Brooklyn, NY – A guilty verdict was handed down today in the emotionally grueling two-week sex abuse trial of Nechemya Weberman, 54, the Hasidic, unlicensed counselor who was accused of sexually abusing a now 18-year-old teen sent to him for psychological treatment over a three-year period beginning when she was 12.
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In a packed courtroom, the jury of six men and six women found Weberman guilty on all 60 counts of sexual abuse and child endangerment — the most serious that he sexually assaulted the young woman over a sustained period of time from when she was 12 to 15 years old. The jury deliberated for a total of five hours over just two days.
Weberman faces a total of 117 years. Weberman was remanded and he will be sentenced before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice John Ingram on January 9 at 10:00 AM. According to the NY Post his defense lawyer didn’t even bother asking for bail pending sentencing.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Defense attorney George Farkas said, “We firmly believe that the jury got an unfairly sanitized version of the facts. As a result, the truth did not come out, and the struggle clear an innocent man will continue in full force.”
The victim testified that the abuse took place dozens of times in Weberman’s Williamsburg home and office. Weberman testified that he “never, ever inappropriately touched” the girl. When asked by his attorney what he was “looking to do to her,” Weberman replied, “To save her life.”
During the trial, a parade of witnesses took the stand to testify both for and against the teenage victim. Defense counsel tried to paint the victim as a heretic and “a free spirit”, claiming she only brought allegations against Weberman as revenge for trying to have her boyfriend arrested on statutory rape charges.
Weberman opted to take the stand in his own defense on Wednesday, in what many thought was a risky legal move.
According to the Wall Street Journal (http://on.wsj.com/11LiQf2), Weberman testified that he first began a career in counseling after helping a relative work through some marital issues. By the year 2000, Weberman said he was providing “rabbinical counseling” to people full-time, though he had not undergone any formal training to be a counselor, nor is he ordained as a rabbi. He testified that clients were referred to him from the Satmar Va’ad Ha’Tznius, a Hasidic modesty squad (http://bit.ly/UpRmXa).
Nebech!
hashem yerachem
We are a group of 10 moms who have been praying non stop that he is proven guilty. This will protect our children and many others. Today is one of the best days of our lives. Thank you VIN for reporting this so quickly. Our kinder will be safe now and many others who have been abused will be coming forward shortly.
This is a true Chanuka nes. Where the weak ones conquered the strong ones.
Ribona Shel Oilum, helf shoin Aleh Yidden!!
I wonder if the verdict will finally wipe the arrogant smirk off his face. All I can say is, I believe in this verdict and only Nechemia Weberman is responsible for the lives he ruined, including now, his wife and children and grandchildren. I hope people understand not to stigmatize his family and I hope his victim can find peace and move on with her life. Satmar needs to reevaluate how they go about life through this tragedy.
Frum jew has no chance here. Move to Israel. Oh i m sorry satmer loves the USA
He had no chance ever!
It’s him against a girl
I’m telling you they decided on Friday to indite him but didnt want to dopers anti semetic
Justice Brandeis famously said “Sunlight is the best disinfectant”. Let us hope the light shed by this horrible incident makes the Hasidic world examine its shortcomings and correct them so children are protected and criminals are not.
Orthdox Jews dont stand a chance in court.
All 60 counts. Up to 25 years on the most serious. If other sentences are consecutive it’s basically a life sentence. That’s assuming they don’t prosecute him on his charity.
I hope all Sex activists are happy, Now that all got what you wanted and have shown to the world how good you are why don’t you get in involved in even more community work to help the Satmars.
We have lots of people in hospitals who need company, we have lots of poor family’s who need assistance, ETC. ETC.
Come one all of you good people you’ve been so much help helping us getting rid from our molesters. please help us with all our other needs as well.
Dear VIN comment writers,
Before bashing Weberman, who in my opinion is innocent (due to the fact that there is no evidence that he did anything, and the fact that “none of the hundreds of other girls” that went to him for counseling had any issues. So its hard to believe that just one girl that has a revenge agenda here is telling the truth…..
In the times of Bais Din he would be innocent due to no aidim no evidence etc. So please keep cool with your comments, and before posting hate don’t forget that your hate posts are read by thousands and will cause Chilul Hashem lets not let antisemi’s write “even on Jewish VIN site the posts are all anti Weberman…….
Havei dun es kol haudum likaf Zchus.
Lo Samod al dam Rayeicho
Choised Biksheirm yioshcheinu Nuchush
Let this be a lesson to any and all of these type of Yidden who think that they CAN GET OVER on the rest of us. Those days are over!
