Rabbi Barry Freundel admits filming women at Washington baths
A prominent US rabbi has pleaded guilty to 52 counts of voyeurism after secretly filming women in his congregation's ritual baths, the BBC reports.
Barry Freundel, 63, may have recorded as many as 150 women in the changing area at his orthodox synagogue in Washington DC.
The women were disrobing for the ritual Jewish bath, known as a mikvah.
He has confessed to recording at least 52 nude or partially nude women. Prosecutors say he should be jailed.
They say the actual number of women filmed is likely to have been much higher.
Before his arrest in October 2014, Barry Freundel was a rabbi at the Kesher Israel synagogue in the Georgetown area of the US capital for more than 25 years.
He was arrested after a person associated with the synagogue's baths, the National Capital Mikvah, discovered the hidden camera.
The rabbi has now been fired from the synagogue, which occupies a prime spot in a wealthy area of Washington and has numbered Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and ex-Senator Joe Lieberman among its congregants.