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| Chisdai Ben-Porat (Photo via failedmessiah.com) |
A Jewish camp in Pennsylvania has notified parents about a child sexual abuse incident that occurred on camp grounds last week.
The camp administration sent the following email to parents.
Dear Parents:
Camp Dora Golding works year-round to ensure a fun-filled, memorable summer for each of our over 1000 campers. We work equally hard to ensure their safety and security.
I am writing to inform you of an incident that took place in camp this past Thursday concerning improper contact with a camper. Fortunately, I was immediately notified by the camper. My senior staff and I immediately launched our established plan-of-action which included safeguarding the affected camper, preventing the staff member from leaving camp premises, verifying the facts, and notifying law enforcement and the affected camper’s parents.
Within several hours, the staff member was arrested by the authorities and taken off camp grounds. We are of course completely cooperating with the authorities to assist their investigation in every possible way.
At this point, we have no reason to believe that any other campers were involved or in any way affected. We are in consultation with leading mental health professionals and social service agencies, and prepared to offer appropriate support and counseling to our staff, campers and parents, if needed. Through this consultation, it was decided not to alarm over 600 unknowing campers. Certainly, if you feel the need to speak to your son to allay your fears, we can have him call you.
For more than a decade, (even before recently publicized stories of abuse in the Orthodox community), our staff orientation included specific training to deal with improper contact and conduct between staff and campers. We have a zero tolerance policy towards any improper behavior and, as demonstrated by recent events, are ready to follow through whenever necessary. I am proud of my staff, which acted quickly, properly and responsibly.
Our established action plan includes contacting all our campers’ parents as soon as possible, however, before our earliest opportunity to properly do so; the incident was reported in a local Pennsylvania newspaper and quickly spread online. We regret that some parents had to learn of this story from media and online sources before hearing it directly from the camp.
If further relevant information becomes available, we will share it with you to the greatest extent possible. I am well aware that such incidents tend to generate rumors and unintended inaccuracies. Should you have any questions or concerns, I welcome the discussion, and ask that you feel free to contact me directly.
Sincerely,
Alex Gold
As we reported earlier, a man was arrested and charged with sexual abuse related charges after sexually abusing a boy at a Jewish camp, according to police reports in Pennsylvania.
Monroe County Police said that a 19-year-old school counselor at Camp Dora Golding in the Poconos region of Pennsylvania, was arrested Thursday after a boy in the camp accused the counselor of inappropriately touching him.
Chisdai Ben-Porat of Ottawa, Canada, was charged with indecent assault of a child under 13 years of age, unlawful contact with a minor and corruption of a minor, in the camp located on Craigs Meadow Road in the Smithfield Township.
Swiftwater State Police were called to the camp at 4:35 pm Thursday to investigate the report of the boy. The prosecutor's office of Monroe County approved the charges, police said.
Ben-Porat was indicted Friday morning by District Judge Thomas E. Olsen and taken to the Monroe County Jail. He was later released on $20,000 bond.