Head of religious sect charged with bigamy

CLYDE, Texas — The founder of the House of Yahweh religious sect remained jailed Wednesday on four counts of bigamy, officials said.

Yisrayl Hawkins was being held at the Taylor County Jail, with bail set at $10 million.

Bigamy involves having more than one spouse at the same time. Additional information about the charges was not immediately available.

Hawkins, who founded the sect in 1980 after leaving the Abilene Police Department, was arrested in Callahan County on Tuesday afternoon.

It was unclear if Hawkins had an attorney. A message could not be left at the House of Yaweh’s office in Abilene on Wednesday morning.

The House of Yahweh is an Old Testament-based group with a 50-acre compound near Clyde.

Several hundred of its followers changed their last names to Hawkins in honor of its founder. Hawkins changed his name from Bill to Yisrayl in 1977.

Police have investigated members of the group before.

In July 2006, Abilene police investigated the death of a 1-month-old boy. The infant’s death and burial had not been reported to authorities and an autopsy indicated the child died of malnourishment and traumatic asphyxiation. No charges have been filed in the death.

A sect member pleaded guilty to injury to a child by criminal negligence in October 2006 for performing surgery on her 7-year-old daughter, which authorities said led to her death.

Last year, another group member, Yedidiyah Hawkins, was arrested on suspicion of the sexual assault of his 14-year-old stepdaughter.

Read Another Article

House of Yahweh religious sect leader Yisrayl Hawkins in jail on $10 million bail; suspected of bigamy
Australia: Scientology protest surge crashes websites

Related News Articles Topic(s): House of Yahweh Subscribe to Religion News Blog updates Subscribe to Religion News Blog [What is this?] Get Religion News Blog's headline by Email [What is this?] Follow Religion News Blog at Twitter Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults: ApologeticsSearch.com: Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs. CounterCultSearch.com: Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, and cults experts -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support. Find Related Religion & Spirituality Books at Amazon.com House of Yahweh Possibly related... or Most Popular Religion News Articles Kent Hovind: Evangelist arrested on federal charges Beast’s real mark devalued to ’616′ Muslim Woman Gives Sex Advice on Arab TV Michael Jackson Confirms Conversion to Islam Kent Hovind, ‘Dr. Dino,’ guilty on all counts The fall and rise of Carlton Pearson Search False prophet Harold Camping sets another date for rapture: May 21, 2011 Watch the film Theo van Gogh was murdered for Kent Hovind — Dr. Dino — sentenced to 10 years in prison

Search Religion News Blog