Asbury Park Press After watching his former camp counselor try to avoid responsibility
for molesting him during a nine-hour hearing on Thursday, a 16-year-old
boy faced his abuser in court as a judge sentenced him to 15 years in
prison.
Superior Court Judge Francis R.
Hodgson imposed the prison term shortly before 11:30 p.m. on Yosef
Kolko, 38, a former counselor at an Orthodox Jewish camp in Lakewood.
Before
the sentence was handed down, the victim, who was 11 and 12 years old
when he was molested by Kolko in 2008 and 2009, confronted his former
camp counselor.
“Molesting
may seem harmless to you, but the reality is, it kills people,” the
victim said. “How can you ignore the tears and open wounds when you know
how much you hurt me? You ganged up on me and hurt me again.”
The
victim and his family were ostracized in Lakewood’s Orthodox community
for bringing the child’s allegations to secular authorities and breaking
the religious tradition of having rabbis handle such problems. The
family [...] made a 12-hour trip by bus for
the sentencing hearing and an earlier hearing that stretched from the
afternoon until 11 p.m. on Kolko’s bid to retract his guilty plea.
Kolko’s
attorney, Alan Zegas, argued Kolko should be allowed to withdraw his
plea to the molestation charges because he was coerced into making the
admissions by members of the Orthodox community who didn’t want the bad
publicity from a trial. [...]
However, Kolko’s previous attorney, Michael Bachner, one of seven
witnesses at the hearing on whether to allow the guilty plea to be
withdrawn, testified there was no coercion.
Senior
Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Laura Pierro called Bachner to
testify after six witnesses testified on behalf of Kolko, describing an
effort by many people in the community to try and convince him to plead
guilty.
“He was
never being threatened,” Bachner said of Kolko. “I didn’t feel he was
being coerced. He never indicated to me he was being pressured.”[...]
How much less was he expected to get under the guilty plea if he had not tried to withdraw it?
ReplyDeleteInitially the judge had said he would hold the sentencing to 5-15. Meaning had Kolko been a cooperative defendant which would have meant: A. Acting remorseful for his actions B. Compliance with recommendation that he undergo sex offender evaluation in Avenel C. Not engaging in stalling tactics... He probably would have gotten closer to five.
DeleteThe sad reality is that Kolko didn't need to end up in prison at all. He could have been an emotionally and sexually healthy Yid sitting next to you in Shul, and our children would also be safe, had the community not failed this situation on so many levels.
1. Over ten years ago an intuitive Rebbi approached Hanhola of a certain Yeshiva that Kolko was affiliated with, and said that he felt the way Kolko interacted with the bochrim there was inappropriate and they should take action. They chose to ignore his concerns.
2. The current victim's family was mostly interested in protecting other children (it wasn't about justice) and they had two requests A. That he gets treatment B. That he cooperates with recommended safety measures. Unfortunately the "council of wise sages" counseled him to maintain his innocence and fight the victim. Those wise sages and their cohorts even helped Kolko fight an innocent family and avoid the adaptive response to Kolko's problem.
3. Even after their initial misguided advice, those around Kolko continued to ensure that he missteps all along his legal involvement.
So today Kolko is going for a real "bid", with all of the shortcomings of our correctional system. Maybe justice is served (but that wasn't the goal.) Maybe he will finally get treatment (although the correctional system isn't ideal for treatment.) At least our children are safe. But it didn't need to happen this way.
If only he had gotten himself help...
If only the powers that be had listened to the cries and concerns and pushed for change...
If only we had good safety measures in place...
And maybe if only his Uncle Yidi had been treated differently...
Let's get it right so that the pain for all of those involved doesn't happen again.