UPDATE: Israel Weingarten Sentenced To 30 Years In Federal Prison

MONSEY RABBI SENTENCED TO 30 YEARS FOR SEXUAL ABUSE OF DAUGHTER
By Akiko Matsuda • The Journal News • May 8, 2009
NEW YORK, NY - A Monsey rabbi was sentenced today to 30 years in prison for taking his daughter out of the country to sexually abuse her.
Rabbi Israel Weingarten, 59, represented himself during a weeklong trial in March in federal court in Brooklyn. He cross-examined witnesses, including the victim, now 27, the second-oldest of his eight children with his ex-wife, Feige. The childrens ages range from 13 to 29.
Weingarten yesterday told the court that he really didnt want to represent himself, but felt he had no choice because the two attorneys supplied to him were not satisfactory.
Federal Judge John Gleeson said the rabbi chose to defend himself in order to cross-examine the victim in an attempt to control her again. You seemed to enjoy yourself in a perverse sort of way, Gleeson said. Its hard to make a crime like this worse, but you did.
The jury convicted Weingarten on all five counts of transporting the victim in foreign commerce with intent and for the purpose of sexually abusing her during the spring and summer of 1997.
On each of the five counts, U.S. District Court Judge John Gleeson yesterday sentenced him to 10 years followed by three years of supervised release. The jail time for three counts will run consecutively and two concurrently, resulting in a 30-year imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release.
Prior to the sentencing, the victim and her older brother, 29, read statements detailing the horrors of being physically and mentally abused by their father. They said their father brainwashed his children as well as his wife.
Your honor, I dont think I would ever be able to forgive what my father has done to my sister and to my siblings, the older brother said. Im not going to forgive him for causing great pain and suffering to me and my dear sister.
As she read her statement, the victim was shaking and choked up with tears. She said her emotional trauma because of her abused past still haunted her, sometimes making it difficult for her to control her anger and fear.
When she saw a father with his daughter at a camping site last year, for example, her heart raced because she thought she had to help protect the daughter from Weingarten.
I felt like you were just right there, the victim told Weingarten. I couldnt see the daughters father, I saw your face.
After the jurys verdict, later in March, Weingarten hired a new attorney, Demosthenes Lorandos of Ann Arbor, Mich. Lorandos filed a memorandum with Gleeson, seeking a motion to set aside the verdict and to grant a new trial.
Lorandos stated in court papers that Weingarten never waived his right to have an attorney and that he did not have a fair trial without adequate representation.
The motion was denied.
Weingartens younger six children are firmly supporting their father.
His daughter Chayeh Weingarten, 23, and her sister Chaneh, 20, testified during the trial that their mother was the one who had molested their older sister.
As Weingarten was making his final statement prior to sentencing yesterday, two of his sons, Yoil, 24 and Yakev, 18, cried out loud and were silenced by the judge.
Half of the courtroom was filled with Weingartens supporters from the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, including several rabbis.
Lorandos told the court that the entire truth did not come out during the trial.
Judge Gleeson said he will never forget the victim, now 27, begging him from the witness stand to order Weingarten never to speak her name again. If I live to 100, thats an image I will take to my grave.
After the sentencing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Goldbarg, who led the prosecution, gave a long hug to the victim, celebrating the ending.
Weingartens supporters were upset with the outcome.
My father is not guilty, and we are not brainwashed, Chayeh Weingarten said. Were going to appeal.
Weingarten has 10 days to appeal
Poor Izzy. Thirty years in a federal pen. So sad, so sad. And, as I always enjoy pointing out, there is NO PAROLE in the federal prison system, so chances are the old diddling cocksucker will die in prison.
A big thank you goes to Ben Zona for sending us Izzys sentencing information straight from the Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn. Ben was also the person who originally tipped me off to Izzys story
-Max
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