NEW BRUNSWICK The attorney for a rabbi charged with stealing $630,000 in public tuition funds through a Lakewood special-needs school says the evidence against Osher Eisemann was obtained from raids through overly broad search warrants and should be thrown out.

The state has until Sept. 8 to respond to the motion by Lee Vartan, Eisemann's attorney, to suppress evidence from the trove of electronic and paper documents recovered from raids at six locations. Middlesex County Superior Court Judge Benjamin Bucca says he'll conduct a hearing on the motion Sept. 29.

The raids took place in June 2016 at the School for Children with Hidden Intelligence -- better known by its acronym, SCHI (pronounced “shy”) -- as well as school offices, Eisemann's home, and the homes of an SCHI employee and two people who have business dealings with the school, according to new court documents.

Eisemann is the founder and director of SCHI, whose predominant enrollment is from Orthodox Jewish familes.


Nine months after the raids, Eisemann, 60, was charged in a four-count indictment. He has pleaded not guilty.

Vartan, from the Holland & Knight LLP law firm, New York, on Monday said the state's evidence against Eisemann came from "facially and fatally defective search warrants.''