In September of 2021, Judah Karkowsky, then an EMT working with the Woodmere Fire Department, was arrested and charged for allegedly molesting a 13 year old boy. According to the complaint at the time, Karkwosky responded to a call involving a number of people stuck in an elevator. One of the people stuck, according to the complaint, was a 13 year old boy who complained of stomach pain. The complaint alleged that Karkowsky had asked the child to remove his pants and underwear and proceeded to touch his genitals under the pretext of a routine field medical exam. Karkowsky was charged with 2 misdemeanor charges related to this incident.

Those charges were later dismissed due to a technical error by the DA in filing the case. The DA had failed to state the child’s age in the complaint, and missed the filing deadline to fix the mistake, and since the charges were age-specific, the case was dismissed.

Karkowsky, by this time, had been suspended as a member of the Young Israel of Woodmere by Rabbi Shalom Axelrod and shul president Josh Kalter. This apparently upset him greatly, especially since, according to court documents in his subsequent criminal case, the shul administration wasn’t talking to him or his family about their side of the story. According to those documents, Karkowsky was considering action against the shul, either in court or in beis din for their dismissal of him, and their apparent refusal to reinstate him after his case was dismissed.

Following the dismissal of his case, Karkowsky reached out to Ari Schulman, a close friend of his who was also then-co-chair of the board of trustees and also an ADA in Brooklyn. Karkowsky and Schulman had been in contact previously and had a longstanding friendship. After the hearing disposing of his case, Karkowsky sent Schulman a redacted copy of the certificate of disposition, which conveniently redacted the reason why the case was dismissed. Karkowsky characterized the dismissal as being related to the merits of the case, not because of the technical error in its filing, and said as much to Schulman. He told Schulman in that conversation that the court had found no merit to the case, and that he was working on getting the record of that unsealed to give to Schulman for the purpose of getting him allowed back into shul.

Karowsky then got a copy of the transcript of that hearing, and modified it to include the following supposedly said by the judge: This court has believed for some time that the People’s case lacked substance and should not have reached this point. The judge said no such thing, and a later examination of the real transcript and recording revealed as much and led to Karkowsky’s prosecution for fraud and forgery. It was clear from his conversation with Schulman that Karkowsky believed that such a statement from the judge would go a long way in convincing the shul to allow him back by discrediting the original allegations.

Not satisfied simply with attempting to defraud Young Israel of Woodmere into allowing a person accused of molesting a 13 year old back, Karkowsky also filed notice of claim with the the county, the fire district, and fire department letting them know that he planned to file suit against them for false arrest, malicious prosecution, and defamation stemming from the sexual abuse case. In the notice he issued, he included that fabricated statement from the judge. His case against the county was filed in federal court, but was stayed pending the outcome of his criminal trial for forgery and fraud. He was found guilty by a jury of 8 charges related to the forgery and fraud. Sentencing is scheduled for June 20th.

What an idiot.