While Serial Sex Predator Stalks Borough Park, Religious Families Refuse to Cooperate Because of Lashon Hara

B"H

Yes, it is the evil tongue which is keeping a sex predator free from the grasp of authorities in Borough Park.

First he snatched an innocent four-year-old girl and sexually molested her. At that time, the family did what was right and reported the attack to the authorities. The authorities kept their mouth shut about who the victim was, but that didn't stop the community from blabbing. Oh no!

The community knew who it was right away, and it was more important to talk about the attack than it was to save a little girl's reputation. Now the poor little girl will be victimized over and over and over again in her life by the evil of gossip.

Now, a fourteen year old girl has been attacked, but the family has stopped cooperating. They won't let their daughter come under the same evil attacks in the community as the poor four-year-old victim. They want to protect their daughter from the community so that she can have a normal life and won't be victimized further by the evil tongues of others.

I can't blame them for that.

We don't know how many victims there are, where the attacks may have occured, or whether the girls are getting any help. We can't. Why? The families are afraid of being talked about. They are afraid of the evil tongue.

The shame that these girls are facing is unwarranted. The shame is upon anyone who would speak, text, write, listen to, read, or take part in any communication which would harm these innocent victims of an evil predator.

The evil predator is alive, well, and ready to prey on more little girls because the authorities can't get any help. The authorities can't get any help because of the evil tongues wagging away in the community.

Is your need for gossip stronger than your need to protect these innocent girls and other innocent girls in the community from this horrible sexual predator?

When you gossip, you make the next victim unlikely to come forward. When you gossip, you allow the next victim to be attacked. When you gossip, you allow the predator to continue harming our innocent girls.

Unless you know something constructive and helpful to the investigation, keep your mouth shut so that the victims can have privacy, honor, and justice.

If you do know something constructive and helpful, speak it to the authorities only. Did you hear something? Do you suspect someone in particular? If you do, speak only to the authorities--no one else. Tell them what you suspect and why and let them figure it out from there. If it is a false lead, let them determine that.

We need to get this guy.

If you don't know anything constructive or helpful, back off and let justice prevail. This isn't some soap opera. This isn't some tantalizing tale. This is a tragedy brought about by a combination of an evil person's actions and the evil of gossip.

Let the victims report the crime, get help, and live normal lives beyond that. Anyone who tries to talk to you about it should be warned in the sternest way possible that all constructive and helpful information should be given to the police and only the police and nothing else should be discussed.

Stop someone who tries to spread gossip and say, "Please do not speak of this ever. You are harming the girls, you are harming our community, and you are harming yourself."

For more information about correct speech, click here.

M
-----
SICKO SEARCH STALLED
HASIDIC KIN MUM
By REUVEN BLAU
http://www.nypost.com/seven/08312008/news/regionalnews/sicko_search_stalled_126900.htm
Posted: 4:35 am
August 31, 2008

Detectives fear a serial sex predator is stalking Borough Park, and are frustrated by the lack of cooperation they're getting from one victim's family, The Post has learned.

The Hasidic family of a 14-year-old girl sexually assaulted on Aug. 3 is not helping detectives hunting her attacker, according to a police source familiar with the investigation.

"The detectives have hit a stone wall right now," the source said. "Beyond a basic interview, they are not getting any cooperation."

The family appears concerned about the girl's identity getting out, which would greatly limit her chances of eventually getting married within the tight-knit religious culture, community leaders and neighbors said last week.

Based on DNA evidence, police have connected the attack to the predator who snatched a 4-year-old Hasidic girl on July 16, 2007.

Detectives suspect that the fiend is a serial sex attacker, and that other victims may not have come forward, according to the police source.

"Serial rapists by definition don't stop at one or two," the insider said.

Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who represents the area, acknowledged the sociological hurdles the police are facing.

"Unfortunately, the shame and all these other concerns come in the picture," he told The Post. "But this is something that we have to overcome in our communities.

"Sometimes these concerns, real or perceived, overpower the need to protect the community from evil criminal individuals. For someone not to cooperate verges on a violation of law."

The police were careful not to identify the 4-year-old victim last summer, but many in the close Hasidic community quickly found out.

"Everybody knew everything about everything," one neighbor said last week. "There were text messages sent out with the exact location."

After both assaults, the NYPD quickly parked a mobile command unit in the area and added foot patrols.

Over the past several weeks, the department has also positioned sporadic roadblocks near where the girls were snatched and found.

rblau@nypost.com