Asbury Park Press Middle-of-the-night visits and YouTube videos of child molesters in
prison were among methods employed by Lakewood’s Orthodox Jewish
community to pressure a former Orthodox Jewish camp counselor to admit
to sexually abusing a child, the former camp counselor’s attorneys said
in court papers.The members of Lakewood’s
Orthodox community made the concerted effort to persuade Yosef Kolko to
plead guilty to child molestation against his will to spare the
community the unwanted publicity of a trial, defense attorneys Stephanie
Forbes and Alan L. Zegas said in a brief filed in state Superior Court. [...]
Senior Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Laura Pierro said in a response
to the brief filed by the defense attorneys that Kolko already had been
contemplating a guilty plea, because of the way the trial was going. He
went ahead with the plea after learning that the Prosecutor’s Office
had been contacted by an attorney representing two more individuals who
claimed to have been molested by him, Pierro said in her brief opposing
Kolko’s motion. Kolko did not enter his guilty plea until after he
consulted with a Brooklyn rabbi, Yisroel Belsky, to get his blessing,
Pierro added. [...]
Five letters from members of the Orthodox community were submitted
with the brief on Kolko’s behalf, saying that Kolko was pressured into
taking a plea bargain. The letters included one from Shabsi Kolko
supporting the defendant’s story that he told him he was pleading guilty
against his will, and one from Belsky, who said he was among the people
who advised Kolko to plead guilty.“The
reasons were convincing enough to make those who believed in his
innocence fearful of the sensationalism attached to the affair and other
weighty considerations,’’ Belsky wrote in his handwritten letter.
Hodgson is scheduled to hold a hearing on Kolko’s motion at 1:30 p.m. today.
Da'as Torah,
ReplyDeleteCould you please explain your take on this article?
Why drag R. Belsky's name into the case of this pervert?
It's just so strange.... you must know of all the Rabbanim's attempts to get this guy out of Chinuch, and still he persisted, and finally it gets publicized, and of all the ways to get this off the front pages, perhaps R. Belsky gave him a fig leaf to hide behind: 'Plead guilty for the good of the Jewish People' (which honestly, this man doesn't seem to really be preoccupied with.)
So now we drag R. Belsky back as if he was somehow involved in this sordid mess?
Frum Sarah wrote: Why drag R Belsky's name into the case of this pervert.
DeleteIncredible! What planet are you living on? You obviously are totally unaware of all the posts regarding documenting Rabbi Belksy's direct involvement in the case?
Simply type the key words "Belsky" and "Kolko" in the search window and discover what has been public knowledge for years.
So yes he is, was and will be "invovled in this sordid mess!"
What? I don't understand at all.
ReplyDeleteExactly the opposite of what Yerachamiel Lopian claimed that Rabbi Belsky wanted Kolko to please *not* guilty.
ReplyDeleteBelsky first got him to plead not guilty and led the posse chasing Rabbi S out of town. But when he saw the trial and especially the 2 witnesses, he said plead guilty, then he tried the shtick of withdrawing the plea. that cost Kolko an additional ten years. But it avoided his cooperating on evaluation which would have meant admitting abuse by his uncle Yiddi. Yes Belsky is a switch hitter, not to score a homerun for the schmendrik Yossi Kolko, but to make sure Belsky looks allright. This is just like Belsky as dayan/toen/business partner. He has mastered the art of seeming stubborn but consistent and profiting out of playing all sides. It has made him successful in the bais din business, but Judge Hodgson was a superior umpire who insisted on finishing all the innings and calling an out at last.
DeleteYes, it is complicated when you are dealing with a complicated schemer. But from the reviled goyish court we got the emes; Belsky called all the shots and was inconsistent.
Sheesh, what is going on with Rav Belsky? I'm wondering when (if) the OU, Torah V'Daas, and the RCA are going to distance themselves from him. He is embroiled in the Kolko scandal pressuring people to harass the victim (as documented earlier on Daas Torah) and also pressuring the abuser to confess, and he is also named as a Rabbinic accomplice to the Wolmark and Epstein case as well. Not looking good. He also never apologized for harassing the Rabbi from Lakewood's family who were then forced to move out of town.
ReplyDeleteThe Rabbi who kept Pressuring Kolko to Take a Plea Bargain is Rabbi Abba Hershkowitz
ReplyDeleteThere were many who exterted pressure. Probably also R. Simcha Bunim Cohen.But at the final court session Belsky was revealed as the definitive eitzah giver for Yossi Kolko.
DeleteDa'as Torah,
ReplyDeleteIt seems unfair to judge R. Belsky for acts done in a different time period.
Perhaps I totally misunderstand, but let me clarify:
Rabbi MILLER, and other Gedolim of that time were trying to get Kolko thrown out of Chinuch. He was called to numerous Batei Dinim, and was pressured to agree to the terms, but the Rosh Yeshiva of TT was protecting him.
This was before the time where most Observant people understood the need to involve secular authorities.
Then, in the end, once it got to the point where he was going to have to go to trial, R. Belsky urged him to get this over with asap.
Does this make sense?
Frum Sarah you are very ready to jump in and pass judgments etc - but you really don't know what you are talking about! There are two Kolko cases. The one involving Torah Temima and the other in Lakewood. Rabbi Belsky was was very active in protecting the molester in both cases. Regarding the Lakewood Kolko - please read the archives for his active defense of the molester and the harsh criticism he had for the victim's father. The proclaiming the father was the molester and that anyone who went to the police was a moser. The continued proclamation of Kolko's innocence ever after he confessed in court. His strange letter posted by the RCA that said that people who know about abuse should go to the police. etc etc etc
DeleteIn short your comment makes no sense because you don't know that basic facts.
Hey, I pleaded (not pressured) with a Melbourne convicted pedophile to give himself up 2 years before he faced his sentence, at the behest of his father. Unfortunately, he was and seems to remain delusional. Equally unfortunately, victims are also "damaged goods" and can sometimes go over what is deemed to be "normal behaviour" albeit with good intentions. Both classes of individual need professional medical help. Communities need to assist in not only revealing pedophiles, and encouraging reporting, but they also need to encourage those affected to seek medical/psychological intention so that they can resume life in a more supported fashion with all the current assistance we can provide.
ReplyDeleteThe last thing we want is "professional victims" so to speak.