An ultra-Orthodox cantor has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a teenage boy—and he's only facing months in jail as a result. Baruch Lebovits, 62, was previously convicted of eight counts of molestation, but that case was overturned in 2012 on a technicality. And this week, Lebovits fully admitted that he engaged in oral sex with a teenage boy on eight different occasions in 2004 and 2005.
Lebovits was sentenced to 10 ½ to 32 years in prison in 2010 for raping children in Borough Park. At the time, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Patricia DiMango showed no mercy, telling the court, "It is important for the courts to send a clear message that abusing and harming children will not be tolerated."
But his conviction was reversed on a series of technicalities. According to the Times, an appeal's court decided Lebovits "had been deprived of a fair trial because prosecutors took too long to turn over a detective’s notes about a witness." The case became emblematic of problems under former Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes in prosecuting sexual abuse cases among ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Orthodox Jewish Cantor Faces Months In Jail After Pleading Guilty To Sexually Abusing Teen: Gothamist
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