This investigation is a joint project of Shtetl and Streetsblog NYC.

It’s difficult to park in Williamsburg. Family sizes are large. Car ownership is high. Land-use is dense.

But it’s easy to find a spot if you’re willing to pretend you’re a chaplain — a person of faith who doles out compassion to New York’s many suffering people. Anyone with $750 and an hour to spare can do it.

Recently, a reporter at Shtetl received an appealing Yiddish-language come-on in his email inbox: “Park like an animal, but with a hechsher,” it said, using the term for a Kosher stamp of approval. The ad led to the website of the New York State Chaplain Group, a seemingly legit organization that offers would-be do-gooders a chance to “find fulfillment” but also obtain “lucrative Chaplaincy positions in hospitals, prisons, and for law enforcement.”

If that wasn’t exciting enough, the group also offers the holy grail of drivers who live in congested neighborhoods: a parking placard with an official-looking logo of the Twin Towers and a flag.

To get it — and an accompanying hardened metal badge, two lapel pins, a “certificate of completion” and an ID card with a hologram and a sticker that resembles a computer chip — one need only pay $750 and attend a one-hour training led by Akiva Homnick, who founded the group in 2023.

So we did. Streetsblog NYC Editor Gersh Kuntzman recently took Homnick’s “course” —  a virtual call with about a half-dozen participants, all of whom (except for Kuntzman) kept their cameras off and didn’t utter a sound. For an hour, participants listened (or didn’t) as Homnick read through passages from his “New York State Chaplain Group Guide,” a 23-page document of homilies and empathy advice cribbed from reputable sources.

Some things vital education that would-be chaplains get from Homnick?

• It’s important to call 911 if someone collapses.
• A chaplain should always wash his or her hands during a hospital visit.
• Chaplains should avoid “converting patients,” but if the family is Jewish and the deceased is planning on being cremated, you can “carefully” point out that cremation is “a no-no in the Jewish faith.”

Most of the session consisted of Homnick monologuing about the myriad ways in which people may be suffering, offering as his sole credential a claim that he counseled people after the crash of US Airways flight 1549, which famously ditched in the Hudson River in 2009. (An exhaustive search of the internet revealed no connection between Homnick and the so-called “Miracle on the Hudson.”)

“Mental health is a medical condition that affects a person's thoughts, feelings, mood, ability to relate to others and daily functioning,” Homnick said as he rambled. “Sexual abuse, I don't think that needs any explanation.”

And how about this for clinical insight? “I always say if you see somebody wearing sunglasses on a shady day, there's a good chance they took a good punch in the eye,” he said at one point. “It could be they had some cataract procedure, but the better chance is that they probably got punched in the face.”

Afterwards, no one had any questions. Homnick said that participants’ “credentials” would be arriving shortly — and they did: Gersh Kuntzman now has a badge and ID card identifying him as a “chaplain.”

Except there was one problem: None of this is sanctioned by any city or state agencies. Not the NYPD, not the city Health and Hospitals Corporation or the Emergency Management agency, not any legitimate chaplaincy groups. The badge, the certificate, the parking placard, the clip-on ID card — they are all like a big screen Hollywood heartthrob: good-looking fakes.

But real chaplains know the difference.

“Those placards don’t mean anything,” said Peter Gudaitis, the director and CEO of New York Disaster Interfaith Services and the chair of Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters, a network of faith-based nonprofits that work with state governments after national disasters. “[Groups like this] charge a lot of money for their chaplaincy training and most of their chaplains are not ordained which is pretty much a basic requirement of chaplaincy. In any disaster setting, you have to be affiliated with or credentialed by a VOAD organization, and I’m the chair of New York State VOAD so I know everybody in the state that does this, and we don’t recognize their credential.”

The New York State Chaplain Group and other shadowy chaplain organizations — whose homemade-yet-official-looking placards have been spotted on dashboards around the city — “in no way recognized by any government agency [or] deployed by any government agency,” he added.

