MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – A Miami Beach rabbi accused of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl earlier this year accepted a plea deal Thursday.
Prosecutors said they didn’t have enough evidence against Steve Karro and reduced his charge to misdemeanor battery.
As part of the deal, Karro will serve nine months of probation and undergo counseling. A stay away order has been granted for the victim and Karro is not allowed to be with minors unsupervised. He must also wear a GPS ankle monitor during his probation except during the Jewish holidays.
The girl’s mother said she was disappointed by the outcome.
“I wanted him prosecuted as a sexual offender, sex offender, and they gave him a misdemeanor,” she said outside the courtroom. “So, hopefully, it will never happen again. God forbid it happens again to another child, so I did my best.”
Police said Karro used both hands to touch and grab the girl’s buttocks at his Miami Beach art studio, kissing her neck and then instructing her not to say anything.
When arrested in May, Karro told police he touched the girl in her behind for “cleansing” purposes because she was showing negative energy.
Those who know Karro, who is a substitute rabbi at Shaare Ezra Sephardic Congregation, said they were in disbelief after the arrest.
“I didn’t believe it,” Daniel Lannettone told Local 10 News at the time.
Karro’s attorney maintained his client’s innocence after the hearing ended.
“This has been just a horrible experience for an innocent person to be destroyed with sensational coverage when the man is innocent,” Jeffrey Weiner told Local 10 News.
The girl’s mother said she and her daughter have been shunned and shut out by the Jewish community in Miami Beach.
“In the beginning, they told me I had to say something,” she said over the summer. “But now, I’m told by the rabbis not to say a word — keep silent. Meanwhile, this community already decided I’m making up the story. Our words are nothing.”
The mother claims Karro offered her $500 to buy her silence and drop the charges.
