UPDATED::YWN EXCLUSIVE: LEV TAHOR CULT LEADERS ARRESTED | Yeshiva World News

UPDATE::  Jewish ‘cult’ members now facing lesser charges in alleged kidnap plot 

Alleged members of the extremist Jewish group Lev Tahor are now facing lesser charges in the alleged kidnapping two Orthodox children from their mother in New York last year, according to an indictment unsealed this week.

The defendants were initially hit with federal kidnapping charges, which carry a ten-year mandatory minimum sentence.

But the new indictment shows that five men — Nachman Helbrans, Mayer Rosner, Aaron Rosner, Jacob Rosner and Matitya Moshe Malka — face just three counts of international parental kidnapping, which has a three-year maximum sentence, along with a related conspiracy charge.

Prosecutors allege the members of Lev Tahor, which translates to “Pure Heart” in Hebrew, kidnapped Yante Teller, 14, and Chaim Teller, 12, in December by disguising them and flying them out of an airport in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Several leaders of the Lev Tahor Cult have just been taken into police custody, YWN has learned exclusively.

They were apprehended in Mexico, in a joint operation between Interpol and the FBI. Police raided two out of three Lev Tahor owned properties in the country in the middle of the night.

Additionally, as YWN has previously reported, there are a few families of Guatemalans that became Geirim through Lev Tahor but eventually left the cult after learning first hand how horrific the lifestyle was. These families remained Frum Yidden and are living in Guatemala City. When police made the arrests in Mexico, a young child from one of these families was found to be in the Lev Tahor “safe house” in Mexico. This child has now been reunited with his mother in Guatemala.
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Charges may include: Kidnapping, sexual abuse, running a cult, extortion, intimidation, child abuse and many other charges.

YWN EXCLUSIVE: LEV TAHOR CULT LEADERS ARRESTED | Yeshiva World News

Pastor pleads no contest to bilking fellow Christian out of $150,000 | Local News | ravallirepublic.com

A pastor who helped bilk a fellow Christian out of $150,000 has until Dec. 18 to repay his portion of restitution, or face a 10-year commitment to the Montana Department of Corrections, with five years suspended.

James “Jeb” Bryant, 57, pleaded no contest Tuesday to three felony charges in connection with a 2008 securities scam that involved a fake structural panel business in Mexico.

Bryant’s partner, Harris Himes, who was pastor of the Big Sky Christian Center in Hamilton, was convicted in 2013 on felony securities fraud charges for his role in the case. Himes served 90 days in jail as part of a 10-year-suspended sentence and was ordered to repay his congregant, Geoff Serata.

Pastor pleads no contest to bilking fellow Christian out of $150,000 | Local News | ravallirepublic.com

UPDATED::Texas church members accused of starving ‘demon-possessed’ toddler and then trying to resurrect him

UPDATE::  Pastor who starved toddler to death to exorcise demon gets 99 years in prison  

Aracely Meza cradles the limp body of a 2-year-old boy, praying for God to bring the starved toddler back to life.

The moment was captured on videos that a Dallas County jury watched this week before finding the Balch Springs pastor guilty Friday of felony injury to a child causing serious bodily injury. 

The 52-year-old will serve 99 years in prison for Benjamin Aparicio's starvation death, one month before his third birthday. Jurors also ordered Meza to pay a $10,000 fine.

This just sickens me to no end and highlights the unadulterated dangers of belief in a fairytale,,,

A Texas couple fled to Mexico after a failed attempt to raise a starved toddler from the dead, police said.

Officers received an anonymous tip March 26 that the 2-year-old boy had died nearly a week earlier but was not reported, according to NBC News.

Police went to a Balch Springs home, which also operated as a church, where they were told a “rising ceremony” had been performed four days earlier in an attempt to resurrect him, the network reported.

The child’s body was taken to Mexico the next day by his parents and other members of the Congregacional Pueblo De Dios, police said.

Investigators have not yet located the parents or church congregants.

Video of the ceremony appears to show Aracely Meza, the church’s secretary, praying and speaking in tongues over the toddler’s body, which she anoints with oils, as other congregants gather around.

Texas church members accused of starving ‘demon-possessed’ toddler and then trying to resurrect him

Missing teen located in Mexico, 45-year-old man arrested, authorities say - CBS News

Authorities say a missing Pennsylvania teenager and a 45-year-old man who frequently signed her out of school without her parents' permission have been located in Mexico, and the man has been arrested. The Allentown Morning Call reports U.S. and Mexican authorities found Kevin Esterly and 16-year-old Amy Yu in Playa del Carmen on Saturday. They are being returned to the U.S.
Esterly was taken into custody and will face a charge of interference with the custody of a child when he arrives in Pennsylvania.

