Florida court didn't bother to inform Israeli police of decision
U.S. court sent convicted pedophile to Israel
Israeli law enforcement agencies, courts, not notified of decision by Florida court to send Raymond Pietrowski, convicted of attempting to rape minors, to north Jerusalem; offender has vanished
Raymond Michael Pietrowski (47) tops a Florida sex offender's list, and has been convicted of two attempts to rape a 10 year-old child. He has been classed as a dangerous pedophile by the United States. Worryingly, Pietrowski has been recently seen in north Jerusalem.
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In 2003, a Florida district court gave a strange ruling, after Pietrowski, a Chicago resident, was convicted of attacking his acquaintance's young son while visiting them. Instead of being sent to a long prison sentence, as U.S. law dictates, Pietrowski was sent for a "period of examination" to Israel.
As far as is known, Israel's law enforcement agencies and courts have not received any information about a convicted sex offender arriving in Israel. No one warned the residents of Jerusalem about the presence of a dangerous sex offender.
At the start of his trial, Pietrowski was accused of raping a minor, an offence which carries a life imprisonment sentence, but his lawyer managed to convince the prosecutor and the judge to agree to a deal with could serve U.S. interests.
The indictment was reduced to attempted rape alone, and Judge Loren Miller agreed to change a sentence of serving time in an American prison to a period of exile in Israel. Pietrowski was sent to Jerusalem two years ago with a clear warning: "Don't come back to the United States for at least 10 years."
Conditions
The judge added a few further conditions to the deal: "The offender will undergo psychiatric treatment, and is forbidden from having any relations with a child under the age of 18 without supervision."
And so, without any warning to Israel, a dangerous pedophile landed at Ben-Gurion Airport, where a family friend, Moshe Tzur, waited for him. The U.S. court ruled that Tzur is to "take care of Pietrowski during his stay in Israel."
For at least a year, Pietrowski has been living in north Jerusalem, and has worked at a yeshiva. He was sent for psychiatric treatment with Jerusalem based Doctor Jerald (Yehuda) Oppenheim, who has prescribed him psychiatric drugs over the course of the past year.
He was under supervision until the start of 2005, but in the past year he has stopped arriving at meetings with the doctor, and has also disappeared from the radar of American authorities.
Two weeks ago, a list of wanted offenders was published in Florida, which included Pietrowski. His last known address is listed as "Israel."
Florida police say they have no idea about where Pietrowski is located, and Oppenheim has told Yedioth Ahronoth that he hadn't seen the patient for many months.
"I'm sorry for ever getting involved with this," he added.
Pietrowski's lawyer, Jerry Berry, said that he did not think that Israeli authorities could have interfered with a decision to send a convicted sex offender to Israel.
