Elite US rabbi 'had mikveh peep camera'

According to police reports, a 35-year-old woman caught Mr Freundel adjusting a camera hidden in a clock radio on September 28. He reportedly claimed he had been in the changing room to fix the ventilation.

The clock was removed but reappeared on October 12, at which point the woman "grew suspicious and removed it".

An affidavit submitted to the court states that she found "what appeared to be a video camera" inside the clock, with a data storage card, at which point she called the police.

The charges levelled at Mr Freundel - who has been rabbi of Kesher Israel for 25 years - refer not only to this woman, but to recordings of six others found on the device.

The Washington Post reported that police had discovered that the device had more than "100 deleted files dating back to February. Some of the files were labelled with women's first names."

Kesher Israel and the Rabbinical Council of America - the professional body for Orthodox rabbis - both suspended him on October 15, despite his plea of not guilty. Mr Freundel had been head of the RCA's conversion committee and was deeply involved in the conversion classes at his synagogue. Since he was intimately acquainted with their mikveh schedules, women involved in those classes are likely to be among those who were allegedly filmed.

Kesher Israel's president Elanit Jakabovics said: "There are no words to describe the shock, devastation and heartbreak we are feeling."