A Brooklyn rabbi accused of sexually abusing two students at his yeshiva pleaded guilty yesterday to misdemeanor charges in exchange for a sentence of probation and counseling.
Rabbi Joel Kolko, 62, will not have to register as a sex offender and was not required to admit to any sexual wrongdoing before accepting the plea to child endangerment.
“The victims’ families . . . feel vindicated,” said Jeff Herman, a lawyer representing five plaintiffs in suits alleging abuse by Kolko at the Yeshiva Torah Temimah.
Kolko had been facing charges of improperly touching two first-graders, as well as forcing an adult victim to touch him during a visit to the school.