On its website, the NYSCG claims it is a partnership with The Chaplain Group of America, but that group does not exist. A Google search for the group brings up results for similar-sounding entities (whose names we’ll keep out of the press because they may indeed be legitimate). In the Big Apple, there’s also a group called the New York State Chaplain Task Force, which bills itself as “New York’s Kindest,” but one of its “chaplains” turned out to have a weapons conviction (more on him later).

Other legitimate chaplain groups are not happy with what Homnick and others are doing. Alissa Thomas-Newborn, the president of Neshama: Association of Jewish Chaplains, was especially bothered by a Homnick ad that claimed that 17-year olds could become chaplains as well as Homnick’s claim that his “graduates” can get chaplain jobs after a simple one-hour course without so much as a final quiz to ascertain that any of the anonymous participants were even paying attention.

Real chaplains are expected to have undergone years of rigorous training, Thomas-Newborn said. In fact, they are expected to have already completed a Master's degree or equivalent before becoming a chaplain, for which they are expected to put in 2,000 hours of clinical experience. (For the record, Kuntzman has done none of that, though he does now have a badge.)

“Both for the safety of our patients, families, and staff, and for the educational and clinical legitimacy of our professional field, it is crucial that our professional chaplaincy standards are upheld,” she said. “To use the title ‘chaplain’ without the professional standard of training that Neshama and our cognate organizations require is misleading at best and dangerous and irresponsible at worst.”

Become a chaplain

There are legitimate chaplains. The Police Department, FDNY and the FBI, for instance, have such people of faith to provide counseling to first responders. Many hospitals also have chaplains whose credentials have been properly vetted.

The NYPD told Streetsblog that it does not work in any official capacity with the NYS Chaplain Task Force or the New York State Chaplain Group, nor does it recognize its members’ placards.

In the case of emergencies like natural disasters, New York State VOAD works with New York Disaster Interfaith Services which includes over 300 active disaster chaplains, all of which are ordained. These chaplains do not receive any special parking placards to use around the city, and are only deployed in emergencies like major weather events.

But Homnick issues placards — and not always in the subtlest of ways. Recently, the Hasidic marketing firm Ah Blick Live sent out an email blast for Homnick whose subject line went beyond the group’s ad promising connections with law enforcement, ability to enter hospitals without hassles, and significant discounts at hotels.

“Park like an animal, with a hechsher,” the subject line read in Yiddish.

Ah Blick Live — which sends out e-blasts for other Haredi entities, such as Agudath Israel’s COPE Institute, Bonei Olam and others — insisted that it, not Homnick, created the subject line playing up the parking perk.

“Like if you're in a very big rush and you have to double-park … or you want to be able to, let's say, have the privilege of parking in a usually no parking zone — if you have this chaplain [placard], you could actually park in some areas where regular vehicles are not allowed to park,” said Mendl Rubin, a spokesman for the company. “But it's not like, ‘Park like an animal, and you won't get a ticket,’ because that's not true.”

One high-ranking NYPD official, who requested anonymity because the official is unauthorized to speak on the record, confirmed that Homnick’s placards are fake, though the official acknowledged that some officers may not know how to recognize a real one from a fake one, and may fail to ticket cars, even though using a fabricated credential is itself a crime.

But in a city where literally anyone with a real credential — a cop, a firefighter, a federal agent with an AWM placard — can park wherever he or she wants, a real-looking fake chaplain placard doesn't really stand out. 

As such, “the enforcement system has shown zero interest in cracking down on these types of offenses, despite statements over the years from various elected officials,” said Henry Grabar, a journalist and author of Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains The World. “The conclusion people come to is that it’s a bet worth making to break the law and take your chances.” 

The city government is itself complicit, doling out placards to city employees as a political tool. 

“The city has really created this problem for itself by allowing these things to proliferate, even the legitimate ones,” said Grabar. “The tremendous diversity of what is out there means that there is an opportunity for fakery to pass unnoticed.” 

Fake chaplains in action‍

Homnick, who declined repeated requests to comment for this story, is not the only shady character in the fake chaplain business.

