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FBI: Kids from 4 to 18 were abused in [Nuwaubian] group [GA based cult may have up to 35 victims]
Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^
| May 14, 2002
| Bill Osinski, AJC
Posted on 05/14/2002 8:50:08 AM PDT by Risky Schemer
[ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 5/14/02 ]
FBI: Kids from 4 to 18 were abused in group
By BILL OSINSKI
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer
EATONTON -- The child molestation case against Nuwaubian leader Dwight York escalated Monday in state and federal court.
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 Robert Seay / AP United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors founder Dwight York is escorted from federal court in Macon.
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In Eatonton, a Putnam County grand jury issued a 116-count indictment of the 56-year-old leader of the United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors, a quasi-religious group whose 150 to 200 members live in a rural compound that features huge pyramids and a large gate covered with hieroglyphics.
York was charged with 74 counts of child molestation, 29 counts of aggravated child molestation and related charges, including one count of rape.
In Macon, an FBI agent testified at a bond hearing in U.S. District Court that authorities have identified as many as 35 victims, whose age at the time of the alleged crimes ranged from 4 to 18.
York is in federal custody after being arrested Wednesday by FBI agents in Baldwin County as an army of federal and local officers swooped down on the compound in Putnam County. York's associate, Kathy Johnson, who was arrested with him on the federal charges, also was named in five counts of the state indictment.
Three other members of the Nuwaubian group -- identified as Chandra Lampkin, Kadijah Merritt and Esther Cole -- were indicted on state charges of child molestation.
Fred Bright, district attorney for the judicial circuit that includes Putnam County, said the state indictment accuses York of molesting at least five children repeatedly "and in just about every way imaginable."
The indictments crown a four-year investigation by the FBI and the Putnam County sheriff's office. It began when a local social service agency received anonymous allegations that children were being sexually abused at the Nuwaubians' 400-acre ranch.
York and the Nuwaubians have frequently criticized Putnam County authorities for what they contend is racial discrimination and harassment.
Assistant District Attorney Dawn Baskin said there were no ulterior motives to the state's charges.
"There's nothing political about child molestation," she said.
All the alleged crimes were committed at the Nuwaubian compound, Bright said.
FBI agent Jalaine Ward testified at the bond hearing in federal court in Macon regarding the scope of the government's case against York.
York said to have ruled with iron hand
The government has statements from approximately 15 witnesses who testified that York sodomized and had sexual intercourse with children, Ward testified. In some of these encounters, the acts were photographed and videotaped, she said.
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Daniel Barry / AP
Kathy Johnson is escorted from the federal courthouse in Macon. She is accused of participating in the sexual abuse of children. |
The agent's testimony depicted a long-standing pattern of York's having sex with children within his community.
The incidents started at his group's bases in New York and continued after the sect moved in 1993 to a Putnam County farm and -- in the alleged acts that make this case a federal matter -- during an estimated 15 to 20 trips to Disney World in Florida over the past four years, investigators say.
"York controls everything that goes on" at the compound, Ward said, summarizing witness descriptions of life at the former cattle ranch, which the Nuwaubians have decorated with Egyptian-style pyramids and statuary. In some Nuwaubian literature, York is called the group's savior or god.
Ward said York controlled what and how much his followers ate, how much money they were permitted, and whether they could come and go at the compound.
The federal prosecutor wants to deny York bail, but U.S. Magistrate Judge Claude Hicks indicated he would not rule on that matter before today, when the bond hearing resumes.
Hicks ruled that defense attorneys could review the 50-page affidavit used to support York's arrest, but he also gave prosecutors time to black out the names of victims mentioned in the document.
Defense lawyer demands to see papers
Defense attorney Ed Garland of Atlanta argued he should have access to unedited versions of the federal investigative document.
"We are here, really, in the dark," Garland told the court. "If a confidential informant is also a victim, then they are not entitled to be shielded."
Hicks rejected that argument, but Garland renewed his demand for the documents as he started to cross-examine Ward. It was then the hearing was adjourned for the day.
In her testimony, the FBI agent said children typically were separated from adults at the Nuwaubian compound. They were not allowed contact with their natural parents without York's permission, she said.
Witnesses have stated that Johnson, York's associate, was an active participant in some of the sex acts with the children, Ward said. Johnson brought children to York for sex and instructed them on sexual techniques, the agent said.
Ward also testified that some of the children were intimidated and threatened by York. One of the females who accused York said he "threatened to shoot her in the head" if she reported the sexual abuse to authorities, Ward said.
