Category: Strong City

New Mexico’s highest court has denied sect leader Wayne Bent‘s petition to be released on bond from prison while he appeals his convictions for sexual misconduct with teenage female followers, AP reports.

The Supreme Court denied the petition without explanation, as had the Court of Appeals.

AP also says Bent is being force-fed. A judge cleared the way for that after the cult leader tried to starve himself by means of an extended fast in protest of his imprisonment.

Cult leader Wayne Bent is scheduled to be in court on Wednesday as a judge decides whether the state should force feed him.

Bent wrote letters to his cult in Union County letting them know that he will begin fasting on Sept. 1.

His fourth week of fasting is fast approaching, he will not have any food or water. Now the state is rushing a decision to intervene and force feed him with IVs and tubes.

Medical experts said that within seven days of no water, his organs will begin to break down.

Jeff Bent, Wayne Bent’s son, said the state needs to accept his father’s wishes and religious practices and not force him to eat.

Eyewitness News 4 investigative reporter Jeremy Jojola spoke with the woman, known as Esther, just hours before deputies took her away from her cult compound near Clayton, New Mexico. It is where she has lived in isolation since she was six years old, along with others who believe Wayne Bent to be the messiah.

“I swear by God that he is in jail over a lie, and I won’t support that,” said Esther. “I’m willing to die on what I stand on, which is purely God’s instructions to me. I wouldn’t be doing this if God hadn’t told me to, but I’m willing to die doing what God told me to do, and in essence, yes, it would be for Wayne Bent.”