He's got a beard and a hoodie.
I, for one, believe him.
Posted on 05/06/2008 10:40:17 AM PDT by Jet Jaguar
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - New Mexico state police say they've arrested the leader of an apocalyptic church on sex charges.
State police spokesman Peter Olson says 66-year-old Wayne Bent was picked up without incident Tuesday at the remote former ranch where he and his followers live. He's facing three charges of criminal sexual contact.
Bent goes by the name of Michael Travesser and claims to be the Messiah. State child welfare officials say there have been allegations of inappropriate contact between Bent and children at the northeastern New Mexico compound.
Bent has acknowledged having sex with his followers, but police haven't detailed the allegations against him. Officials recently removed two girls and a boy from the compound.
He's got a beard and a hoodie.
I, for one, believe him.
Shooting would be too good for that POS.
Jeffs, meet Olson.
Sure are a lot of messiahs running around these days. Wonder if it is the latest media fetish like sharks, missing persons, or celebrities in rehab.
Headline should be Cult leader arrested on sex charges. This guy does not lead a church he leads a CULT.
What are the hours? ;)
You too could be a victim of Sudden Messiah Syndrome.
This has been openly ignored for years and attempts at correcting it before have failed for a lack of will; to do this now is likely for PR reasons so as to not look like governments are targeting one religion in the FLDS mess.
However, to some outsiders, it looks like governments are targeting religion itself only they are choosing which ones are suitable and which are not.
Beginning to walk a thin line, here.
This man apparently enjoys getting bent.
I agree. He is not a church-leader, but a new ‘religion’ leader...kinda like Al-Gore...
There is a very fine line between church and cult. It seems to come down to the point of view of the person making the distinction.
These pervert nut jobs give cultists a bad name .
New Mexico, Attracting Nutjobs Since 1598.
Well lets make him Warren Jeff’s cell mate. Then they can argue who is the Messiah really is.
This is certainly a better case than the Texas FLSD fiasco. The police in NM only arrested the perpetrator on specific charges, and evidently didn’t round up and incarcerate everyone else before developing evidence for a case. Now take him to trial, and if guilty of molesting young girls and boys, hang the bastard.
(Well, I guess he could just claim he's "married" to all of them...that he hasn't had "due process"...that the authorities have acted against the constitution...while his followers mention how "terrible" it is for the two girls and a boy to be separated from their "parents" and placed into the New Mexico foster care system...and how terrible the NM foster care system no doubt is...and...and...and...) /sarc off
Gee! REALLY? ! Well we can only hope. They have been screwing little girls for so long maybe they will get some Bubba love in prison.
If you want on or off the NM Ping list, please FReepmail me.
Access to the ping list is available to anyone by going to my FR home page.
Leave Jesus Alone!!!!
Wayne is giving christians everywhere a bad name! :-)
They’d arrest and prosecute an atheist who was having sex with a minor.
It’s not about religion, it’s about law breaking.
If they didn’t break the law, they wouldn’t be in trouble.
You cant always trust someone with a hoodie.
Sounds like the headline should have read “Cult Leader Arrested,” rather than “Church Leader Arrested.” The group in question has its own web site:
WELCH, A FORMER STRONG CITY CHURCH MEMBER, SPEAKS OUT ABOUT WAYNE BENT’S ARREST AND MUCH MORE…
Lots of stuff at this link.
Nobody rounded up and incarcerated everybody else in the flds case. Show us who's be incarcerated.
Of course.
Full name: Wayne Wayne Bent.
Shaking my head again!!!
Watch the National Geographic documentary on TV about them from a year ago on Wednesday, May 7th at 7/9 PM. The show is called, “Inside a Cult”.
It sort of looks like this...
There are plenty of them and they provide a lucrative source of ridicule.
Call it a target-rich environment.
Also, most of them are from somewhere else.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, incarcerate is defined as follows:
1 : to put in prison
2 : to subject to confinement
I would say the actions of the Texas officials in the FLDS case fit the second definition rather nicely.
It didn’t answer the question.
In NM the officials arrested the perpetrator on specific charges. Who did they incarcerate in the flds case while *developing* evidence?
The only leader that has been dealt with is Warren Jeffs and he’s already been tried and convicted. There are some other men who have charges against them. Are they currently incarcerated without adequate evidence?
When 400+ kids are rounded up and confined in an arena, along with some of the mothers, I would call that confinement which fits the definition of incarceration. Since when is rounding up and confining the innocent, an acceptable method of building a case against the guilty. So far as I know, none of the suspected FLDS perpetrators of the crimes against children have been arrested or incarcerated. Perhaps we’re hung up on semantics, but some dangerous precedents are being set in the TX case. And be assured I’m not defending the men that apparently abused the children, and perhaps even the mothers.
No they're not. Precedent has not been set here; they are following precedent.
When they encounter a situation where it is clear abuse has occurred, (pregnant minors) they remove all the children from the household, not just the one who immediately, clearly show signs of abuse.
When they went in and questioned the women and children about who was related to whom, they were lied to. The children pointed out several women who they claimed to be their own mothers. The mothers were vague or outright lied about the names of the children. Since the authorities were unable to determine relationships, they had no choice but to remove the kids.
Any time CPS gets a call about child abuse, they are required by law to investigate. If the call is about one child and the investigators determine that there is reasonable suspicion of abuse, all the kids in that household are removed. Since it's well established that abusers abuse, all the children in a situation are removed until they can determine the facts in the matter.
To the best of my knowledge, there is usually not a warrant issued in child abuse cases, something they had here.
As far as leaders being arrested or incarcerated, there's still Warren Jeffs, who is head of this cult, who has been convicted and is serving jail time for rape related charges..
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