Jury selection starts in trial of Teaneck rabbi on child molestation charges

Jury selection began Tuesday in Hackensack in the trial of a Teaneck rabbi accused of molesting two underage teens at his home.

Rabbi Uzi Rivlin, 65, was arrested in 2011 and charged with fondling two 13-year-old Israeli boys who were staying at his home during an exchange scholarship program that Rivlin had helped set up.

Rivlin was arrested after the two boys, who did not know each other and stayed at Rivlin’s home at different times in 2009 and 2010, made the allegations to Israeli authorities, who then contacted U.S. authorities.

Bergen County prosecutors have said the boys will be flown in from Israel to testify at the trial in Superior Court in Hackensack. Opening arguments are scheduled for June 3.

Rivlin maintains that he never molested the boys. His attorney, Howard Simmons, had said at a previous court hearing that the boys were deeply troubled students and that one of them had actually made similar but false allegations against his own father in the past.

Rivlin is charged with child endangerment, aggravated sexual contact and criminal sexual contact. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.