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I am friends with one of the Lakewood Families who was accused and arrested for welfare fraud. She is an honest person, I have known her for several years.
My friend emphatically insists the accusations against her and her husband are false!
Her life is turned upside down. She and her husband are each facing up to 5 years in jail and a $250,000 fine, chas v’shalom. They have a house full of children.
Legal fees are enormous and the family really needs Klal Yisroel to come together and help them in their time of need.
Is anyone willing to donate to help them? Any amount is welcome. If everyone gives a small amount, it will assist them enormously!!
It is the starting of the three weeks. What a way to show Hashem that we want the Bais Hamikdash rebuilt, by supporting our persecuted brethren!
It says you should judge everyone favorably, that is especially true if they are known to be G-d fearing. This woman certainly is.
Please help, everyone! The court date is in three weeks. How can they stand up against the FBI without a good lawyer? But good lawyers cost money.
אַשְׁרֵי מַשְׂכִּיל אֶל דָּל בְּיוֹם רָעָה יְמַלְּטֵהוּ יי.
“He who contemplates the needy, on the day of destruction Hashem will deliver him.” Tehillim 41:2Moderator’s note: This does not appear to be a verified appeal.
May they be completely matzliach in defeating these false charges quickly.
You should strongly consider opening a fund raising campaign on one of those websites that specializes in fund raising. i.e. GoFundMe, etc. There are also some sites that specialize in fund raising for frum causes.
Although we try to be Dan L’Kaf Zechus on everyone, I don’t donate to a cause unless there are at least some reputable Rabbonim signed on. Who is her families Rov? Maybe he can start a fundraising campaign.
If a defendant can’t afford a lawyer the government has to provide one. Also, given the following:
“‘We have a failure in our community that we have to address,’ Rabbi Aaron Kotler, leader of the world’s largest yeshiva outside of Israel told NJ.com. ‘Theft is wrong. We need to do better to educate people.’”
anyone who considers donating to this or similar funds should first consult with their local Orthodox Rabbi.
In just about every case of this type, those indicted and chargde continue to profess their “innocence’ until the evidence is presented at trial and/or they negotiate a plea agreement with the prosecution. These types of cases have among the highest conviction rates of any types of felony cases. As the moderator above correctly notes, one cannot rely upon the representation in a website posting as the basis for contradicting the facts in a sworn statement supporting the indictment. Even a Rav would first have a local lawyer or accountant review the facts of the case before lending his name to any fundraising effort. Rather than encouraging her friends here in the CR, this woman should first get some independent party confirm her version of why she was incorrectly charged.
That is not what I meant. I simply meant that unless verified by The Chesed Fund, there is no way to be certain where the money is going.
Joseph-
While its proper to be dan l’kaf zchus, how do you know for certain that these are “false charges” ?
Appologies to the MOD for misstating his/her concern….I think the common concern here, focusing on different aspects of the original posting, is that before donating funds to ANY self-proclaimed personal cause or charity, there should be some independent verification of the facts or endorsement of the fundraising effort by a respected Rav or independent body with knowledge of the facts. Sadly, we here about way too many fraudulent fundraising efforts where there is no accountability.
Just to add to what Gadolhadorah is saying:
Anyone can easily start a campaign on thechessedfund. Even if all the details of the campaign are true, there’s no way of knowing where the money is going if the campaign is not verified.
Meno -“Anyone can easily start a campaign on thechessedfund. Even if all the details of the campaign are true, there’s no way of knowing where the money is going if the campaign is not verified.”
The Chessed fund now has an option to verify your campaign. The OP should look into it!
Innocent until proven guilty–OK, so then what REALLY happened that makes these charges false? It was reported that the feds were following this for some time before they made the arrests. Also, I don’t necessarily trust a good friend’s testimony.
I do believe in “innocent until proven guilty”. However, let us remember that even if this goes to trial and they are found “not guilty” does not mean they were “falsely accused”. It just means that the prosecutor did not meet his burden of “beyond reasonable doubt”.
I don’t know why you have such faith in an obviously agenda driven prosecutor.
I just said a tefillah on behalf of innocent people falsely accused. May HKB”H help them so that false charges against them are immediately dropped, and may public trust in such people be quickly restored.
As soon as you sign the dotted line, and made one accidental misstatement you are guilty in the eyes of the prosecutor. And when the govt has an endless are of lawyers and resources, and you are offered an incompetent public defender, you please guilty to a lesser charge to be over with a nightmare. The prosecutor’s office is very good at threatening and scarring people into a plea bargain.
Wse can be dan l’kaf zechus and try our best to help them financially to refute the charges but if they agree to a plea bargain, can our donations be counted as tzeddoka and part of our maaseh money?
iacisrmma- in other words you don’t believe in innocent until proven guilty
Even if found guilty it is no indication of actual guilt, given America’s corrupt court system and prosecution system.
Need I remind anytime how many former convicts were later exonerated? Often after serving decades in prison wrongly. And how many more innocents are still languishing in America’s prisons convicted but not exonerated?
Sima, funds donated to a fund for legal bills are NOT tax deductible. Washing them thru s shul I’d also not deductible and can cause a problem for the shul. My shul had wanted to something similar for a member and the legal opinion we received was that it was improper
To M:
While you are in a davening mood, please put in a good word with the Ebeshter for the hard-working and long-suffering taxpayers of New York and New Jersey whose taxes are being stolen every day by welfare cheats. They are the real victims here but I don’t see anyone organizing a “chesded fund” on their behalf.I know this family very well personally. They are extremely ehrlach and lead a simple life. Very nice and honest people.
It really does seem that they might have been fought in the crosshairs of something that they are innocent in.
Lits the 3 weeks. Let’s try to rebuild the aid hamikdash by showing that we espouse ahavas yisroel and be Dan L’kaf Zchus. Let’s not believe everything we hear in the media.
They really need our financial help as well. If you can, it would be a huge mitzvah to help out with the campaign.
Tizku l’mitzvos and Masson tovim.
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