Local News in Brief : 4 in Jews for Jesus Arrested at College
Four members of the Jews for Jesus organization were arrested Tuesday as they distributed religious literature at Pierce College.
Police at the Woodland Hills campus said they have detained more than 12 people from the group in the last week.
Taken into custody about 11:15 a.m. Tuesday were Avi Snyder, 37, of Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles director of Jews for Jesus; Ellen Kamentsky, 25, of Van Nuys; Robert Wertheim, 30, of Tarzana and Joel Kleinbaum, 30, of Van Nuys.
James D. Burch, a campus police officer, said the four were charged with misdemeanor trespassing on a college campus. They were taken to the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Valley Division and held for about 4 hours until they posted $250 bail each, Burch said.
Police began arresting members of the group Nov. 15 after they refused to comply with a request to distribute literature from a booth on the campus. He said the organization’s members have been causing unlawful disturbances on campus because they have been passing out their materials in areas where such activities are not permitted.
Snyder said his organization had been exercising its First Amendment rights in distributing the literature, which expresses members’ faith in Jesus.
Snyder denied that members of the group were seeking a confrontation with police at Pierce.
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