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Investigators say couple tied to religious cult may have sexually assaulted more women
Albert Tony Walker claims to be the ‘Third Testament’
CLAYTON, GA. — Details of underground bunkers, end-of-world fears and terrified victims emerged today at a bond hearing for a Rabun County man charged with rape.
The man, Albert Tony Walker, 62, was described as the head of an isolated religious organization called The Church.
Walker was denied bond at the hearing in the Mountain Judicial Circuit Superior Court in Rabun County. Superior Court Judge James Cornwell said Walker was a flight risk and could intimidate witnesses.
Walker and his wife, Dalene, 50, are charged with repeatedly raping two women at the Walkers’ home in Rabun County in the 1990s.
[...]Walker sees himself as a self-proclaimed prophet who would die in Israel if he were prosecuted, Crowder said.
Crowder also said members of Tony Walker’s family had threatened the two women victims through e-mail and hate mail since the arrest in September.
[...]Investigators have said Walker called himself The Third Testament and used repeated beatings to control his followers. They believe up to 50 people have lived in the Plum Orchard Road home since the Walkers moved there in the early 1990s.
“He told Megan Miller with the … (Georgia Bureau of Investigation) that he has died before, and when he woke up he could see the future,” Crowder said. “He has told the victims and cooperating witnesses in this case that he admires (David) Koresh and Jim Jones and their mass killings and suicides.”
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Man said to admire cult leaders like David Koresh
More women may have been sexually assaulted by a Rabun County couple, who established a religious cult on a remote compound in the north Georgia woods, investigators say.
Cult FAQCultFAQ.org: Frequently Asked Questions About Cults, Sects, and Related IssuesIncludes definitions of terms (e.g. cult, sect, anticult, countercult, new religious movement, cult apologist, etcetera)Plus research resources: articles, books, websites, etc.Listing of recommended cult experts, plus guidelines to help select a counselor/cult expertCultFAQ is provided by Apologetics Index, publishers of Religion News BlogApologetics Index: Apologetics Research Resources on Religious Cults, Sects, Religions, Doctrines, Etc.Comments & resources by ReligionNewsBlog.comSelf-proclaimed prophet Albert Tony Walker, 62, and his wife, Dalene, 50, at one time had 50 people living with them on a 17-acre tract of land in the Chattahoochee National Forest near Clayton, prosecutors said Wednesday.
[...]Walker allegedly saw himself as a prophet, and drew upon some Christian beliefs.
“He saw himself as the Third Testament,” said Assistant District Attorney Penny Crowder, of the Mountain Judicial District in Rabun County. “There was God and Jesus, and then there is him.”
Authorities said devotees of “The Church,” as the religious organization was called, lived off Plum Orchard Road in a primary residence and several smaller outbuildings. They eschewed any reliance on the outside world, even public utilities. They grew produce, maintained livestock and used their own primitive light and heat sources, said Capt. Gerald Johnson of the Rabun County Sheriff’s Office.
Crowder said Walker admired other cult leaders like David Koresh because of the control he had over followers at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas. Walker ruled his own flock with fear and physical violence, Crowder said. Followers were reportedly directed to participate in “end-of-days” drills in which they would hide in underground shelters whenever someone – particularly government officials — came onto the property.
“He did have control over these people and they were fearful of what he would do,” Crowder said. “He had told these women that they couldn’t hide from him because God would always tell him where they were.”
The victims told investigators Walker dictated what relationships and marriages were formed among his followers, and that some childbirths within the sect were never recorded. Walker is rumored to have fathered 17 children by six different women, but investigators said Wednesday they have been able to confirm that information.
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