Ramla court jails man for 10 years over wartime evacuee fraud

The Ramla Magistrate’s Court sentenced 54-year-old Haim Avitan of Beersheba to 10 years and 3 months in prison for a fraud scheme that targeted people helping evacuees from the Israel-Hamas war. He was also ordered to pay about 1.5 million shekels in compensation to the victims.

According to the ruling issued Sunday, Avitan posed as the owner of a hotel in Herzliya supposedly housing evacuees, then ordered large quantities of food, drinks and charcoal from suppliers. He paid with bounced checks or forged documents, causing losses of roughly 3 million shekels.

Avitan was convicted on 20 counts, including obtaining goods by fraud, forgery, impersonation and issuing checks without cover. The court said he had exploited, in a “vile” way, the goodwill of victims who were trying to help evacuees during an emergency.

Prosecutor Liora Kumcheh of the Central District said Avitan acted in a planned and systematic way, using fake documents, false identities and deceptive representations to gain personally at others’ expense.