Rabbi Pleads Guilty to 52 Counts of Voyeurism: Report

By Mary Ann Barton and Elizabeth Janney

The Georgetown rabbi who taught at Towson University pleaded guilty to 52 charges of voyeurism on Thursday in D.C. Superior Court, according to WJLA.

Barry Freundel, 63, is accused of secretly videotaping dozens of women as they disrobed at a sacred bath in the Georgetown synagogue where he was employed. After being charged, he was fired from Kesher Israel, which he had led since 1989.

In addition to working at the synagogue, Freundel taught at Georgetown and Towson universities. He was a professor in the department of philosophy and religious studies at Towson, where university officials reported they were “concerned” once the investigation began. He had taught at Towson as a tenured professor since 2009, according to the Baltimore Jewish Times.

Each university began an independent investigation once Freundel was arrested in October on charges that he videotaped six women, using a hidden camera in a clock radio, while he was at Kesher Israel Congregation in Georgetown.

Since the charges came out last fall, other women have come forward, and there are reports that the rabbi may have videotaped up to 150 women in all, with Towson University students reportedly among them.

Freundel has lost his teaching positions at both Towson and Georgetown, according to The Washington Post.

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When authorities searched Freundel’s office at Towson, they found a backpack containing multiple cameras, according to WJZ. Recording devices were hidden inside items such as a keychain and tissue box, The Baltimore Sun reported.

Lawyers in court Thursday alleged that Freundel used three separate devices to see the women from multiple vantage points in the sacred bath, according to WJLA. Then he saved their images, naming the files after the victims, the news station reported.

While more than 52 victims may have been recorded, the statute of limitations mandates Freundel can only be charged in connection with incidents that have occurred in the past three years, according to NBC.

Freundel will be sentenced May 15, according to WJZ. Judge Geoffrey Alprin said the rabbi faces up to one year in jail for each charge, NBC reported.

Screenshot from Kesher Israel/YouTube.