Attorney pushes back against release of Teaneck 'Chopped' chef charged with sexual assault
The attorney for a woman who accused a former Teaneck chef of sexual assault filed to have restrictions placed on him after his release last week, saying he is a flight risk.
Shalom Yehudiel is accused of the sexual assault of Elisheva Akselrod at their synagogue when she was a teenager. He was arrested at John F. Kennedy Airport on Aug. 8, trying to fly to Bangkok with a one-way ticket, the Union County Prosecutor's Office said.
His arrest came only one day after a judge in Bergen County dismissed a separate sexual assault charge without prejudice because the FBI failed to turn over video surveillance to prosecutors and Yehudiel's attorneys. The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office could refile its charges if the video is produced and evidence is found to support the charges.
Yehudiel was released from the Bergen County Jail after an Aug. 18 hearing that followed his arrest by the Union County Prosecutor's Office earlier in the month.
The restrictions placed on Yehudiel include that he must appear for all of his hearings, including the next one, on Sept. 28; he must have weekly phone reporting to pretrial services; he cannot commit any offenses; he is to have no contact with Akselrod; he cannot live in the same house as Akselrod; he cannot be in contact with anyone under the age of 18, with the exception of his 3-year-old daughter; he is not allowed to travel outside the United States and is required to surrender his passport and green card, and he cannot apply for a new passport.
Union County Assistant Prosecutor Caroline Lawlor and Lee Vartan, an attorney for Yehudiel, said the chef would be living in Florida and that pretrial services agreed to allow him weekly phone calls to them instead of appearing in person every other week.
The motion filed by Michael Gorokhovich, Akselrod's attorney, said he and Akselrod were never provided with notice of the detention hearing despite filing a notice of appearance. The motion said Gorokhovich didn't have the opportunity to appear on behalf of his client with regard to pretrial restraints.
He said he contacted the judge's chambers to ask about being heard but was told about the court livestream, where he was able to view the proceeding.
Gorokhovich said Akselrod objected to the release conditions and had the right to be heard.
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He said the conditions, such as no electronic monitoring, no home confinement and no confinement to New Jersey, shouldn't be less lenient than the ones previously established in the other sexual assault case.
Yehudiel's attorneys rejected Gorokhovich's concerns.
"The prosecutor agreed with Mr. Yehudiel that he should be released without any electronic monitoring and be permitted to live with his family. The court agreed," said Vartan and Zach Intrater, another of Yehudiel's attorneys. "Nothing has changed to require a different decision, and Ms. Akselrod’s motion will assuredly be denied."
In his motion, Gorokhovich argued that Yehudiel is not a United States citizen, but an Israeli one, is in the country on a green card, and has no assets, job, business or property.
Gorokhovic said the ties to his wife and daughter are "highly dubious," as she filed for divorce in January 2022, withdrawing the filing in August 2022. Gorokhovich alleges that since Yehudiel's arrest, he has never been to Florida or ever sought to go to Florida but sought to go to a synagogue with his father, go to New York to work in his father's shop and stay with his brother.
He said Yehudiel did not run to fly to Florida after his release, but to Thailand.
"There was never going to be a return ticket to the United States," Gorokhovich said.
Yehudiel rose to fame by appearing on "Chopped" on Food Network in 2020, but the fame was fleeting. He soon became embroiled in sexual assault accusations, subsequently facing two lawsuits claiming sexual harassment, including one by a former employee at his restaurant Humble Toast. He was arrested in March 2022 on charges of assaulting a third person, who prosecutors said was underage.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Teaneck NJ: 'Chopped' chef Shalom Yehudiel release criticized
