An Orthodox Jewish counselor accused of sexually abusing a young girl weekly for more than two years while she was in his care is facing more than 100 years in prison now that he’s been convicted of a laundry list of sex-abuse crimes after only a 90-minute deliberation.
Nechemya Weberman, 54, refused to look at his wife and 10 children as he was escorted out of the courtroom following Monday’s guilty verdict.
Investigators said that Weberman’s victim, who is also an Orthodox Jew, was put in Weberman’s care when she was 12 because she had begun asking questions about her faith and dressed immodestly — which is against the Satmar sect’s beliefs.
Years after their time together, the woman, who is now 18, claimed that Weberman had sexually assaulted her at least once a week for nearly two years. He even used money for his charity to buy lingerie for the victim, prosecutors claim.
Weberman said nothing after the verdict, but the victim, who took the stand in the case, said she was overjoyed by the verdict.
“I can’t wait until he is in prison and someone holds him down and for once in his life, he can feel helpless,” the woman, whose name is being withheld, told the Daily News. “I honestly believe that God is my witness, and he stands up for me. I was nervous, I was reliving trauma. But I was sure he was going down.”
Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said the young woman was willing to go through the pain of the trial and testify, a rare thing in sexual abuse cases.
“The victim showed great courage to come forward in a very difficult time,” Hynes said. “Hopefully, this verdict will lead to the understanding for other women that they can come forward as well.”
Weberman is expected to be sentenced on Jan. 9.
Cops bust up pill shop
Eight men accused of running an illegal prescription drug market in a Canarsie tire shop were arrested on narcotics charges on Dec. 7.
Investigators from New York City’s Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s office rounded up and arrested the eight suspects following a prolonged investigation.
Officials say that the suspects doled out the drugs from the tire shop on E. 108th Street and Stanley Avenue, as well as inside lobbies and apartments inside the nearby Breukelen Houses.
The NYPD’s Brooklyn South Narcotics Division launched the undercover investigation into the crew in April, 2012, in response to community complaints about an open-air drug market, where residents claim that hand-to-hand pill sales could be seen taking place in broad daylight.
During the course of the probe, the defendants made 45 sales of cocaine, heroin, and prescription drugs, including approximately 1,000 pills of Percocet and Vicodin, for a total of approximately $32,000, investigators said.
Detectives conducted searches of the tire shop and several apartments last Thursday, seizing 300 grams of cocaine with a street value of approximately $20,000, as well as quantities of heroin and marijuana, and more than $5,000 cash. Investigators also recovered a 357 Magnum revolver from a suspect’s home on Louisiana Avenue.
In addition to the eight drug traffickers charged in drug sales from the undercover investigation, police arrested six more defendants on drug possession charges stemming from the searches, for a total of 14 arrests.
Officials said the brazen suspects literally sold prescription pills over the counter. They also stored the drugs inside the shop, investigators claim.
Reach Deputy Editor Thomas Tracy at ttracy@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-2525.
