El Salvador has extradited two members of the Lev Tahor sect—an ultra-Orthodox Jewish group under investigation for alleged child sexual abuse—to Israel and Guatemala, authorities from both countries reported Thursday. Lev Tahor, which practices an extreme form of ultra-Orthodox Judaism, has been under investigation in Guatemala for months over child abuse allegations. In December 2024, Guatemalan authorities rescued 160 children from a community compound in the country’s southeast.
Israel’s State Attorney’s Office identified the citizen extradited from El Salvador as Eliezer Rumpler, after formally requesting his transfer in February. Salvadoran authorities, who arrested him in January upon his arrival from Guatemala, referred to him as Eluzur Rumpler. Rumpler, who holds both Israeli and U.S. citizenship, is “accused in Israel of mistreating students at educational centers where he served as director,” stated El Salvador’s Prosecutor’s Office, without specifying where the alleged incidents occurred.
Authorities say the students were forced “to undress while being beaten.” “The individual is a member of the Lev Tahor ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect, known for its extreme and harmful practices against its own members,” the Salvadoran institution added. Separately, Guatemala’s Prosecutor’s Office reported that El Salvador also extradited Jonathan Cardona, a Guatemalan national and Lev Tahor member who was arrested in January after entering El Salvador.
Cardona, 23, is “accused of rape, abuse of minors, and human trafficking in the form of forced pregnancy,” Guatemalan Public Ministry spokesman Moisés Ortiz told reporters. Guatemalan police said he was flown to the capital’s airport as part of an Interpol-coordinated operation.
The Lev Tahor sect was founded in the 1980s and established a presence in Guatemala in 2013. It has previously faced legal conflicts in both Mexico and Canada.
