Bond Set in Sex Case of Rabbi’s Assistant

Ending nearly a week of bail hearings for a rabbi’s assistant accused of sexually molesting a teen-age girl, a federal magistrate Wednesday set a $200,000 appearance bond and placed him under house arrest.

Yehudah Friedlander has been in jail since May 31, when he and Rabbi Israel Grunwald were arrested at Los Angeles International Airport as they got off a plane from Australia. The two are charged with sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl during the flight.

Grunwald, charged with a less serious offense, was released on $10,000 bail. He returned to New York last week. But Friedlander has had to appear in court several times while attorneys researched his record and argued over proposed bail conditions.

Having earlier deemed Friedlander a danger to the community, U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn Turchin on Wednesday ordered that he remain under house arrest in Brooklyn after he posts bond. The judge also ordered Friedlander to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet to allow authorities to track his whereabouts.