Rachmono litzlon its a sad day for all of us observant Jews.We were all dragged into this by Jews from within who smeared us in the secular media that we are a cult
What does it all mean in the long run? Did justice prevail or did the animus toward everything Jewish tip the scales? Unfortunately we’ll never know. I’m not a supporter of abusers and I think that this case stunk to the highest of heaven. I hope she sues them civilly and gets a load of money from the mosdos. I hope other mosdos examine their policies and really try to help and not cover up abuse. And more than anything else I hope that we, within the boundaries that HKBH gave us, allow our kids to grow up and become ehrliche Yidden.
Lets face it, even myself who has no doubt that the right verdict was handed down by the Jury, am not feeling too good about the chilil hashem that was created along with the punishment that awaits this man, but still I feel good in the overall picture that child molestation and rape has made amazing progress today in our community
The overall picture is good today Baruch hashem
burich dayen emes im very saddent that it had to come down to this if only he had some brains and took that plea of 5 years he would have been home for paysech but i guess if he would had some brains he would have not been in this mess in the first place
I truly hope he is guilty by that i mean he did what she said he did. hopefully this is warning to molesters the party is over and people are now willing to speak out
Its a sad day for us. We know he is innocent and the case is a fabrication. Its a victory to all those that wage war against us. We must daven to Hashem and ask for rachamim that he be saved from prison and the reshoim.
There is a G-d after all. Thank you for reporting this.
באבוד רשעים רנה. This decision is very good for the Jews. Hopefully, molesters in our community will now think twice before doing their perverted, cruel acts.
BH!
Let justice be served.
Did they just convict an innocent man?
Why did the girl wait till now to report it? Did she tell her parents at the time and if not why not?
Are there other victims from this guy that have stepped foward to the DA?
Unbelievable.
This case is a total he-said-she-said. How in the world can we lock up a father of kids without proof?!
What is especially troubling is the hastiness of our brothers to condemn someone who was accused by someone with an obvious motivation.
Shame.
Very sad day For all of klal yisruel
Nebech. Even if he did do all this acts he is still a yid and we are still tidden rachmonim. Nebech i feel so bad for him. Having to spend the rest of his life in jail. Nebech mebech. U want to punish him? Give him 2-5 yeard. Nebech all his yiddishe life will be spent in prison not being able to serve hakadosh baruch hu
This is a great day for all of us.
Its the start of molesters not being able to get away with things just because theyre popular members of a community.
Weberman brought this upon himself, he couldve just pleaded guilty and not causes all of us so much harm in the media and all over.
He was the one who wanted such a public spectacle and reraped his victim when he stood on the stand lying that he never touched her.
When will you all wake up? Arent you afraid for your sons and daughters? SExual abusers arent only poor looking drug addicts. Theyre people who seem nice and kind and are monsters inside.
IF you know it or not, like I do. The victim did us all a great service. Thank you hashem for exposing the truth.
this sentece means a life sentence to all of us.. Yes agreed we have to protect our kids, and YES we have shortcomings, but this is not the way….
I find it amazing how we all agree that there are molesters out there in the jewish community. Yet, when one is identified, everyone sticks up for him!
Nobody knows or will ever know if he actually committed these terrible and heinous crimes. The one thing we do know is that he spent an abnormal amount of private time (multiple 4 hours sessions when most normal therapy sessions are 45-60 minutes, a 12 hour trip to the catskills by themselves, etc.) with her. I am not a Rabbi or Posek, but at a certain point doesn’t one lose their chezkas kashrus when there is a basic breach of yichud and other halachic sexual bounderies? Why are frum people having such a hard time believing that he did this? Eyn Apitropus L’arayos! We will never know for sure if he is a molester but we do know that he made many poor decisions which make it hard for anyone to believe him.
While I’m glad whenever a monster is put away, currently I’m not rejoicing. For 2 reasons:
1) From all that I read (mostly anti-Weberman articles, reports and blogs) the evidence and testimonies that were presented in court during this trial was flimsy and strongly circumstantial.
Don’t get me wrong, I too lean towards his guilt. But that’s mainly because I believe Rabbi Horowitz who claims that there are a handful more victims who are afraid to come forward.
My problem is only that, according to what was presented in court, there should have been “reasonable doubt”. Therefore I am wary of the likelihood that Anti-Chareidi (or anti-Semitic) feelings played a major role in this verdict.
This may be one of those times when the decision is correct, but likely for the wrong motives.
2) We can’t be too joyful. Even if Weberman would be found guilty beyond ANY doubt, this victory is bitter-sweet at best because of the terrible devastation Weberman brought on his innocent children and grand-children. A large family has now been ruined and demolished.
