Linze Rice, Rabbi Sentenced To 8 Years in Prison for Sexual Assault of 15-Year-Old Boy, DNA Info

Ex-rabbi Aryeh “Larry” Dudovitz was sentenced to eight years in prison for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy who was a member of his synagogue after celebrating a religious holiday nearly a decade ago.

The sentence was handed down Wednesday by Judge Evelyn Clay, according to Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’s office.

In November, Dudovitz, 48, was convicted on one count of criminal sexual assault in connection with the attack. He was put on electronic monitoring and ordered to surrender his passport as he awaited sentencing.

He was 39 at the time the incident in 2006. At the time, the victim and his family worshipped with Dudovitz at a small storefront synagogue, the Moshiach Center, in West Rogers Park, the victim told DNAinfo Chicago in an interview in 2013.

The accuser looked up to Dudovitz, who he said mentored him before his Bar Mitzvah, and the two spent lots of time together.

Prosecutors said that Dudovitz was at the victim’s home celebrating the Orthodox Jewish holiday of Sukkot, and the victim, now 24, testified that after he went to bed, Dudovitz came into his bed room and assaulted him before fleeing the house.

Dudovitz and the victim drank alcohol, prosecutors alleged during his trial, and the boy fell asleep. He was awakened by Dudovitz, who gave “the victim oral copulation while the victim was sleeping,” court records show.

After the attack, Dudovitz admitted to several people — including rabbis and a mental-health counselor — that he sexually assaulted the boy while the victim slept, according to court testimony.

Dudovitz later apologized to the teen, prosecutors said, and the victim told his parents who then notified both religious authorities and police. Dudovitz later admitted the sexual assault to police.

The victim has said in the past the initially blamed himself for the attack and had looked up to his rabbi “like a father figure.”

Rabbi Sentenced To 8 Years in Prison for Sexual Assault of 15-Year-Old Boy – West Ridge – DNAinfo