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Brooklyn DA Awards Jewish Organization That Exposes Sexual Predators

During the ceremony, Hynes remarked that the organization's work exposing child predators and assisting survivors in recovery "has been instrumental" in creating change in the tight-knit Hasidic community of Brooklyn.
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Civil rights activist and writer; Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer, 1Sale.com

Civil rights activist and writer; Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer, 1Sale.com
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In this May 16, 2012 image taken from video and provided by WCBS-TV, Nechemya Weberman attends a fundraiser on his behalf in the Brooklyn borough of New York, where his supporters contributed to a legal defense fund before Weberman went on trial for sex abuse of a child. Weberman, a respected religious counselor in New York's ultra-orthodox Jewish community, on Monday, Dec. 10, 2012 was convicted of repeatedly sexually abusing a young girl who had come to him with questions about her faith. Jurors had found Weberman guilty of 59 counts, including sustained sex abuse of a child, endangering the welfare of a child and sexual abuse. He faces 25 years in prison on the top charge and may get more time when he is sentenced on Jan. 9. (AP Photo/WCBS-TV) MANDATORY CREDIT
In this May 16, 2012 image taken from video and provided by WCBS-TV, Nechemya Weberman attends a fundraiser on his behalf in the Brooklyn borough of New York, where his supporters contributed to a legal defense fund before Weberman went on trial for sex abuse of a child. Weberman, a respected religious counselor in New York's ultra-orthodox Jewish community, on Monday, Dec. 10, 2012 was convicted of repeatedly sexually abusing a young girl who had come to him with questions about her faith. Jurors had found Weberman guilty of 59 counts, including sustained sex abuse of a child, endangering the welfare of a child and sexual abuse. He faces 25 years in prison on the top charge and may get more time when he is sentenced on Jan. 9. (AP Photo/WCBS-TV) MANDATORY CREDIT

On Dec. 10, 2012, hours after Nechemya Weberman was convicted of repeatedly sexually abusing a girl he was supposed to be mentoring, the Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes presented an award to Meyer Seewald, the director of a Crown Heights-based Jewish community watchdog group that investigates and exposes claimed predators in Hasidic communities. Seewald's award of excellence acknowledged Jewish Community Watch's (JCW) "tireless service and dedication to the community."

JCW is a grassroots organization dedicated to exposing child predators and educating the public on preventing and responding to child sexual abuse. The organization's website includes a registry of alleged child sex offenders from various Hasidic communities. The list includes convicted sex offenders, those with pending charges and others that have not been arrested but are alleged to have committed sex crimes against children.

During the ceremony, Hynes remarked that the organization's work exposing child predators and assisting survivors in recovery "has been instrumental" in creating change in the tight-knit Hasidic community of Brooklyn.

The organization's website highlights a 2011 rabbinical court ruling mandating that suspicion of sexual abuse be reported directly to the police.

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