NEWARK, N.J. – Two New Jersey men have been charged with kidnapping a third man in an attempt to force him to grant his wife a religious divorce.
The U.S. attorney's office says David Aryeh Epstein and Chaim Baruch Rubin lured the victim from Brooklyn to Lakewood in November 2009 for a job opportunity. A few days later, several men allegedly tied him up, put him in a van and beat him and shocked him with a stun gun.
Epstein and Rubin made court appearances in Trenton Thursday afternoon and were released on $500,000 bail under home detention.
Epstein's attorney didn't return a message seeking comment. Rubin's attorney could be not be reached Thursday.
Ten people were charged last fall with similar crimes in an FBI sting. Four have since pleaded guilty.
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