Northern Exposure: Montreal police and Jewish community patrol members investigate lewdness spree in which a man exposed himself to Orthodox girls. Image by bill 611

A Montreal man accused of exposing himself to Jewish girls was arrested by police and members of Chaverim, an Orthodox emergency responders organization.

The arrest followed months of complaints received by Chaverim about a man who would allegedly call Orthodox Jewish girls over to his pick-up truck, sometimes under the pretense of needing directions, and then expose himself.

“The community is terrified,” said Barry, a Chaverim administrator who declined to give his last name. “Every single child is scared to go out. Mothers are scared.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

The alleged perpetrator was arrested after a victim of an act of indecency notified Chaverim, who tracked down the man in conjunction with police.

Chaverim had previously warned the Jewish community about the incidents, which apparently began last summer, stopped during the winter, and recently started up again.

“It’s a terrible thing for a child to go through,” the Chaverim administrator said. “It’s a relief to everybody that he’s been caught, and hopefully it will stop completely.”

It remains unclear whether the man was only targeting Jewish youths. Chaverim said it is only aware of incidents involving Jews, but it does not track incidents occurring outside the Jewish community it serves.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount