Luke Ford

JewishCommunityWatch.com reports:

A couple of months later, we were informed that Mendel Tevel was planning to get engaged. Immediately, the kallah’s family was contacted and cautioned with the vast information we had already accumulated. We proceeded to put the family in touch with a rabbi who had heard directly from two of the victims, the bitter accounts of what they had experienced. Sadly, the family had already been swept under the manipulative wing of Mendel Tevel. They refused to acknowledge the horrendous acts Mendel was alleged to have committed. Understanding the danger that his innocent kallah faced, we continued to go back and forth, spending days and nights working with their family and many associates of theirs aiming to convey the magnitude of the situation. We came to realize that it was a lost cause in trying to prove anything to them.

As time progressed, the naivety of the family of the kallah truly became evident. In fact, when JCW informed the family of a specific case, shockingly, a member of the family said (Referring to the victim) “Did the boy enjoy it?” Over the next few weeks the kallah’s family attempted to contact numerous victims and attack their credibility. Finally the two families foolishly decided to go ahead with the engagement.

A short while after Mendel Tevel’s engagement, we had collected enough information to expose him; thus his name and face were published on jewishcommunitywatch.com. At this point, the Tevel family began to circulate excuses as to why his name went up. Most of them claiming that it was a vendetta against Mendel based on a trivial matter from years past. Astonishingly, many people actually accepted this to be a valid reason.

Phone calls and emails came storming in from all over the country demanding more information. Some people offered to help validate the allegations as long as we put them in touch with victims of Mendel Tevel. Obviously, this was simply unacceptable as the anonymity of victims remains our most important duty. Certain individuals even offered to fund an extensive and expensive investigation in order to clear Mendel Tevel’s name. It was explained to them that an investigation of that nature must take place under mutually agreed upon therapist’s/expert’s supervision, in order to ensure that a proper investigation had been done. If and only if these certain requirements were met and Mendel was deemed not to be a predator (disregarding allegations by numerous victims of abuse spanning over ten years), we would take Mendel Tevel’s name off the site and issue a public apology. Instead, they decided to do things their way. rabbis and therapists of their choosing were contacted and, supposedly, issued private letters and documents proclaiming the innocence of Mendel. It has been said that one therapist even issued a “clean bill of health” asserting Mendel Tevel’s innocence and guaranteeing that he would not harm anyone in the future. We have since been informed by professionals that it would be simply be incredibly irresponsible for any psychiatrist to issue such a letter as it is impossible to ascertain whether or not someone will molest children in the future.

Wishing to work with the family to resolve this, we asked to be put in contact with the “supposed” therapists that he had seen. Not only did they not comply, they also would not issue the names of the therapists that he had “supposedly” seen. One of the rabbis that are involved in all of this is even alleged to have covered up a major sexual abuse case in the past. Based on the fact that Mendel’s “clean bill of health” was never shown to us, his name continues to remains on the site.