Torah Scholar Accused of Molesting Elderly Bedridden Man
A 27-year-old man was busted Wednesday night on charges of sneaking into a Manhattan hospital room and molesting a 72-year-old patient, police sources said.
Kramer had allegedly pulled up the victim's hospital gown and was fondling him, sources said.
The elderly victim, though frail, was able to describe the alleged assault, sources said. The horrified nurse called hospital security, who grabbed Kramer about 12:15 p.m., sources said.
"He is a student, a studious person," the woman said. "He was in the hospital with his wife. She had an appointment. Something is very wrong if someone could be arrested at a hospital. This is a stupid, stupid mistake."
Kramer, a Hasidic Jew from Spring Valley, Rockland County, was arrested about 9 p.m. and taken out of the hospital in handcuffs for processing at the 33rd Precinct stationhouse in Washington Heights.
Charges were pending Wednesday night.
Though the alleged assault was discovered about noon, hospital staff waited more than three hours to notify police, hospital security sources said.
"The allegations are disgusting, preying on an elderly person, a sick patient who couldn't fight back," a police source said.
The cloth Kramer allegedly used to clean up the evidence was seized by the NYPD for testing, sources said.
"He didn't know the victim - it looks like he just wandered into a room and took advantage," another police source said.
Kramer's father and relatives declined to comment as they waited at the stationhouse.
A Torah scholar accused of fondling an elderly man lying in a Manhattan hospital bed first asked his frail victim whether he was Jewish before grabbing his genitals, prosecutors said Thursday.
When the 72-year-old senior replied that he was an atheist, Yakov Kramer allegedly lifted the man's gown and molested him Wednesday afternoon at New York-Presbyterian HospitalColumbia, prosecutors said.
The 27-year-old was arraigned Thursday at Manhattan Criminal Court on charges of sexual abuse and burglary as a sexually motivated felony. He posted a $50,000 bond, and is due back in court Tuesday.
After the hearing, Kramer's lawyer Israel Fried told The Daily News that the biblical expert was merely trying to help the old man after hearing his pleas for help.
"There was a person in pain. He saw him. Assisted him. And when his assistance was done. He left," Fried said.
Neighbors on quiet Morton Street, home to Kramer's father, Jeremias, were tight-lipped about the family's whereabouts. But the news of the outrageous crime was the talk of the insular community Thursday afternoon.
Religious leaders defended Kramer, calling him a brainiac with a passion for writing about God.
"He is an author of religious books," said Rabbi Leib Glanz, executive vice president of United Jewish Care in Williamsburg. "He is a Torah scholar."
"His wife is expecting a baby. That is why he was in the hospital," said Glanz.
Kramer's lawyer said his client took his pregnant wife to the hospital for a routine check-up Wednesday.
He left his spouse to head to the hospitality room intended for Jewish patients and their guests, and picked up a book.
But the cries of the old man stopped Kramer, his lawyer said.
The senior "lifted his gown to indicate where he was in pain," Fried said in court.
After checking on the man, Kramer returned to his wife, Fried said.
A nurse later caught Kramer in the old man's room, during Kamer's second visit, and alerted authorities.
