Rotter, charged with assaulting women, men and minors, was arrested last week at Ben-Gurion Airport, having fled the country on the eve of the war with Iran shortly after several criminal complaints for sexual offenses had been filed against him.
Haaretz
Five additional suspects were arrested on Sunday following the investigation of sexual assault by the head of Bnei Brak’s Shomrim patrol, Chaim Rotter.
At least three of them are suspected of threatening victims who have complained against Rotter, and they will be brought in for arraignment on Monday at Tel Aviv’s Magistrate’s Court.
Rotter, charged with assaulting women, men and minors, was arrested last week at Ben-Gurion Airport, having fled the country on the eve of the war with Iran shortly after several criminal complaints for sexual offenses had been filed against him.
The Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court has extended his detention until Thursday.
In recent days, Rotter has been put under suicide watch for fear of his taking his own life. Informed sources have told Haaretz that there were indications that Rotter may try to commit suicide, and it was therefore decided to put him under suicide watch in a cell with surveillance cameras.
Meanwhile, the investigation has been transferred from the Bnei Brak police station to a special investigation team specifically set up for this purpose by the Dan Region police.
According to the police, he is suspected of committing intercourse in the presence of others with the intention of rape, forced sodomy on a child under 16 and an obscene act on a minor over 14 with threats and abuse of authority, as well as an obscene act on an adult with abuse of authority.
‘The evidence shows a horrific spectacle of abusing the suspect’s power. He collected minors and adults, women and girls in Bnei Brak, exploiting his authority and power, and hurt them over the years,’ a police representative said. Eight complaints against Rotter have been filed so far, with the police seeking the public’s help in locating additional victims.
The Shomrim patrol serves as a type of private police force in the predominantly ultra-Orthodox town of Bnei Brak. It consists of young volunteers, some of whom testified Rotter had abused them sexually. The organization collaborated with the police in Bnei Brak, and Rotter was closely connected to the area’s senior ultra-Orthodox rabbis and police officers.
That is why some of his victims were afraid to file a complaint against him.
‘Nobody will scare us and nobody will threaten us,’ Yossi Rubenfeld, who had filed a complaint against Rotter as early as 2016, wrote on his Facebook page. ‘I call on anyone who Rotter has hurt – do not keep silent. Go to the police station, file a complaint and demand full treatment. This is the time to stand together, bravely and truthfully. Justice is ours.’
Rubenfeld added that he had complained against Rotter over the years, but those complaints have gone unanswered. ‘Over these years I spoke out, I asked to be believed, and nobody was listening. I stood exposed in front of the police, vulnerable and truthful – and even then, they turned their back on me. I went through years of silence, of pain, shame and fear,’ he wrote. ‘Rotter went about his life as if it were nothing, while I was struggling to survive each day.’