The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York yesterday announced the issuance of a superseding indictment (full text) bringing additional charges against leaders and members of the extremist Jewish sect Lev Tahor. The new indictment in United States v. Helbrans, (SDNY, April 20, 2021) charges defendants with conspiring to transport a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. It also repeats former charges of use of false documents and international parental kidnapping of a girl and her brother. The 250-member Lev Tahor sect is currently based in Guatemala. The indictment stems from initially successful attempts to kidnap and return to Guatemala a 14-year old girl whose uncle had her married in a religious ceremony to a 19-year old member of the sect for purposes of a sexual relationship to procreate. The girl's mother had fled from Guatemala to New York with the girl and her brother. [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]
