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Brooklyn Rabbi Gershon Kranczer gets nine years in prison for sexually abusing young relatives
Gershon Kranczer, 67, turned his Midwood home into a house of sexual horrors, abusing the young girls for more a decade.
www.nydailynews.com
Brooklyn Rabbi Gershon Kranczer gets nine years in prison for sexually abusing young relatives
Debbie Egan-Chin/Daily News
This is house of Gershom Kranczer,58, who has been accused of molesting several young women. He and one of his adult sons have fled the country. (Debbie Egan-Chin/Daily News)
By John Annese | JANNESE@nydailynews.com | New York Daily News
PUBLISHED: October 23, 2023 at 7:28 p.m. | UPDATED: October 23, 2023 at 7:39 p.m.
A Brooklyn rabbi who inflicted more than a decade of trauma and sexual abuse on three young relatives was sentenced to nine years behind bars for the awful acts.
Gershon Kranczer, 67, turned his Midwood home into a house of sexual horrors, abusing the young girls from the 1990s through the late 2000s, then fled to Israel in 2010 — the same day the abuse was reported.
He was arrested in Israel in 2020 and extradited back to Brooklyn in 2021, and has been locked up since.
Two of Kranczer’s victims spoke at his sentencing in Brooklyn Supreme Court on Monday.
“Today I speak up for the young woman who faced abuse, torment, denial and ostracization from her community,” one of the victims said. “Today I speak up for myself … I reclaim my sense of self.”
For two of the girls, the abuse started at ages 5 and 6, while the third was abused starting when she was 11 years old, according to prosecutors.
“For years, I was drowned in your darkness, robbed of my voice and violated in unimaginable ways,” another victim said in court Monday. “You became the architect of my nightmares.”
Kranczer, who was the former head of Yeshiva Tehila L’Dovid, pleaded guilty to course of sexual conduct against a child in August.
As part of his sentence, which includes the time he spent locked up since his 2020 in Israel, he must register as a sex offender and can have no contact of any kind with his victims.
“I’ve been doing this a long time. I have not seen much worse than this,” said Supreme Court Justice Jill Konviser.
She said of the victims, “Your courage is a thing of beauty. All the adults in your life failed you time and time again.”
Kranczer, who’s legally blind, rocked back and forth as he gave a rambling statement in which he “apologized to anybody that was hurt or who felt that they got hurt.”
The victims stared in shock and disbelief as he said he was “happy that they said they’re working on themselves” and counseled, “When you’re angry, and you’re feeling angry, you’re hurting yourself more than you’re hurting anybody else.”
Outside the court, one of the victims said, “I mean, it was denial. There was definitely denial there.”
Prosecutors initially sought a 13-year sentence.
“With today’s sentence, this defendant is being held responsible for his despicable acts, while sparing his victims from testifying against a relative,” Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez said.
“I hope that the resolution of this longstanding case brings them some solace and helps them cope with the trauma and hurt the defendant has caused.
Kranczer’s sentencing came a week after another leader in the Orthodox Jewish community — Jacob Daskal, who headed the Borough Park Shomrim Society anti-crime patrol — got 17½ years in federal prison for forcing a troubled teenage girl into a monthslong sexual relationship.
“Time and time [again] you come to court and see the victims — always alone without communal or even familial support, even when there’s a guilty plea and admission — have to stand up and say how the community not only failed to protect them, but contributed to their suffering,” said Shulim Leifer, a member of the Hasidic community and sexual abuse advocate.
“Today these poor, unfortunate survivors repeated it again. There is no excuse and no amount of hiding our head in the sand that will make it go away.”