The newspaper reports police have told Amy's mother that her daughter was found unharmed.
Esterly and Amy had been missing since March 5. Police issued a missing person alert and filed a warrant for Esterly's arrest.

Yu's mother told CBS News' Meg Oliver earlier this month that her daughter was taken by a man who befriended their family at church -- someone she had trusted.


Missing teen located in Mexico, 45-year-old man arrested, authorities say - CBS News

Warrant out for alleged child molester | Local News Stories | nogalesinternational.com

Local authorities are searching for a Rio Rico man accused of child molestation who appears to have fled the area.

Mario Montano, 60, is accused of one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child that allegedly occurred between August 2010 through August 2011. He is also accused of two counts of furnishing harmful items to minors – child and adult pornography – between August 2010 and Sept. 15, 2010.

The felony charges were filed at Nogales Justice Court on Feb. 27, a day before a warrant was taken out for Montano’s arrest.
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The email alleges that Montano fled to the Mexican state of Sonora, was an elder at the Spanish-language Seventh-day Adventist Church in Nogales at the time of the abuse, that the church hid his acts from members, and that there are other victims and allegations against Montano in Phoenix.

Warrant out for alleged child molester | Local News Stories | nogalesinternational.com

Mexico police detain US 'sect leader' after triple murder - BBC News

Police raided three houses and two ranches belonging to Orson William Black Jr, 56, who is wanted on charges of child abuse in the US.

Prosecutors say he is also a suspect in the killing of three US citizens in the area in September.

Twenty-six other people living on the properties were also detained.

The arrests come less than two months after 23-year-old Jesse Barlow and brothers Robert and Michael Black, aged 19 and 15 respectively, were shot dead at Rancho El Negro.

It is not clear if they were relatives or followers of Mr Black, or if they had been taken to the property against their will.

Mexico police detain US 'sect leader' after triple murder - BBC News

UPDATED::Drowning of Lev Tahor leader raises fears over ultra-Orthodox sect’s future | National Post

UPDATE::  Israel offers unprecedented benefits to bring home Jewish cultists

The Labor and Social Services Ministry on Tuesday called on Israeli members of the extremist ultra-Orthodox Lev Tahor, or “Pure Heart” cult to “come home,” offering each family unprecedented absorption benefits.

The ministry appealed to dozens of families in the sect with the hope they will return to Israel following the death of their leader, Rabbi Shlomo Erez Helbrans, who drowned in Mexico two weeks ago. A statement from the ministry referred to the members as “victims” of the cult and emphasized the large number of children among them.

The benefits offered include flights to Israel, immediate residency and entitlement to children’s health insurance, financial support, housing assistance for a year, the placement of children in educational frameworks, the provision of tools and skills for an independent livelihood and psychological treatment.

The offered benefits are the result of cooperation between the Foreign Ministry and the Justice Ministry as well as the police.

Sometimes described in the media as the “Jewish Taliban,” Lev Tahor was founded in the 1980s and practices an extreme form of ultra-Orthodox Judaism. It also advocates anti-Zionism. 

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To the roughly 200 Lev Tahor adherents who followed their charismatic rabbi from country to country, Shlomo Helbrans knew the path to eternal truth. To his numerous detractors, he was a dangerous charlatan who deserved to be locked up.

Now, after Helbrans drowned last week in Mexico at age 55, the future of the cult-like group has been cast into doubt, and a path that has jumped from Israel to the United States, Canada, Guatemala and Mexico looks less clear than ever.

“There is now a power vacuum,” said Marci Hamilton, a professor of religion at the University of Pennsylvania who has been watching the ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect for about a decade.

She said it would be hard for anyone to replace Helbrans, particularly when his death was so sudden. “The attachment to a charismatic leader in a very isolated group that engages in illegal practices is so strong,” she said.

Drowning of Lev Tahor leader raises fears over ultra-Orthodox sect’s future | National Post

Young boy from Jewish Taliban reveals psychical, sexual abuse: Hell is real, I live there - Israel News - Haaretz.com

“I’ve lived in Lev Tahor for 12 and a half years and I want to tell you everything,” the boy says. “I’ve been living in this hell that everyone claims is made up and untrue – it is true. I want to tell you about the things that are happening in Lev Tahor.

