A Lakewood rabbi pleaded guilty today to his role in a bizarre plot to kidnap an Israeli man so that he would agreed to give his wife a divorce.
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U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman announced that David Wax, a Lakewood rabbi, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to commit kidnapping.
TRENTON — A rabbi pleaded guilty today to masterminding a bizarre plot to lure an Israeli man to his Lakewood home where he was handcuffed, blindfolded and beaten until he agreed to give his wife a “get,” a religious divorce under Orthodox Jewish law, federal prosecutors say.
David Wax, 51, pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to commit kidnapping during an appearance before U.S. District Court Judge Freda Wolfson in Trenton.
He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison at his sentencing on Aug. 19, as well as a $250,000 fine.
Prosecutors say Wax was paid $100,000 by the wife’s family to obtain the religious divorce -- known as a get -- and his co-conspirators received another $50,000.
Without a husband’s consent to the get, women are typically prevented from remarrying under Orthodox Jewish law.
Wax was charged with the crime in July 2011.
A criminal complaint filed then details the lengths Wax and others went to persuade the Israeli man into relenting to the get after his repeated refusals.
The victim was living with a cousin in Brooklyn after leaving Israel, according to a complaint filed by the FBI.
On Oct. 17, 2010, Wax lured the man to his Lakewood home by telling him that he would be working on Talmudic books that Wax – a Jewish scholar –was publishing, according to the complaint.
When he arrived he was brought upstairs to a second-floor bedroom and beaten for several hours, the complaint says. His legs and arms were bound and he was forced to lie face down on the floor, it adds.
Wax, sporting a cowboy hat, placed a dark-colored body bag over the victim and told him that if he didn’t agree to the get and relinquish custody of his children, he would be buried somewhere in the Pocono Mountains, the complaint said.
After the victim agreed to the get, Wax forced him to call his father in Israel. Wax, according to the complaint, then demanded the father transfer $100,000 to the wife’s family, telling him that he would be killed if he didn’t comply.
The victim’s father recorded the call, the complaint says. “For you, there’s a special gift,” Wax told the father, according to the complaint. “It’s called a bullet…in your head.”
The victim was then driven back to Brooklyn in a car driven by Judy Wax, Wax’s wife, the complaint says. The criminal case against Judy Wax is pending.
Wax’s attorney, Mitchell Ansell, could not immediately be reached for comment.
The investigation was led by agents of the FBI.
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