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Chabad Moves To Iowa
Rabbi Aaron
Rubashkin
purchased a disused meat-packing plant in the picturesque town of
Postville, Iowa in
1987, then took over the town, and brought in Mexican labor.
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A Good German Lutheran Town
The influx of the unwashed NY Chabadis shocked the of 1500
staunchly Lutheran Christians. A clash of Cultures in Heartland
America began, the Chabad residents took over the town government
and infested everything. Incidences of the Jews spitting, not paying
their bills, were rampant.
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Armed Robbery
Beginning on September
27, 1991, Phillip
Stillman from Crown
Heights and Rabbi
Pinchas
Lew,
son of senior London
Chabad rabbi
Shmuel
Lew,
committed a series of armed robberies in the
Postville
area. One of which led to
Stillman shooting
and critically injuring convenience store clerk Marion
Bakken
in Decorah, Iowa.
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Shot A Grandmother With A 357 Magnum
The two went to Ossian, Iowa. Stillman pulled out a .357 Magnum
on a retired schoolteacher working a popcorn stand and demanded his
coins and bills. They then headed to Decorah where they raided a
convenience store. As the clerk, a elderly grandmother, rang a
silent alarm,
Stillman shot her, leaving a
bullet permanently lodged next to her spine causing her ongoing
pain. Stillman pleaded guilty to attempted murder and first-degree
robbery.While awaiting sentencing, on March 8, 1992 Stillman, with
help, tried to flee to Israel but was recaptured. Stillman was
sentenced to 55 years in jail for three offences, to be served
consecutively.
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The Right Judge
Lev, despite an original sentencing of ten years in prison, was
merely put on probation. The judge told a journalist that he was influenced and
"impressed by many of the Jews who came trial. The courtroom had a
significant number of rabbis. They were very intellectual
individuals. "If the crime had stunned the Iowa locals," says
Stephen Bloom, "the double standard of punishment for Stillman and
Lev took their breath away."
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Jury Awards Victim $1.6 Million
Marion Bakken, the woman who was shot, survived and was awarded
$1.6 million as settlement for her injuries. She has
never been paid.
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Released After Three Months Because He Needed Kosher Food
Lew, originally
charged with murder, who's $200,000
bond had been paid by a "Hasidic organization in Brooklyn", made an
Alford plea to conspiracy to commit a forcible felony as part of a
plea bargain, and was sentenced to 10 years in jail and 5 years on
probation for driving the getaway car. After
complaining that the food was not
kosher,
he was released on probation after
three months on condition that he attended a religious
rehabilitation program.
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Becomes A Rabbi And A University Professor
Rabbi
Pinchas
Lew
gained rabbinical ordination, moved to Chapel Hill, and was the
shaliach
to the University of North Carolina. After three years, news of his
past came to light. Following the publication of
Postville
many in the community demanded he leave, particularly after it
emerged that he had not paid any of the restitution money that the
court awarded his victim. In a public meeting at the Duke University
campus on May 16 2001
Lew
refused to discuss the issue of restitution payments; this and press
reports the victim had said that Lew had never apologized
made some in the community uneasy. By this time Lew had five
children, and used the name "Pinny Lew".
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The Rabbi Molested A Maid
In June 2001, Lew was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor
offence of indecently exposing himself while touching his genitals
to his Hispanic housekeeper on May 16, a few hours before he
defended himself at the public meeting at Duke. On August 10 the
case came to trial. The maid testified that:“ . . .she and Lew were
alone in the house on the morning of May 16. After cleaning the
bathroom, she asked Lew for a new vacuum cleaner bag. When he came
down the stairs, he was wearing a green bathrobe. After giving her a
bag, he exposed himself to her, touched his genitals and asked, Do
you like it? Lew then turned the bolt to lock the front door and
exposed himself again to her in the foyer, asking, Do you like it? ”
Lew's attorney argued that the crime of indecent exposure does
not apply on private property, and as that had been the police's
initial charge the
judge dismissed the case on a
technicality.
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The Other Shooter
Phillip Stillman is expected to be released in
five years
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