Cantor Stuart Friedman - Another Case Connected To Rabbi Yaakov Hopfter and the Vaad of Baltimore

From The Awareness Center's Daily Newsletter:

Cantor Stuart Friedman - Convicted Sex Offender

CALL TO ACTION: Demand that Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer Make Public A Safety Plan To Keep Cantor Stuart Friedman Away From Children
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Contact:
Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer - Shearith Yisrael (Glen Ave. Shul)
Phone: 410-466-3060 Fax: 410-367-9183

Cantor Stuart Friedman regularly prays at the Glenn Avenue Shul. As of today Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer has not warned parents in the community that a convicted sex offender is a regular at his synagogue nor has a safety plan been made public.

The Awareness Center is asking everyone to contact Rabbi Hopfer and demand that he make the following information public. We are also asking that the following be apart of the safety plan.

• Parents within the Eruv of Baltimore be notified that Cantor Stuart Friedman resides in the community. The notification must include his photograph as a way to keep unsuspecting children safe.

• A special minyan be created in which no children under the age of 21 are present, so that Stuart Friedman can daven without being tempted.

• Stuart Friedman be escorted when he is in shul or any other public location in which children can be present. Mr. Friedman especially needs to be escorted when using the bathroom or in hallways.

BACKGROUND HISTORY:

August, 1994. Cantor Stuart Friedman was hired by Beth Israel Synagogue in Halifax, NS, Canada. His previous positions include synagogues in Cleveland, OH, and Detroit, MD. Friedman holds a music degree from an American university.

July 18, 1996. Cantor Stuart Friedman chatted on line from his home computer in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, with an undercover FBI agent who was located in Long Beach, CA.

September, 1996. Cantor Friedman was arrested after he sent 29 pornographic photos of children over the Internet to an unidentified source in the United States. The photographs included children performing sexual and sadomasochistic acts.

Authorities said Cantor Friedman, was originally arrested after a lengthy Canada-U.S. investigation into a child porn ring on the Internet. The Canadian police seized up to 300 still photos involving nudity and sex acts involving children as young as eight. They also confiscated dozens of computer disks and videotapes containing child porn, as well as magazines with titles such as First Hand and Boys.

January 6, 1997. Cantor Stuart David Friedman pled guilty to possessing child pornography in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was fined $2,000 and a $200 victim surcharge and was then allowed to leave the country immediately for the United States.

August 13, 1998 Cantor Stuart Friedman was arrested by the FBI in Baltimore, MD and flown to Los Angles, CA. He faced a maximum sentence of a $380,000 fine and 15 years in prison. His attorney, Marcia Brewer, succeeded in reducing the level of punishment to 15 months in prison and three years' probation. She also persuaded the judge to remove the requirement that Friedman must disclose his child-pornography conviction to parents of anyone younger than 18 with whom he has contact. Instead, Friedman is ordered to just notify his employer. Judge Moreno said he took into account the pictures were not of boys younger than 12 and did not depict sadism. Yet sources do not say if any of the boys over 12 depicted sadism.

May 9, 2000. Cantor Stuart Friedman was released from federal prison and relocated to the orthodox community of Baltimore, residing at 3809 Clarks Lane.

2004. Cantor Stuart Friedman was noncompliant with the Maryland Sex Offender Registry for over a year, yet is now compliant.

2008. Stuart Freidman currently lives at 6016 CLOVER RD, Apt# 3, Baltimore, MD. He prays Shearith Yisrael (Glen Ave. Shul), which is ran by Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer. He is listed as living in an apartment owned by one of the daughters of Rabbi Moshe Eisemann. His apartment also is next door to the childhood home of convicted sex offender, Shmuel Zev Juravel.