Rabbi charged with molesting 14-year-old girl in Los Angeles

Published 7:05 p.m. PDT Monday, August 12, 2002

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A rabbi who also worked as a high school teacher pleaded innocent to charges of molesting a 14-year-old girl six years ago.

Rabbi Michael Ozair, 33, was charged with three counts of committing a lewd act and one count of oral copulation on a child under 16. He entered his plea Thursday and was jailed in lieu of $95,000 bail, the district attorney's office said Monday.

A call to Ozair's attorney, Daniel Hustwit, was not returned.

Ozair is the rabbi of the Happy Minion congregation in Westwood and teaches at Shalhevet High School in Los Angeles.

The alleged molestation occurred on June 2, 1997, said Deputy District Attorney Renee Korn, who declined to release further details because of the girl's age at the time.

Korn said the delay in charging Ozair was because the girl only recently came forward.

"He was teaching at the time but the victim was not a student of the school," she said.

Ozair faces a maximum of 10 years in prison if convicted.

He was ordered to return to court for a Sept. 4 arraignment.