CHAIN THE DOGMA

Times Union - Albany NY  January 12, 2010

Rabbi takes plea deal

ALBANY -- A Loudonville rabbi admitted Monday he had "inappropriate physical contact" with two naked boys -- and that he told one of them to lie about it to police and his mother. 

Yaakov Weiss, 29, founder of the Chabad of Colonie and the Chabad Hebrew School, pleaded guilty to one count of child endangerment for telling a 14-year-old boy on June 30, 2008, to "just say nothing happened" about an incident in 2007.

The married father faces up to 60 days in the Albany County jail and three years' probation in a plea deal. It was reached just as his trial was set to begin in Albany County Court.

He faced up to two years in prison on a four-count indictment that accused him of child endangerment and sexual abuse. The deal also spares Weiss from having to register as a sex offender.

Weiss specifically pleaded guilty to telling one of the boys to lie to his mother and police about a June 2007 incident that took place inside a small pool, known as a mikveh, used for ritual purification. In June 2008, the child asked Weiss for advice about the incident during a phone call -- with Albany police listening -- in which Weiss told the boy to lie.

The rabbi, who was indicted last year, admitted Monday his behavior went beyond telling the child to lie. Under questioning by Judge Stephen Herrick, Weiss said he and the boys had been naked in the mikveh, which by itself is not considered atypical.

But Weiss confessed he "knowingly" had inappropriate physical contact with one child, then 13, in June 2007, and the other boy, also 13, between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, 2007.

"That is an accurate statement?" Herrick asked at one point.

"Yes," the rabbi replied.

Weiss, who moved to the Capital Region from Iowa in 2004, adheres to a type of Judaism known as Chabad-Lubavitch, known for its work to get Jewish people more involved in their religion.

He sent an e-mail to the Times Union in October 2008, after being charged, describing the charges as "100 percent untrue."

"This has been generated by an individual who has been antagonistic toward Chabad of Colonie from its inception and continues to be envious of continued success," Weiss wrote at the time. "This is his way of getting rid of us."

On Monday, the rabbi declined to comment as he left the courtroom, but issued a statement through his attorney, Arnold Proskin, saying that the plea deal was a "more peaceful way of resolving this than going to trial."

Proskin later relayed a statement saying Weiss has support from the Chabad community.

His sentencing is scheduled for March 1.

"I'm pleased that the case was resolved in this manner, requiring the defendant to publicly admit to the conduct he subjected those two boys to, while also sparing them the difficulty of testifying to the events publicly," said Assistant District Attorney Shannon Sarfoh, who prosecuted the case.

Weiss initially was charged in City Court with sexually abusing the two boys in 2007.

The indictment also alleged that between Jan. 1 and April 30, 2007, Weiss repeatedly struck one of the boys on the back on New Scotland Avenue, "knocking him to the ground and then kicked him in the leg." Court papers alleged Weiss sexually abused one boy in June 2007 and the other between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31 that year.

The incidents took place in a facility on Whitehall Road in Albany, not to be confused with the Albany Jewish Community Center.

In both cases, the indictment had alleged Weiss had sexual contact "consisting of placing his penis in contact with said child's buttocks."