A 33-year-old rabbi was arrested and charged Wednesday night for sexually assaulting three teenagers within multiple precincts, including Fort Greene and Clinton Hill's own, police said.
At approximately 10:25 p.m., Yoel Malik of Bedford Avenue was charged with numerous incidents of sexual crimes against three teenage males in the 66th and 88th Precincts, police said.
Malik was charged with 12 counts of sexual abuse, 11 counts of endangering the welfare of a child, four counts of criminal sexual act and one count of forcible touching.
According to the New York Daily News, the highly regarded member of an ultra-Orthodox Hasidic sect said he was the victim rather in the situation. Malik blamed his underage victims, who are between the ages of 13 and 15 years, for trying to seduce him, police sources told the News.
The alleged victims were his students at Ohr Hameir, a Satmar yeshiva in Borough Park that is no longer in operation. The alleged incidents occurred during the last 11 months, the News reported.
