Related
Translate
Get RNB via RSS
 |
RNB's RSS feed What is this? |
Get RNB via Email
 |
 Subscribe by Email What is this? |
Follow: Twitter
Most Popular
This Week:
- Guyana’s Jonestown suicide site gets plaque
- Gaddafi preaches Islam to Rome beauties
- Scientology practices ‘putting people at risk’
- Recession: Muslim schools in UK under threat of closure
- Australian senator tells Parliament of widespread criminal conduct within the Church of Scientology
- When a child dies, faith is no defense
- Muslim terrorists smuggle fatwas promoting Jihad out of secure UK prisons
- Techie Holy water and geeky bishops
- Israel Charges Extremist With Attempted Murder Of Messianic Family
- 1-year prison term for man who participated in cyber attack on Church of Scientology Web sites
Woman charged in ambush of commune leader pleads not guilty
More articles on this topic: GanasNEW YORK (AP) — When commune leader Jeff Gross came home from a movie one night last year, a former member of his group was waiting for him with a loaded gun, prosecutors say.
Rebekah Johnson, who had reviled Gross and the Ganas community on her Web site, shot him five times, according to an indictment unsealed Friday as Johnson pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, assault and weapons charges.
Johnson was ordered held without bail. If convicted of attempted murder, she faces up to 25 years in prison, prosecutors said.
Johnson, 44, was captured last month in Philadelphia, having been on the run since the shooting on Staten Island on May 29, 2006. She had been featured five times on Fox’s “America’s Most Wanted.”
“The combined efforts of law enforcement agencies across the country, as well as continuing media attention, ensured that this case would not fade from memory and Ms. Johnson would not elude justice,” District Attorney Daniel Donovan said in a statement.
Johnson’s attorney did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.
Gross, who survived the shooting, is a founder of the Ganas community. It has about 80 members, who share eight homes, generally paying $700 a month for room and board. The group promotes environmentalism, diversity and problem-solving, according to its Web site.
Johnson lived with the Ganas community from 1986 to 1990, then from 1994 to 1996, before being kicked out, according to neighbors and commune members. On her own Web site, she had accused Gross of misdeeds and Ganas of being an evil cult.
Gross has said Johnson had been stalking him.
After dodging investigators for more than a year, Johnson made the mistake of using her real name to register a used car she bought on the online clearinghouse Craigslist for $1,100, authorities said. Police arrested her without incident on June 18 as she exited an elevated train she had taken to pick up the car.
A search of Johnson’s small apartment on a seedy street in North Philadelphia turned up an AK-47 assault rifle and 1,000 rounds of ammunition, police said.
What You Can Do From Here
|
Read More Articles On These Topics
 Share, Blog About, Bookmark, or Email This Article
Subscribe
Read Another Article
 Previous entry: Murder in a Small Town Next entry: Scientology critic seeks pardon
RNB Homepage with latest headlinesFind Related Information
Find Related Books
|
Share This Article
To share this page simply copy and paste one of these URL's:
