Teen Pleads Guilty in New Square Arson
A Chasidic teenager pleaded guilty to assault in the firebombing of the home of a neighbor over a religious disagreement.
Shaul Spitzer, 18, of the New York State village of New Square, accepted a plea bargain Tuesday in the arson attack on the home of Aron Rottenberg. Under the plea bargain, Spitzer reportedly will receive a sentence of no more than 10 years; he was facing up to 25 years in prison if convicted. Sentencing is scheduled for April 17.
Last May 22, Rottenberg was severely burned over half of his body in an early morning attack outside of his home in New Square, which has a population of 7,000, mostly from the Skverer Chasidic sect. Rottenberg has undergone several skin graft surgeries.
Spitzer, who also was badly burned in the attack, had been charged with first-degree attempted arson, first-degree assault and second-degree attempted murder.
He had spent a year as a live-in aide to Rabbi David Twersky, the rebbe of the Skverer sect, before the attack.
Rottenberg filed a civil lawsuit last June against Spitzer and Twersky saying that prior to the arson attack, his family had suffered harassment in the form of rocks thrown at the windows of their home and car, the expulsion of one daughter from the village’s religious school and threatening phone calls to their home.
Rothenberg and his family say they were targeted for harassment for his refusal to pray in the main village synagogue presided over by Twersky
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
