Man Guilty of Conning Haredi Women Into Sex.

By Zvi Harel (Courtesy of Ha'aretz)

The Tel Aviv District Court has convicted Yitzhak Feder of raping five Haredi brides in Bnei Brak while pretending to be a marriage counselor. Feder, 27, of Bnei Brak, was also convicted of violating the privacy of three other women.

Feder

In at least one case, he said well-known rabbis had authorized him to instruct women on how to achieve physical pleasure during intercourse. He also said the same rabbis had ruled that the women were not to tell anyone about the instruction he gave.

Feder's conviction was part of a plea bargain under which the prosecution removed certain incidents from the indictment, including use of force, in exchange for a full confession. Prosecutor Hedva Baum spent months trying to negotiate the plea bargain so as to avoid having to summon the women to the stand. She believed some of them would refuse to testify for fear of being publicly shamed before their communities.

The plea bargain did not include any deal on sentencing. Feder will be sentenced in September, when the court returns from its summer recess. Until then, he will remain in jail, where he has been since the trial began.