In a case that highlighted concerns about sexual abuse in Jewish communities, a rabbi who taught at one of the region’s most prestigious Jewish day schools is expected to plead guilty today to molesting three sixth-graders during the 1970s, according to two of his alleged victims and others familiar with the case.
Rabbi Stanley Z. Levitt, a former religious studies teacher at the Maimonides School in Brookline, was indicted by a Suffolk grand jury two years ago....
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Related: Under the Rabbi's Robes
"Accused rabbi backs off plea deal; Sexual abuse case now goes to a jury" by Michael Rezendes and Scott Allen | Globe Staff, December 14, 2011
A plea deal to resolve sexual abuse charges stemming from the alleged molestations of three former students of Brookline’s Maimonides School collapsed at the last minute yesterday when Rabbi Stanley Z. Levitt decided that he would not plead guilty to the charges and would instead take his case to a jury.
With Levitt’s alleged victims prepared to read victim impact statements concerning allegations dating to the mid-1970s, Levitt’s attorney declared that although an agreement for a guilty plea had been reached, Levitt had changed his mind.
The turnabout prompted harsh criticism of Levitt and his attorney, Scott Curtis, from Suffolk Superior Court Judge Carol S. Ball, who pointed out that two of the alleged victims had traveled a considerable distance to Boston - one lives in Maryland - in anticipation of witnessing an admission of guilt by Levitt.
At another point during the hearing, Ball added that it was “the height of discourtesy’’ for Curtis not to inform prosecutors of Levitt’s change of heart in time to allow the alleged victims and family members to change their travel plans.
Curtis, in a Globe interview, said Levitt initially agreed to a plea agreement as a way to avoid jail and protect his health. But in the final analysis, he said, Levitt could not relinquish his initial claim of innocence.
“Everybody gets testy about getting beaten up for something that is not fair,’’ Curtis said. “And he says this is not fair, so we’ll let a jury decide.’’
Levitt, asked outside the courtroom if he had been discourteous to his alleged victims with his last-minute change of heart, said, “The only victim here is me.’’
(Blog editor shaking his head at the self-centered arrogance)
Suffolk Assistant District Attorney David Deakin, chief of the Suffolk Family Protection and Sexual Assault Bureau, declined to comment on the collapse of the plea agreement.
But Michael Brecher, one of the three former sixth-graders who has accused Levitt of abuse, said prosecutors told him that Levitt backed out of the plea agreement at the last minute after refusing to admit his guilt in open court.
“He couldn’t do what I have wanted him to do all along, which is to take responsibility for his actions,’’ Brecher said.
With a trial date set for May 14, Curtis said Levitt’s defense will be based on the fact that the allegations lodged against him are more than 35 years old.
Curtis has argued in previous court filings that the decades that have passed since Levitt was teaching religious studies at the Maimonides - he taught there for three years during the mid-1970s - have rendered the accusations against him “inherently unreliable.’’
Deakin, the Suffolk prosecutor, has said it is important to pursue child sexual abuse accusations, even if they are decades old, in part to prevent perpetrators from offending again.
“One of the things we know about pedophilia is that it tends to be a chronic condition, especially if it’s not treated and even when it is treated,’’ Deakin said in a 2009 interview.
After leaving Massachusetts in 1980, Levitt eventually settled in Philadelphia, where he was subsequently charged with molesting three boys living in an Orthodox Jewish community.
In the first of those cases, Levitt was found not guilty. In the second case, he pleaded no contest and received a five-year sentence of probation. He was also cited for violating the terms of his probation by refusing sex offender treatment.
In the third case, the alleged victim withdrew his charges.
Levitt, who still lives in Philadelphia, was indicted in Boston two years ago after Brecher told Suffolk prosecutors that Levitt molested him when he was an 11-year-old patient at Children’s Hospital Boston and a second student said Levitt abused him in the shower of his Brighton home.
Under the plea deal, Levitt would have admitted that he molested all three boys, each of whom was 11 years old, during the 1975-76 school year. He would have served no jail time under the deal, victims were told, but would have received probation and been required to meet other conditions such as treatment for sex offenders.
Yesterday, Curtis met with reporters after the hearing and defended his client’s about-face, saying: “He thinks he’s innocent. I think he’s innocent. We’ll let a jury decide.’’
Mitchell Garabedian, who is Brecher’s attorney, said his client is not giving up either. “He wants to go to trial. He will testify. He is a brave man.’’
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Also see:
Sunday Globe Special: Punting Penn State Story
Penn State figures accused of lying head to court
2 men sue Syracuse, Boeheim for defamation