11 complaints have already been received: The tax collector has been arrested on suspicion of serious acts against a child

June 21, 2022   

Investigators at the Petah Tikva police station last week arrested Elad Nissan Levinstein, a city resident who served as a tax collector at a synagogue in the city center, on suspicion of committing serious offenses against minors. These are the changes to the intercity public transportation routes in Jerusalem • All the details The arrest was made after police investigators opened a sensitive undercover investigation about a week ago upon receiving a complaint filed by the mother of a 13-and-a-half-year-old girl, according to which he took her daughter to the synagogue, where he serves as a collector, and committed particularly serious offenses there in recent years. Several days ago, police officers at the station arrested the suspect. The investigation revealed that the suspect had harmed the girl in a synagogue in the city, where he served as a collector, and also in her home. Following the complaint, the Petah Tikva police opened an investigation, which led to two additional complaints from parents, who claim that the suspect had committed serious acts against their children over an extended period. His detention was initially extended in a Petah Tikva court until Sunday, when his detention was extended until Thursday. Judge Nahum Sternlicht of the Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court ruled in his decision: "There is a sufficient evidentiary foundation, and much more than that. This is true both with regard to the first complainant and with regard to the additional cases in which suspicion arose after the last hearing in the suspect's case... In view of the apparent dangerousness arising from the acts attributed to him, I am extending his detention until June 23." Haredim 10 learned that after the investigation was published, 11 (!) more complaints were received within a few days on suspicion of similar offenses against additional children, some of which he allegedly committed in exchange for money. According to a report by Alon Hachmon in Maariv, Levinstein only received a certificate of integrity from the police about 10 months ago, and thanks to it he also began working as a night guard at Akim's home for the helpless in Hadera. According to the report, the publication of the gabbai's arrest led to a wave of angry reactions among the Haredi public in the city and rabbis who know the suspect. "We have long been aware of the suspect's actions," a well-known rabbi told Maariv. "He destroyed his family's nest with his own hands, harmed children, and continued to roam free under the guise of a synagogue tax collector. He even received a certificate of integrity from the police to work in a shelter. It's just terrible. We were aware and nothing happened.". In a conversation with Maariv, the mother of one of his alleged victims claimed: "My daughter was attacked by him about nine years ago, when she was ten years old. It went on for a long time. Everyone claimed that she had attention and concentration problems when she expressed distress. It was only about a year ago, when she began the matchmaking process, that everything erupted. She suffered severe torment because of him. "It is simply delusional that such a person works as a night guard at Akim - an educational institution for the mentally ill in Hadera. I contacted the police in October 2021, and to this day no one has told me anything." The police tell Haredim 10: "The Israel Police are calling on additional victims who were allegedly harmed in a similar way by the suspect to come to the police station nearest their home and file a complaint accordingly.".