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MONSEY, N.Y. — A man faces a court hearing on charges that could put him in jail for violating his probation after he attended a wedding where a 14-year-old boy he is accused of sexually abusing was also present.
Moishe Turner is charged with second-degree criminal contempt for violating an order of protection by being within 500 feet of the teen and for being on school grounds.
Turner pleaded guilty Jan. 18 to second-degree criminal sex act, a charge that could have brought seven years in prison. He admitted having anal and oral sex with the boy on seven occasions during July 2011. State Supreme Court Justice William Kelly sentenced Turner to 10 years probation and then held a short hearing and classified Turner as a Level 2 sex offender, a designation stating there's a moderate chance of repeating the crime.
Turner's lawyer, Kenneth Gribetz, said Turner was invited to the wedding and didn't know the boy would be there, and the event was held in a school closed for summer recess and used as a catering hall.
Gribetz said synagogues commonly use religious schools as catering halls for weddings and other social events during the summer recess months. The July 25 wedding took place at a closed school in Kaser, Gribetz said. The young boy had not been invited, he said.
"He didn't know the child would be attending," Gribetz said. "They didn't speak with each other and they didn't have any contact. "
Turner is also accused of failing to find suitable full-time work, and not informing his probation officer of a car he was driving, according to the Rockland District Attorney's Office.
Prosecutor Jennifer Parietti said Turner could get a jail sentence if Kelly finds him guilty of the violations after the Oct. 15 hearing and incarceration is warranted.
Paretti said six months in jail is possible because that sentence would maintain Turner's 10 years probation. The lengthy probation is erased with a state prison sentence or more than six months in jail, she said.
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