Neighbors Shocked as Local Man Charged in Taliban Conspiracy

Roman Gekhter can’t believe his next-door neighbor of five years would “actually sell weapons knowingly to the Taliban. Virtually every conversation we had came down to how great America is.”

Yet that neighbor, Oded Orbach, 52, stands accused of conspiracy to acquire and transfer anti-aircraft missiles to be used against American troops in Afghanistan, . Orbach, an Israeli by birth, was arrested in Romania along with six others early this month after he agreed to sell weapons to two paid informants, according to a recently unsealed . 

Neighbor Christie Lullo and her husband said they were "shocked" when, on Feb. 10, cars lined up along Orbach's driveway and federal agents armed with machine guns approached his house. 

“You think you know your neighbors, but you really don't,” Lullo said.

Gekhter last spoke to Orbach a month ago and said he complained to Orbach about his struggling health care business. Orbach responded, "Don't worry, you'll make it. Everyone knows this is the best country in the world."

Orbach's connection to Israel makes his arrest even more surprising to his neighbors. Lullo said the news surprised her because Orbach was Israeli and his wife teaches at a local Jewish school. Gekhter said that he'd heard Orbach's niece died in a terrorist attack in Israel.

Highland Park Mayor called it “bizarre.”

“I don't want to say it's implausible," he said. "I just want to say it's very awkward to me that someone from Israel would be working against Israel's ally."

Lullo moved with her husband and children to Highland Park in July 2009. When winter turned to spring and they started doing yard work, their neighbor from two doors down came by to introduce himself.

"He told us the history of the neighborhood and about everyone who ever lived here," Lullo said. "He was super outgoing and really nice, like a fun personality."

Lullo and her husband knew when Orbach went on trips abroad, but assumed he was traveling to Israel. He told the couple he had owned a cosmetics company but had retired. 

"His personality does not fit," Lullo said, "He didn't seem slick enough to do something like that."

Orbach was always eager to help, according to Lullo, who said that he once had one of his sons clean out another neighbor's gutter. Later, Orbach mowed the leaves.

"He was such a family man, he was always talking about his sons," Lullo said, "and how he's trying to instill values in them."

One of his sons was approached by a reporter in Orbach's front yard last week, according to Lullo. He said, "No comment." Now, a "Private Property" sign sits by Orbach's mailbox.

"He was always just really nice and cool," Lullo said. "Was it all an act?"

Additional reporting by Lindsay Goldberg.