I missed this last week, but its worth a look.
Last week, a jury found Leon Abramovitz guilty of several charges involving luring two male Pitt students to his apartment, forcing them to stay for weeks, coercing one to steal power tools and the other to perform sexual acts. Abramovitz, 59, has previously worked for City Council and (AND) the constituent affairs department of the Reagan White House.
It gets better.
Abramovitz is currently serving probation for two earlier charges of the same thing.
Huh. Here's the better part. The lawyer of this perv is trying to make this out to be gay persecution! This from the guy who worked for Reagan!
"Homosexual acts are not crimes," said Mr. Houck. "They are only anathemas in many people's minds, but not everybody's."
Mr. Houck is right. Homosexual "acts" are not crimes. However, the actual crimes this perv committed - holding people against their will, forcing them to perform sexual acts and steal, and threatening them with mafia retaliation - are not homosexual acts.
I do have to pick a bone with the PG on this story. In the article, writer Moustafa Ayad paints a comparison of the somewhat hulky young men and the frail pervert inviting the question of how he held them captive. Other than the reference to mafia threats, there is no context for the captivity. Obviously the jury was convinced so there has to be more content to the story.
I think Ayad's coverage was a little soft in this regard. Women are held hostage all the time as any domestic violence worker will tell you and frequently it has nothing to do with size differentials. Power does not translate into size. It is hard to believe that a 59 year old man with a walker could legitimately threaten someone with a mob hit. But obviously he DID on at least four separate occasions. At least.
Kudos to the students for testifying. Get this perv off the streets, walker or not.
Family values indeed.