Conviction Jewish institutions and contexts Hasidic and Haredi communities Colonie, New York, USA · 2010

Rabbi Yaakov Weiss (Chabad of Colonie founder): guilty plea for endangering two boys, including contact in the synagogue's mikveh

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Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

founder and rabbi, Chabad of Colonie; founder, Chabad Hebrew School, Loudonville, New York

Organization

Chabad of Colonie; Chabad Hebrew School, Loudonville, New York

Archive classification

This is the archive's application of its published inclusion test. The cited record appears below.

Weiss founded and led both the Chabad of Colonie synagogue and its Hebrew school; the contact occurred through his rabbinic authority and in the synagogue's mikveh itself, placing the religious ritual setting and his clerical standing at the center of the access, not incidental to it.

Pastoral or clerical authority
Ritual, oath, or initiation

Evidence structure

Proceedings

2010-01-11 · guilty plea and sentence

Albany County Court, New York. Yaakov Weiss pleaded guilty to child endangerment for inappropriate physical contact with a 13-year-old boy at the synagogue's mikveh on Whitehall Road and a second 13-year-old boy later in 2007, including instructing one victim to deny the contact to police and his mother. The plea agreement did not require sex-offender registration.

Documented coercion mechanisms

rabbinic and Hebrew-school authority over congregation children
religious ritual setting (mikveh) used as the site of contact
instructing a victim to conceal the conduct from his mother and police

Cited record

Sources

jewish press wire sentencing report Cleveland Jewish News wire report, 'Rabbi Weiss sentenced to six months in prison' (2010).: Reports the guilty plea to child endangerment, describes the mikveh location of one incident, and notes the instruction to one victim to conceal the conduct.
local news archived institutional response report Robert Gavin, 'Group Says Rabbi No Longer Leader', Albany Times Union (19 Jan. 2010), archived via BishopAccountability.org.: Reports Chabad's suspension of Weiss following the allegations and confirms his founding role at Chabad of Colonie and its Hebrew school.

Source provenance

Source access and integrity log

This log records source retrieval and file integrity. It does not mean that an automated process independently confirmed every statement in the source.

Source and tier basis: https://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/news/local_news/rabbi-weiss-sentenced-to-six-months-in-prison/article_d80276f8-b6b0-11ed-b972-03fff2f6abcc.html Corpus classification: jewish-press-wire; evidentiary role: sentencing-report. SHA-256 01646d04e0e1e2f94385bd091ed3d7cb45e9e4fb2a11ca6b33e296ed43233df4
Retrieval: 2026-07-20 · Preserved; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger
Source and tier basis: https://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2010/01_02/2010_01_19_Gavin_GroupSays.htm Corpus classification: local-news-archived; evidentiary role: institutional-response-report. SHA-256 83402ae2fb350d66bdd297f6992da1a32c8313cdc89269327adf2cb7baef01c9
Retrieval: 2026-07-20 · Preserved; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger

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