Fire Alarm Fraud Alleged; Yeshiva E-Rate Defendant Charged

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — One of the men accused by the FBI in a $14 million yeshiva grant scam has been arrested over fire-inspection reports for a Spring Valley restaurant. Ben Klein of Monsey was indicted by a Grand Jury charging him with eight counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, class “E” Felonies.

Klein, owner of Trust Security, was first issued a summons for not properly maintaining a fire alarm at a restaurant in the Village of Spring Valley. According to the charges, the-29-year-old submitted false fire inspection/test reports to the Spring Valley fire inspector on behalf of his alarm company.

Rockland County District Attorney Thomas P. Zugibe announced Tuesday that the reports falsely represented that Klein tested the fire alarm and confirmed that the system was communicating with Rockland County’s Emergency Communications Center in the event of an activation.

In fact, Klein conducted no testing on the restaurant’s system, prosecutors alleged.

Arraignment on the indictment is scheduled for Sept. 25.

Klein faces a maximum sentence of four years in state prison if convicted.

He was previously indicted with six other people on Aug. 29 as part of a sweeping investigation by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the FBI and the Rockland County District Attorney into an alleged scheme to fraudulently obtain $14 million through a federally subsidized program to provide electronic equipment to local yeshivas. In addition to Ben Klein, the members of the conspiracy were Simon Goldbrener, Peretz Klein, Susan Klein, Aron Melber, Moshe Schwartz and Sholem Steinberg, prosecutors said. They are accused of billing for equipment and services that were not actually provided to Jewish religious schools in Rockland County and elsewhere, and using the money for themselves.

The alarm inspection case is being prosecuted by Executive Assistant District Attorney Richard Kennison Moran.

It should be noted that an indictment is merely an accusation and that the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

SEE: FBI Arrests 7 Over $14 Million Rockland Yeshiva Tech Fraud