While I was doing a news search on behalf of Roman, we ran into this article [quote:73e6fd85b2] U.S. court sent convicted pedophile to Israel Israeli law enforcement agencies, courts, not notified of decision by Florida court to send Raymond Pietrowski, convicted of attempting to rape minors, to north Jerusalem; offender has vanished Assaf Yaari Raymond Michael Pietrowski (47) tops a Florida sex offender's list, and has been convicted of two attempts to rape a 10 year-old child. He has been classed as a dangerous pedophile by the United States. Worryingly, Pietrowski has been recently seen in north Jerusalem. In 2003, a Florida district court gave a strange ruling, after Pietrowski, a Chicago resident, was convicted of attacking his acquaintance's young son while visiting them. Instead of being sent to a long prison sentence, as U.S. law dictates, Pietrowski was sent for a "period of examination" to Israel. As far as is known, Israel's law enforcement agencies and courts have not received any information about a convicted sex offender arriving in Israel. No one warned the residents of Jerusalem about the presence of a dangerous sex offender. At the start of his trial, Pietrowski was accused of raping a minor, an offence which carries a life imprisonment sentence, but his lawyer managed to convince the prosecutor and the judge to agree to a deal with could serve U.S. interests. The indictment was reduced to attempted rape alone, and Judge Loren Miller agreed to change a sentence of serving time in an American prison to a period of exile in Israel. Pietrowski was sent to Jerusalem two years ago with a clear warning: "Don't come back to the United States for at least 10 years." Conditions The judge added a few further conditions to the deal: "The offender will undergo psychiatric treatment, and is forbidden from having any relations with a child under the age of 18 without supervision." And so, without any warning to Israel, a dangerous pedophile landed at Ben-Gurion Airport, where a family friend, Moshe Tzur, waited for him. The U.S. court ruled that Tzur is to "take care of Pietrowski during his stay in Israel." For at least a year, Pietrowski has been living in north Jerusalem, and has worked at a yeshiva. He was sent for psychiatric treatment with Jerusalem based Doctor Jerald (Yehuda) Oppenheim, who has prescribed him psychiatric drugs over the course of the past year. He was under supervision until the start of 2005, but in the past year he has stopped arriving at meetings with the doctor, and has also disappeared from the radar of American authorities. Two weeks ago, a list of wanted offenders was published in Florida, which included Pietrowski. His last known address is listed as "Israel." Florida police say they have no idea about where Pietrowski is located, and Oppenheim has told Yedioth Ahronoth that he hadn't seen the patient for many months. "I'm sorry for ever getting involved with this," he added. Pietrowski's lawyer, Jerry Berry, said that he did not think that Israeli authorities could have interfered with a decision to send a convicted sex offender to Israel. (11.30.05, 19:18) [/quote:73e6fd85b2]
For obviously culturally flawed individuals like myself, could you please expand on what a Yeshiva is?
Oh good. 'I like little boys and they've sent me back to school' system of punisment. Thats just weird.
I don't understand how a Florida court judge can order anyone to leave the US. That would be a matter for the US State Department. (Separation of powers, and all that.) Also, in order for this to have worked, Pietrowski had to have either had Israeli citizenship or some kind of Israeli visa or residence permit. And the judge would have to know this. Which would have been completely irrelevant to the case, so shouldn't have been brought up in court. His religion, if he were Jewish, also would not have been appropriate to discuss in court, as it also was not relevant (unless he attempted to molest a child while in synagogue or something like that.) Unless Pietrowski and/or his lawyer asked for this sentence as part of the plea bargain.
I think they did. It's more or less apparent from the article, Marcia. Not sure about the whole seperation of powers business, but it seems like a kind of volutary exile. I.E, the judge didn't really exile him but promised to prosecute him again if he returned before he was due, and Pietrowski sort of agreed to this. As this was all unofficial-like, no one bothered to pursue the official channels when it comes to letting Israeli law enforcement know. What a fucked up situation. And I'm hoping the Yeshiva he worked in was one for adults, not for kids. The alternative would make this situation all the worse. And he's probably still loose around Jerusalem. Joy.
