top of page

GUILTY ON ALL CHARGES! Two Lev Tahor Cult Leaders Face Life in Prison after Jury Finds Them Guilty


Two leaders of the Lev Tahor cult have been found guilty by a jury on all charges pertaining to the 2018 Shabbos kidnapping of two children who escaped the cult, and now face life in prison.


Nachman Helbrans and Meyer Rosner, two Lev Tahor officials who were involved in the kidnapping, were found guilty on all six charges they faced, including conspiracy to travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, and conspiracy to commit international parental kidnapping.


“The defendants engaged in a brazen kidnapping of a minor girl in the middle of the night, taking her across the border to Mexico in order to reunite her with her adult ‘husband’ to continue their sexual relationship. These charges send a clear message that the sexual exploitation of children will not be tolerated,” US Attorney Audrey Strauss said when the cultists were charged in 2019.


Top Lev Tahor Leaders Convicted At Trial Of Child Sexual Exploitation And Kidnapping


Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that NACHMAN HELBRANS and MAYER ROSNER were convicted in White Plains federal court of child sexual exploitation offenses and kidnapping following a four-week jury trial. The defendants, leaders of an extremist Jewish sect called Lev Tahor, masterminded a scheme to kidnap a 14-year-old girl (“Minor-1”) and a 12-year-old boy (“Minor-2”) from their mother in Woodridge, New York. The defendants then smuggled the children across the U.S. border to Mexico, where they reunited Minor-1 with her adult “husband” to allow him to continue his illegal sexual relationship with Minor-1.


U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Nachman Helbrans and Mayer Rosner brazenly kidnapped two children from their mother in the middle of the night to return a 14-year-old girl to an illegal sexual relationship with an adult man. Today’s verdict makes clear that our Office – and our law enforcement partners – will not be deterred from achieving justice for victims of child sexual exploitation.”


New Details On Lev Tahor’s Attempt To Enter Iran


A Kikar H’Shabbat report on Monday revealed new details about the attempts of the Lev Tahor cult to enter Iran or other Middle Eastern countries.


The report said that as is well-known by now, Lev Tahor leaders sought asylum in Iran while still living in Guatemala. However, after a long period of time passed and their request wasn’t answered, about 15 cult members traveled to the Kurdistan area of Iraq and met with a government official in an attempt to convince the authorities to allow the cult to settle there.


“We’re a group of 300 people and we just want a place where no one will interfere with the fulfillment of our customs,” they said. The official never got back to them with a clear answer but the cult members quietly worked toward bringing groups of cult members to the country. However, their attempt at operating under the radar was a complete failure as Guatemalan authorities did everything they could to stop them, at the request of US and Israeli officials.


bottom of page