Bnei Brak rabbi indicted for sexually assaulting student

Prosecutors charge that the 52-year-old committed sodomy and sexual assault on the young boy over a period of two years.

By JOANNA PARASZCZUK
An indictment was filed on Thursday in the Tel Aviv District Court against Rabbi Yaakov Vimer, a Bnei Brak teacher suspected of serious sexual offenses against a student.
According to the charge sheet, filed by attorney Claudia Bilenka of the Tel Aviv District Attorney’s office, the 52-year-old Vimer committed sodomy and sexual assault on the young boy over a period of two years, in 2002–2003. The victim was 12 years old when the alleged abuse started.
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Vimer is alleged to have abused the boy on dozens of occasions during breaks and after school, when he would lock himself and the victim in a classroom.
Vimer held the boy against a wall, forced him to strip and sexually assaulted him, according to the indictment.
The abuse was carried out in Vimer’s house, prosecutors said.
“On dozens of occasions, [Vimer] ordered the complainant to come to his house in Bnei Brak, on various pretexts. While in the house, he forced the complainant into a room and closed the door. He forced the complainant to take off his clothes, then sexually assaulted and sodomized him,” the charge sheet reads.
“All this time, [Vimer] threatened that if the complainant told anyone about these acts, he would make sure that the complainant would be expelled from school.”
Prosecutors have requested that Vimer remain in custody until the end of the proceedings against him.
Judge Zion Kapah ordered that Vimer be held in custody until a hearing scheduled for Monday.