(JTA) — Three more couples were arrested as part of a crackdown in a haredi Orthodox community in New Jersey on illegally obtaining government benefits.
The couples arrested Tuesday night in Lakewood allegedly obtained over $670,000 in total in government benefits fraudulently, according to NJ.com.
They are Yitzchok and Sora Karanek, Chaim and Liatt Ehrman, and William and Faigy Friedman.
On Monday, four couples were arrested in the same probe for underreporting their incomes to receive government benefits. A rabbi was among those arrested.
“My office gave clear guidance and notice to the Lakewood community in 2015 of what is considered financial abuse of these programs,” Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato said on Monday. “Those who choose to ignore those warnings by seeking to illegally profit on the backs of taxpayers will pay the punitive price of their actions.”
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