Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Concealing Information about a Child Molester

Back on November of last year I wrote a post expressing my disgust that anyone would try and help alleged child molester Avreimal Mondrowitz avoid extradition and prosecution. Therein I quoted an excerpt from a JTA news article which referenced Michael Lesher - the attorney for six of Mondrowitz’s victims. That post generated 82 comments.

One of them was an attack against Mr. Lesher. He came across those comments and responded in a comment of his own today. Since he is directly involved with the case I feel that it is an important comment that should not be buried in the comment section of a post from last November. So I present it here in its entirety.

Michael Lasher’s words:

I just came across the slanderous post by "Chareidi" accusing me, of all people, of concealing information relevant to Avrohom Mondrowitz's flight from justice.

I think my record as a writer and activist, and as a pro bono attorney for six of Mondrowitz's victims, speaks for itself. I am proud to say that my efforts contributed to Mondrowitz's arrest in November 2007.

The claim that I concealed information is patently false. The names of the members of Charles Hynes former Jewish Advisory Council are a matter of record. It has already been reported that two of them -- Shea Hecht and Herbert Bomzer (both Orthodox rabbis) -- said that Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish community did not want Mondrowitz prosecuted. I simply confirmed to JTA that I am well aware of that story.

Incidentally, Bomzer said almost the same thing publicly -- once to the Forward and once on ABC's Nightline (October 11, 2006).

I know nothing about how Mondrowitz was helped out of Brooklyn. It is interesting that the poster seems to know more than is contained in all the police reports -- e.g., that Mondrowitz drove to Canada before flying to Israel. Perhaps he knows something about the Mondrowitz coverup he should be sharing with the rest of us.

His claim that Mondrowitz was "reviled" before he left Brooklyn (in 1984, by the way, not the late 70s, as the poster insists) is demonstrably false. I challenge him to support it; the contrary claim can be easily documented.