“I wrote down on a piece of paper all of the things I want to talk about,” he continues. “Bad things are happening here. First, I want to tell about XXXX. He is a bad teacher. He does bad things to children. He hits children, kicks them and does other bad things.”

The boy continues to charge that another member of the group “killed a baby and another man. He hits and kicks all of the children.” He added that the men he named “undressed me and beat me and kicked me many times. And did bad things to me many times. At first, I thought they were good Jews. But then I saw they were bad people.”

Young boy from Jewish Taliban reveals psychical, sexual abuse: Hell is real, I live there - Israel News - Haaretz.com

Jehovah’s Witnesses accused of vandalizing 7,000 year-old pyramid out of fears of devil worship

Members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses church have been accused to vandalizing  a 7,000 year old religious site in Mexico as part of a religious campaign against devil worship, reports Telesur.

According to local media sources, recent damage at the base of a pyramid at the San Bartolo Tutotepec archeological site falls in line the destruction of altars in the area that church members have taken responsibility for.

Members of the Christian sect state that they are following the word of God and believe that the sites are still used for traditional rituals that are “not Christian” and may involve devil worship.

Jehovah’s Witnesses accused of vandalizing 7,000 year-old pyramid out of fears of devil worship

UPDATED::Man accused of flying to San Diego for sex with minors | SanDiegoUnionTribune.com

UPDATE::   Former seminarian indicted, pleads not guilty to child sex crime charges

Joel Wright, a former student at a Columbus seminary, was formally charged Wednesday in Southern California on charges he attempted to travel out of the country to rape underage children.

A grand jury indicted Wright on one count of attempting to cross state lines “with intent to engage in a sexual act with a person who had not attained the age of 12 years,” and a count of traveling, and attempting to travel, from Ohio to California and Mexico “for the purpose of engaging in any illicit sexual conduct with another person.”

Wright was arraigned on the charges Thursday and pleaded not guilty.

UPDATE::  Seminarian Jailed on Child Sex Charges
Note:  This article is graphic with many details that will make you want to throw things.  It is this depravity of man against man, in this case child, that makes me wonder if what I do is worth it.

An Ohio seminary student who was arrested by federal authorities on suspicion of trying to buy Mexican children will remain behind bars until his arraignment later this month.

U.S. District Judge Bernard Skomal heard from defendant Joel Alexander Wright, 23, who shuffled into the courtroom wearing an orange jumpsuit, spectacles and ankle shackles. Through his attorney Greg Murphy, Wright waived his right to a detention hearing until he is arraigned later this month.

Wright was arrested by federal authorities on Jan. 29 at the San Diego International Airport on suspicion of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and aggravated sexual abuse of a child.

UPDATE::  Steubenville police had investigated former seminary student in 2015 after he offered to babysit kids

Wright had come to the attention of authorities before. Steubenville police investigated Wright last year when a woman reported he had offered to pay someone $150 on Craigslist to watch children.

The ad said parents could stay with the children, see how it goes and then leave to go shopping or to a movie.

Wright told a mother who responded to the ad that he was a student at Franciscan University.

Police investigated, but did not find anyone at the address tied to the ad.

UPDATE:: How The So-Called Tipster Scammed, Then Exposed Joel Wright

The criminal complaint corroborates the story and reveals Wright was set to board a plane again in December 2015 for Tijuana when investigators say he called the whole thing off.

"Please don't ever contact me again for anything," Wright e-mailed.

The informant tells 10TV federal agents accused him of tipping Wright off, an accusation he denies.  “[I told the agents] what are you talking about?  I want you guys to get this guy because he's crazy.”

The tipster claims it wasn't long before he spotted Wright online again; this time seeking a female tour guide in Tijuana.  The man says he posed as a woman, and says again Wright shared explicit details of his intentions to have sex with young children.  The informant says he urged HSI to bring Wright to justice.

"If you guys (federal agents) don't want him, let me bring him here to Tijuana.  I'll take care of him here in Tijuana,” he cryptically told 10TV.

Wright was arrested by federal agents on January 29 deplaning in San Diego, en route to Mexico.

HSI in San Diego declined 10TV’s repeated requests to discuss the case, but federal agents did request a copy of our entire raw interview with the tipster.

Meanwhile, the so-called informant says he also made a phone call to Father John Allen, vice president at the Pontifical College Josephinum, where Wright was studying to become a priest.

"I need to talk to you because there is one of your seminary students who is asking me to find him an infant to molest in Mexico,” the informant told Father Allen.

