Self-proclaimed messiah starves again
ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) – Convicted church leader Wayne Bent has said he no longer wants to eat, and the self-proclaimed messiah could die in prison if he carries out his plan.
Bent first made the promise almost a year ago when he was sentenced.
“I won’t be spending time in prison, but for a few days,” Bent said.
Now Bent is again promising to starve himself to death, and this time he said he means it.
In an online statement posted on his church’s Web site, Bent outlined his plan to starve himself.
Saturday his son, Jeff Bent, explained why this time it’s different.
“He sees that now he will be following through on what he said he would do for a year—that he won’t live in prison over a lie,” Bent said.
Bent was convicted of molesting one of his teenage followers last year, stemming from a 2006 incident when he touched her while she was naked.
He claimed they were acts of healing, but the jury didn’t see it that way. The 68-year-old is now locked up in the Los Lunas prison. The state appeals court recently ruled against him.
[…]Prison officials said they take each threat of an inmate fasting seriously, and that’s why Bent is now isolated. If his health deteriorates to a point of near-death, they say they will let the court decide what steps to take to next.
Bent was sentenced to 18 years in prison. The judge suspended eight of those years.
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