Rabbi May Have Secretly Videotaped at Least 150 Women: Reports

PHOTO of Barry Freundel from synagogue Web site

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Barry Freundel, the Orthodox rabbi who is charged with voyeurism, may have had more than 150 victims, according to reports by The Washington Post and NBC-4.

Freundel, 63, is currently charged with voyeurism, accused of secretly videotaping six women while they undressed at a ritual bath at Kesher Israel, a synagogue in Georgetown. He has pled not guilty. He led the synagogue since 1989, before his arrest last fall. The synagogue fired him in November after he was charged.

Officials at a meeting on Wednesday said there may have been more than 150 victims, The Washington Post reported. The meeting was with some of Freundel’s victims, at the U.S. Attorney’s Office. In order to find all of Freundel’s victims, prosecutors are asking women to send photographs of themselves, clothed, to: usadc.bernardfreundelcase@usdoj.gov.

Freundel allegedly taped women by rigging up a clock with a camera inside of it.

When he was arrested in October, police were seen carrying items from the rabbi’s home, which is located near the synagogue, according to Washingtonian magazine, which broke the story.

In all, police seized six external hard drives, seven laptop computers, five desktop computers, three regular cameras, 20 memory cards and 10 flash drives from the rabbi’s home, according to the Post. They also gathered information from his office at Towson University, where he previously taught.

Freundel, who is now separated from his wife, also refuses to move out of the luxury home provided to him by Kesher Israel, according to the Jewish Daily Forward. He was supposed to have moved out on Jan. 1.

He is expected to appear in court Feb. 19, the Post noted, for a hearing in the videotaping case.

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