Non-Jewish Man Posing As Jew in Lakewood!

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Mevater

Wed, Mar 26 2008, 1:41 pm

What was his motive?

Quote:

YWN EXCLUSIVE: Lakewood Community Rocked By Non-Jewish Man Posing As Jew!
March 26, 2008
(Lakewood Staff Writer - YWN) The Lakewood Jewish community is shocked after learning that a “Frum” man living in the heart of Lakewood, was anything but Frum.

A source tells YWN, that a family has been living in the Forest Park area of Lakewood, NJ for the past few years, sent their kid to a Frum Yeshiva, Davened (prayed) three times a day, and was not even Jewish!

Apparently, a man posing as Mr. Natan Levi contacted “Partners In Torah” a few years back, and was interested in learning more about his “Jewish roots”. Naturally, the fabulous organization set him up with Chavrusas (study partners) to teach him all he wanted to know. The man seemed sincere that he wanted to become Frum (religious).

Eventually, the man was “Frum enough”, that he moved with his wife and kids from Kansas, and purchased a home in a prominent Development in the southern part of Lakewood, NJ. He enrolled one of his children in a Lakewood Yeshiva, and could be seen in Shul three times a day.

His charade came to a screeching halt last week - when the FBI suddenly arrived and whisked him away in handcuffs.

The charges?

Mr. Ted Larry Floyd, a Christian, had stolen the identity of a dead person by the name “Natan Levi”.

Mr. Floyd’s wife had apparently undergone some type of Geyrus (conversion process), although it is unclear who performed it, and if it is totally Kosher. His oldest child is 6-years-old.

YWN has not been able to confirm where the man is currently being held, although sources tell us he has been transferred to Kansas.

Ruchel

Wed, Mar 26 2008, 1:48 pm

wanting to convert and fear of failing

Hadassa Avra

Wed, Mar 26 2008, 1:50 pm

Obviously I have no idea. But if you are looking for speculations...
I would think that the fact that he stole an identity means that he was trying to hide from something (whether police or creditors). What better place to hide?

Mevater

Wed, Mar 26 2008, 1:53 pm

Or planning something?

chocolate moose

Wed, Mar 26 2008, 1:57 pm

oy, that's crazy

Clarissa

Wed, Mar 26 2008, 2:01 pm

For some reason I'm picturing the Steve Martin movie, "My Blue Heaven," where the mob guy from New York goes to live in a white-bread community in San Diego as part of the Witness Protection Program. Or "Witness," where Harrison Ford hid with the Amish. Maybe this guy has an interesting story.

peach

Wed, Mar 26 2008, 5:53 pm

I heard that he was arrested because he is a murderer. His motive in doing all this was to hide his identity and not be caught.

ETA: This may just be a rumor and not be true. But he was definitely trying to hide something.

Last edited by peach on Wed, Mar 26 2008, 7:11 pm; edited 1 time in total

mom13

Wed, Mar 26 2008, 6:34 pm

he's a murderer?? is that true? its sooo scary!

sbs

Wed, Mar 26 2008, 7:10 pm

it doesn't say anywhere he was arrested for murder, right now he was arrested for identity theft.
we don't know why he stole an identity, though

ChossidMom

Wed, Mar 26 2008, 7:11 pm

peach wrote:

He was arrested because he is a murderer. His motive in doing all this was to hide his identity and not be caught.

How do you know this?

peach

Wed, Mar 26 2008, 7:12 pm

chossidmom, I edited my post. It was something my husband heard, but could be just a rumor. In any case, he definitely had something to hide...

cassandra

Wed, Mar 26 2008, 7:18 pm

Can you be arrested simply for posing as someone you aren't? I would imagine you had to do something illegal like bank fraud or mail fraud or something.

peach

Wed, Mar 26 2008, 7:21 pm

Yes, you can be arrested for that. But I do believe that he did commit some other crime and was hiding as a frum Jew to avoid getting caught. There is usually a motive for taking on a stolen identity.

cassandra

Wed, Mar 26 2008, 7:24 pm

That's so bizarre. Is there a special dispensation for undercover police? Or method actors?

mimivan

Wed, Mar 26 2008, 7:35 pm

Ruchel wrote:

wanting to convert and fear of failing

or perhaps fear of brit Milah..

