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LANNER</TD< tr>Posted on 06/28/2002 12:42:31 PM PDT by Coleus
Rabbi convicted of fondling
Friday, June 28, 2002
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| LANNER</TD< tr> |
A former Bergen County rabbi was found guilty Thursday of fondling a teenage student while he was principal of Hillel Yeshiva in Ocean Township during the early 1990s.
However, the jury of six men and six women in Freehold acquitted Baruch Lanner of two charges relating to a second female accuser.
Both women, who were teenagers when they were Lanner's students, testified during the trial against the nationally known rabbi.
After two days of deliberations, the jury convicted Lanner on two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, one for each accuser. He was convicted on one count of aggravated and criminal sexual contact against one accuser, who is now 23. He also was found guilty of one count of harassment.
The 52-year-old rabbi, a divorced father of three who has lived in Paramus and Fair Lawn, faces up to 20 years in prison and $300,000 in fines. Sentencing by Superior Court Judge Paul Chaiet is scheduled for Sept. 13.
Lanner, who was smiling and somewhat upbeat after the verdicts were read, was released on his own recognizance. His mother, who witnessed the entire trial and was sobbing as the verdicts were read, is supposed to sign a $100,000 bail bond by 12:30 p.m. today.
Lanner, a former leader in a widely acclaimed Orthodox youth group, faced the media after the verdicts and thanked "the United States of America for giving me a fair trial."
He then offered a Jewish blessing that he said is often recited in an "unpleasant" situation: "Bless art thou God the true judge."
Defense attorney Marvin Schechter, looking glum, said he was "very disappointed" in the verdict and is considering an appeal. He may challenge the judge's decision to bar release of the accusers' mental health records during the trial.
The accusers testified that Lanner often made sexually explicit remarks in telephone conversations with them and routinely called them into his office and fondled their breasts and other parts of their bodies.
Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Peter Boser said in his closing argument that the testimony proved the rabbi was "gratifying himself, and he was intimidating and degrading" students.
Throughout the trial, Lanner's defense team hammered away at the credibility of the accusers, whose names Chaiet prohibited from being published.
Both had a history of academic and disciplinary problems at Hillel, as well as mental health problems, according to testimony from the school's teachers and administrators.
Boser praised the jury: "They considered the evidence carefully and didn't take any shortcuts," he said.
The trial came as reports of sexual misconduct involving religious leaders have shaken the Catholic Church and other institutions. Both sides in the Lanner case expressed confidence that the jurors were not prejudiced by national publicity.
Lanner appeared confident throughout the trial, and even kissed Schechter's hand after his dramatic closing argument on Tuesday.
For others, the trial was an emotional ordeal as they watched the accusers struggle to try to remember graphic details of incidents that took place a decade ago. The mother of one of the accusers smiled after she heard the verdict.
"I'm very exhausted, emotionally and physically, and I just want to get home to my daughter," said the woman.
The jury rejected the defense's argument that the accusers were angry with Lanner for imposing strict academic standards.
The defense noted the 23-year-old testified that Lanner moved her out of a higher-track program because, she believed, she resisted his sexual advances. During his closing argument, Schechter held up a transcript documenting her poor academic record, which he said was the actual reason for her transfer. He called it the "smoking gun" of the trial.
The defense also paraded a series of witnesses who were former employees or associates of the rabbi when he was principal.
All said they never saw Lanner behaving in a sexually inappropriate way.
They said the rabbi's office was accessible, and at least part of it was visible through glass windows, and so any inappropriate acts would have been witnessed.
***
Tom Davis' e-mail address is davist@northjersey.com
"CHURCH EVANGELIZERS PREYED ON LOW-INCOME KIDS. Men from a rural Baptist church known for its aggressive evangelizing of children are suspected of molesting as many as 22 boys & girls. The associate pastor, volunteer bus driver & a third church member are believed to have fondled some & raped others, ranging in age from 3 to 10, on church buses & property. Charges involving 10 victims were brought against Associate Pastor Timothy Lee Leonard, 32, of North Sharon Baptist Church near Grass Lake, & volunteer Sunday school bus driver, church deacon Mark Foeller. Three other church members are being investigated. The suspects went to low-income housing projects or trailer parks in 4 counties, telling parents they would "take the children to church & teach them about God", according to Det. Robert Fitzpatrick, Jackson Co. Men would walk up to children in their yards, coaxing them with treats to come to weekend services or summer Bible school. Leonard was relieved of church duties involving children in August, after police started investigating him when a doctor reported suspected abuse in a child with a sexual disease. He also worked as instructor & gym teacher in the North Sharon Christian School, enrolling about 65 students. "
We have to keep our kids _safe_ from Baptist pedophiles!
Buzz Kelly
* BRONSON MINISTER ARRAIGNED. First Congregational Church minister David Covert Moore was charged with 5 counts of criminal sexual conduct of 4 children under the age of 15. In July he checked himself into Pine Rest Christian Counseling Services in Grand Rapids. Source: Jackson Citizen Patriot 8/29/92.
* AIR FORCE CHAPLAIN RAIDED. Deputies raided the home of Veterans Administration chaplain Rev. Donald G. Phillips, of Butler County, seizing 500 videotapes, movie equipment and restraints following a tip that he produced pornographic movies with young girls. The Baptist minister recently received the highest recognition awarded a VA chaplain, "the Award for Excellence in Chaplain Service". Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch 2/19/92.
