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Alleged York victims deny cult leader molested them
Five young women that cult leader Malachi York is charged with molesting as children told a federal jury Friday that York never touched them sexually.
Three of the five women testified that federal agents tried to pressure them into saying York molested them after the FBI raided the Georgia compound of the United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors in May 2002.
It seemed like they were trying to get me to say something that didnt happen, said a 21-year-old woman, whom York is charged with molesting during a 1996 trip to Disney World. And it was like (the agent) got mad because I wasn’t saying what she wanted.
York, 58, is being tried in U.S. District Court on 13 counts of child molestation and racketeering. Prosecutors have had 13 witnesses testify that York molested them.
Many of Yorks accusers say the cult leader would have sex with two or more children at a time, and named several of them _ including the five witnesses who denied being molested Friday.
I have never been sexually molested by Dr. York, said one woman, 18, who prosecutors say York had sex with at age 14 with other children present. No, I have never seen the defendant molest any children.
Assistant prosecutor Richard Moultry showed the woman a report from a past medical examination that found laceration and scarring … in the anal sphincter.
I never knew I had that, she told Moultry. I dont know. Its not something I knew I had. Ive never seen any medical (report).
Another 18-year-old woman who denied York molested her also had a medical examination, during which she told a nurse she was sexually active with her boyfriend.
The woman told jurors her then-boyfriends name was Tony, and she had dated him about four years. But when Moultry asked his last name she replied, I dont know. I never knew his last name.
Several of the women described their shock during the 2002 raid by FBI agents serving a search warrant at the Nuwaubian compound. They recalled agents cars roaring onto the land, glass breaking, tear gas being fired and swarms of agents pointing guns to get cult members on their knees.
To this day, I still have nightmares about it, said one of the 18-year-old women. It scarred on me. It scarred on my soul.
She said agents pressed her the next day to say York molested her.
They basically told us he had molested us, said the woman. When she denied it they said, `No, he did molest you and youre just saying that because he threatened to kill you.
On Wednesday, a 16-year-old girl who testified York began molesting her at age 5 told jurors York threatened to have her killed if she ever contacted police.
One other alleged victim, a 15-year-old boy, has previously testified York did not molest him. Other witnesses said they saw York have sex with the boy.
The trial was moved 225 miles from Macon to Brunswick because of pretrial publicity.
Over the years, York has incorporated Islam, Judaism, Christianity and space aliens into his teachings. He has unsuccessfully argued he has American Indian heritage and should not be judged by the U.S. court system.
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