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, 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 activity, and (2) travel with intent to engage in illicit 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 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.
U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss stated: “As alleged, the defendants engaged in a brazen kidnapping of a minor girl in the middle of the night, taking her across the border to Mexico in order to reunite her with her adult ‘husband’ to continue their…relationship. These charges send a clear message that the…exploitation of children will not be tolerated.”
FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. stated: “International borders will not stop the FBI from pursuing justice and enforcing violations of our laws, especially when you target children. The behavior alleged today is outrageous, and there is no justification for it whatsoever. We are grateful for the excellent cooperation from our partners in Mexico and Guatemala who helped us hold these leaders of Lev Tahor accountable for their behavior. Protecting innocent children should be a priority for all of society – it’s certainly one of ours. If you know of children who are being trafficked, please contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or fbi.tips.gov.”
According to the allegations contained in the Superseding Indictment, other court filings, and statements made during court proceedings:
NACHMAN HELBRANS, MAYER ROSNER, YAKOV WEINGARTEN, SHMIEL WEINGARTEN, and YOIL WEINGARTEN are U.S. citizens and senior leaders of Lev Tahor, an extremist Jewish sect previously based in New York and Canada, and currently based in Guatemala. HELBRANS became the leader of Lev Tahor in or about 2017. After HELBRANS and his leadership team took over, they seized tight control over the group and embraced several extreme practices, including strict, invasive monitoring of members, frequent beatings, and forced marriages of minors to adult members. Children in Lev Tahor are often subject to physical, sexual, and emotional abuse.
In or about 2017, HELBRANS arranged for his then-12-year-old niece, Minor-1, to be “married” to a then-18-year-old man, defendant JACOB ROSNER. They were religiously “married” the following year, when Minor-1 was 13 and JACOB ROSNER was 19, and immediately began a sexual relationship with the goal of procreation. They were never legally married. Lev Tahor leadership, including the defendants, required young brides to have sex with their husbands, to tell people outside Lev Tahor that they were not married, to pretend to be older, and to deliver babies inside their homes instead of at a hospital, partially to conceal from the public the mothers’ young ages.
In or about October 2018, the mother of Minor-1 (who is also HELBRANS’s sister) determined that it was no longer safe for her children to remain in the Lev Tahor community in Guatemala. The mother escaped from the group’s compound and arrived in the United States in early November 2018. Also in November 2018, a Brooklyn family court granted her temporary custody of the children and prohibited the children’s father, a leader within Lev Tahor, from communicating with the children.
After the mother fled and settled in New York with her children, the defendants devised a plan to return Minor-1, then 14 years old, to Guatemala and to her then-20-year-old “husband” so that they could resume their sexual relationship and procreate. In December 2018, they executed their plan, kidnapping Minor-1 and her brother in the middle of the night from a home in New York and transporting them through various states and, eventually, to Mexico. During this time, Lev Tahor leadership was seeking asylum for the entire Lev Tahor community in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Following a three-week search involving scores of local, federal, and international law enforcement entities, Minor-1 and her brother were recovered in Mexico and returned to New York. On two additional occasions, in or about March 2019 and March 2021, members of Lev Tahor again tried to kidnap Minor-1 and her brother.
* * *
NACHMAN HELBRANS, 39, of Guatemala, MAYER ROSNER, 44, of Guatemala, YAKOV WEINGARTEN, 30, of Guatemala, SHMIEL WEINGARTEN, 25, of Guatemala, and YOIL WEINGARTEN, 32, of Guatemala, are charged with (1) conspiring to transport a minor with intent to engage in criminal activity, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison; and (2) conspiring to travel with intent to engage in illicit conduct, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge.
The Superseding Indictment also includes charges that were previously brought against the defendants and other members of Lev Tahor. Specifically, it charges NACHMAN HELBRANS, MAYER ROSNER, YAKOV WEINGARTEN, SHMIEL WEINGARTEN, YOIL WEINGARTEN, MORDECHAY MALKA, 26, of Guatemala, ARON ROSNER, 47, of Brooklyn, New York, JACOB ROSNER, 21, of Guatemala, and MATITYAU MOSHE MALKA, 29, of Guatemala, with conspiring to kidnap, unlawfully use a means of identification, and enter by false pretenses the secure area of an airport, and charges three additional counts of international parental kidnapping.
Ms. Strauss praised the outstanding work of the FBI, the New York State Police, the Sullivan County District Attorney’s Office, United States Customs and Border Protection, the Village of Spring Valley Police Department, and our law enforcement partners in Mexico and Guatemala.
This case is being handled by the Office’s White Plains Division. Assistant United States Attorneys Sam Adelsberg, Jamie Bagliebter, and Jim Ligtenberg are in charge of the prosecution.
The charges contained in the Superseding Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
{Matzav.com}
Will these district attorney’s be allowed to take a break from the President Trump’s personal tax return of 1986 in order to pursue Lev Tomei?