* BAPTIST VOLUNTEER CONVICTED. Granite State Baptist Church volunteer David Kirsch, 39, of Salem, was convicted of sexually assaulting 6 young girls through the church from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s.
Source: USA Today 9/25/92.
* MINISTER & GIRLFRIEND INDICTED. Trenton pastor Franklin Tucker, 37, Final Call Ministry, was indicted for molesting his girlfriend's daughters, 9 & 15. His girlfriend was indicted for forcing her daughters to recant the allegations to police. The abuse came to light when the 9-year-old told a school official, who contacted police. Source: Trenton Times 9/15/92.
* CIVIL SUIT: 11-YEAR-OLD MOLESTED. A family in Dare County, North Carolina is suing Methodist minister Carl M. Eller for abusing their daughter, 11, as well as the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church, a bishop and a reverend for knowing of his history of sexual misconduct but doing nothing about it. The family says she was molested when her father, a carpenter, was installing cabinets in the parsonage. Eller pleaded no contest to a charge of criminal assault on a female. However, the family said that in 1987 Eller had molested or made lewd comments to 4 women at his church, and forcibly kissed and touched 2 girls age 13. Three women had lodged formal complaints with the church, but the only action was to transfer him from Aurora to Hamlet. Source: News & Observer 1/15/92.
* BAPTIST PASTOR RESIGNS AMID SCANDAL. Asheville Baptist pastor Michael R. Stewart, 34, of Oakley, resigned following his arrest in a prostitution sting. Stewart's name was among 400 on a full-page ad that month promoting family & traditional biblical values. Source: Citizen-Times 6/30/92.
* CHURCH SUED FOR NEGLIGENCE. One of several girls who said Alva minister Rev. Robert Bruce Brigden molested her is suing the First Presbyterian Church for failing to check his background before hiring him. Allegations of sexual crimes were made at his former position in Kansas. Charges allege that he molested Alva church girls, ages 4 to 14. The church posted his bond. Source: Tulsa Tribune
* PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER GETS 40 YEARS. Rev. Robert Bruce Brigden was sentenced to 40 years in prison for molesting young girls in his congregation, convicted on 8 counts of lewd molestation & 1 count of rape by instrumentation involving a girl, 7. Bridgen, 57, was accused of molesting 11 girls, aged 4 to 14, during the 4 years he was at the Alva church. His congregation put the church up as bond, insisting he was innocent. He was placed in protected custody. Brigden blamed his arrest on a girl, 4, whose parents were the first to take the children's allegations seriously. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," Brigden wrote his wife about the 4-year-old, whom he described as "4 going on 400 years old", saying she invited him to spend the night in her bed, & was mad that he declined. Source: Tulsa Tribune 8/92, Tulsa World 9/3/92, _Daily Oklahoman_ 6/14/92.
* CHURCH VOLUNTEER CHARGED WITH CHILD PORNOGRAPHY. Church volunteer Seven Jon Long, 41, was arrested for sodomy and taking pornographic pictures of young girls under 12 from Assembly of God Church in Rogue River, where he was a youth volunteer. He told detectives his pictures were art. Source: Daily Courier, Grants Pass, 4/17/92.
* CONVICTED PASTOR "RIGHT WITH LORD". Rev. Virgil Carpenter, 48, pastor of Bible Missionary Church in Ontario, was convicted of sodomy & sexual abuse of a girl, 9, over a 1-1/2 year period. A jury convicted Carpenter of 2 felony counts of sodomy & 4 felony counts of sexual abuse. He faces 5 additional felony charges in 2 upcoming trials. "I'm really not worried," he told supporters who had gathered in the courtroom before the verdict. "I'm right with the Lord." Source: Corvallis Gazette-Times 10/11/92.
Why weren't these stories given national press coverage? Why is there a cover-up of Christian pedophile ministers' crimes against America's children???
Buzz Kelly
The jury was impressed.
Nice try, though.
This brings to mind one of my favorite quotes from the World War II era:
"First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out --
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the communists
and I did not speak out --
because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out --
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me --
and there was no one left to speak out for me."
~~Pastor Martin Niemoller
(victim of the Nazis)
Is there anything we can learn from this?
When they came for the Catholics?
When they came for the Baptists?
When they came for the fundamentalists?
When they came for the agnostics?
Just something for all of us to think about -- is this picture larger than we currently see it?
What exactly was I trying to do? Disseminate proper information.
The gay priests do.
The accusers testified that Lanner often made sexually explicit remarks in telephone conversations with them and routinely called them into his office and fondled their breasts and other parts of their bodies.
A "real" Orthodox Rabbi would never have been alone in a room with any female, with the exception of his wife! Of course, according to the press, being Orthodox makes a Jew a hard line, right wing conservative, so they must be bad... No matter what, if this is true, this guy is scum, and needs to spend a lot of time in prison!
Mark
While I didn't know Lanner personally, I know many who did. He did appear to be a Modern Orthodox rabbi. As a youth leader, he might have had more personal contact with girls than most. And not being alone with a member of the opposite sex is not one of the tenets strictly adhered to by many other Modern Orthodox (including myself.)
BTW, our shul had banned him from any contact with youth years ago because of his behavior that was improper but not sexual. This really shook up our communities when it happened. There had been signs for a long time, but the people in charge did not heed them. I'm grateful that this is a truly rare occurance.
So what's up with all these other reports from 1992? Why no other dates?
That's funny, I didn't hear anything about this in the news. I guess denouncing Catholics is much more fun.
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