Trenton, NJ – Rabbi Sentenced To Eight Years In Prison In Forced ‘Get’ Case

    18

    Trenton, NJ – An Orthodox Jewish Rabbi was sentenced today to 96 months in prison for conspiring to kidnap Jewish men in an effort to force them to give their wives religious divorces, referred to as “gets,” U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

    Join our WhatsApp group

    Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email


    Jay Goldstein a/k/a “Yaakov,” 61, of Brooklyn, New York, was previously convicted by a federal jury of Count One and Count Five of an indictment charging him with conspiracy to commit kidnapping and attempted kidnapping. Jay Goldstein was convicted following an eight-week trial before U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson, who imposed the sentence today in Trenton federal court.

    According to documents filed in this case and the evidence at trial:

    On Dec. 1, 2009, in Lakewood, an Orthodox Jewish man, Israel Markowitz, was assaulted, placed in a van, tied up, beaten and shocked with a stun-gun until he agreed to give his wife a get.

    On Oct. 16, 2010, in Lakewood, another Orthodox Jewish man, Ysrael Bryskman, was assaulted, tied up and beaten until he agreed to give his wife a get.

    On Aug. 22, 2011, in Brooklyn, another Orthodox Jewish man, Usher Chaimowitz, and his roommate, Menachem Teitlebaum, were assaulted, tied up and beaten until Chaimowitz agreed to give his wife a get.

    Based upon these incidents, the FBI began an undercover operation in August 2013 in which two FBI agents posed as a wife who was seeking a get from her recalcitrant husband, and her brother, who was trying to help her obtain the get. Over the next several weeks, the undercover agents had multiple recorded phone calls and in-person meetings with Mendel Epstein, 70, Lakewood, New Jersey. In those meetings, Epstein arranged to have his team kidnap the husband at a warehouse in exchange for $60,000.

    On Oct. 9, 2013, Jay Goldstein, his sons Moshe Goldstein, 32, and Avrohom Goldstein, 36, and others – including Binyamin Stimler, 40, Simcha Bulmash, 32, David Hellman, 33, Sholom Shuchat, 31, all of Brooklyn, and Ariel Potash, 42, of Monsey, New York – traveled from New York to a warehouse in Middlesex County, New Jersey, to execute the planned kidnapping of the husband to force him to give the get.

    They arrived at the warehouse in two dark minivans shortly after 8:00 p.m. Some of the kidnap team members put on masks and entered the warehouse office with the undercover agent posing as the brother. The remaining kidnappers walked around the outside with flashlights. Over the next 15 minutes, members of the kidnap team went in and out of the warehouse office wearing disguises, including ski masks, Halloween masks and bandanas. They discussed their plan for kidnapping and assaulting the husband, how they planned to grab him, pull him down, tie him up, and take his phone. Members of the kidnap team brought with them to the warehouse a 30-foot nylon rope, a blindfold, vodka, license plates they had switched out, and items used to ceremonially record the get. At 8:23 p.m., law enforcement moved into the warehouse office and arrested the eight men.

    In addition to the prison term, Judge Wolfson sentenced Jay Goldstein to five years of supervised release.

    Avrohom Goldstein, Potash, Shuchat, Moshe Goldstein, Hellman, and Bulmash have all pleaded guilty to one count of traveling in interstate commerce to commit extortion. Avrohom Goldstein and Potash were sentenced Nov. 19, 2015 to 45 and 14 months in prison, respectively. Shuchat was sentenced to time served on Nov. 19, 2015. Moshe Goldstein was sentenced Nov. 16, 2015 to 48 months in prison. Hellman and Bulmash were sentenced Nov. 17, 2015 to 44 and 48 months in prison, respectively. Martin Wolmark, 57, of Monsey, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce to commit extortion and was sentenced Dec. 14, 2015 to 38 months in prison.

    Epstein and Stimler were also previously convicted at trial of Count One of the indictment charging them with conspiracy to commit kidnapping. Stimler was additionally convicted on Count Five of the indictment, attempted kidnapping. Epstein and Stimler were sentenced yesterday to 120 and 39 months in prison, respectively.

    U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Richard M. Frankel in Newark, and the Lakewood Police Department with the investigation.

    The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys R. Joseph Gribko and Sarah M. Wolfe of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Trenton.


    Listen to the VINnews podcast on:

    iTunes | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Podbean | Amazon

    Follow VINnews for Breaking News Updates


    Connect with VINnews

    Join our WhatsApp group


    18 Comments
    Most Voted
    Newest Oldest
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    yaakov doe
    Member
    yaakov doe
    8 years ago

    I have known Yakkov Goldstein for over 25 years and he’s a soft spoken mild mannered sofer who could not intimidate anyone. He was the sofer for many of Rabbi Epstein’s gittin over the years. Such a harsh sentence is an outrage considering his role in the purported crimes.

    8 years ago

    I am surprised and feel bad at the long sentence, as it came very close to Epstein’s who was the head of the criminal enterprise and Goldstein was only the Sofer who never took part in the beatings. Apparently the jury and judge found that his presence and knowledge that the Get was obtained under duress meant that he was a willing participant.
    Now that American law has been addressed we have to address the violation of Torah law namely that all women who got a Get obtained through duress, their remarriages are a sham and the resultant children are at best Sofek Mamzeirim and can marry only other Mamzeirim.
    It is therefore imperative that Rabonim or Askonim establish a data base as each town in Europe had a Pinkus, wherein the name of all women who used Epstein’s goons or his advise to bring false sexual abuse allegations to coerce a Get be fully listed. This way any man that will want to date a divorcee can determine if she will be a suitable Shiduch and in 20 years we will also know when the resultant children become of marriageable age that they are not Mamzeirim. Any idea anyone
    Meanwhile those that married an Epstein woman have to contact their husband and ask for a new Get.

    JoeField1
    JoeField1
    8 years ago

    Good for him.

    PaulinSaudi
    PaulinSaudi
    8 years ago

    He ran an extortion ring that attacked Jewish men in the streets. I think he got off pretty easily.

    8 years ago

    Cattle prods on men’s body parts. Ugh

    mabbie
    mabbie
    8 years ago

    What about dealing with the real issue here…how is it that so many men are allowed to get away with refusing to give a get (and this is sanctioned by so many rabbonim). Taking care of this issue would eliminate the ‘goon squads’ and the extortion!