Australia Seeks Extradition of Molester

Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Australia reportedly plans to seek the extradition of an imprisoned former Jewish studies teacher to face charges of child abuse dating back nearly 20 years.
David Kramer, 51, is currently in a Missouri jail after being convicted of sodomizing a 12-year-old boy in 2008. He was sentenced to seven years in prison but is about to become eligible for parole.
Detective Senior Constable Lisa Metcher told a Melbourne Magistrates Court on April 2 that Australian detectives will travel to America later this month to begin proceedings to extradite Kramer, according to The Age. A spokesman for the United States Department of Justice declined to comment.
As the Forward reported earlier this year, Kramer is one of several men formerly associated with Melbourne’s Yeshivah Centre, a Chabad institution, at the center of alleged sex abuse coverup allegations.
Kramer eventually found his way to St Louis, Mo., where he became a volunteer youth leader at Nusach Hari B’nai Zion, an Orthodox synagogue.
The synagogue’s rabbi Ze’ev Smason reported Kramer to authorities after parents came to him with allegations of abuse.
Contact Paul Berger at [email protected] or on Twitter @pdberger
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
