FBI: Orthodox rabbi in Lakewood hired 'tough guys' to force religious divorces
Authorities: Suspects OK'd cattle prods, karate to force marital splits
LAKEWOOD — Two Lakewood residents — Mendel Epstein and Binyamin Stimler — were among 10 men arraigned Thursday after they were caught in an FBI sting and charged with planning to kidnap and torture Orthodox Jewish husbands to force them to grant their wives a religious divorce, authorities said.
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. More arrests will follow ''like dominoes,'' the source said.
The Wax case has been stalled in federal court for the past two years.
Two of those charged are rabbis – Epstein, who also lives in Brooklyn, and Mordechai ''Martin'' Wolmark of Monsey, N.Y. All 10 were arraigned in federal court in Trenton Thursday afternoon, where a judge ordered them all held without bail pending hearings next week, at a date to be determined.
Watch the videos above to hear a documentary filmmaker talk about Epstein, see scenes from an FBI raid at a yeshiva in New York and see a film clip featuring Epstein.
Threats and torture
The men used intimidation, threats and physical torture — including an electric cattle prod — to convince reluctant Orthodox Jewish husbands to grant religious divorces to their wives, authorities said.
''It was not about religion,'' said Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Joseph Gribko, who estimated the group previously conducted 24 kidnappings to achieve forced divorces. ''Frankly, even if it was about religion, you shouldn't be able to torture people to get them to do things.''
According to Jewish law, in order to grant a divorce, a husband has to provide his wife with a document called a ''get.'' However, a wife can also sue for divorce in a rabbinical court, called ''beth din,'' which orders the husband to issue the get, the complaint said
