A Brooklyn "Chusid Shoiteh" accused of helping members of a Jewish “cult” kidnap two kids who had escaped the religious sect with their frightened mother will be released from prison pending trial, a judge said Tuesday.
White Plains federal Judge Paul Davison ordered Williamsburg resident Aron Rosner released on $10 million bail — despite prosecutors’ claims that he financed the kids’ abduction and even lent their kidnappers a van to pull off the dirty deed.
Rosner, 45, was jailed in December after Manhattan federal prosecutors charged him and three other men with kidnapping two children in an effort to return them to the ultra-Orthodox Lev Tahor sect in Guatemala, known for child brides and burqa-like clothing for women.
The children’s mother, Sara Helbrans, has said she escaped the “cult” after her then-13-year-old daughter was ordered to marry the adult son of a community leader.
Helbrans was granted custody of the kids by a Brooklyn court on Nov. 14 — a month before the men allegedly tried to ferry the children out of the country dressed in secular clothes, including a Superman hat, to escape the attention of law enforcement.
Prosecutors say Rosner acted as the financier to the sordid operation, which he allegedly joined after a group of Lev Tahor men, including his younger brother Mayer Rosner, arrived in NYC from Guatemala looking to get the children back.
The kidnappers used Rosner’s van to take the children, and he allegedly tried to cover up their scheme by telling a cooperating witness in the case “to lie to law enforcement,” Adelsberg said.“He provided financial support directly to the kidnappers,” prosecutor Sam Adelsberg said. “He sent money every couple of days to the kidnappers during the time when the kids were with them.”
Rosner’s lawyer argued that their client is not even a member of the Lev Tahor sect, which is based abroad, and that he only got wrapped up in the case because he wanted to help his little brother with what he thought was a legal custody battle.
“This whole thing is a domestic dispute between between a wife and a husband over their children. That’s what this case is about,” lawyer Henry Mazurek said.
“That’s the beginning. Then it takes a sinister turn,” the judge interrupted. “The part where the children are disguised and taken to Mexico… it’s the cover-up not the kidnapping,” the judge snapped.
Still, Davison granted Rosner bail based in part on his strong ties to Brooklyn, where he lives with six of his nine children.
“Unlike the other defendants, he is a lifelong resident, he has strong family and community ties. He has no criminal history,” the judge said before granting his release on a $10 million bail package that will put nine of Rosner’s friends and family on the hook financially if he flees.
Rosner was also ordered to home detention with GPS monitoring at the Brooklyn residence.
1 comment:
How did this bag of shit get $10 Million?
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