Rabbi gets 6.5 years in prison for voyeurism

A prominent Washington rabbi who pleaded guilty to secretly videotaping dozens of women naked during ritual baths was sentenced to six and a half years in prison on Friday.

Rabbi Barry Freundel, 63, pleaded guilty in February to 52 misdemeanor counts of voyeurism.

He admitted recording the women between March 2012 and September 2014 using devices installed in changing rooms.

The court decided to sentence him to 45 days in prison for each of the counts – a total of 2,340 days.

District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Geoffrey Alprin handed down the sentence before a packed courtroom after 18 victims gave emotional testimony about their experiences.

Prosecutors had sought a 17-year prison term, and Freundel's attorney had asked for a community service sentence.

"He lectured us about the evils of porn while turning us into his own porn stars," one victim told the court, choking back tears.

Another said she fell into a deep depression and began using drugs.

"I fell off the edge of this earth," she said.

Freundel was the head of the Kesher Israel synagogue, one of the US capital region's most prominent Orthodox congregations, for 25 years.

He also held various academic positions, including as a lecturer at Washington's Georgetown University.

Prosecutors say Freundel recorded about 100 other women beginning in 2009, but that those cases fell outside the three-year statute of limitations.