US extradites alleged Jewish day school sex abuser to Australia

Chabad-affiliated school had sent teacher overseas without reporting allegations to police

SYDNEY (JTA) — A former teacher at a Jewish boys’ school in Melbourne was returned to Australia to face sexual abuse charges.

David Kramer, 52, was surrendered by US authorities on Nov. 29 and extradited to Australia. He is accused of sexually abusing children at Yeshivah College, a Chabad-run school where he worked as a teacher from 1989 to 1992.

Kramer is scheduled to appear in court on Monday to face 10 counts of indecent assault on minors and two counts of indecent acts with a child under 16, a Victoria Police statement said.

Manny Waks, a spokesman for the alleged Jewish victims of child abuse in Australia, said he was “delighted” that Kramer was extradited to Australia “to face justice.”

“Not I nor any of his alleged victims that I’ve been in contact with ever really expected this day to arrive,” he said. “It’s an important day for the victims and for the entire Jewish community.”

The chairman of the school’s board at the time, Harry Cooper, confirmed to the newspaper the Australian last year that the Yeshivah Center, which houses the Chabad headquarters in Melbourne, sent Kramer to Israel without reporting him to police soon after the allegations emerged against him.

Kramer later went to America, where he was convicted and sentenced in 2008 to seven years in jail for sodomizing a 12-year-old boy at a synagogue in St. Louis.

Earlier this year, the Yeshivah Center “unreservedly” apologized to the victims for “historical wrongs.” Last week, the president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry met the center’s leaders and received a “comprehensive briefing” about Yeshivah College’s policies, processes and programs to prevent abuse and ensure allegations are reported to authorities.