Skip to main content.
Religion News Blog is a non-profit service providing academics, religion professionals and other researchers with religion & cult news
ReligionNewsBlog

Religion news articles about religious cults, sects, world religions, and related issues

Navigation:
Home | Site Menu | About RNB | Cult FAQ | Cult Experts | Apologetics Index | Cult Information Search Engine
A Random Image


 Search



 Share & Follow Religion News Blog


 Remember These Stories?


 Amazon

More articles about: Lord Our Righteousness Church, Michael Travesser, Strong City, Wayne Bent:

Cult leader Wayne Bent’s case goes to jury


ReligionNewsBlog.com • Friday December 12, 2008

Jurors get sect leader’s molestation case

The fate of the leader of a Union County religious sect accused of sexually molesting two girls was put in the hands of a Taos County jury Friday morning.

Wayne Bent, the leader of The Lord Our Righteousness Church and a self proclaimed Messiah, is charged with kissing and touching two sisters who lay naked with him.

Bent denies the separate incidents were sexual in nature. He says they were religious healing episodes.

Bent’s attorney, during closing arguments Friday morning, argued that the father of the 14- and 16-year-old girls remains friendly with Bent.

“Common sense tells us the father of the two girls is not going to be friends with someone if he believes that his children were sexually molested,” argued Sarah Montoya.

“We’re not saying that his (Bent’s) beliefs are wrong,” said prosecutor Emilio Chavez. “We’re holding it neutral under the law and treating this event the same as (we would for) everybody else.”

Bent at one point had to remove his glasses and wipe away tears as jurors were shown a video of the sect’s Strong City compound north of Clayton.

If convicted of the two counts of sexual contact with minors, Bent could face up to 33 years in prison.

- Source: Jurors get sect leader’s molestation case, Jeremy Jojola, Eyewitness News 4, and Reed Upton, KOB.com (New Mexico, USA), Dec. 12, 2008

Bookmark share or email this Religion News Blog page Bookmark, Share, or Email This Page

Comment Comment

Join Religion News Blog at Google+ to comment, share, and follow.

Read another article Read Another Article

Tags and keywords for this Apologetics Index entry Related News Articles

Religion News You Might Like These Articles As Well

RSS Feed Subscribe to Religion News Blog updates

Religion News Find Related Religion & Spirituality Books at Amazon.com

Religion News Search Search Religion News Blog