Posted April 5 2008
The Incredible Story of “Natan Levy”/AKA Ted Riley Floyd
In another proof that real life outdoes film in the sensationalism department, the ultra-orthodox community of Lakewood, NJ was shocked to learn that a member of their community had been exposed as a non-Jewish identity thief from Kansas. The young man, whom they had come to know as “Natan Levy,” was actually Ted Riley Floyd of Wichita, Kansas. Floyd had apparently been on the lam from authorities for years due to previous crimes, the nature of which are not yet known. It’s suspected he’s a serial identity thief and scam artist. He presented himself to the Lakewood community as a secular Jew named Natan Levy who was interested in becoming observant and was taken in and taught Torah and Jewish law. (He had adopted the identity of Nathan Levy, a dead man.) He was a quick learner and apparently even gained a reputation in Lakewood as a rising Torah scholar. The authorities recently caught up with him and exposed him; he’s currently being held in jail.
In an interesting twist, a Kansas rabbi says he actually converted Floyd to Judaism years ago. This all raises interesting halachic questions. Can such a conversion be deemed valid? Perhaps he underwent a conversion just to back up his claim to be Jewish, in case anyone ever investigated his real background. He is, after all, a scam artist and identity thief. Or is it the case that, even though his original intent was to hide from the authorities, his interest in Judaism was actually sincere? We may never know.
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