Prosecutor Quits Over Jewish ‘Hooker’ Case
A top Brooklyn prosecutor has reportedly resigned amid questions over her handling of a racially charged Crown Heights prostitution case.
Lauren Hersh, the head of the district attorney’s sex trafficking unit, handled the probe that led to two black men being charged with raping an Orthodox Jewish girl and pimping her out starting when she was 13, the New York Times reported.. Two other men were charged with raping her.
She quit on May 24, the paper said.
Major questions emerged regarding the handling of the case last month. The Times said even before the indictments the woman reacanted some of the allegations and admitted that she was willingly having sex with the men for some time.
In April, a judge ordered two of the men freed from jail where they were being held pending trial. The other two remain behind bars on unrelated charges.
The case is explosive because authorities may have been too quick to believe the allegations against black men brought by a Jewish woman.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
