A former student at SAR Academy in New York has filed a church sex abuse lawsuit alleging he was abused by a school administrator and a rabbi.

Now 56 years old, Thomas Eckmann claims he was a middle school student at Salanter Akiba Riverdale Academy (SAR) when school administrator Stanley Rosenfeld and teacher and Rabbi Sheldon Schwartz sexually abused him.

Eckmann told the Bronx Times that he was just 11 or 12 years old when the abuse occurred, devastating his childhood. Prior to Rosenfeld abusing him, Eckmann said he had rumors that Rosenfeld had sexually abused other children, but he never was sure what to believe.

At least two students purportedly reported Rosenfeld’s abusive assaults to Rabbi Schwartz, who then never reported the incidents to the anyone at SAR Academy. An investigation by an independent firm, T&M Protection Resources, found that Schwartz also allegedly sexually abused students and was actually at Rosenfeld’s house when students were abused.

New York’s Child Victims Act allowed Eckmann to pursue justice all these years later because the law includes a look-back window to enable anyone who was barred from filing suit due to an expired statute of limitations is now allowed to come forward until August 2021.

Eckmann said he found out Rosenfeld was eventually fired when the abuse was unveiled, but then was hired at a synagogue where he purportedly could continue to commit sexual assault on other youth.

Investigators Determine SAR Academy Sexual Abuse Allegations Credible

On its website, the school includes a link to the 8-month investigative report provided by T&M Protection Resources in October 2018. The company says it interviewed 39 witnesses either in person, by video conference or by phone. Their research also included reviews of SAR Academy School yearbooks, Academy journals and internet sources.

“T&M received firsthand reports from twelve former SAR students, eleven boys and one girl, as well as one non-SAR student that support a finding that between 1974 and 1987, Rosenfeld engaged in acts of sexual abuse or other sexually inappropriate behavior,” says the report.

The documents indicate Rosenfeld admitted to his lewd behavior to T&M’s investigators.

T&M further states that four reports of Rabbi Schwartz committing inappropriate advances on students at SAR in the 1970s also came to light during their investigation.

Eckmann told Forward.com that Rosenfeld held sleepovers for the boys at his home and that Schwartz often attended, too. Eckmann said everyone knew that Rosenfeld and Schwartz had a close personal friendship and were not just coworkers.

“I have to believe that with that kind of scenario, with the boys, that [Schwartz] was aware [of the abuse],” Eckmann told Forward. “There were just so many telltale signs.”

Rosenfeld Now Registered Level III Sex Offender

In the early 1990s, Rosenfeld moved to the state of Rhode Island where he became employed as a bar mitzvah tutor and cantor at Temple Am David in Warwick.

T&M discovered through court documents that Rosenfeld was arrested and charged with four counts of second-degree child molestation on Aug. 8, 2000. The charges related to incidents that started in 1999 when Rosenfeld allegedly molested a 12-year-old boy while he tutored him for six months.

According to court documents, Rosenfeld pleaded no contest on May 21, 2001 and received a 10-year suspended sentence. Terms of his probation included that he could not have any contact with children.

When Rosenfeld was caught violating his probation in September 2002, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison. When he got out of prison, he was required to register as a Level III sex offender. His probation ended in May 2011, and T&M said sources indicate Rosenfeld is now living at a nursing home in Rhode Island.

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