New evidence has emerged that could deal a serious blow to
Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes’ case against Sam Kellner, a chasidic
Borough Park resident who was charged with extortion and perjury after he
helped to convict a fellow chasid, Baruch Lebovits, on sex abuse charges.
The evidence, obtained by The Jewish Week, is an audiotape
on which a young man makes statements that undermine his previous claims that
Kellner paid him to fabricate allegations of sex abuse. The young man also
makes statements indicating that powerful members of his own community
pressured him to accuse Kellner of perjury.
“This tape should make clear what should be clear to any
reasonable person — that Sam Kellner is not guilty of these charges,” Kellner’s
attorney, Michael Dowd, told The Jewish Week.
Kellner, whose ordeal was the subject of a Jewish Week story
in January, played an indirect but key role in the 2010 sex abuse conviction of
Lebovits, a cantor and prominent member of the Munkacs chasidic community.
After learning in 2008 that his son had been inappropriately
touched by Lebovits, Kellner obtained rabbinic permission to report the
incident to the police. When a detective told him that his son’s case was a
misdemeanor and thus unlikely to be prosecuted unless additional victims came
forward, Kellner obtained the names of two men — “Yoel” and “Zev” (not their
real names) —who had previously disclosed their abuse at the hands of Lebovits
to the Vaad HaTznius, or modesty committee. (The Vaad is an unofficial
community watchdog group that deals with abuse allegations and alleged
molesters, typically without involving law enforcement.)
Continue reading: The Jewish Week
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