Allen confirms receiving a phone call, and tells 10TV he briefly put the caller on hold.  However, the informant said after staying on hold for around two minutes, he hung up.

Father Allen says the caller didn't share a specific name and it's not uncommon for the Josephinum to receive prank calls.

However, the alleged informant says he also sent Father Allen an e-mail explaining his story.

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http://foxbaltimore.com/news/nation-world/ohio-seminary-student-arrested-charged-with-trying-to-arrange-sex-with-infants

An Ohio seminary student accused of traveling to San Diego to have sex with infants in Mexico was arrested after his plane landed at the San Diego airport Friday, authorities said.

Joel Wright, 23, was taken into federal custody and charged with two felony counts, including traveling with the intent to engage in a sexual act with a minor and attempting to engage in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign country within the Southern District of California, according to the criminal complaint.

After receiving a tip, a Homeland Security Investigations undercover agent took over an email account and began a conversation with Wright, who believed he was communicating with a Mexico-based tour guide he met after placing an online ad.

Man accused of flying to San Diego for sex with minors | SanDiegoUnionTribune.com

See also:: 

Ohio seminary student accused of trying to arrange sex with baby in Mexico

Wright attends Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus. A school spokesman, the Rev. John Allen, tells the Columbus Dispatch they are "shocked and saddened" at the "reprehensible" allegations. Wright has been expelled.

Former Columbus seminary student charged after allegedly trying to have sex with babies in Mexico

The HSI says the investigation began in 2015, after a person tipped them off about a previous encounter he had with Wright.

The tipster told HSI that he met Wright in Tijuana in 2014, as Wright was allegedly hoping to adopt a child. Wright allegedly traveled to Tijuana and payed the adoption fee, but the tipster never returned to make the deal.

Last July, Homeland Security investigators say Wright used Craigslist again to find a tour guide in Tijuana. By November, investigators say the conversation turned to Wright expressing his desire to have sex with an infant.

“I have not gone all the way before but I have made it very close in the past so I do have (experience),” he said.

Coyote Tied Up And Hung In Sick Ritual Finally Gets The Dignity He Deserves

Still baffled how the "in the name of religion" mentality can be used to justify inhumane actions to man and beast.

Eight African lions, a mountain lion, two lynxes and a coyote are moving to their new home at The Wild Animal Sanctuary after an epic rescue from Mexico.

One of these incredibly lucky dozen, CanCan, has a story that is as heartbreaking as it is bizarre.

The 12-year-old coyote was rescued from a place where he was used for Santeria rituals. These rituals involved tying his front paws together and hanging him in the air for days — sometimes WEEKS — on end. 

As noted by Doubtful News, 

There is dispute over use of animals in this religious tradition. Sacrifices mostly seem to involve chickens where the followers say they are killed humanely. There remains in some states laws against killing without any exemptions. The Supreme Court took up the question in 1993 with specific reference to Santeria.

However, this is the first public account we’ve heard of an animal being tortured,,,

Coyote Tied Up And Hung In Sick Ritual Finally Gets The Dignity He Deserves

Shopping for Spells: Exploring Four of the World's Witchcraft Markets | Atlas Obscura

Some practicing witches purport to be able to cure and transform people, or create favorable, or unfavorable, conditions. And these witches require supplies for their conjuring, and for this there are witchcraft markets. However, it’s not just people who claim a connection to witchcraft who have a need for candles, incense, herbs, oils, soaps, potions, and supplies for assisting the balance of a situation. Tourists, curiosity seekers, and the desperate also seek out these spiritual supply supercenters. At these four witchcraft markets from around the world, you can find almost anything for any purpose.

[,,,]
Anyone can come here to the Mercado de Brujas, seeking a potion for an ailment, a reading with a Kallawaya (a traditional healer from the Andes), or stroll through the stalls and pick out an item that will help you find a job or a lover. Colorful statues of Incan gods line the shops, as well as packets of incense, amulets, candles, and bottles filled with liquid for use in rituals which include dried herbs, alcohol, and sometimes the remains of animals. At the market, you can also find spell kits, small animal figurines, and even bags of dried coca leaves. When processed coca is formed into the psychoactive drug cocaine. In its unprocessed form, when chewed, coca leaves help alleviate headaches, stomach aches, and nausea. 
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In Togo and neighboring Benin, a large portion of the population practices Voodoo. This is the region where the religion originated before spreading to parts of the Caribbean and South America during the slave trade. Tourists are welcome to look at the piles of heads and skulls that include dogs, gorillas, and chimpanzees. Other remains, such as elephant feet, gazelle horns, monkey paws, and turtle shells, can also be found here. Many of the heads still have their skin attached. Larger objects are used in rituals for house blessings. Proprietors claim that the animals were not killed for ritual, but come to them already deceased from other parts of Africa.
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Many people who are familiar with Lima have never heard of the market. It’s hidden underneath the Gamarra Station. Once you have spotted vendors outside selling python skins, you have found the place. The focus here is on the traditional folk medicine that is widely practiced among not only indigenous groups, but also the greater society of Peru. Many of the mixtures sold here are part of indigenous family traditions that have been passed down for generations.