In a search of the farm conducted last week during the massive raid by authorities, federal agents confiscated more than 30 weapons, about a dozen of which were found in York's house, Ward testified.
TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Georgia
KEYWORDS: childabuse; cults; nuwaubians
Some additional info FYI:
One local tells me some interesting things about the group and the compound, which is quite large and impressive. For one, it's reported that when the children who live at the compound arrive there after school, at the sound of a buzzer or bell or whistle (some sort of alarm) they jump into trash cans and other metal containers, and stay there a few minutes until they are told to come out. The purpose of this alleged "drill" is so the children, who are not yet spiritually mature or enlightened or something, will be taken up by the mother ship (which will pick up metal objects and their contents too) when it eventually arrives.
Other supposed facts include that only attractive, young or young looking, healthy, athletic males (and presumably females) are allowed to live in the compound.
The membership is well represented in the local towns (Milledgeville, Eatonton, etc.) where they hold private sector and government jobs.
Unmentioned in the recent stories, previously actor Wesley Snipes has been connected with or rumored to be (or have been) involved with the group. See the following, for example:
Snipes a Nuwaubian?
Nuwaubians honored (scroll down to see mention of Snipes)
Wesley Snipes denied building permits (Snipes attempted to establish a security guard training school in, coincidentally, Putnam county, where the Nuwaubian compound is located, though the story contains a quote that "Snipes' company has been wrongly associated with the United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors").
Millionaire Nuwaubians plot Putnam County buyout, Amen-Ra curse (Scroll down to that headline)
Earlier threads:
Authorities conducting searches at Nuwaubian Moors compound, two arrested on sex charges ^
Authorities search Nuwaubian Moors compound, two arrested on sex charges
To: Risky Schemer
What a bunch of wackjobs!
To: Risky Schemer
Here's a bit more about the Nuwaubians:
United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors
Articles News News Database Sites
Officially: United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors, but the movement also goes by other names, including ''Right Knowledge'' and ''Ancient Mystic Order of Malchizedek.'' A quasi-religious cult based in Georgia, USA. Bills itself as a "fraternal organization."
Watchman Fellowship describes the movement as follows:
Ancient Mystic Order of Malchizedek, Malachi Z. York (AMOM, Nuwaubians, the Nubian Nation of Moors, Right Knowledge) A UFO group whose leader, (a.k.a. Dwight York) claims to be form the 19th galaxy called Illyuwn. A 1993 FBI report has surfaced calling the group a ''front for a wide range of criminal activity, including arson, welfare fraud and extortion.'' York group has also operated under other names and organizations including Nubian Islaamic [sic] Hebrew Mission and the Ansaaru Allah Community, (an
Islamic sect with doctrines similar to
Nation of Islam), and the Original Tents of Kedar.
The Nuwaubians, primarily consisting of African Americans, first came to Putnam County in 1993 from Brooklyn, N.Y., where the group was known as the Ansaru Allah community, a segregationist religious sect which incorporated Muslim traditions. Nuwaubian leader Malachi York was then known as Isa Muhammad.
Nuwaubians initially dressed in cowboy-type garb and claimed York was an extra-terrestrial from the planet "Rizq."
The group since has claimed heritage to the Native Americans and the Egyptians.
At times they claim to be a religious group but at others say they are a fraternal organization.
In some Nuwaubian literature, York is referred to as their savior or god.
The members call themselves the Yamassee Native American Nuwaubians and claim to have created a utopian society on their 476-acre compound of Egyptian-style architecture.
(...)
The group's founder, Dwight York, who calls himself Malachi Z. York, served time in New York in the 1960s for assault, resisting arrest and possession of a dangerous weapon.
York has claimed to be from a galaxy called Illyuwn and has said that in 2003 spaceships are going to descend from the sky and pick up a chosen 144,000 people for a rebirth. Most recently, York has referred to himself as Chief Black Eagle, a reincarnated leader of the Yamassee Indians.
"It's a constantly opportunistic evolving ideology," the sheriff said. "We've gone from an extraterrestrial to a Christian pastor to an Indian leader with willful and wanton resistance to legal authority time and time again."
The group's spokeswoman, Renee McDade, and Marshall Chance, who is referred to as the Nuwaubians' leader, distance themselves from the space prophecies of York, who lives on the compound and refuses to give interviews.
"We're all awaiting the coming of the real Messiah," Chance said. "We are a biblical people. If it's not in the Bible, then we're not concerned about it."
