TRENTON — A federal judge has denied a bid by two rabbis convicted of kidnapping-related charges to stay out of prison while they appeal their convictions.
U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson in Trenton issued the ruling Tuesday, denying rabbis Mendel Epstein of Lakewood and Binyamin Stimler of Brooklyn bail pending their appeals.
The two were sentenced in December after a nine-week trial in April at which they were convicted of conspiracy to commit kidnapping, with Stimler also being convicted of attempted kidnapping.
They were part of a ring that abducted and beat Orthodox Jewish men who were reluctant to grant their wives religious divorces.
Epstein, who was recorded in an FBI sting bragging about using a cattle prod on victims, was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Stimler was sentenced to 39 months.
Wolfson allowed them to stay out of prison while their request for bail pending appeal was argued.
In her ruling, Wolfson noted that Epstein and Stimler failed to raise any substantial issues warranting bail pending appeal.
They also had to demonstrate “exceptional” reasons for being granted bail which federal prosecutors opposed under the Bail Reform Act, Wolfson wrote.
Reasons such as Epstein’s high blood pressure and severe sleep apnea “are not so unusual such that the Bureau of Prisons cannot adequately treat them,” Wolfson said.
Similarly, the needs of family members who depend on them also is not an exceptional issue, she wrote.
Wolfson said she didn’t believe they would engage in any more kidnappings during appeal, but noted that in Epstein’s case, the crimes were “heinous” and “hardly a one-time aberrational act.”
Even if Stimler’s role was “limited” in the kidnappings, that also would not amount to an “exceptional” issue, she said.
Defense attorney Robert G. Stahl, who represented Epstein and Stimler, said he would appeal Wolfson’s ruling to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
Wolfson’s ruling did not specify when Epstein and Stimler must report to prison.
Rabbi Jay Goldstein also was convicted in the case.
In all, a dozen people pleaded guilty or were convicted in the case.
