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An Ontario judge may have missed a chance to rescue a future child bride and others like her when the “Jewish Taliban” case came before her court seven years ago.
Instead, after winning their court case that prevented the return of their children to Quebec where they’d been deemed in need of protection, Lev Tahor parents were able to leave Chatham for Guatemala. It was at their compound there in 2018 that “Minor 1” the victim at the centre of an FBI criminal case was allegedly forcibly married off at 13.
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Screenshot from Youtube of the Lev Tahor sect in Guatemala
US Federal authorities filed child exploitation and child abduction charges against leaders of an extremist Charedi sect that has been accused of forcing girls as young as 12 years old into marriages with much older men within the sect.
Five leaders of the Lev Tahor group were charged by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and FBI Monday with crimes related to an alleged forced marriage in 2017 and a 2018 kidnapping.
The charges include conspiring to transport a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and conspiring to travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. The first charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and maximum of lifetime in prison; the second carries a maximum of 30 years in prison.
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Lev Tahor leaders attempted other kidnappings of the children in/around March 2019 and March 2021, according to the United States Department of Justice.
“As alleged, 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,” said Audrey Strauss, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York. “These charges send a clear message that the sexual exploitation of children will not be tolerated.”
The United States Department of Justice says the group forces young girls to ‘marry’ older men in the goal of procreation (the marriages are not legitimate), forces them to hide their ‘marriages’ from non-members, to lie about their age, and to give birth in their homes instead of hospitals to hide their age from the public.
Apr. 20, 2021 1:57 PM
U.S. Federal authorities filed child exploitation and child abduction charges against leaders of an extremist ultra- Orthodox sect that has been accused of forcing girls as young as 12 years old into marriages with much older men within the sect.
Five leaders of the Lev Tahor group were charged by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the FBI Monday with crimes related to an alleged forced marriage in 2017 and a 2018 kidnapping.
The charges include conspiring to transport a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and conspiring to travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. The first charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and maximum of lifetime in prison; the second carries a maximum of 30 years in prison.
Feds charge extremist Jewish sect Lev Tahor with exploiting, kidnapping children timesofisrael.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from timesofisrael.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.