemeanor voyeurism.

The prosecutor asked for Freundel to wear a GPS tracking system and check in daily until his May 15 sentencing in District of Columbia Superior Court, but Judge Geoffrey Alprin ruled against that motion.

The Orthodox rabbi could receive a maximum of 52 years in prison. Each count carries a maximum sentence of a year of incarceration, a fine of up to $2,500 for the offenses that occurred on or after June 11, 2013 — or both, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Freundel led Kesher Israel, a synagogue in the Georgetown section of Washington that counts members of Congress and the Treasury secretary among its members, until his arrest.



"Bernard Freundel exploited his position of power to victimize dozens of women who entered a sacred, intimate space of religious ritual," said Ronald Machen, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. "He betrayed the trust of every woman whose private moments he caught on camera along with an entire community that counted on him for moral leadership."

The crimes occurred between early 2009 and October 2014, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Freundel initially was charged with six counts of voyeurism for videotaping six women. But prosecutors told a meeting of victims last week that the rabbi, who was a prominent member of the Orthodox Jewish community and a university professor, had positioned hidden cameras to photograph 152 naked women inside the Jewish ritual bath, called a mikveh, in Washington's Georgetown neighborhood.

"He must be punished for abusing his position to deliberately and repeatedly violate women's privacy," D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said in a written statement.

Freundel's actions were discovered when a woman who worked at the bath became suspicious of a clock radio that Freundel had positioned on the countertop of one of the two changing and shower areas of the National Capital Mikvah. She took it to police, who discovered the recording device.

Converts to Judaism often use mikvahs as part of a purification ritual. Freundel was instrumental in establishing a mikvah in the Washington area and also played a leading role in deciding who could become an Orthodox Jew.

Search warrants issued for computers at Freundel's house unearthed additional video of women, who did not know they were being recorded. Police also found cameras inside a fan and a tissue box.

The U.S. Attorney's Office reduced the number of charges to 52 so the crimes would fall within the time frame of the statute of limitations, said his lawyer, Jeffrey Harris. Voyeurism charges have a three-year statute of limitations.

"The scope and duration of these horrible crimes are still hard to completely comprehend," the Kesher Israel board said in a written statement. "We hope that resolution of the criminal proceedings will help our collective and individual healing continue."

The board called Freundel's actions a "great betrayal." The synagogue terminated his contract in November.

The board of the National Capital Mikvah issued a statement saying that it received the news of Freundel's plea with "mixed emotions."

"We are grateful that we were able to detect and stop such despicable illegal activity," the statement said. "We are saddened to see a Torah scholar cause his own downfall."

Contributing: Donna Leinwand Leger, USA TODAY