Rabbis in Divorce-gang Sting Could Be out on Bail Soon

USA Today
October 17, 2013

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/16/rabbis-fbi-divorce-sting-hearing/2996211/

A rabbi who is charged in a kidnap-torture scheme that used cattle prods to force Orthodox Jewish husbands to grant their wives divorces has been responsible for 20 or so kidnappings, a prosecutor alleged Wednesday.

The remarks of Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Joseph Gribko were made in federal court in Trenton, N.J., during a bail hearing for six of the 10 defendants who were charged in the plot.

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"He's conducted ongoing criminal activity for 20 years," Gribko said of Rabbi Mendel Epstein. "Kidnappings, beatings."

Epstein — who will remain under home confinement at his house in Lakewood, N.J., once released — denies any wrongdoing, his Manhattan-based attorney, Susan Necheles, said in court.

"It's a matter for trial," she said.

“Had we been talking about the mob or the Bloods or the Crips we wouldn't even be discussing a bond in this case. There's no difference between them and these other gangs that engage in violent crime.”

— Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Joseph Gribko

But the case is growing, Gribko said during his appeal to U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Douglas E. Arpert to keep Epstein locked up.

"My phone has not stopped ringing with calls from potential victims," he said, mentioning the hotline for those calls, 800-CALL-FBI. "The threat to the public is ongoing as we speak."

Rejecting those comments, Arpert ruled that Epstein, a prominent ultra-Orthodox divorce mediator in Brooklyn, N.Y., another rabbi, Martin "Mordachai" Wolmark, of Monsey, N.Y., and the four other men could be freed on bail that runs into millions of dollars for some defendants.

Wolmark's Manhattan-based attorney, Marc Agnifilo, said he expects Wolmark, who is the head of Yeshiva Shaarei Torah in Monsey, to be released Friday. There was no word from authorities or defense attorneys on whether any of the other men had worked out the conditions of their bail by Wednesday night.

Arpert ordered home confinement, electronic monitoring and other tight restrictions for all six defendants.

Epstein, 68; Wolmark, 55; Ariel Potash, a 40-year-old traveling salesman; Binyamin Stimler, 38, a psychotherapist and teacher who has a home in Lakewood but is listed as a Brooklyn resident; David Helman, 30, a personal trainer from Far Rockaway, N.Y.; and Sholom Shuchat, 28, the father of two small children — were being held at the Philadelphia Federal Detention Center and were expected to be returned there Wednesday evening.

The yeshiva was raided by the FBI on Oct. 9. Wolmark was set to be released on a $5 million bond secured by two properties that have $2 million in equity. Agnifilo said the bail amount is tied to Wolmark's available assets and "does not reflect his culpability."

His conditions followed those of Epstein's, who is allowed out of his home for medical reasons, to visit his attorney and for religious worship, once during the day and for Shabbat on Friday evening.

Four daughters and Epstein's wife were scheduled to put up five pieces of property totaling more than $4 million in value to secure his release.

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The six men sat shackled in the jury box wearing Army green jumpsuits and black yarmulkes as more than 50 supporters and family members watched the proceedings. Several people rose for the white-bearded Epstein as he was led into the courtroom. A U.S. marshal unlocked his handcuffs, but not those of the others.

Four other defendants — Jay Goldstein, 59, Moshe Goldstein, 30, Simcha Bulmash, 30, and Avrohom Goldstein, 33 — have yet to have bail set and were still being held at the detention center. All the men — including Epstein — are listed as having a hometown of Brooklyn, except for Wolmark, Helman and Bulmash. There was no hometown listed for Bulmash, a New York state resident.

"This man is all about his family," Necheles told Arpert, mentioning Epstein's eight children, more than 50 grandchildren and four great grandchildren. "If he were to flee, all of his children and grandchildren would be out on the street."

“This man is all about his family. If he were to flee, all of his children and grandchildren would be out on the street.”

— Susan Necheles, attorney who represents Rabbi Mendel Epstein

Gribko said none of the men should be released regardless of their religious backgrounds.

"Had we been talking about the mob or the Bloods or the Crips we wouldn't even be discussing a bond in this case," he said. "There's no difference between them and these other gangs that engage in violent crime."

The men are accused of plotting to kidnap, beat and torture — with cattle prods —Jewish husbands reluctant to provide religious divorces, or gets.

If convicted, they could face up to life in prison.

An undercover FBI special agent posed as an Orthodox Jewish wife whose husband was unwilling to consent to divorce, while a second agent posed as the wife's brother, the complaint said. On Aug. 7, both agents called Wolmark to present their case and tell him they were willing to pay a large sum of money to obtain the divorce. Wolmark explained how he could coerce the divorce, but it would be expensive, the complaint said.

Epstein told them the kidnapping would cost $10,000 to pay for the rabbis on the rabbinical court to approve the kidnapping and an additional $50,000 to $60,000 to pay for the "tough guys" who would conduct the beating and obtain the forced get, the complaint said.

According to the complaint, the "tough guys" would use electric cattle prods, karate and handcuffs, and place plastic bags over the heads of husbands.

"We take an electric cattle prod," Epstein said.

"Electric cattle prod, OK," the undercover agent replied.

"If it can get a bull that weighs five tons to move ... you put it in certain parts of his body and in one minute the guy will know," Epstein said, according to the complaint.

A law-enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation said the arrests were the direct result of a 2011 case in which a Lakewood couple, David and Judy Wax, were accused of kidnapping an Israeli national in an attempt to force him to divorce his estranged wife in Israel. Proceedings in that case have been repeatedly postponed since the arrest.