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04/16/2008
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No Sex Charge For Kolko; Boys=E2=80=99 Parents Foiled By = DA

Hynes=E2=80=99 office dissuaded families ready to let their = children testify=20 about alleged abuse.

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Questions about Brooklyn DA Charles = Hynes=E2=80=99 willingness=20 to press cases in the Orthodox community are now being=20 reignited.

by Hella Winston and Larry=20 Cohler-Esses

In a surprise move, Rabbi Yehuda Kolko, the Brooklyn yeshiva = teacher=20 charged with having sexually molested his students, pleaded guilty = Monday=20 to two lesser counts of child endangerment and was sentenced to = three=20 years=E2=80=99 probation.

Under the plea agreement, Rabbi Kolko, 62, made no = admission of=20 sexual wrongdoing. He will not have to register as a sex offender, = and=20 pleaded guilty only to a misdemeanor =E2=80=94 not a felony. =

Before the plea bargain, Rabbi Kolko, of Yeshiva Torah Temimah = in=20 Flatbush, had been facing felony charges of touching two = first-graders in=20 their sexual areas and forcing an adult former student to touch = him during=20 a visit to the school. Five former students have also filed suit = against=20 the prominent yeshiva, alleging school administrators knew

about Rabbi Kolko=E2=80=99s = molestation of students=20 over many years but sought to conceal it and intimidate students = who spoke=20 out.

Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes would give no public=20 explanation of why he suddenly dropped the high-profile = molestation case.=20 But its collapse resurrected questions in some quarters about = Hynes=E2=80=99=20 competence or his political will in pursuing allegations of = wrongdoing=20 involving prominent institutions and individuals in = Brooklyn=E2=80=99s politically=20 powerful Orthodox community.

Those questions were underscored by contradictions between the = alleged=20 victims=E2=80=99 account of how Hynes=E2=80=99 office secured = their agreement to the plea=20 deal and the account offered by the government.

A law enforcement source told The Jewish Week that parents of = the two=20 child witnesses had reveresed their decision to allow the children = to=20 testify that Rabbi Kolko had molested them.

The source said this fatally weakened the prosecution=E2=80=99s = case in the=20 wake of the discovery that the alleged adult victim had made false = claims=20 in an unrelated matter.

But the alleged victims offered starkly different = accounts.

=E2=80=9CMy son was ready to go to trial, and we feel he would = have done an=20 excellent job,=E2=80=9D the father of one of the children said. = =E2=80=9CThe damage, pain=20 and emotional stress Joel Kolko caused my family, and especially = my son =E2=80=94=20 we will never forgive him for this. ... We are sorry to hear = [the=20 molestation] charges against him will not = proceed.=E2=80=9D

The father, whose child is now 10, said that it was = Hynes=E2=80=99 prosecutors=20 who pressed him =E2=80=94 not the other way around =E2=80=94 to = keep his son from=20 testifying. The father said he eventually agreed when the = prosecutors told=20 him they could better pursue not just Rabbi Kolko but school=20 administrators and the school itself via an alternative = route.

=E2=80=9CI know all the hotshots at the DA,=E2=80=9D the father = said. =E2=80=9CThey actually=20 want to get him on something more serious.=E2=80=9D

He declined to say what they told him this was. But a source = close to=20 the families of both alleged child victims who has been intimately = involved in the case said the prosecutors spoke to the father = about going=20 after Rabbi Kolko and Rabbi Lipa Margulies, the yeshiva=E2=80=99s = founder and=20 administrator, on tax fraud charges, based on recently obtained = school=20 financial records that were reported by The Jewish Week. That = would=20 preempt any need for testimony from his son.

But, according to the source, the same prosecutors offered a = very=20 different rationale when they approached the family of the second = child=20 and convinced the parents they need not put their son = forward.

=E2=80=9CThe DA told them that they think it=E2=80=99s best to = do a plea deal because=20 the other child was too young and his family was not allowing him = to=20 testify,=E2=80=9D the source said. =E2=80=9CThis family was also = ready and willing to put=20 their child on the stand to testify and face Kolko. In fact, they=20 believed, while difficult for their son to endure, it would be = cathartic=20 and benefit him.=E2=80=9D

The family declined to speak with a reporter. But the source, = who has=20 been with the family through the entire legal process, said they = had asked=20 him to speak for them. He spoke on condition of anonymity, citing = fear=20 that the children, wo have not been publicly named, could be = identified=20 through him.

