Rabbi arrested on charges of voyeurism

A celebrated Orthodox rabbi admitted Thursday that for years he secretly videotaped women in a changing room of a Jewish ritual bath. Barry Freundel, 63, pleaded guilty to fifty-two counts of voyeurism during a hearing at D.C. Superior Court. Each count is a separate misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail. Freundel’s attorney, Jeffrey Harris, said that it was unlikely that Freundel would get a fifty-two year sentence. He also refused to say what sentence he would seek at an upcoming hearing set for May 15. Harris added his client was taking full responsibility for his actions and was looking to move on with his life. Harris could request for a sentence that would keep Freundel out of prison, but U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. commented that prosecutors would appeal for a sentence that includes prison time. Freundel was a rabbi at the Kesher Israel synagogue in Washington for more than a quarter of a century before his arrest back in October on voyeurism charges. Freundel acknowledged that he had recorded approximately 150 women. A statute of limitations, however, would have barred prosecutors from charging him for each individual recording. Freundel was dismissed from the synagogue about a month and a half after his arrest.