Rabbi Hit With New Perv Rap

nypost ^ | September 13, 2007 | ALEX GINSBERG

[Coleus]

A Brooklyn rabbi already facing trial for allegedly molesting two students was charged yesterday with fondling a third. Rabbi Joel Kolko, an administrator and a teacher at a Midwood yeshiva, posted $25,000 additional bail a few hours before sundown signaled the start of Rosh Hashanah.

He had been free on $5,000 bail, awaiting trial on charges he touched a 6-year-old boy in one of his classes, as well as a now-31-year-old former student who confronted the rabbi about abuse he claimed occurred decades ago. The new sex-abuse and child-endangerment charges focus on a 2005 incident in which Kolko alleged fondled the genitals of a first-grade boy.

Lawyer Jeffrey Schwartz scoffed at the new accusations, saying they were fabricated by a disgruntled former student now dragging the rabbi's name through the mud on an Internet blog, The Unorthodox Jew, and trying to recruit new victims to bring cases. "In 21 years of trying criminal cases, both as a prosecutor and a defense attorney, I have never seen a case so weak," Schwartz told the judge, adding that his client had taken and passed two polygraph tests and been cleared by a rabbinical court. "It's an orchestrated hit."

[sofaman]

"In 21 years of trying criminal cases, both as a prosecutor and a defense attorney, I have never seen a case so weak," Schwartz told the judge, adding that his client had taken and passed two polygraph tests and been cleared by a rabbinical court."

[montag813]

Ever since the Janet Reno railroading of innocent parents in Dade County in the 1980s, and the McMartin trials and others, I view all such accusations from children with deep suspicion. Most children can be easily manipulated, and specific methods must be used to filter out malice, fraud or false reports.

[Comparative Advantage]

Since the previous two polygraphs went so well, maybe the rabbi will take one using an objective polygrapher.

Where there’s smoke...

[agere_contra]

If there’s no evidence he should walk.

Polygraph “evidence” is an oxymoron. It means nothing either way.

[sofaman]

the previous two polygraphers weren't objective? We know this how?

FWIW, too, a rabbinical court isn't a cake walk or a protect your own society. It is an extremely serious proceeding.

[Old Professer]

Discrediting priests, rabbis and ministers has become a cottage industry in some circles; they operate with and create in the public mind, a sense of suspicion based on previous cases that brought immediate headlines, big lawsuits and shame to many people whose only crime was trust.

[Clemenza]

Ever since the Janet Reno railroading of innocent parents in Dade County in the 1980s

Janet Waco will rot in hell for what she did to the Fusters, to say nothing of her other crimes. Its fitting that she lives only a mile on Kileen Drive from OJ Simpson.