Guilty plea in kidnapping for religious divorce plot

A New Jersey man pleaded guilty Tuesday in the kidnapping for $100,000 of a Jewish man to force him to give his wife a religious divorce known as a "get."

David Wax, 51, of Lakewood, faces a possible maximum life term when he is sentenced Aug. 19, said Paul J. Fishman, the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey.

Wax pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit kidnapping before U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson in Trenton.

Officials said Wax was paid $100,000 by the unidentified wife's family after abducting her husband and forcing him to give her a religious divorce.

Wax lured the husband from his Brooklyn home to Lakewood on Oct. 17, 2010, one the pretense that the intended victim would work on Talmudic books Wax was publishing, authorities said.

On arrival in Lakewood, the victim was handcuffed and blindfolded. Wax and unidentified conspirators assaulted the husband until he signed the Get.

Wax's conspirators received about $50,000, Fishman's office said.

Fishman's office did not provide additional information on who else faces charges in the case or the status of the victim's marriage.