Rabbi Barry Freundel was sentenced this afternoon to 6.5 years in prison for his gross violation of trust and abuse of power, D.C. Superior Court Judge Geoffrey Alprin ruled.
Freundel, formerly of Kesher Israel in Washington, D.C., received a sentence of 45 days each for 52 counts of misdemeanor voyeurism. The sentences are to run consecutively.
Freundel, who pleaded guilty to surreptitiously recording women as they undressed at the National Capitol Mikvah, a Jewish ritual bath next to the synagogue, asked for three months to get his affairs in order, but Alprin, showing irritation, denied that, saying he had plenty of time to do that prior to sentencing. He was then surrounded by marshals and taken directly from the courthouse.
Geoffrey W. Melada is the editor-in-chief of the Washington Jewish Week.
