Baruch Lebovits — Borough Park, Brooklyn
A Borough Park cantor convicted in 2010 on eight counts of criminal sexual act in the third degree and sentenced to 10⅔–32 years; the conviction was reversed in 2012 for a fair-trial violation, and in 2014 he pleaded guilty to the same eight counts and was sentenced to two years. Released in 2014; deceased.
Orthodox Jewish (Hasidic) Pleaded guilty (2014)
- Person
- Baruch Lebovits
- Role
- Cantor; teacher; travel-agency owner
- Institution
- Hasidic (Munkatcher) community, Borough Park, Brooklyn
- Location
- Kings County (Brooklyn), New York
- Status
- Convicted at trial (2010), reversed on appeal (2012); pleaded guilty on re-prosecution (2014)
- Sentence
- 10⅔ to 32 years (2010, vacated); 2 years with credit for time served (2014)
Case in brief
Tier 1 · Court-proven
Baruch Lebovits was a cantor and teacher in Borough Park’s Hasidic community. His indictment alleged oral sexual conduct with a 16-year-old boy on approximately ten occasions between May 2004 and February 2005. In March 2010 a jury convicted him of eight counts of criminal sexual act in the third degree, and on April 12, 2010 he was sentenced to 10⅔ to 32 years. In April 2012 the Appellate Division reversed — the prosecution’s mid-trial late disclosure of a detective’s notes had denied him a fair trial — while holding the evidence legally sufficient, and ordered a new trial. On re-prosecution, in May 2014, Lebovits pleaded guilty to the same eight counts and on July 9, 2014 was sentenced to two years, with credit for the time he had already served. He was released on September 29, 2014, designated a Level 2 sex offender, and later died, at 71, as reported by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
The record
Tier 1 · Court-proven
| Item | Record |
|---|---|
| Trial conviction | March 2010 — 8 counts of criminal sexual act in the third degree |
| First sentence | April 12, 2010 — 10⅔ to 32 years |
| Reversal | April 24, 2012 — fair-trial violation (late Rosario/Brady disclosure); evidence held legally sufficient; new trial ordered (2012 NY Slip Op 03221) |
| Guilty plea | May 2014 — the same 8 counts |
| Second sentence | July 9, 2014 — 2 years, credit for time served |
| Release | September 29, 2014 (roughly 82 additional days served) |
Status
Closed. The operative conviction is the 2014 guilty plea; the 2010 judgment was reversed and is carried here because the procedural history is the record — including that the reversal was about the fairness of the trial, not the sufficiency of the evidence. Lebovits is deceased.
Records requested & responses
This archive has not filed records requests in this case. The file rests on the published sources below and will be updated if court or institutional records are obtained, or if that changes.
Sources
- People v Lebovits, 2012 NY Slip Op 03221 (2d Dept., April 24, 2012) — the indictment’s allegations, the April 12, 2010 judgment on eight counts, the reversal and new-trial order: law.justia.com
- Kellner v. City of New York, No. 1:2017cv01268, Doc. 122 (E.D.N.Y. 2025) — reciting the May 2014 guilty plea to eight counts and the two-year sentence, citing the New York Times report of July 9, 2014: law.justia.com
- Jewish Telegraphic Agency (obituary) — death at 71; the 2014 plea; release after 82 days, via St. Louis Jewish Light: stljewishlight.org
Filed October 25, 2026, from the published sources below. Minor victims are never named or identified in this file.