U.S. Asks Whether Leniency for Rabbi Had Link to a Pataki Backer

Federal prosecutors are examining whether state officials gave lenient treatment to a Hasidic rabbi imprisoned in a widely publicized kidnapping case after appeals were made on his behalf by a fund-raiser for the campaign of Gov. George E. Pataki, officials and others involved in the inquiry say.

State records show that prison officials moved the rabbi, Shlomo Helbrans, from prison into a work-release program even though he was ineligible for the transfer because Federal immigration officials wanted to deport him. The transfer in June 1996 was rescinded after a Federal prosecutor who had brought charges against Rabbi Helbrans protested to state prison officials.

Continue reading (requires NYTimes subscription): https://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/26/nyregion/us-asks-whether-leniency-for-rabbi-had-link-to-a-pataki-backer.html

Computer Replaces Razor for Rabbi's Prison Picture

A conflict between a New York State prison regulation requiring that inmates be photographed clean-shaven and a religious belief that a man's beard must not be touched was resolved in Federal court yesterday through the latest computer technology.

For the first time, New York State accepted a computer-generated image of what an inmate, in this case, Rabbi Shlomo Helbrans, would look like without a beard instead of making him shave for a conventional photograph. The state requires that a bearded inmate be photographedshaven so that he can be more easily identified if he escapes and shaves off his beard.

Continue reading: https://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/29/nyregion/computer-replaces-razor-for-rabbi-s-prison-picture.html

Rabbi Given Prison Term In Kidnapping Of Teen-Ager

Nov 23, 1994

In a courtroom rife with rancorous passion, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi was sentenced yesterday to 4 to 12 years in prison for kidnapping a Jewish teen-ager who disappeared from his family for two years.

Rabbi Shlomo Helbrans, the leader of a small Hasidic sect, was given the prison term after he declared fervently that he was the victim of the kind of "blood libel" that had "cost the lives of millions," and after the youth's mother spoke with equal intensity about losing her son to "people who control his mind."

Continue reading: https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/23/nyregion/rabbi-given-prison-term-in-kidnapping-of-teen-ager.html