A mentally-ill Orthodox cantor who told jurors he was "The Michael Jackson of Jewish music" was sentenced in Manhattan yesterday to at least a year in prison for swindling a Washington Heights woman out of $36,000.Victim Judy Burstein, 55, had met the singer, Michoel Streicher, 50, at his performances five years ago in Rockland County, Brooklyn and Lakewood, NJ. Streicher posed as a rabbi, then took her money -- promising to use it to purchase a torah, but instead pocketing it, a jury found in convicting him of grand larceny in April. "She was so impressed by his singing, she fell for anything," Burstein's son, Yehuda said after the sentencing. "He promised her the torah would be under her control, and would be used by some of the greatest rabbis in Judaism," the son told reporters. "Then, after a few months, he stopped returning phone calls." After five years of denying wrongdoing, Streicher, the 50-year-old father of 11 children, apologized to the Burstein family in court today. "It was not intended, and it happened," he said. "And I hope they forgive me." Streicher's lawyer, Eric Franz, begged Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Roger Hayes for mercy, citing Streicher's long-standing mental illness, for which he is finally receiving treatment in Rikers. Before getting on his new meds, "He gnaws away, like an animal -- at his cuticles, his fingers," Franz said. As for the accusation he posed as a rabbi, "He just doesn't have a congregation," he said. "That doesn't mean he's posing."
The Jewish Michael Jackson huh? That’s just wild. People are so weird. And who pays $36,000 for a book? The guy must have had one hell of a Jewish vocal. Boom! Step aside Michael, it’s Rabbi Streicher’s turn to do the moonwalk all over grandma Burstein!
P.S. – What would you do with $36,000. How about just giving it to the Federal Government? Well that's exactly how much the "balloon boy's" parents had to do after their little stunt. Talk about a sick joke!
P.P.S. - Who doesn't bite their finger nails theses days? It's the coolest.
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