In July, Streetsblog spotted credentials issued by the New York State Chaplain Task Force on a Toyota Highlander parked illegally near City Hall. On the dash was a genuine-looking badge, a placard slightly different from the one Homnick sells, and an ID card with the name Igor Lipsman.

A little background checking revealed that in 2021, Igor Lipsman was convicted of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a felony, misdemeanor drug possession and driving without a license in upstate New York.

So how is he a chaplain for an organization that claims to conduct rigorous background checks?

Well, for one thing, he’s not. Like the New York State Chaplain Group, the New York State Chaplain Task Force is in the business of selling expensive training programs and official-looking gear that lend an air of legitimacy to people who believe they are needed at scenes of crisis. Homnick, Kuntzman’s coach, was a “chaplain” with the New York State Chaplain Task force in 2020, according to his Instagram bio.

The task force was formed more than 10 years prior to Homnick’s organization, in 2011, as a nonprofit organization, according to government tax filings. Marcos Miranda — who used the title "The Reverend Dr." — created and led the organization until his death in 2023. Miranda had a lively social media presence where he would post ASMR videos with titles like JUDGES 17-21 Reading to Help You Sleep (Soft Spoken Whispers) *Wear Headphones,” offer his takes on geopolitical conflicts, and pictures of himself cozying up to city officials at public events.

Since Miranda's death, the organization, such as it is, has been run by Greylin Vallejo, known as Chaplain Grey. Compared to Miranda, Vallejo avoids the spotlight. Vallejo claims she's a deacon and has "worked for the NYC Department of Education for over 20 years," city records show that, since 2008, she's been an hourly employee of the department, never making more than $37,056 per year. (Vallejo has not responded to repeated requests for comment.)

Both Miranda and Vallejo are connected to Action In Christ International, a registered church which lists the same address as the NYS Chaplain Task Force on its website, as well as another organization called Christian Clergy International, which also has the same phone number and address as the task force. Action In Christ used to be located at 157 Leonard St. in Brooklyn, but that location is now permanently closed.

None of these organizations, including the task force, currently has a brick-and-mortar location, but list their address as 405 RXR Plaza in Uniondale — but that’s the home of Intelligent Office Solutions, an office outsourcing company that handles the chaplain organizations’ day-to-day operations, but does not issue the placards.

Like Homnick’s group, the New York State Chaplain Task Force offers an online course that purports to train and "license" anyone who wants to be a "chaplain” of any denomination. The course costs $675, plus an annual $125 renewal fee, but all of the extras — the legit looking placard and badge – are sold separately. 

The task force does train real clergy members and want-to-be spiritual leaders who are enticed by the organization. The problem is, once they get their certification, they think they are qualified to respond to an emergency, which is not the case.

“A lot of the New York State Chaplain Task Force members have navy windbreakers that look like a government windbreaker. They'll wear gold shields around their neck like a detective does, or they’ll wear gold shield lapel pins. All of these things give the appearance of a government organization or at the very least a government endorsed organization — but they are not,” said Gudaitis.

Individuals affiliated with the New York State Chaplain Task Force pop up in strange places. Alejandro Zayas, who is listed as the organization's director of Public Relations, has an online bio boasting of relationships with multiple mayors, including the current one who is under indictment for alleged corruption. He now works full time for the Mayor’s Faith and Citywide Clergy Collective as a liaison since 2023, according to the mayor's office. (Zayas referred all questions to Chaplain Grey, who has not responded to any of our media inquiries.)

Gudaitis said task force leadership has a pattern of getting involved with city government to “ingratiate themselves to official[s] who will give them access.”

“It’s always murky,” he said.

And it’s big money. On its website, the Task Force sells fancy swag: A rain jacket with the official-looking logo? That's $125. Want a safety vest? Cough up another $50. And that fancy badge? That's $150. All of these items, and more, are purchasable even without taking the online course. (Streetsblog ordered a nice $20 chaplain task force pin and the order sailed right though.)

In 2017, the group had revenues of just $95,112, according to tax filings. But four years after starting its merch shop, revenues nearly quadrupled to $372,820. 

