FBI divorce sting nets 2 rabbis

Sometimes, religion and divorce can make for some strange relationships. This became particularly true when a recent FBI divorce sting operation ended with the arrest of two New Jersey rabbis.

According to FBI reports, the rabbis were implicated in a plot to kidnap and torture a man in order to obtain a religious divorce. The FBI complaint stated that the accused rabbis netted thousands of dollars from Jewish women and their families in order to gain "gets," which as the complaint stated are a form religious divorces from as-stated "recalcitrant husbands."

The sting occurred in lieu of a $50,000 price to hire, according to FBI, what one suspect called "tough guys" who carry out kidnappings and torture scenarios on husbands with the use of electric cattle prods and plastic bags pulled over their heads.

Rockland County in New York and Ocean and Middlesex counties in New Jersey are where the investigation occurred, in which two additional suspects were netted along with the two rabbis.

Comprising a two-person FBI undercover team, a woman, who posed as a Jewish wife, and her brother allegedly approached the rabbis in which she voiced her desire for a divorce. The complaint goes on to state that the agents met with the suspect in his home in Ocean County, where he spoke of "kidnapping, beating and torturing husbands in order to force a divorce."

During a videotaped conversation, the suspect is quoted as saying, "Basically what we are going to be doing is kidnapping a guy for a couple of hours and beating him up and torturing him and then getting him to give the get."

As to the cattle prod, the suspect continued: "If it can get a bull that weighs 5 tons to move ... you put it in certain parts of his body and in one minute, the guy will know."

The suspected rabbi went on to say that he and several others participated in a kidnapping of this nature each year or year-and-a-half at a cost of $10,000 for a rabbinical court for the action's approval. In additional $50,000 - $60,000 was needed to carry out the "tough guy" or torture aspect of the scenario.

In response, the FBI wired the rabbi $20,000.

As part of the sting operation, a rabbinical court was recently held in Rockland County in which all four defendants attended. It was there that the use of violence sanctioned.

Divorce is never pretty, and in some extremes, ultimately an ugly event, such as what can be seen in this article. To obtain a proper divorce in the proper legal manner recognized by the court system, make sure you have the correct legal counsel for such an event.

Source:  ABCnews.go.com, "2 Rabbis Among 4 Charged in FBI Divorce Sting" No author given, Oct. 10, 2013