'Charity' scam artist convicted
Ronen Bar-Shira found guilty of fraudulently obtaining NIS 1 million by soliciting donations supposedly meant for freeing Gilad Shalit and disaster relief.
The man indicted for fraudulently pocketing money solicited as donations was convicted on Monday at Tel Aviv's Magistrates Court. Ronen Bar-Shira was found guilty of most of the charges against him.
Bar-Shira collected money several years ago in order to help free kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit and to aid victims of a major wildfire. Following his sentence, Bar-Shira is likely to appeal the ruling.
Bar-Shira, a 57-year-old resident of Be'er Sheva, was accused of exploiting misfortune to obtain money illegally.
"We had only one job," his mother once told police, "to trick people".
According to Bar-Shira's indictment, he used the campaign to free Shalit to steal money he convinced people to donate.
He similarly promised members of the Bet Oren kibbutz that was damaged by a fire, claiming he could get millions in donations if NIS 100,000 were transferred to intermediaries – which he promptly took for himself. Bar-Shira received a total of more than NIS 1 million from these donations.
Bar-Shira made similar gambits to defraud a nearby kibbutz and the intensive care unit at Rambam Hospital, but failed to obtain the funds in these cases.
In his 2012 trial, Bar-Shira said he was a scapegoat and presented documents he claimed proved his innocence.
