A rabbi who taught at a prestigious Jewish day school planned to plead guilty to molesting three students while he was teaching at the school in the 1970s, but he backed away from the plea

Judge Carol Ball said that Rabbi Stanley Levittown, 65, should have had the courtesy to handle his decision differently and added insult to injury when he changed his mind at the last minute and decided not to plead guilty to four counts of indecent assault and battery. The judge's anger was fueled by the fact that the three victims had traveled significant distances to be at the rabbi's sentencing to give victim impact statements. Instead, the rabbi will go to trial on May 14, 2012. The victims were all students at the Maimonides School in Brookline. One of the victims said that he was very disappointed but that he will come back to testify at the trial and tell the truth. His attorney, Mitchell Garabedian, said that his client was revictimized by the rabbi's last-minute change of mind. The prosecution had agreed to a sentence of probation, but sources said that was now off the table. If Levitt is convicted by a jury at trial, the government will recommend he be sent to prison.