Category: Timothy and Rebecca Wyland

An Oregon City couple who treated their infant daughter with faith healing rather than take her to a doctor were sentenced today in Clackamas County circuit court to 90 days in jail and three years probation.

The Wylands are members of the Followers of Christ Church, theologically a cult of Christianity, whose extreme faith healing beliefs and practices have left a trail of dead children in its wake.

A jury spent one hour deliberating Tuesday before unanimously finding an Oregon City couple guilty of felony criminal mistreatment for treating their infant daughter with faith-healing rather than taking her to a doctor.

The Wylands face up to five years in prison but are likely to receive probation and possibly some time in jail. They will be sentenced June 24.

Family members of a faith-healing couple accused of neglecting their baby girl’s medical needs defended them in court Thursday.

The Wylands are charged with first-degree criminal mistreatment for failing to provide medical care to Alayna, now 17 months old. State child-welfare workers took custody of the girl in July to treat the growth, called a hemangioma, that covered her left eye and spread into her eye socket. Doctors testified that the expanding mass was threatening her eyesight.

As the trial of two cult members accused of medical neglect of their daughter continues, a doctor testified the girl has permanent developmental damage to her eye and may require surgery.

Defense attorneys in turn argued that the parents are the victims of both religious discrimination and an overly aggressive bureaucracy that snatched heir daughter.

The Followers of Christ Church has left a trail of dead children in its wake.

Timothy and Rebecca Wyland, a couple at the center of a faith healing case, wants to regain custody of their daughter.

Oregon’s Department of Human Services on Tuesday won custody of a child who faced blindness in one eye after her parents treated her with prayer instead of seeking medical care.

The girl’s parents, Timothy and Rebecca Wyland, face criminal charges for failing to provide adequate care.

The couple facing criminal charges for failing to provide adequate medical care to their infant daughter will be allowed extended visits at least five days a week with their child, who will remain in temporary state custody.

The Wylands are one of four couples from the same Oregon City congregation to be charged with failing to provide medical care to their child in a little more than a year. Members of the Followers of Christ Church rely on faith-healing rather than most forms of medical treatment.