Perlmutter pleaded guilty to numerous offenses of drug supply, use of a dangerous poison, indecent acts, abuse of a helpless person, theft, invasion of privacy, and deprivation of the ability to resist. The amended indictment to which he pleaded guilty stated that Perlmutter brought the women to a state where they were unconscious and unable to resist his actions. While they were unconscious, he committed indecent acts against them, abused them, and violated their privacy. He undressed some of them and documented sexual contact with them using a hidden camera he installed in the bedroom of his home without their knowledge or consent, and he shaved the heads of three women.
In its sentencing arguments, the Tel Aviv District Attorney’s Office, represented by Adv. Lilach Shtibel, requested a very severe sentence for Perlmutter due to aggravating circumstances – multiple victims, a similar and cruel modus operandi, exploitation, humiliation, and planning – which necessitate a very severe sentence. She emphasized that Perlmutter “hunted” the complainants, exploited power imbalances and their desperate situations, and saw them as “easy prey” for satisfying his cruel sexual urges, and that his expressed “remorse” should not be accepted as it is motivated solely by personal interest.
Judge Shmuel Melamed noted in the verdict that Perlmutter “exploited their weakened state and presented himself as a ‘philanthropist, helper, and savior’ (using a religious facade as a source of trust) to establish emotional and physical control over them, thereby exploiting their dependence and rendering them helpless.” He further wrote that “the defendant carefully chose victims from the social margins (homeless women, drug addicts, prostitutes). He knew it would be difficult for them to complain and that they had no family or financial support.”
The verdict stated that “shaving the women’s heads (in 3 cases) while they were unconscious is a sadistic act intended to humiliate, erase identity, and inflict aesthetic and psychological disfigurement. This is a heinous act that leaves the victim with a daily visual reminder of the harm for a long period. The use of women as dolls while they were unconscious/sleeping – undressing them, placing objects (paper) on them, touching them, and photographing them – indicates their perception as objects for fulfilling whims rather than as human beings. Photographing the women in these humiliating situations (naked, with shaved heads, helpless) constitutes a severe violation of privacy and perpetuates the humiliation.”
Adv. Lilach Shtibel said after the verdict: “The defendant committed extremely serious acts, exceptional in the context of cases brought before the courts, with distinct elements of cruelty, humiliation, and degradation, with some of the women carrying the harm they sustained as a ‘mark of Cain’ for a long time. The court sent a clear and unequivocal message in its verdict of protection for complainants belonging to a particularly vulnerable population and subject to exploitation.”
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