sexcriminals.com
Rabbi gets 7 years for abusing 2 teens
2002-10-05 Asbury Park Press
Tearfully insisting he is "not a monster," a rabbi was sentenced to seven years in state prison yesterday for endangering the welfare of two teen-age girls and sexually touching one of them several years ago when he was principal of their religious school in Ocean Township.
Lawyers for Rabbi Baruch Lanner, 52, of Fair Lawn, immediately began working to secure his release, filing an appeal with a judge of the Appellate Division of state Superior Court, who agreed to hear their request that Lanner be freed on bail pending the appeal of his conviction.
But Lanner will be jailed for at least four days until Judge Mary Catherine Cuff hears the defense application. The prosecution has until Tuesday afternoon to file a response.
Lanner was convicted in June of the charges involving girls who were both under 16 at the time of the offenses, which happened at Hillel High School between 1992 and 1996. The victims are now aged 21 and 23.
In a handwritten emergency appeal filed on the bail issue, defense lawyers asked that Lanner be released before the Sabbath began at 6:20 p.m. yesterday. "Defendant is concerned about his safety in prison because of the nature of his crimes and the fact that he is an Orthodox Jewish rabbi," they wrote.
The defense team -- which grew from three to four with the addition of Nathan Z. Dershowitz, brother of well-known lawyer Alan Dershowitz -- made several attempts yesterday to spare Lanner from going to jail, failing to persuade Superior Court Judge Paul F. Chaiet to grant Lanner a new trial or bail pending appeal.
Chaiet noted and the defense conceded that prison sentences are virtually mandatory for the second-degree endangering charges. And the defense lawyers failed to convince Chaiet that the convictions on those charges should be set aside.
Chaiet also declined a request from lawyer Julian Wilsey that Lanner not be handcuffed in the courtroom and that Wilsey be allowed to escort his client into a security corridor after he was sentenced. The judge said the rabbi would be treated like every other criminal sentenced to prison.
Although the hearing was rife with legal maneuvering, there was emotion, as well, with the younger of Lanner's victims quietly telling Chaiet the rabbi had "destroyed my life and my family."
The other victim did not attend the hearing. Assistant Prosecutor Peter Boser told the judge the young woman feels "remorseful and guilty" that she didn't step forward to stop Lanner before the other girl was victimized. Referring to that victim, Boser said Lanner "stole her faith."
As victims of sex offenses, the victims' names were not made public at the trial.
The rabbi's appeal
Lanner gave an impassioned, dramatic speech, telling the judge, "After lengthy introspection and self-evaluation, I stand before you shattered and destroyed." But, he added, he believes what happened to him is "just. Everything comes from the hands of God, and God is just."
Lanner continued, "I am a religious person, despite whatever mistakes I have been accused or found guilty of. . . . I am not a monster, certainly not cold-hearted, and I don't isolate and destroy children. . . . At this point, I'm a social outcast, shunned by all. I teach no one, I study with no one. And the greatest tragedy of all, I learn from no one."
While not outright admitting guilt to the charges, Lanner said, "I brought this upon myself . . . by poor judgment combined with impulsive behavior."
Referring to God, Lanner said, "I desecrated his great name. It is for this I am truly sorry and beg the forgiveness of all."
He lamented that he will not be permitted to work with children anymore. "Never again will I be entrusted with the greatest gift of all, the heart, mind and potential of a youngster."
"Even as I mourn and pity my own wretched fate, my greatest anguish is for my innocent family," he said. "Your honor, what can you do to me that can possibly rival what I've done to myself?"
"I beg your honor to employ his great wisdom to find a sentence that will allow me, in some way, to set right what I have distorted, and not just be punitive. Please find a way, your honor, to allow me to turn tragedy into purpose, pain into joy and despair into hope."
The parents of the younger victim were unimpressed with Lanner's plea, telling reporters after the hearing that he had apologized to everyone but the young women and had failed to admit what he did.
Judge: Jail is deserved
In passing sentence, Chaiet said Lanner "deserves to go to jail" as he has "inflicted great pain on others and brought embarrassment" to his profession. The judge said he found the victims to be credible witnesses: "They both suffered greatly as a result of Rabbi Lanner's actions."
The judge said Lanner has helped many children with their religious studies. "But along the way, he has apparently abused, battered and taken advantage of a number of people."
However, the judge declined a request by Boser that he impose consecutive sentences for the two endangering charges, saying that was unnecessary. The maximum sentence for the charges is 10 years in prison. Chaiet's sentence reflected the legal presumption of seven years.
In addition, Chaiet told Lanner that as a repetitive sex offender, he is subject to Megan's Law. His earliest possible parole date for the seven-year sentence is roughly a year and ten months.
The younger victim's mother said after the hearing that she believes Lanner "can never be rehabilitated," and is likely to start abusing victims again.
She commended the tireless work of Boser, former Assistant Prosecutor Marc Fliedner, Detective Brian Veprek and Lucille Burgener, who works for the prosecutor's Victim Witness unit. "They all hold very dear to me," she said.
The Lanner investigation reportedly began after one former student's allegations were printed in New York Jewish Week in July 2000. The newspaper conducted an investigation that turned up abuse claims by 25 of Lanner's former students, most from the job he held before he came to Hillel in 1982.
The newspaper said former students accused Lanner of kneeing some boys in the groin and fondling or striking some girls. After the story appeared, Lanner resigned as director of regions for the Orthodox Union's National Conference of Synagogue Youth, based in New York.
In December 2000, an Orthodox Union internal investigation was made public. The inquiry concluded that some personnel of the Orthodox Union and the National Conference of Synagogue Youth failed to respond properly to "red flags" raised during decades of complaints against Lanner. No cover-up was found, but Lanner's "inappropriate and crude behavior" should have led to his firing, according to a summary of the report. |
