NEW JERSEY
CBS New York
TRENTON, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) – Lakewood Rabbi Mendel Epstein is known for helping Orthodox Jewish couples through divorces, but federal prosecutors say he, his son and two other rabbis went too far.
Mendel Epstein is accused of employing a kidnap team to force unwilling Jewish husbands to divorce their wives. The defendants face charges including conspiracy to commit kidnapping and attempted kidnapping stemming from a staged kidnapping in 2013 and three other forced divorces.
When two undercover agents called posing as a brother and sister looking to obtain a divorce from the sister’s unwilling husband, a New York rabbi told them that Mendel Epstein was a “hired hand” who could be “very helpful” to them.
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