Judge Rules on Rabbi's Peeping Sentence

By ELIZABETH JANNEY (Patch Staff)

A judge has reportedly upheld the six-and-a-half-year sentence for the rabbi who recorded dozens of women undressing in a ritual Jewish bath in Georgetown.

Rabbi Barry Freundel pleaded guilty to 52 counts of voyeurism and was sentenced in May to 45 days for each count.

Afterward, he filed an appeal, arguing he should be sentenced for one offense.

Related: Former Towson Professor Challenges Sentence for Voyeurism

According to WUSA9, the judge who upheld the sentence at a hearing Friday said that each victim should be acknowledged as an individual person.

Additionally, the judge said the facts of the case did not merit leniency, Washington Jewish Weekreported.

Freundel admitted he planted recording devices in the changing room of the sacred ritual bath, ormikvah, in the National Capital Mikvah between 2012 and 2014, according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.

Those he recorded reportedly included students he taught as a professor at Georgetown and Towson universities. He also led Kesher Israelsynagogue in Georgetown.

See Also:

• Peeping Rabbi, Former Towson Prof Sentenced to 6.5 Years
• Georgetown Rabbi Resigns from Towson University Post
• Rabbi Pleads Guilty to 52 Counts of Voyeurism
• Towson Students Join Lawsuit Against Georgetown Rabbi
• Rabbi May Have Secretly Recorded More Than 150 Women

Freundel will continue serving his sentence at a federal facility. A judge granted his request to be transferred from a District of Columbia jail to a facility with religious rehabilitative programs.

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