Lev Tahor members found guilty in plots to kidnap children in Woodridge
Two men in an extremist Jewish sect called Lev Tahor have been convicted in schemes to kidnap two children from Sullivan County, officials said.
A jury in White Plains federal court found Mordechay Malka and Matityau Malka guilty of their roles in trying to kidnap a 14-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy from their mother in Woodridge in 2018, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Thursday. The children's father is a leader of Lev Tahor who did not have custody of them and was prohibited from communicating with them.
Members of Lev Tahor kidnapped the children in 2018 and smuggled them into Mexico and brought the girl to her adult "husband," who religiously "married" her when she was 13, officials said. Authorities found the children and reunited them with their mother, officials said, then men tried to kidnap the children again in March 2019.
Two other men, Nachman Helbrans and Mayer Rosner, were previously convicted in this case. They were found guilty of kidnapping and sexual exploitation in October 2021 and were each sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Sentenced: Two men sent to prison for kidnapping children in Woodridge
Guilty: Lev Tahor members convicted in Sullivan County kidnapping
Kidnapping: Members of extremist sect charged in Sullivan kidnapping
Lev Tahor has been active in a few countries, including the United States, Canada, Guatemala, Israel and Mexico, officials said. In October 2018, they said, the children's mother fled Lev Tahor's Guatemala compound for New York, where she was granted sole custody of the children.
In December 2018 members of Lev Tahor, including Mordechay Malka, took the children from their Woodridge home one night and brought them to Mexico, officials said. The scheme involved aliases, disguises, drop phones, phony travel documents, an encrypted application and a secret pact to execute their kidnapping plan. At the time, officials said, Lev Tahor leaders were seeking asylum for their entire community in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The children were found and reunited with their mother in New York after a three-week search. In March 2019, though, Helbrans tried to orchestrate another kidnapping of the children while he was incarcerated in Westchester County, officials said. Matityau Malka tried to execute that second kidnapping, they said.
The Malkas, both Guatemala residents, were convicted of conspiring to commit international parental kidnapping, to unlawfully use a means of identification, and to enter by false pretenses the secure area of an airport.
Mordechay Malka, 27, was also convicted of two counts of international parental kidnapping. Matityau Malka, 30, was also convicted of attempted international parental kidnapping. It was not immediately clear when they will be sentenced.
Their lawyers could not immediately be reached for comment.
The investigation included the FBI, Customs and Border Protection, Department of State, Transportation Security Administration, New York State Police, Rockland County Sheriff’s Department, Sullivan County District Attorney’s Office, Spring Valley police, special agents with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and law enforcement agencies in Mexico, Guatemala, Canada, and Israel.
Matt Spillane covers breaking news throughout the Hudson Valley. Click here for his latest stories. Follow him on Twitter @MattSpillane. Check out our latest subscription offers here.
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Lev Tahor members convicted in plan to kidnap Sullivan County children
