NEW SQUARE — A New Square
educator accused of molesting a young boy repeatedly over five years is
innocent, his lawyer said Monday while rejecting comparisons between this case
and another in which the suspect’s brother abused a teenager.
“They’re two different individuals,” lawyer
Gerard Damiani said after his client Moshe Taubenfeld appeared in Village Court
on a felony charge that could land him in prison for up to seven years.
Taubenfeld, 55, made no comments during the
brief hearing, during which the judge kept the defendant’s bail at $25,000 and
confirmed that he had to turn over his passport and must stay away from the
victim.
Media filmed the first part of the hearing, but
were ordered to turn off cameras after his lawyer raised objections.
Taubenfeld, a father of 20, ducked the media
and rushed out a side door afterward.
His lawyer said Taubenfeld is under a “pretty
big strain.”
Taubenfeld was charged with second-degree course
of sexual conduct against a child. The alleged abuse started Sept. 11, 2001,
when the preteen boy, Laiby, said he came to the man seeking comfort after the
terrorist attacks.
The abuse allegedly continued until the child
turned 13 in 2006.
Laiby said he and his family reported the abuse
about six years ago to community leaders, who discouraged him from going to
police.
His experience was similar to those of other
New Square abuse victims, including a young man, Yossi, who reported
Taubenfeld’s brother, Herschel, to police in 2011.
In an investigative report earlier this month
in The Journal News, Yossi and another accuser, Yehuda, described how the
community has created a culture in which victims are discouraged from going to
police and abusers are protected.
Herschel Taubenfeld pleaded guilty last year to
one count of misdemeanor forcible touching, received six years probation and
had to register as a sex offender.
While he avoided jail, advocates for Laiby say
they’re pressing for maximum prison time for the brother.
One victims advocate, a Brooklyn man who
identified himself only by his first name of Abraham, attended the hearing and
said outside the courtroom that he’s hoping this latest case will set a
precedent for New Square that sex abusers will be punished to the fullest
extent of the law.
The case will eventually be moved to Rockland
County court, which handles felony prosecutions.
