Charges dismissed against Houston rabbi who was at center of Aug. 2021 search
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A rabbi accused of grabbing a woman earlier this year and restraining her is no longer facing charges related to the alleged incident.
An unlawful restraint charge against Rabbi Ranon Teller was dismissed this week, according to court documents from Harris County Criminal Court At Law No. 3. No further explanation of the dismissal of the charge was available.
Teller was taken into custody in Aug. 2021 after a woman told police she was grabbed from behind and restrained in the 5400 block of Westheimer Road, HPD said at the time.
Teller was at the center of a search by congregants and loved ones at the time, but it turned out he was in jail on the charge.
Teller was last seen at the Embassy Suites in the Galleria area at about 8 p.m. on a Sunday. At 9:09 p.m. that Monday, Houston police generated a missing person flyer and less than an hour later, ABC13 was notified he had been found. At the time, details were not disclosed, but by the following afternoon, Houston police told ABC13 the rabbi had been in jail.
According to police Teller, who is married, was arrested on Sunday, Aug. 22, at about 10:40 p.m. Officers responded to the 5400 block of Westheimer Road, where a woman said a man had grabbed her from behind and restrained her.
The man was detained and taken to jail, where police say he initially refused to give his name. Teller was eventually identified, charged with unlawful restraint and booked into jail. His bond for the misdemeanor was set at $100, but he did not have to put up any cash. Court records say he was released sometime on Monday, Aug. 23, the day hundreds of people started mobilizing to search for him.
Congregation Brith Shalom declined to comment and neither Teller nor his attorney of record, Janet Kleban, responded to requests for comment.
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