Felony Charges Dismissed a Gainst Two Jewish Youths

A spokesperson for the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office confirmed today that charges of felony counts had been dropped against two Brooklyn Jewish youths who, as members of a citizens patrol, seized three youths who had forced their way into a synagogue in the Midwood section of Brooklyn on Halloween night. The three youths, in turn, accused the two patrol members of kidnapping and physically assaulting them.

Samuel Abady, a Manhattan attorney, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that “instead of charging the three youths with robbery, criminal trespass and criminal mischief” for breaking into the Beth Torah Congregation, “the police chose instead to charge my clients,” Steven Rombom, 24, and Ronald Kahn, 30, “with felony counts carrying up to seven years in prison.”

Abody gave the names of the three trespassers as Michael Figueroa, 18, Dennis Kennen, 16, and Kenneth Parenti, 14, all of Brooklyn.

Abady asserted that one of the three apprehended youths had recently been tried on felony charges and that the mother of another of the trio had herself complained about her son’s criminal activities.

The attorney said he had become involved in the case at the request of a third party and, after making his own investigation of witnesses, agreed to serve as defense attorney for Rombom and Kahn. He said the police alleged that the trio had been kidnapped in front of the Midwood synagogue when they had, he asserted, entered the synagogue vestibule.

Abody said one of the trio had been wearing “a Hasidishe hat which had obviously been robbed from a religious Jew at an earlier time.”

SUSPECTED OF PREVIOUS ASSAULTS ON JEWS

Abady said he had learned that “at least two of the youths were suspected of assaults on Jews in the past” and that it was also his belief that “these youths burst into the synagogue for the purpose of harassing members of the congregation who were rehearsing a play that evening.”

Abady told the JTA that, in response to the complaints of the three youths, Rombom and Kahn were arrested. He said he appeared in court with them and defeated an attempt by the District Attorney’s lawyers to have the two Jewish youths held on $10,000 bail each. He said the judge agreed, after Abady testified on their behalf, to release them on their own recognizance.

Subsequently, he recounted, after “intense and protracted negotiations, at the highest levels of the District Attorney’s office, it became clear there was no real case” against Rombon and Kahn. Abady said that the District Attorney’s office “dismissed the case with an admission, on the record in court, that they could not prove their case at trial.”

Asked by the JTA for comment, the D.A. spokesperson said that Susan Whitehead, an assistant district attorney, had said in court that “after an intensive investigation it was determined that, if we took this case to trial, we cannot prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt and the District Attorney’s office therefore moved to have the case” against Rombom and Kahn “dismissed.” The action took place before Justice Margaret Caemmerer in Brooklyn Criminal Court. She dismissed the charges on December 7.

The D.A. spokesperson said the office would have no further comment on any of the other Abady statements.

BACKGROUND OF THE CITIZENS PATROL

Abady told the JTA that the civilian patrol had been formed in response to the “frustration” of Jewish communities in Brooklyn that Jews were not getting sufficient protection against assaults, property destruction and desecration of Jewish holy places.

He said the patrol was organized shortly before Halloween because that holiday has become in recent years a period of heightened anti-Semitic actions.

Abady said the patrol, led by Rombom, had about 70 members who patrolled high risk areas in Jewish sections of Brooklyn. He said the patrol had been endorsed by responsible Jewish community leaders and clergy. He described the patrol as an ad hoc unit organized explicitly in response to the upsurge of anti-Semitic incidents occurring each Halloween.