Brooklyn Yeshiva Teacher Accused Of Sexually Abusing Teens In Car, Motel
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Disturbing details have surfaced in the case involving a yeshiva teacher, who is a member of the ultra-Orthodox Satmar community.
Yoel Malik, 33, was arrested and charged with "sexual crimes" involving three teenage males, the NYPD said. Sources told 1010 WINS that Malik lured the teens, ages 14 to 16, with alcohol and cigarettes.
Juliet Papa of 1010 WINS reported there was another incident involving a fourth boy, who was given alcohol, but said no to sex.
Malik worked at Ohr Hameir, a small yeshiva in the basement of a synagogue in Borough Park near Maimonides Medical Center. The yeshiva was run by Malik's family, but is currently closed due to a financial dispute, 1010 WINS' Papa reported.
Sources told 1010 WINS that the so-called "school" was really a cover for Malik to get near teenage boys. Those sources also said that the "school," in which there were typically eight to 10 boys in a class, moved from place to place because people in the community had an idea about what was allegedly going on.
Teacher At Brooklyn Yeshiva Faces Sex Abuse Charges
The charges against Malik involve abuse that allegedly took place in a car and at a motel in Fort Greene, where manager Vittal Pojari identified a photo of Malik, CBS 2's John Slattery reported.
Slattery: "Do you recognize him?"
Pojari: "Yeah."
Slattery: "Do you know that he came here with boys?"
Pojari: "Yeah."
The hotel manager said he had seen Malik as a customer twice.
Pojari: "Before once he came here alone."
Slattery: "He came alone?"
Pojari: "Alone."
Slattery: "And then he came here with a boy?"
Pojari: "Yeah."
Pojari said the most recent date Malik came to the motel was Jan. 17.
Malik was taken into custody late Wednesday after investigators said they received an anonymous tip through a confidential hotline. The call, sources told 1010 WINS, was placed to the hotline after Malik was allegedly seen with a boy at the motel. The two were allegedly seen on video having a smoke.
Sources told 1010 WINS that boy was sent off to Israel after the alleged incident.
One boy, sources said, was touched in a car while another alleged victim made a claim of oral sodomy.
Malik is charged with 12 counts of sexual abuse, four counts of criminal sexual acts, 11 counts of endangering the welfare of a child, and one count of forcible touching.
"It's disturbing, I had no idea," a neighbor told CBS 2's Slattery. "He wasn't the most polite person. He was a bit rude here and there, abrasive, but as far as these charges I didn't think he would go that far or I didn't think he would be capable of what he's charged for."
However, one Borough Park resident, whose husband used to be in business with Malik, dismissed the accusations.
"I don't believe it," she said.
The arrest comes just over a week after an unlicensed counselor in the Satmar Hasidic sect -- the same one Malik belongs to -- was sentenced to 103 years in prison for sexually abusing a girl.
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