A Williamsburg rabbi pleaded not guilty last week to molesting a youngster over a four-year period.
Nechemya Weberman, 52, vehemently denied that he abused the now-16-year-old girl at his arraignment on Wednesday in Brooklyn Supreme Court.
“He would die before he would molest anyone,” said Weberman’s attorney, George Farkas, calling the charges “horrendous, terrible, [and] repulsive.”
Farkas added that Weberman “has a very high standing in the community and has helped troubled families in the past.”
Then he blamed the victim, saying that the family that brought the charges was “dysfunctional.”
But the victim told police that the sex abuse occurred between 2007 and 2010.
Victim advocate leaders say that child molestation remains a persistent and under-reported problem in many communities.
“People still have a hard time talking about it,” said Joel Engelman. “If it does happen, people have a hard time going through the authorities with it. The intimidation within the community is very strong.”
Weberman is a member of “Vaad Hatznius,” roughly translated as “modesty patrol,” a group that confronts members of the Hasidic community when they act immorally, sources confirmed.
He’s out on $15,000 and will be in court again on March 9.
