Raphael Golb rejects no-jail plea offer in Manhattan Criminal Court on Friday. Photo by Siegel for News.
laura italiano of the ny post is reporting that plea bargain negotiations between the ny district attorney’s office and a lawyer for raphael golb have broken off without agreement. melissa grace has the story at the new york daily news:
That means the case against Raphael Golb, a real-estate lawyer turned amateur religious scholar, is headed to trial in September.
the case is scheduled for trial beginning september 13, 2010.
Raphael Golb, son of University of Chicago Oriental Institute historian Dr. Norman Golb, is accused of identity theft, forgery, criminal impersonation, unauthorized use of a computer, and aggravated harassment by the state of New York. Plea bargain negotiations broke down today. The trial is scheduled for September 13, 2010. Photo by Steven Hirsch.
according to sources:
They offered the son 80 hours of community service if he pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors – and the judge said three years probation would have to be a condition.
Golb turned it down because probation would bar him from contacting his victims – including posting on blogs where the scrolls’ origins are debated.
golb is the son of university of chicago oriental institute historian dr. norman golb. golb is accused of multiple felony and misdemeanor counts of identity theft, forgery, criminal impersonation, unauthorized use of a computer, and aggravated harassment by the state of new york as a result of golb’s involvement with an extensive campaign to smear the perceived rivals of his father. a detailed history and evolution of golb’s campaign against dead sea scrolls scholars, grad students, museums, and universities is chronicled at the who is charles gadda website.
here we go…
for background:
- who is charles gadda?
- to trial we go: golb formally refuses plea bargain (8/6/2010)
- denied! golb case heads to trial (2/25/2010)
- chicago maroon: e-mails in dead sea scrolls case may implicate prof norman golb (2/16/2010)
- court docs detail raphael golb’s harassment of robert cargill (1/29/2010)
- bombshell: ny da’s response to raphael golb’s motion to dismiss charges and suppress evidence (1/28/2010)
- details of raphael golb’s impersonation of lawrence schiffman (dec 18, 2009)
- court documents say norman golb may have been involved in the raphael golb dead sea scrolls scandal (dec 18, 2009)
- highlights from raphael golb’s initial police interview (dec 18, 2009)
- if you’re not guilty, why offer to plead guilty? (dec 17, 2009)
- text of raphael golb’s police interview immediately following his arrest (dec 17, 2009)
- on false accusations of anti-semitism in the academy (dec 15, 2009)
- oh… so you were just kidding this whole time (dec 10, 2009)
- new aliases popping up surrounding the criminal investigation of raphael golb (nov 10, 2009)
- update: golb’s motion to dismiss the charges against him available online (nov 9, 2009)
- on recent news about the ‘cloak and browser’ case against raphael golb (nov 8, 2009)
- 8 months later: bar finally ‘reports’ on the golb scandal (oct 30, 2009)
- update in the new york vs. raphael golb identity theft case (sept 24, 2009)
- top 10 strangest cases of identity theft (sept 6, 2009)
- model wins right to sue anonymous blogger who maligned her (aug 19, 2009)
- new online legal tool helps you track criminal cases (july 28, 2009)
Filed under: anonymity, archaeology, blogging, crime, dead sea scrolls, justice and legal, qumran, robert cargill, scholarship, technology, unprofessionalism | Tagged: blogs, charles gadda, dead sea scrolls, fraud, gmail, identity theft, impersonation, lawrence schiffman, norman golb, oriental institute, qumran, raphael golb, robert cargill, unauthorized use of a computer, university of chicago |
Personally, although it would bring a quicker close to this horrible saga Dr. C and others have had to endure quite sometime now, I think it will increase Golb’s chances of getting what he probably deserves. What this chacter has done — based only upon what I’ve read — is absolutely despicable. Of course I could be totally wrong, but taking one’s chances in front of a jury with a plea offer on the table, at least in my experience as a criminal defense lawyer for nearly two decades, almost always leads to much stiffer penalties by a jury if a conviction results. Dumb move, IMO, Mr. Golb. And my best guess is that Mr. Golb’s attorneys have already delivered that mesage to their client. But from what I have been able to learn about this case, a very stiff punishment is in order considering the great damage this gentleman has done to more than one person.
Having had some experience of on-line bullies and nutters myself, I think there’s some sort of psychological syndrome: the ability to publish behind a fake identity or to self-publicise one’s own ideas fosters delusions.
As I understand it, Golb jr. is being punished only for online impersonation. In the CA Assembly, there is a bill under consideration that would make certain online impersonations a misdemeanor.
“[O]nline impersonations with the purpose “of harming, intimidating, threatening or defrauding” would be punishable with a maximum fine of $1,000 and one year in jail.”
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/08/BU8C1EPNIH.DTL&feed=rss.news
Sen. Simition (or your local senator) might be interested in your story–it seems unlikely to me that you would be the only academic in CA with this kind of experience, but if no one speaks up . . .
Mr. Golb is accused of 60 counts including multiple felony and misdemeanor counts of identity theft, forgery, criminal impersonation, unauthorized use of a computer, and aggravated harassment. Few of these would be affected one way or another by Simitian’s bill (1411) aimed at online impersonation in California, which passed the CA legislature on Auh 12.The bill passed unanimously in both the Senate and the Assembly and now goes to the Governor.. Other states, including New York and Texas, have recently updated their statutes to prohibit online false impersonation.
For more information on SB 1411, visit http://www.senatorsimitian.com/legislation.
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