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< Back to Raphael Golb Guilty of Impersonating Dead Sea Scrolls Scholar Raphael Golb Guilty of Impersonating Dead Sea Scrolls ScholarRaphael Golb’s Sentencing Talkback Add Your Comment
 Raphael Golb gets six months in prison for impersonating Dead Sea Scrolls scholar
by Melissa Grace, from New York Daily News
November 18, 2010
A disbarred lawyer convicted of impersonating a Dead Sea Scrolls scholar and four other academics online in a campaign to discredit their work is going up the river.
A judge Thursday sentenced Raphael Golb to six months behind bars—for his stealing his victims' e-mail identities and trashing them.
Prosecutors wanted up to four years for the campaign of harassment against NYU's Lawrence Schiffman, who Golb accused of plagiarism and tried to get fired.
Golb apologized to Schiffman and his other victims but he and his lawyer, Ron Kuby, still think he really didn't do anything all that bad.
"Before this case, I did not know that satirical hoaxes of the sort were treated as crimes in the United States of America," Golb told Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Carol Berkman.
Kuby was more scathing—and vowed an appeal
"\[D.A.\] Cy Vance's office asked for a term of up to four years in an Upstate prison for first degree blogging," Kuby mocked.
"The court and the district attorney's office have done their best to make sure the Internet is safe for elite scholars who wish to avoid criticism."
Golb is the son of one of Schiffman's rivals—Chicago scrolls scholar Norman Golb.
Schiffman and the other academics disagreed with his dad on the origins of the 2,000-year-old scrolls, which are considered the earliest form of the bible.
Golb launched his campaign in 2008 and the judge called his actions unacceptable.
"There needs to be a clear message as to the consequences to his continuing such behavior," Berkman said.
In addition to his six months in prison, Golb will be on probation for five years and must stay away from his victims, the judge said.
Golb was convicted last month of 30 counts, including identity theft, aggravated harassment and forgery.
Raphael Golb's SentencingThere has been an update in the case. Raphael Golb has filed an appeal - here is the brief. http://raphaelgolbtrialtranscripts.wordpress.com/2011/03/17/raphael-golb-appeal-brief-filed/ • • • • • • • Raphael Golb's E-mails"Signing his name as Schiffman, Raphael Golb made it appear that Schiffman was confessing to having plagiarized from Raphael Golb’s father, Norman." Raphael Golb wrote his e-mails in a humourous style that made it obvious they were not from Lawrence Schiffman. Dr Schiffman's colleagues, to whom the e-mails were sent, described them as "weird", according to a witness for the prosecution, Dean Stimpson of New York University. This in no way deserved a criminal prison sentence. • • • • • • • Raphael Golb's account of his trialcan be downloaded at: http://www.sirpeterscott.com/images/golbstatement.pdf • • • • • • • Correct link to Norman Golb's articleIt took me a while to find Professor Golb's article, because the link posted by Howard Fredrics is wrong. The correct link is: http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/schiffman_response_2010nov30.pdf • • • • • • • Correct link to Norman Golb's articleIt took me a while to find Professor Golb's article, because the link posted above is wrong. The correct link is: http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/schiffman_response_2010nov30.pdf • • • • • • • Correct link to Dr. Golb's articleIt took me a while to find Norman Golb's article on Lawrence Schiffman's "confidential letter," because the link posted by Howard Fredrics appears to have a typographical mistake in it. The correct link is: http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/schiffman_response_2010nov30.pdf • • • • • • • Golb ConvictionFor another point of view on the underlying issues at hand in the Golb case, read Prof. Norman Golb's response to the "confidential" letter written by Prof. Lawrence Schiffman to NYU officials. For those interested in reading Prof. Norman Golb's response to a "confidential" letter written by Prof. Lawrence Schiffman to NYU officials. http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/schiffman_responce_2010nov30.pdf • • • • • • • |
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