Where does the money go? According to a 2021 tax return, the group’s spent $50,597 in unitemized credit card expenses, $41,262 on meals and $3,240 on computer expenses — plus $153,246 classified, vaguely, as “all other expenses.”

Gudaitis thinks that many who seek out the training are well meaning, but are unaware that there isn’t anything official about the organization. 

“It’s really just all icky,” said Gudaitis. “[Miranda] was making money on something that is not legit, and what does that mean? I know it's not legitimate disaster chaplaincy, I know they're not official spiritual care providers to New York City Emergency Management, those are all hard and fast facts. The rest of it, it's hard to know, and I feel badly for the people that have gotten their training who don't really know what’s up.”

Lipsman told Streetsblog that he took an in-person course in Queens after his boss, "Boris," signed him up for it. Lipsman completed the program, got the badge and the placard, and now drives around as a chaplain doing business for Boris, one of his duties is driving him around on Shabbat.

“Boris is not a rabbi,” said Lipsman. “But close enough. He has rabbis in his family.” Lipsman added that Boris was the only person who could answer questions about the chaplain group, but then said that Boris was in Israel and did not want to speak with Streetsblog for this story.

It is unclear how Lipsman retains his placard and badge despite his weapons conviction. (He declined to talk about his conviction.)

Beyond the fake credentials is danger on the roads. Earlier this year, a Reddit reader spotted a NYS Chaplain Task Force credential on the dash of a Cybertruck (!) that was parked in a protected bike lane. Further review of that driver's record showed that the conspicuous Tesla had been slapped with almost $2,000 in moving violations in the just three months, including 12 school zone speed violations, according to city records.

On the plus side, the driver has gotten two tickets for “fraudulent use of a parking permit” — though it's unclear if that ticket relates to the chaplain placard or some other fraud. 

And last year, Streetsblog Editor Gersh Kuntzman caught another fake chaplain — another Tesla (!) — along Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn. The car's placard had a plate number associated with nearly $5,000 in fines from 39 school zone speed camera violations and other violations from October 2020 to March 2023. The car itself had a different plate — KZT2023 — that's been hit with three speed camera violations since early 2023, city records show.

Author Grabar spotted another Task Force member’s car in August, again parked illegally with its wannabe cop paraphernalia on the dash and, for a nice touch, a large American flag completely covering the license plate:

“As someone who wrote a book about this subject I am unfortunately cursed with the burden of seeing this stuff everywhere I go, I can’t turn off that part of my brain that thinks, huh, why is there an American flag covering this guy’s license plate?” said Grabar.

That car with the placard connoting comfort and safety had four violations in June and July — one for that most unsafe of violations: parking in front of a fire hydrant.

There are even fake federal chaplains, as Streetsblog discovered the other day in Brooklyn, when a reporter encountered a placard from the “U.S. Federal Chaplain Task Force” on a car parked illegally — and with a defaced license plates — in a bus stop. There is no such thing as the U.S. Federal Chaplain Task Force, though a similarly named group, US Federal Chaplains Agency, offers badges and placards on its website — which then directs would-be do-gooders to respond to emergencies that are posted on the Citizen app, which is not how real chaplains get to assignments.

And one of Homnick’s placards made a cameo in a recent lawsuit in an ongoing civil war consuming the oldest Orthodox synagogue in Williamsburg, as Shtetl reported.

It was a minor point in the dispute, but Yoel Gross, the first vice president of Congregation Beth Jacob Ohev Sholom was accused of using his “position of trust” in the shul to “fraudulently obtain a New York City Department of Transportation vehicle parking placard [though] Yoel Gross lacks credentials for being a clergy. … Gross systematically and routinely misuses the parking placard by parking illegally and displaying the placard, thereby fraudulently misrepresenting that he is on official Congregation business.”

The car in that case — remember, it has one of Homnick’s placards on the dash — has been ticketed by New York City speed and red-light cameras 22 times since February 2022. It’s also roughly two dozen tickets for illegal parking — an indication that not every officer is fooled by the Twin Towers logo.

Lauren Hakimi contributed to this report.