So, while I can’t blame anybody for feeling satisfied, but please, don’t pop the champagne…
Justice In America: OJ Simpson, Casey Anthony: Not Guilty. But a Hasidic Jew Nechemya Weberman: Guilty with 0 Evidence, You hear all you haters??????? NO EVIDENCE
You should be ashamed of yourselves for playing happy here, what’s there to be happy???? Are you all really convinced that he’s guilty??? Since when are you all having such blind faith in this so corrupt system??? And stop playing the emotional game as if you are all here on behalf of all victims, when it’s very clear that this is driven by your crazy hate for Hasidic Jews
I can’t judge if he’s guilty or not, but perhaps it would haver been less of a chillul Hashem if he had had a non jury trial and therefore less publicity. Attention to the possible actions of this one individual reflect negatively upon all of us in the eyes of the public. We are supposed to be a light unto the nations and should avoid anything that can cause such a chillul Hasdhem.
What I don’t understand is why anyone would have sent their kid to him for “counseling” in the first place! He had no credentials! There was always an issue of “yichud.” If a girl is having problems of rebellion against tznius then she should join a youth group for girls or go to a female counselor!
to all those wondering why no other girls came forward, the prosecutors said they spoke to 6, yes, 6 other victims of this evil molester. the girls refused to testify because they knew they, and not he, would be shunned by their fellow satmar.
1. By the amount of supporters and comments to this issue, I’ve learned that Satmar has more people online than any other jewish group anywhere. Don’t the Rebbe (both rebbe’s) assur internet?
2. You play with fire you will get burnt. If he wasn’t licensed and he didn’t even have Smicha, what in the world is he doing with young girls in private conversations? Very poor judgement.
Only the Abishter knows what really happened and someone will eventually have to pay after they leave this world.
And why is everyone playing blind to the fact that many women that were treated by Webermen and wanted to come and testify on his behalf were intimidated and threatened??? But again, no word from you guys, because who cares, since this will not help you in your smear campaign Shame on us all
terrible terrible i dont understand how people can be happy about this. this is from boshefer and we all need to cry that this can happen even if its true
i feel bad for this guy…i actually bad for anyone that has a prolonged jail sentence..i dont believe in prolonged sentences…however i think satmar and all radical charaideshes yidden need to reevaluate them selves its not a way to live and serve hashem…one needs to live a happy relaxed life and serve hashem bhidur….they have some much frivolous restrictions, im surprised they are not all crazy by now..how can a child grow up with so much negativity so much restrictions…I love satmar for their good, their chesed their togetherness. but they need huge fixing.
I’m just as much against sex abuse as any individual, father or mother, of course. However, please understand, the only ones who truly know whether he’s guilty or not, are He himself, the ALLEGED victim herself and G-D, period.
So rejoicing over this verdict doesn’t make much sense.
Upon appeal, I hope and pray that his other victims (if they truly exist) will have courage and come forward to testify.
Only then will I feel comfortable that this verdict is fair, just and legal.
Sentencing a defendant based solely on one (troubled) person’s testimony is disconcerting.
Somethings fishy here…
I was not in court. I don’t know what happened there. However, I can’t claim antisemitism. The jury probablygot it right. That said, he will,probably get what he has coming to him. It is unfortunate that this whole parasha happenedhough.
I am confused at everyone’s certainty that this person is guilty. What if his side of the story is really true? Has anyone stopped to consider that? Or is it always a given that a person accused of sexual abuse is guilty?
at the end of the day there is no winner here both families will suffer
and of course there was no proof here
Lets not forget about all those people that need help that will not be gettimg it from anyone from now on
It’s a sad day even if the allegations are true!!! This man was not PROVEN guilty in any way,. this is a mere assupmtion by the jury.
It’s a sad day as a someone will be locked up for life with NO proof.
All you happy people – please note – a disgruntled employee of yours or even a workmate could drag you into to court and do the same to YOU.
Save your happiness. I am not from Satmar, but this story scared the wits out of me as I have business with many employees and through the years and I am sure that some have an ax to grind.
What the innocent man’s protection???
Where is the evidence? 25 years on a word for a word trial? Whats wrong with the country?
To all those who keep saying, that there should not be a conviction because it was “she says, he says”, I reply that it was actually “she says, liar says”, and “she says, thief says”. He admitted his use of a nonprofit shell corporation to raise and steal money for personal expenses. Those expenses included women’s lingerie, for who exactly, we don’t know. Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus. When you lie about one thing, you lie about a lot of other things. This was a good verdict.
In the future , if innocent “counselors” want to avoid being accused of any wrongdoing, they should have a female counselor at any sessions at all times. A security camera would also help.
Casey Anthony, O.J. Simpson and Michael Jackson: Not Guilty. Weberman a Jew. Guilty only from testimony and no physical evidence. What a Great Democracy and Justice System!