Golb found guilty

THAT WAS FAST! The Golb identity-theft case went to the jury yesterday and they promptly came back with a verdict of guilty on 30 of the 31 counts.

Son of Dead Sea Scrolls Expert Is Convicted

By JOHN ELIGON (NYT)
Published: September 30, 2010

The son of a prominent professor at the University of Chicago was convicted on Thursday of impersonating a New York University professor and other scholars who disagreed with his father’s theories on the origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Jurors took half a day to find the son, Raphael Haim Golb, a 50-year-old real estate lawyer, guilty on 30 of 31 counts, including identity theft, criminal impersonation and aggravated harassment.

Before the trial, prosecutors had offered Mr. Golb a plea deal under which he would not have served time in jail. Now, at sentencing on Nov. 18, he could receive up to four years in prison.

[...]

He should have taken the plea bargain. Then again, it looked to me as though he was more interested in getting a platform for his views on the Dead Sea Scrolls than in winning the case.

A tragic story all around.

Background here.

(Bumped to top of page.)