Grabby Rabbi Gets Two Months In Prison For In-Flight Molestation

The rabbi convicted for a recent in-flight molestation was sentenced this morning to 60 days in prison and immediately placed into custody.

Gavriel Bidany, who faced a maximum of six months, was sentenced by Magistrate Judge Ramon Reyes, who found the grabby rabbi guilty during a bench trial earlier this month in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn. In announcing Bidany’s sentence, Reyes said that the defendant “testified falsely” at trial.

Bidany, 47, was convicted of fondling a 23-year-old woman aboard a March 27 Delta Airlines flight from Tel Aviv to New York City. Pictured in the mug shot at right, Bidany is a married father of 11 and lives with his family in Israel. The victim is an Israeli Army officer who was traveling to New York on a fundraising trip sponsored by Israel Bonds.

In a victim’s impact statement read by prosecutor David Sarratt, the woman remarked that she “lost my innocence” due to the fondling. She added that, “A burn leaves a scar which cannot be removed.”

Bidany’s sentencing came two days after three of his adult children wrote Reyes claiming that if their father was incarcerated their chances of finding a spouse via the matchmaking process would be hindered.