A federal judge in the White Plains District Court in New York sentenced Nachman Helbrantz, leader of the Lev Tahor sect, to 12 years in prison today (Thursday). .
He was convicted late last year on six counts for his role in the kidnapping of two children from Brooklyn to Mexico, on the Sabbath, in 2018, and for abuse.
According to the prosecution, Helbrantz did not show "one ounce of remorse for his behavior." Helbrantz, for his part, claimed that he was punished "only because I am a loyal Jew.".
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After serving his sentence, he will be placed under five years of supervision as a felon in serious offenses.
The same sentence was also handed down to Meir Rosner, one of the cult leaders, for kidnapping and abusing children.
Helbrantz and Rosner were convicted at the beginning of the month of Kislev on all six charges filed against them.
The two were accused of kidnapping a minor brother and sister, who had left the Lev Tahor sect with their mother. Halbrancz and the children were disguised as Gentiles at the time of the kidnapping. He was captured by Mexican authorities, in cooperation with FBI agents, immediately after he landed with the children at an airport in Mexico.
The kidnapping took place on Saturday night. The Lev Tahor members were seen getting into a car around 3 a.m. in Brooklyn. The kidnapped children were driven from there to an airport in Pennsylvania, from where they took off for Mexico City on Saturday.
A federal judge has just sentenced Lev Tahor cult leader, Nachman Helbrans, to 12 years in prison followed by 5 years of supervised release for the 2018 kidnapping of two children who escaped the cult. The sentencing for a second cult leader, Mayer Rosner, is ongoing. pic.twitter.com/QLFrAgYFkm
— Hertfordshire Friends of Israel 🇮🇱🎗️ (@HertfordshireI) March 31, 2022
According to the indictment, they kidnapped the minors from their mother, abused them, starved them, and robbed them of their freedom.
U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said when the indictment was filed against them in 2019: “The defendants engaged in the kidnapping of a minor girl in the middle of the night, and transported her across the border into Mexico in order to reunite her with her adult ‘husband’, to continue their relationship. These charges send a clear message that we will not tolerate the exploitation of children.".
Several other members of the Lev Tahor sect have been arrested in connection with the affair, including brothers Yoel, Yaakov and Shmuel Weingarten - who were arrested by Guatemalan authorities last year. They are expected to be extradited to the United States, where they will face indictment and trial.
Three other detainees from the cult are reportedly cooperating with US authorities.
The Lev Tahor sect was founded by Shlomo Helbrantz, an Israeli convert, in the 1980s. He drowned in a river in Mexico in 2017. Since then, leadership has passed to his son Nachman Helbrantz, along with Meir Rosner, Yankel, and Yoel Weingarten.
Cult experts say that Helbrantz Jr. is even more extreme and aggressive than his late father.
The cult has moved over the years from New York to Canada, and from there to Guatemala. In recent months they tried to reach Iran, but were blocked. Since then they have been wandering between European countries.
