Posted on 09/19/2007 4:26:10 PM PDT by decimon
The Jefferson County sheriff said he and his deputies received several death threats from an Amish bishop with regard to a child custody dispute, prompting him to have the regional SWAT team on standby Tuesday.
Sheriff Fred Abdalla was ordered to take Wilma Troyer's daughters, ages 21 months and 9 months, as part of a domestic dispute with her husband who currently lives with his family in Potter County, Pa.
The sheriff said he and one other deputy went alone up to the school to serve the court order, but said Troyer, an Amish teacher, instead locked herself in the building.
Attorney Bryan Felmet, spokesman for the Amish community, called the incident a raid and said the one-room schoolhouse was the stage for a dramatic showdown between an Amish mother and sheriff's deputies.
Felmet said there were 29 children in the school on county Road 53 when several cruisers from the sheriff's department and a SWAT team entered the grounds.
In a rare move, the Amish -- who typically do not go on camera -- described the incident on a video posted on YouTube.com.
"(The sheriff) was knocking on the door, 'Open up, open. I want to talk to Wilma Troyer. Open that door. I have a court order,'" Troyer said. "Those children were in there crying and screaming, 'They're going to shoot us.'"'
Troyer said the children exited the schoolhouse, surrounding her, and walked down the road. She was detained and served with the court papers at a nearby farmhouse and her children removed into the custody of their father.
Samuel Mullet, an Amish bishop and Wilma Troyer's mother, said the community is outraged.
"I said, 'This is crazy. You know none of us guys have guns out here. We wouldn't use them if we had them,'" Mullet said.
But Abdalla disagreed and said Mullet threatened his life on more than one occasion.
"If it wasn't for all the allegations being made, for all the statements being made and the threats being made, we would have handled it differently," the sheriff said.
Abdalla said he doesn't regret the show of force.
"I don't care if it's a school or church. I'm going to take whatever action is necessary," he said. "Based on threats to my life and on my deputies' lives, based on the threats (Mullet) has made on his own family, surely Mr. Brian Felmet doesn't think I should approach that situation with sticks in my hand."
Abdalla said the children were never in any danger.
"When they came out of the school, I kept telling the children, 'Kids, nothing is wrong here. Nobody is going to get hurt. You don't need to cry,'" he said.
Abdalla also said there are "some very serious allegations" of molestation and attempted rape in that Amish community. The sheriff's department is also investigating the death of a 2-year-old Amish boy who lived in the community. An autopsy on that toddler was never performed though required by law, Abdalla said.
He showed a stack of letters from people he claims left the Bergholz community and are begging him to step in. Further, he said the Amish in that community are being threatened psychologically.
"(Mullet) told the children we were going to get them and put needles in them. My God, any child would be scared," Abdalla said.
A hearing is scheduled in Jefferson County magistrate court on Thursday to discuss custody of Troyer's children. Stay with NEWS9 and WTOV9.com for continuing coverage as details become available.
-Renee Cardelli & John Paul, NEWS9
True. Involvement in religion is no guarantee of true faith and the practice thereof. I’ve heard stories of different sects of Amish but I don’t have any firsthand experience (closest I come are some Mennonite relatives on my wife’s side of the family). There’s just something that’s got my “Spidey Sense” tingling on this one.
Especially that one with the beard. I bet he’s the mastermind. ;-)
Gestapo wannabe
Maybe that should have been plural. Were there threats against the Sheriff and his deputies? Did the LEOs overreact in in retrieving the children?
Abdalla was under court order to take the kids from the mother so, unless there's more to that story, he's clean on that count.
So we just assume it's the Amish.
5.56mm
Amish chicks rock!
How ‘bout a link, bitte?
;^)
And those reflectorized throwing triangles they have on the back of the buggies.
Can you provide some context for this picture?
Can you provide some context for this picture?
looks to me like a movie shoot. everyone looks like actors. if real amish chicks looked like that i’d be raising barns as we speak.
It could be a glimpse into the secret world of the Amish Militia movement,
but it is probably a movie scene.
To be serious, this group of Amish is run by a bishop who has definite mental problems. He refuses to let community members leave/move, and can be a very intimidating threatening man. I know of 8 families who literally fled that group in the last year, leaving farms, livestock, and belongings, just to get away from this man. Many of the folks who still live there are brainwashed and scared to death of any outsiders, thanks to the bishop. I live about 2 miles from his “compound”, and am very aware of the circumstances involved.
Of course the Amish have guns, how on earth would they hunt otherwise? Yes, both the bishop and his son have threatened to kill locals AND the sheriff and deputies. While it’s ok to joke about things, ya’ll have NO idea of what is going on here. The Sheriff removed those two children in the best and safest way possible.
This whole mess reminds me of the Jim Jones Guyana tragedy. Keep an eye on the news, I am telling you now - something bad will happen within that group.
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