Sexual Abuse Case Against Orthodox Counselor Underway in Brooklyn

The trial continues in the case against a prominent member of the tight-knit, ultra-orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, New York. Nechemya Weberman, a well known and respected counselor within the Jewish community, has been charged with 88 counts of sexual molestation by the New York District Attorney’s Office.

The State alleges that the twelve-year-old victim was sent to Weberman by her parents after she raised some questions regarding her faith. Her parents expected Weberman to counsel the young girl and to act as a spiritual guide, but instead, prosecutors allege that she was forced to perform oral sex on Weberman and act out pornographic movies repeatedly for years.

The victim and her family faced threats and shunning by the community in response to the news that she would be contacting the police, evidence of how insular and provincial the community has become. Some members of the community went so far as to snap pictures of the victim and post them online in an attempt to shame her and her family.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/orthodox-counselor-on-trial-in-brooklyn-sex-abuse-case-girl-testifies-she-was-molested/2012/12/03/3715a21c-3d9c-11e2-8a5c-473797be602c_story.html