Two months after being sentenced to 24 years in prison: sex offender found dead in his cell

Sex offender Arie Gottlieb, 76, was found dead in his cell at the Magen-Nitzan detention facility, about two months after being sentenced to 24 years in prison for a series of sex offenses against an 11-year-old girl. The Israel Prison Service has established an investigation team.

Sex offender Arie Gottlieb, 76, from northern Israel, was found dead in his cell at the "Magen-Nitzan" detention facility today (Saturday). His death occurred just two months after the Haifa District Court imposed a heavy sentence of 24 years in actual prison time. The Israel Prison Service stated that, as is customary in such cases, an investigation team has been appointed to clarify the circumstances of his death. Gottlieb was convicted last June of committing a series of severe and serious sex offenses against a complainant who was only 11 years old at the time of the acts. According to the indictment, the offenses were committed between 1997 and 2001, after Gottlieb exploited the trust placed in him by the girl's family, who were new immigrants, and the fact that he extended his protection over her relatives to attack her repeatedly. Throughout the legal proceedings, Gottlieb denied the charges against him, but the court accepted the complainant's version. In the sentencing handed down about two months ago, the court noted that despite the many years that passed until the complainant gathered the strength to file a complaint, "the scars of the defendant's actions are still evident in her soul and present in her life." The court further emphasized in its decision that despite Gottlieb's advanced age and his being a sick man in his twilight years, the extreme severity of the acts and the serious harm to a young child necessitate a lengthy and deterrent prison sentence. Now, two months into serving his sentence, his life has ended behind bars.