Rabbi arrested in Beverly Hills on suspicion of sex abuse in New York
A rabbi working at a community center in Beverly Hills was arrested this week on suspicion of child sex abuse on a warrant from New York City.
The 30-year-old rabbi who reportedly goes by Menachem “Mendel†Tevel was arrested Tuesday about 1:30 p.m. in the 9900 block of South Santa Monica Boulevard. He was booked under the name Menachem Tewel, Beverly Hills police Sgt. Max Subin said.
Subin said the rabbi was taken into custody at the request of the New York Police Department, which advised Beverly Hills about an outstanding warrant for his arrest.
The warrant, Subin said, was for charges of criminal sex acts in the first and third degree, as well as sexual abuse in the first degree.
“He’s awaiting extradition to New York City,†Subin said, adding there are no pending charges against him in California.
Tevel, according to KTLA, was arrested at the JEM Center, a community center, where he was working. No one at the center could be reached for comment Wednesday.
The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, in August, reported on four men who had allegedly been abused by Tevel when they were younger.
Among the inappropriate acts the men told the Journal they endured were spanking on bare skin and sexually suggestive rubbing.
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