Sadly this poor kid needs a גט and the likelihood of her getting one with these meshugene animal pedophiles is near nill. Rachmanus!
Good riddance. Lock them up for life, and free lev tahor victims
It’s time to put the entire cult permanently out of business. Yes, because it is nothing but a fraudulent business that preys on the feeble minded.
A disclaimer: personally, I am not a fan of this Lev Tahor group, to say the least. However, these charges are basically for setting up shiduchim, all voluntary, nobody was physically forced, the “kidnapping” is statutory – the girl went willingly. For arbitrary and perverted reasons, the completely immoral and promiscuous goyishe government deems illegal a union of under 18 for purposes of marriage and procreation, but the same government encourages the same people under 18 to engage in perversions of all kinds. There is nothing wrong with getting voluntarily married at an age that Torah deems to be an adult. Whoever is or is not psychologically mature is a personal matter – some people are psychologically ready at 22, some at 17, some at the age when Torah deems one an adult. After all, most contemporary Americans are not mature even in their 40’s – certainly, no reasonable person will argue that it should be illegal to procreate until the age of 48 or something like that.
By the way, dina demalchusa doesn’t apply here, because prevu urvu is a mitzvah which clearly takes precedence. Additionally, the under 18 laws are not kept by the same government as is exhibited by the governmental encouragement of promiscuity and perversion amongst the public school students and irreversible hormone treatments for kids even younger than the puberty age.
This particular guy may or may not be a sheigetz on a personal and ideological level, but we don’t have a choice but to unite in opposition to the perverted secular society that’s trying to use the 400 lbs gorilla of government enforcement to impose their immoral values upon our community. So, be kind: all the judenrat jerks should control their vile impulses and resist throwing their self-righteous accusations.
What is there crime?? Teaching toyra??!!! This is a attash of are rihgts. Stad up yiddin an gib ah gishrey shoune.
COnsidering that probably some sort of “kiddushun” was made with these minors, was anyone able to arrange a “get” for them from these “husbands”?
notice the dirty tricks by the US prosecutor, which basically is a form of torture and a mockery of habeas corpus. It goes like this:A US prosecutor asks some small Latin American country to detain you while you are on their territory. The US government is not the one officially detaining you, so the US prosecutor does not go in front of a judge and doesn’t officially charge you with anything; officially, the prosecutor is just “investigating” you, and there isn’t an extradition request either. So you end up in some small Latin American country jail torture chamber, and if you ask the local judge to be released, they’ll say can’t do because Americans, and if you ask the US prosecutor to extradite you, they’ll drag their “investigation” for years without extraditing you. The entire racket is designed to break you and to make you admit to any charges, waiving away your right to a trial by jury. After a few weeks in a thoroughly corrupt and ultra violent Latin American jail, you’ll admit to everything, including being DB Cooper who just happened to pour cement over Jimmy Hoffa, after being the one who actually shot the Kennedy – don’t mind that you were born decades later. You’ll “admit” to anything just to be extradited sooner.
In conclusion, even if the Lev Tahor guy is a rasha, he is still our rasha, and it is our responsibility to support him in this particular case where he is being “legally” tortured by what seems as a corrupt prosecutor. If there’s no extradition request, then the guy should not have been arrested and thrown in a banana republic jail. Period. The only valid retort, to prove me wrong, would be if the suspect gets flown to the US today or tomorrow, and has a chance to face his accusers in court.that some aggressive prosecutor is using dirty tactics to torture a Jew.Let’s examine: First, what makes this particular guy a rasha; after all, “kidnapping” children is very likely assisting one of divorced parents to take their kids contrary to a goyishe court decision – these kids are not exactly kidnapped to work in coal mines, and would still be raised by one of their parents. As tragic as it may be for the other parent, these kids are relatively fine with the other parent. Second, even if we have a rasha in our midsts, we should not discard our brothers; teach a lesson with a baseball bat if you must(not that I am recommending). Even arovos have a place in our lulav bundle.
Cohen EM 11:45, thanks for reposting my comment from a few weeks ago. However, please keep in mind that the comment was referring to the US prosecutor circumventing the habeas corpus by using a lawless foreign country to hold an American citizen in torturous conditions, without requesting an extradition, all in order to force an admission of guilt.
But no word from Hillary, Obama, the queen and other elite criminals who’ve committed crimes against children million times worse. See DUMBs.
The “beatings” allegations were disproven in Quebec court. As to the rest, I don’t know. But matzav seems to like running loose with all allegations. This is shameful.
A malignant Jewish Cult, hiding under a legitimate ‘Frum’ Umbrella.
Their “Leaders” are Pedophiles, & “Reshoim” & should be prosecuted to the full extent as provided by the Criminal Law of the Land!!
“U BeArta HaRa MeKirbecha”. Deuteronomy; 21:21. As prescribed by Scripture for All evil acts!!
Seen them up close and in person.
Can’t speak to the allegations here. But a dangerous bunch they are.
Alteh Bucher