Brooklyn rabbi, Menachem Tewel, arrested in Beverly Hills on child sex-abuse charges, report says
(CBS) NEW YORK - A rabbi from Brooklyn, N.Y., was arrested Tuesday in Beverly Hills, Calif., on child sex-abuse charges, according to CBS New York.
The station reports 30-year-old Menachem Tewel was arrested at a Jewish community center on Santa Monica Boulevard after the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office put out a warrant.
The suspect, who also goes by Mendel Tevel, faces several counts of criminal sex acts with minors. Police reportedly said he abused four boys between the ages 6-14 between 1995 and 2004.
All of the alleged victims are now adults. Tewel would have only been about 12 years-old at the time of the first alleged sexual assault.
Hertzel Illulian, head of the community center where Tewel was arrested, told the station Tewel will be exonerated and he hopes that things will clear up so that they can continue working for the community.
One of the alleged victims, who asked to remain anonymous, told CBS New York that the accusations are not false and said, "I didn't realize for a counselor to be doing that to one of the 15-year-old students that's not normal."
Tewel was reportedly 23 and working as the alleged victim's counselor and weight trainer at an upstate New York school when the sex abuse happened.
The station reports Tewel will be extradited to New York City to face the charges.
