6 More Orthodox Couples Arrested In Lakewood Benefits Fraud Investigation
Image by Forward Montage / Laura E. Adkins
Six more Jewish couples have been arrested in Lakewood, N.J., in connection with a massive public benefits scheme that is estimated to have stolen millions of dollars from the state, according to the Associated Press.
Those arrested include a rabbi and the former leader of a religious school.
The investigation is continuing, and more arrests are forthcoming.
Those charged Thursday were Eliezer and Elkie Sorotzkin, Samuel and Esther Serhofer, Yisroel and Rachel Merkin, Jerome Menchel and Mottel Friedman, Tzvi and Estee Braun, and Moshe and Nechama Hirschmann.
Since the arrests began, Lakewood Jews have been the target of numerous anti-Semitic incidents; fliers with anti-Semitic messages have been stuck on car windshields, and a local Holocaust memorial was covered with a banner that read: “(((Heebs))) Will Not Divide Us.”
State authorities said they were offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to conviction of those responsible for the messages.
Contact Jesse Bernstein at [email protected] or on Twitter @__jbernstein
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism so that we can be prepared for whatever news 2025 brings.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