I heard a story about a non-Jew who was just passing as a Jew because he was a hemophiliac and was afraid of the brit...not justifying the behavior..of course, he could have discussed his concerns with a rav..

Method actor LOL

Three years is a bit long to do "research" as a method actor

amother

Wed, Mar 26 2008, 9:55 pm

I just got off the phone with a friend who knows the family closely. She said alot of what was reported is not true. He already knew he was being arrested 3 weeks ago and was arrested then. The FBI did not arrest him last week. He was already getting comfy in jail there. There is more to the story however, which I am sure we will hear in due time. They are definitely looking into a crime commited, although at this time it is unknown what it might be. He did NOT borrow 80,000 dollars from a gemach, and he was never a tenth for minyan as far as they know. He did snag LEVI by leining every now and then. Described as reclusive, but really sweet. Nobody DREAMED he wasn't Jewish, which is the scariest thing by far, cuz who knows who else might be masquerading in our community, waiting to do evil. It aint so hard to hide, apparently. The last thing is, that he is thought to have done a conversion through a conservative Rabbi in LA. HIs wife supposedly went through a Kosher conversion with a reputable Rabbi.

Barbara

Wed, Mar 26 2008, 11:36 pm

Well, whatever he did, or is accused of doing, let's hope that over the years he spent in hiding, he changed, and that he became inwardly what he pretended to be (albeit without a formal conversion).

My heart really goes out to his kids.

Crayon210

Thu, Mar 27 2008, 12:46 am

Please do not use this as an opportunity to bash the entire Lakewood community. Posts that contained such sweeping lashon hara were deleted.

Motek

Thu, Mar 27 2008, 10:58 am

amother wrote:

He did snag LEVI by leining every now and then.

How do you get Levii by laining? Confused

comments on yeshivaworld that someone sent me:

Now I know why its so hard to get into Lakewood schools,They do a lot of research.

How many people ate food from that house?!?

The worst part of it is that he actually wrote many volumes of shailos and teshuvos and was well on his way to becoming a renowned posek. He was even giving semicha to others. (Just kidding. Couldn’t resist.)

He wrote a Kuntress on amira le'akum

I am very shocked that the people in shul did not catch on when he davened for the amud. and Skipped shelo asany [gentile]!

serious question: is his wife Jewish? are his children?

Mevater

Thu, Mar 27 2008, 1:03 pm

LAKEWOOD — A man who had been living as an Orthodox Jew here is now in federal custody
in Kansas on passport fraud charges under the name "John A. Doe," stirring intense curiosity among members of the close-knit religious community about who he is.

Nathan James Levi was living on Forest Park Circle when federal authorities arrested him Feb. 21 on a 2002 warrant for submitting a fraudulent passport application in Wichita, Kan., according to court papers. A New jersey magistrate judge ordered Levi released on a $100,000 bail to return to Kansas to face the charges.

On March 24, a U.S. District Court judge detained Levi after determining that he was lying about his identity, according to the detention order. At that hearing, Levi said his real name was Ted Riley Floyd and that "it appears that Defendant is not Nathaniel James Levi, and that Nathaniel James Levi is in fact deceased."

"We essentially told the judge we can't trust he'll show up every time in court
because we just don't know who this guy is," Jim Cross, of the U.S. Attorney's office
in Kansas, said.

Levi at some point visited Partners in Torah, a Lakewood-based nonprofit group that helps people discover their Jewish roots by matching them up with a volunteer mentor, Shalom Rosenberg, the group's national follow-up coordinator, said.

"We had no reason to believe he was being dishonest about anything," said
Rosenberg, who could not say when or for how long Levi was involved with the
organization.

Rumors because circulating about an Orthodox Jew misrepresenting himself when the blog site, Yeshivaworld, posted a story Wednesday with the headline: "Lakewood Community Rocked By Non-Jewish Man Posing as Jew!"

As of noon today, the story has received 228 comments from speculative readers. There has been no indication that Levi is not Jewish.

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.d.....27019

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