=E2=80=9CThis child=E2=80=99s parents were from day one ready = to have their son testify=20 if it was necessary,=E2=80=9D he stated. =E2=80=9CAnd they were = ready to go to trial. They=20 had come to terms with the reality that their son was going to = testify on=20 the stand.=E2=80=9D

Both children, in fact, remain as plaintiffs in the civil suit = against=20 Yeshiva Torah Temimah, and are expected to be witnesses in that = case,=20 according to Michael Dowd, a plaintiffs=E2=80=99 attorney in that = case.

Dowd said the plea deal would not harm his prospects for = success in the=20 civil suit since the guilty plea would allow him to press Rabbi = Kolko on=20 the stand for specifics on what acts he committed that had = endangered=20 children.

Meanwhile, Rabbi Kolko=E2=80=99s alleged adult victim told The = Jewish Week that=20 prosecutors informed him two months ago they had no intention of = putting=20 the children on the stand in their criminal case.

=E2=80=9CThey said they will not put kids on the = stand,=E2=80=9D he related. =E2=80=9CThey said=20 the reason why you are so important is because you are an adult, = and you=20 can explain yourself, and therefore you are extremely important; = that the=20 kids are not going to go on the stand because they can=E2=80=99t = explain=20 themselves.=E2=80=9D

He said the prosecutors=E2=80=99 remarks came during a = discussion in which they=20 told him that a false affidavit he had submitted to government = authority=20 in 2000 =E2=80=94 in which he had denied knowledge of wrongdoing = by a friend =E2=80=94 now=20 made it too risky to put him on the stand.

=E2=80=9CThey told me at the end, we=E2=80=99re unsure what = we=E2=80=99re going to do at this=20 point,=E2=80=9D Rabbi Kolko=E2=80=99s alleged adult victim said. = He said he heard nothing=20 further until an article appeared in The New York Daily News = Monday=20 reporting on the plea deal.

Told that the father of one child had told The Jewish Week he = wanted=20 his son to testify, the law enforcement official who said the = children=E2=80=99s=20 families had changed their minds replied,

=E2=80=9COh, really? I know one of them didn=E2=80=99t want = their kid to testify. I=20 thought it was both.=E2=80=9D

The law enforcement source explained later that the real = problem was=20 that =E2=80=9Cthere was a kid who didn=E2=80=99t want to testify = at all, and there was a=20 kid whose parents wanted him to testify only by closed-circuit=20 TV.=E2=80=9D

=E2=80=9CIf you have a victim who won=E2=80=99t testify, = that=E2=80=99s going to be a real hard=20 case to try,=E2=80=9D he said. =E2=80=9CAnd the idea that this one = victim would only=20 testify if they get a closed-circuit TV =E2=80=94 judges rarely = approve those=20 kinds of things. So, it didn=E2=80=99t seem like the safest = bet.=E2=80=9D

But the father of the alleged child victim said, =E2=80=9CWe = already had the=20 closed-circuit TV set up. ... It had been approved [by the = court].

=E2=80=9CIt=E2=80=99s crap,=E2=80=9D he said of the law = enforcement official=E2=80=99s=20 account.

Hynes Back In The Spotlight

Jeffrey Schwartz, Rabbi Kolko=E2=80=99s attorney, said he and = his client were=20 satisfied with the case=E2=80=99s outcome.

=E2=80=9CEndangering the welfare of a child could mean = anything,=E2=80=9D he said. =E2=80=9CIt=20 could mean that [Rabbi Kolko] took the kids to a park and = didn=E2=80=99t watch=20 them on the sliding post. It=E2=80=99s not a sex offense. He = doesn=E2=80=99t have to=20 register as a sex offender. There=E2=80=99s nothing else attached = to it except the=20 three years of probation. There are no conditions. He just has to = lead a=20 law-abiding life and stay out of trouble.=E2=80=9D

But for some, the collapse of the molestation charges recalled = earlier=20 cases involving high-profile figures in Brooklyn=E2=80=99s = Orthodox community that=20 Hynes was accused of failing to pursue with vigor.

Rabbi Avrohom Mondrowitz was indicted in 1984 on four counts of = sodomy=20 and eight counts of sexual abuse in the first degree after years = as a=20 school counselor in the Brooklyn

Orthodox community. When he fled to Israel, Hynes=E2=80=99 = predecessor,=20 Elizabeth Holtzman, pushed for his extradition. But Hynes dropped = the=20 effort when he was elected, in 1989. He said Israel=E2=80=99s = extradition treaty=20 with the United States made the effort futile =E2=80=94 a position = the U.S.=20 Embassy in Tel Aviv explicitly rejected.