Shopping for Spells: Exploring Four of the World's Witchcraft Markets | Atlas Obscura

Murder of child by other children linked to Santa Muerte by media | Doubtful News

As Doubtful News points out, it is important to note,

DN contacted professor of religion, Dr. Andrew Chesnut, who is an expert on Santa Muerte in society. He thinks that Catholic apologetics are bending over backwards to link the murder of Christopher to “the Satanic” Santa Muerte.

“The only established link to Santa Muerte is the fact that Christopher’s mother is a devotee, though she hasn’t been accused of being an accomplice of the teen and preteen neighbors who murdered him. The source of almost all the alleged Santa Muerte connection are local Mexican media reports, often of dubious veracity, citing neighbors in the barrio who alleged the young murderers are Santa Muerte devotees who used to harass Protestants in the neighborhood,” says Dr. Chesnut.

“As the fastest growing religious movement in Mexico, and throughout the Americas, Santa Muerte has become enemy number one of the Catholic Church in Mexico. This story is part of an ongoing campaign to demonize the dynamic folk saint,” he concludes.

Dr. Chesnut notes that Saint Death is popular among criminal elements, but most devotees are not murderers, nor do they worship Satan. While some extremists may commit such crimes, the majority of the followers are peaceful. Stories such at this, without substantial evidence, propagate fear of Sante Muerte followers. It’s not uncommon to link murders to the sect.

Murder of child by other children linked to Santa Muerte by media | Doubtful News

Why Native Americans Are Outraged Over the Vatican’s First Hispanic U.S. Saint

A "man of his time,"  what a freaking cop-out!!

The Virgen de Guadalupe is depicted with spikes around her, much like the Nahua serpent god Quetzalcoatl. Though her original purpose as a way to secretly practice the old religion has since been forgotten, the indigenous Mexican still exists in her DNA. It also exists in the stones of the basilica. It exists in the Mestizo.

Mexico is Catholic because of conquest. It is Catholic because many years ago the Spanish came and brought with them murder, disease, and Catholicism. The Indians were forced to accept a foreign faith, and if they refused, they were met with violence.

It is a violence that has shaped Latin America.

And now, Native American groups are furious that the Vatican is seeking to canonize as a saint a man who perpetuated that violence.

According to Latin Post, Pope Francis will canonize Junípero Serra, an 18^th century Hispanic friar in Baja California who was responsible for bringing Catholicism to much of California.

Why Native Americans Are Outraged Over the Vatican’s First Hispanic U.S. Saint

The Freethinker - The voice of atheism since 1881 » Mexican boy blinded in a satanic ritual

As I have stated numerous times before when the term "Satanism" has been used, this is NOT what a follower of the CoS would espouse,

People who believe in some Devilish supernatural being and worship him are Devil-worshippers, not Satanists. Anton LaVey was the first to define Satanism as a philosophy, and it is an atheist perspective. “Theistic Satanism” is an oxymoronic term and thus absurd. In Satanism each individual is his or her own god—there is no room for any other god and that includes Satan, Lucifer, Cthulhu or whatever other name one might select or take from history or fiction.

Nor would The Satanic Temple,

One should strive to act with compassion and empathy towards all creatures in accordance with reason,,,One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.

As one comment points out, this sound more like a Christian exorcism.
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According to this report, five-year-old Fernando Rios was blinded in a bizarre satanic ritual by his mother, aunt, two uncles and grandparents when he refused to close them as they attempted to summon the devil, calling on him to end the world and claim them for his own.

Neighbours disturbed by the screams and chanting investigated and discovered Rios, her sister and two brothers and her parents engaged in the ritual in the poor Nezahualcoyotl area near Mexico city.

A court heard the six danced and cavorted and were told to close their eyes so they didn’t look at the devil when he arrived. They then attacked the terrified boy for disobeying.

The Freethinker - The voice of atheism since 1881 » Mexican boy blinded in a satanic ritual