The group moved to Georgia in 1993 from New York, where it had operated under other names, including the Ansaru Allah Community. A 1993 FBI report linked that group to a myriad of crimes, including arson and extortion.
Georgia Sect Alarms Neighbors, Washington Post/AP, July 27, 1999
''I am the lamb, I am the man,'' declares Dr. Malachi Z. York, 54, on his website. ''I am the Supreme Being of This Day and Time, God in Flesh.'' And by the way, says the native of the planet Rizq, a spaceship is coming on May 5, 2003, to scoop up believers. The believers have been making quite a spectacle in the tiny town of Eatonton, Ga. (pop. 5,000), seat of the not much larger Putnam County (pop. 17,000). There, the man born Dwight York, of Sullivan County, N.Y., decreed the founding of Tama-Re, Egypt of the West, a 19-acre evocation of the ancient land, complete with 40-ft. pyramids, obelisks, gods, goddesses and a giant sphinx. It is the holy see of the Nuwaubians.
But don't call them a religion. The Nuwaubians describe themselves as a ''fraternal organization'' of people of different religions, including Christians, Muslims and others who just happen to share a few extra tenets.
"Editor's Note: This is the first of a two-part series examining the Nuwaubian Nation of Moors in Putnam County. The installment intends to give an in-depth examination to the ongoing disputes between the Nuwaubians and the public officials in Putnam County. Next Sunday we will profile the history and culture of the Nuwaubians and gauge Putnam County residents' feelings about the group."
"Editor's Note: This is the second of a two-part series about the Nuwaubian Nation of Moors. Last week we examined the conflicts between the Nuwaubians and local government. Today we profile the culture, lifestyle and beliefs of the group and talk with Putnam County residents about their feelings toward the Nuwaubians.
--> 
Space Invaders : Strangers from the North send a Southern town into a tizzy
from TIME Magazine, July 12, 1999
(If and when available)
3
posted on
05/14/2002 9:05:36 AM PDT
by
Catspaw
To: Catspaw
So much info...so little time...
To: Catspaw
Here's a site that evidently features some of their "doctrine" and has several photos of the pseudo-Egyptian architecture of the Nuwaubian compound.
To: Registered
Check out the Atlanta Journal Constitution links in Risky's post--it leads to some very interesting pictures of the Nuwaubians' digs.
I have a couple questions: where are they getting the money for this operation? And why did the cops wait so long to go after York?
I also notice the defense attorney is pressing the prosecution for names of the confidential informants. I hope to heck the cops have all the witnesses in protective custody, because I really fear for their safety.
6
posted on
05/14/2002 9:16:12 AM PDT
by
Catspaw
To: KC_Conspirator
What a bunch of wackjobs! You'll see stranger at the Mardi Gras or the Philadelphia Mummer's Parade.
Let's wait a little on this, the FBI pretty well blew its credibility on 'child abuse' at Waco.
7
posted on
05/14/2002 9:20:01 AM PDT
by
Grut
To: Grut
Let's wait a little on this, the FBI pretty well blew its credibility on 'child abuse' at Waco. Interestingly, York was arrested while away from the compound, avoiding a potential "seige" situation perhaps?
Maybe something has been learned from past experience.
To: Risky Schemer
The text is almost impossible to read--dark blue on a black background is not exactly good web design.
But where ARE these people getting the money?
And, from reading the archived AJC article, they sound like a nasty bunch.
9
posted on
05/14/2002 9:24:04 AM PDT
by
Catspaw
To: Catspaw
But where ARE these people getting the money? From what I heard from the local, they are a surprisingly big group, and well-monied. Membership includes MDs and other professionals (as I recall), with, perhaps, a celebrity or two. The application to join the cult contains questions about the applicants finances, along with other personal questions about health, etc., I seem to remember from a previous story.
They're also apparently well-schooled in their doctrine, and can quickly answer most anyone who challenges them with involved, seemingly authoritative recitations of "facts" and "history" and such -- at least one Nuwaubian the local who I spoke to encountered could.
To: Risky Schemer
Just think. If he were White, Catholic, and a priest, the story would make the national news.
To: KC_Conspirator
Obviously Janet Reno set fire to the wrong cult.
To: KC_Conspirator
King Tut, buried in his jammies!
To: Risky Schemer
People have been falling for this kind of stuff since the Garden of Eden. Beezlebub still doing business at the same old stand...and it still works. Sad for the children...but I hope the adults fry.
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Nuwaubians
Published in The Macon Telegraph