Hynes renewed the effort in 2006 under prodding from new = individuals=20 who, after attention from several media outlets about the Rabbi = Kolko=20 case, came forward alleging Rabbi Mondrowitz had molested them as=20 students, too. Hynes=E2=80=99 renewal of the extradition request, = combined with=20 the efforts of advocates and media pressure in Israel led to Rabbi = Mondrowitz=E2=80=99s arrest there last year. A court has ruled him = extraditable.=20 But he awaits a final appeal on this ruling that is to take place = May=20 29.

In an indication of the kind of resistance such efforts by = Hynes face=20 in parts of Brooklyn=E2=80=99s highly organized = ultra-traditionalist Orthodox=20 neighborhoods, Rabbi Herbert Bomzer, president of the Rabbinical = Board of=20 Flatbush, told the Jewish weekly The Forward flatly: =E2=80=9CIf = he [Rabbi=20 Mondrowitz] has managed to get to Israel and is protected by the = law there=20 =E2=80=94 then leave it alone.=E2=80=9D

The case of Shai Fhima, a 13-year-old Jewish boy whose = non-Orthodox=20 parents said he was kidnapped by an ultra-traditional Orthodox = rabbi=20 giving him bar mitzvah lessons, also brought scrutiny to Hynes as = it=20 dragged on through the 1990s. The parents accused Hynes of failing = to=20 press the case vigorously because he did not want to alienate = Orthodox=20 leaders. A judge ultimately rejected the plea agreement Hynes = reached with=20 the rabbi that would have imposed only probation and community = service.=20

In another case, police in 1993 reported that Augustine Hazim, = a Puerto=20 Rican man, was beaten in Borough Park by a group of Orthodox Jews = after=20 his motorcycle came close to striking a child. It took seven = months for=20 the District Attorney=E2=80=99s office to conduct a lineup, = according to police=20 officials and Hazim=E2=80=99s lawyer, The New York Times reported. = The district=20 attorney=E2=80=99s office told Hazim that a witness had developed = a =E2=80=9Cmemory lapse=E2=80=9D=20 and only one man was ever arrested.

Pattern Of Inaction Charged

Michael Lesher, an attorney and community advocate specializing = in=20 child sexual abuse cases, said he could cite at least two other = cases =E2=80=9Coff=20 the top of my head=E2=80=9D in which Hynes failed to diligently = pursue child=20 sexual abuse cases in the Orthodox community.

=E2=80=9CI say it reluctantly that there has been a pattern of = inaction by=20 Charles Hynes=E2=80=99 office in cases of this kind,=E2=80=9D said = Lesher. =E2=80=9CThat=E2=80=99s a=20 statement I make based upon hard evidence in specific cases. = ... I=20 must at this point consider it to be a politically motivated = pattern.=E2=80=9D=20

Hynes=E2=80=99 office did not respond to two detailed messages = seeking reaction=20 to this critique.

Marci Hamilton, a professor of constitutional law at Yeshiva=20 University=E2=80=99s Cardozo School of Law and author of the = forthcoming book,=20 =E2=80=9CJustice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect Its = Children,=E2=80=9D termed the=20 outcome of the Kolko case =E2=80=9Cthe worst of all possible = worlds.=E2=80=9D

=E2=80=9CIt=E2=80=99s such a joke,=E2=80=9D she said. = =E2=80=9CIt=E2=80=99s really a travesty of justice the=20 way it=E2=80=99s been handled.=E2=80=9D

=E2=80=9CThe sad part,=E2=80=9D said Hamilton, =E2=80=9Cis that = . . . more children are going=20 to be endangered. They really have not solved any of the = public=E2=80=99s legal=20 problems with this person, and the tragedy is that you end up with = communities not vigorously going after the clergy in their own=20 communities. Then it=E2=80=99s their communities that suffer, = [and] the children=20 who are most likely to be at risk in the future are the children = within=20 the same community.

=E2=80=9CThat=E2=80=99s a tragedy that has repeated itself in = one religious=20 organization after another,=E2=80=9D she said.

Hella Winston teaches sociology at Queens College. Larry=20 Cohler-Esses is editor at large.

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