RABBI PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO SMUGGLING DRUGS TO INMATES

Associated Press

ALBANY, N.Y. - A diminutive 73-year-old rabbi in a rumpled pinstripe suit
was released without bail Thursday on a charge that he smuggled drugs into
a federal prison where he ministered to inmates.

Eli Gottesman, a former "Rabbi of the Year," has pleaded not guilty to the
charge of attempting to provide contraband, a felony.

Authorities say Mr. Gottesman tried to smuggle a bottle of shampoo filled
with cocaine and marijuana encased in balloons into the Federal
Correctional Institute at Ray Brook in the Adirondack Mountains.

"God knows I didn't do anything wrong. I was tricked," Mr. Gottesman said
after his court hearing.

Mr. Gottesman was arrested by a special agent of the U.S. Justice
Department on Oct. 7. Authorities said he had been under investigation for
the last several months by prison officials, as well the Justice
Department, the FBI and state police.

"This didn't just come out of nowhere," Ray Brook prison spokesman Michael
Lamitie said.

Mr. Gottesman could face a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000
fine, said federal prosecutor Richard Hartunian.

Mr. Gottesman has worked on a contractual basis since 1991 at the federal
prison, providing religious services to Jewish inmates every other week for
$3,420 a year. He has worked since 1984 as a chaplain at five state prisons
in northeastern New York, earning $53,875 a year.

State prison spokesman Michael Houston said the department will suspend Mr.
Gottesman without pay and seek his dismissal from state service. His
contract with the federal prison has been terminated.

Mr. Gottesman's lawyer, Brian Premo, said the case will probably center on
whether the rabbi knowingly brought the drugs into the prison.

"Obviously he's upset," Mr. Premo said. "He's a religious man who's spent
his whole life trying to help people."

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski