A man who pleaded guilty to having sex with a 15-year-old girl at the direction of his prophet has been sentenced to probation, as part of a plea agreement for testifying against the cult’s leader.
Geody M. Harman, 38, was sentenced Friday in 3rd District Court on a third-degree felony count of unlawful sexual activity with a minor. Judge Judith Atherton gave Harman credit for 240 days he had already spent in jail.
In March, Harman testified against Terrill Dalton, the president of the Church of the Firstborn of the General Assembly of Heaven, a sect based for a time in Magna.
The teenager, Dalton’s daughter, testified in court that her father told her he was “the Holy Ghost” and that he promised her “great blessings” if she had sex with him.
Dalton also told the teen it was God’s will that she had to have sex with Harman, his second in command.
Harman was originally charged with first-degree felony rape, but pleaded guilty to a third-degree felony charge as part of a plea bargain. In exchange, he agreed to testify against Terrill Dalton, the victim’s father, who was convicted of two counts of rape, a first-degree felony, in March.
Prosecutors say Dalton, 45, condoned an “impression” that Harman said he had received indicating that he needed to have sex with the then-15-year-old girl. Both Dalton and Harman were leaders of a small religious group called the Church of the First Born and the General Assembly of Heaven.
Dalton called himself the “Holy Ghost” while Harman was often referred to as “God in the flesh.”
Last May Dalton was sentenced to six years to life.
Church of the Firstborn and the General Assembly of Heaven
The Church of the Firstborn and the General Assembly of Heaven is a cult of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
It should not be confused with the General Assemblies and Church of the First Born, a cult of Christianity
‘Holy Ghost’
Dalton and Harman were arrested in August, 2010.
In an interview with a Montana newspaper Dalton, a former Mormon, said that Jesus Christ visited him several times after a two day fast, telling him that he, Dalton, was the Holy Ghost and Jesus’ father.
Dalton and Harman moved their church to Idaho in the summer of 2009, after their home in the Salt Lake City suburb of Magna was raided by federal officials investigating claims of child sexual abuse and assassination threats against President Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Thomas S. Monson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In March, 2010 the group moved again, this time to Montana.
In Feburary Dalton’s sister said he raped her as well.