Ultra Orthodox Jewish boys, from Brooklyn, New York, were sexually assaulted in an upstate New York sleep away camp, but were told by camp officials to keep quiet and not tell their parents about the incident.
State police are investigating whether a driver for a kosher food distributor, slipped into the sleeping quarters in a summer camp in upstate New York, where seventh and eighth grade children were sleeping at the time, and sexually abused several of them.
The shocking intrusion occurred in the early morning hours at the Camp Shalva in South Fallsburg, New York, according to news media reports.
When the boys complained in the morning, a supervisor reviewed security video, which showed an intruder going in and out of the bedrooms, the news media reported. Officials at the camp instructed the boys not to tell their parents what had happened.
Stephen Lungen, a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor in Sullivan County, New York, told the local news media that he was contacted BY frantic camp administrators, who asked what to do about the allegations.
"They were very upset and worried about how to deal with that," Lungen said, adding that he put them in touch with the prosecutor and the State Police.
Ben Hirsch, director of the survivors of Justice, an advocacy group based in Brooklyn New York for victims of sexual abuse, said he was contacted about the allegations and immediately called the State Office for Children Services and Families, which referred the case to the State Police.
Representatives of the camp could not be reached for comment.
Update:
Examination of the image indicates the man is a registered sex offender who works as a deliveryman for a kosher food service, police said.
His name, Young has learned, is Yoel Oberlander of Monsey and camp directors said he had no reason to be near the dormitory or any of the children staying at the sleep-away camp. The school said it is checking for any evidence of inappropriate physical contact.
“It’s certainly something we can’t rule out given the fact that the perpetrator or alleged perpetrator has an alleged history and was in proximity to children. We would hope and expect that that would be fully investigated,” Scharf said.
Sources told Young that Oberlander’s employers at Golden Taste Kosher Foods are discussing his future with the company, although they adamantly refused to talk with Young when he stopped by their Spring Valley offices.
“No comment. I said no comment,” an employee said.
The camp caters almost exclusively to children of Hasidic parents living in Brooklyn.
