Feds charge extremist Jewish sect Lev Tahor with exploiting, kidnapping children

US Federal authorities filed child exploitation and child abduction charges against leaders of an extremist Haredi Orthodox sect that has been accused of forcing girls as young as 12 years old into marriages with much older men within the sect.

Five leaders of the Lev Tahor group were charged by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and FBI Monday with crimes related to an alleged forced marriage in 2017 and a 2018 kidnapping.

The charges include conspiring to transport a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and conspiring to travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. The first charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and maximum of lifetime in prison; the second carries a maximum of 30 years in prison.

Continue reading at https://www.timesofisrael.com/feds-charge-extremist-jewish-sect-lev-tahor-with-exploiting-kidnapping-children/

Lev Tahor Leaders Charged With Child Exploitation Offenses

Leaders of Extremist Jewish Sect Charged with Participating in a Scheme to Kidnap 14-Year-Old Girl and Return Her to Sexual Relationship with Adult “Husband”

Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and William F. Sweeney Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced new charges against NACHMAN HELBRANS, MAYER ROSNER, YAKOV WEINGARTEN, SHMIEL WEINGARTEN, and YOIL WEINGARTEN for conspiring to (1) transport a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and (2) travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, in connection with the kidnapping of a 14-year-old girl (“Minor-1”) from New York to reunite her with her adult “husband” outside the United States for purposes of continuing their sexual relationship. The defendants, among other members of Lev Tahor, were previously charged with several other crimes related to the kidnapping of Minor-1 and her younger brother.

Continue reading at https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/lev-tahor-leaders-charged-child-exploitation-offenses

Leader of extremist ultra-Orthodox sect Lev Tahor arrested in Guatemala

JTA — A leader of an extremist ultra-Orthodox Jewish group was arrested Sunday in Guatemala.

Guatemalan authorities arrested Yaakov Weinstein of Lev Tahor on the first day of Passover, the US Orthodox news site Yeshiva World News reported.

Weinstein was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping children, according to the Israeli news site Kikar Hashabbat.

Continue reading at https://www.timesofisrael.com/leader-of-extremist-ultra-orthodox-sect-lev-tahor-arrested-in-guatemala/