Story highlights Three rabbis found guilty of conspiracy to commit kidnapping in New Jersey federal court

They were accused of orchestrating kidnapping, torture of Jewish men who refused to allow their wives a religious divorce

Lawyers for the rabbis said they plan on appealing the verdicts

(CNN) Three Orthodox rabbis accused of planning and participating in the torture of Jewish men who refused to divorce their wives were convicted Tuesday of conspiring to commit kidnapping.

Rabbis Mendel Epstein, 69; Jay Goldstein, 60; and Binyamin Stimler, 39, were found guilty on one count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping in New Jersey federal court. Goldstein and Stimler were also convicted on charges of attempted kidnapping.

The rabbis were part of a ring accused of accepting tens of thousands of dollars to orchestrate the kidnappings of Jewish husbands to persuade them through torture involving electric cattle prods and screwdrivers to grant "gets," a document that Jewish law requires a husband to present to his wife in order to be issued a divorce, court papers said.

The men were arrested in October 2013 following an FBI sting operation that ended with Goldstein, Stimler and six other men with ski masks, surgical blades and a 30-foot nylon rope in a warehouse in Middlesex County, New Jersey.

Lawyers for each of the rabbis told CNN they plan on appealing the convictions.

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