Peeping Rabbi, Former Towson Professor Sentenced to 6.5 Years for Voyeurism

A Georgetown rabbi and former Towson University professor was sentenced to six and a half years in jail Friday for secretly recording women disrobing at a Jewish bath.

Rabbi Barry Freundel, 63, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty to voyeurism during a February hearing.

On Friday, Senior Judge Geoffrey M. Alprin sentenced Freundel to 45 days in prison for each of the 52 counts of voyeurism.

Freundel planted recording devices in the changing room for a mikvah, or sacred bath, in Georgetown, according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.

The rabbi recorded women partly or completely undressed without their consent at the National Capital Mikvah on 25 dates between March 4, 2012, and Sept. 19, 2014, the U.S. Attorney reported.

More than a dozen victims testified Friday during a three-hour hearing that preceded Freundel’s sentencing, discussing the emotional impact the situation had on them, the U.S. Attorney reported.

Judge Alprin called Fruendel’s actions “a classic abuse of power and violation of trust,” the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia reported.

He ordered the rabbi to pay $13,000 to a fund for victims, according to the report.

After sentencing, Freundel was immediately taken into custody, where he will spend the next six and a half years.

When the sentence was announced Friday afternoon, those attending the hearing applauded, according to WTOP.

The National Capital Mikvah is adjacent to Kesher Israel, the synagogue Freundel led from 1989 until he was fired amid voyeurism allegations.

In addition to working at the synagogue, Freundel taught at Georgetown and Towson universities and has since resigned.

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• Rabbi May Have Secretly Recorded More Than 150 Women
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