FBI, deputies arrest 7 Ohio men in attacks on Amish
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The FBI and local sheriff's deputies this morning raided an Amish compound in Ohio and arrested seven men, including reputed breakaway sect leader Sam Mullet, on federal hate crimes charges in connection to a series of beard-cutting attacks against other Amish across Ohio.
Agents and deputies swept into the compound in the village of Bergholz, Jefferson County, at 6 a.m. and took the men into custody without incident.
In addition to Mr. Mullet, agents arrested three of his sons: Johnny, Lester and Daniel, along with a nephew, Eli Miller, and a minister, Levi Miller, who is unrelated to the Mullet clan. Also arrested was Sam Mullet's son-in-law, Emanuel Shrock, implicated in the most recent beard-cutting attack against his own father in Jefferson County.
All the men were jailed in Youngstown, Ohio, and arraigned by federal Magistrate Judge George J. Limbert this afternoon, where they learned of the charges against them. They will be held at least until a detention hearing and a preliminary examination next week.
According to an FBI affidavit prepared by an agent from the Canton resident office, Mr. Mullet and other Amish leaders have been feuding for years because of accusations that Mr. Mullet, 66, the bishop in Bergholz and father to 18 children, runs his community like a dictator, doling out discipline for disobedience that includes beatings and forcing men to sleep for days at a time in a chicken coop.
Sam Mullet also has taken women into his home to "cleanse them of the devil with acts of sexual intimacy," according to the affidavit, echoing long-standing claims raised in depositions as part of a protracted civil case that Mr. Mullet filed against Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla over a 2007 incident in which the sheriff forcibly removed Mr. Mullet's daughter's children from the Bergholz compound as part of a custody dispute.
Sam Mullet became bishop in 2003. Two years later, eight families moved away from Bergholz because they didn't like how Mr. Mullet was running the church and the community. As a result, Mr. Mullet ex-communicated those families, the FBI said. Other Amish bishops then questioned whether that action was consistent with Amish beliefs.
In 2005 or 2006, the affidavit said, 300 church leaders met in Ulysses, Pa., to discuss Sam Mullet and his clan. Seven bishops selected to examine his practices determined that the ex-communication would not be recognized because they said Mr. Mullet had acted out of revenge to punish the families for leaving his fold.
First Published November 23, 2011 8:51 am
