Six members of a Kansas-based cult have been convicted in a scheme to deal with youngsters in overcrowded, rodent-infested services and drive them to work as much as 16 hours a day with out pay whereas subjecting them to beatings and different abuse.
The defendants have been both high-ranking members of the group previously referred to as the United Nation of Islam and the Worth Creators, or have been wives of the late founder, Royall Jenkins, the U.S. Division of Justice mentioned Monday in asserting the decision.
After a 26-day trial, jurors convicted all six defendants of conspiracy to commit compelled labor. One of many six, Kaaba Majeed, 50, additionally was convicted of 5 counts of compelled labor.
“Under the guise of false pretenses and coercion, these victims, some of whom were as young as eight years old, endured inhumane and abhorrent conditions,” FBI Particular Agent Stephen Cyrus mentioned in a written assertion.
Prosecutors mentioned the group, which was labeled a cult by a federal choose in 2018, beat youngsters and imposed extreme dietary restrictions. One of many victims was held the wrong way up over practice tracks as a result of he wouldn’t admit to stealing meals when he was hungry, prosecutors mentioned. One other sufferer resorted to consuming water from a rest room as a result of she was so thirsty.
Jenkins, who died in 2021, had been a member of the Nation of Islam till 1978, when he based the separate United Nation of Islam. He persuaded his followers that he was proven the right technique to rule the Earth after being “taken through the galaxy by aliens on a spaceship,” in line with the indictment. At one level, the group had a whole bunch of followers.
Prosecutors mentioned that starting in October 2000, the group ran companies similar to gasoline stations, bakeries and eating places in a number of states utilizing unpaid labor from group members and their youngsters.
Mother and father have been inspired to ship their youngsters to an unlicensed faculty in Kansas Metropolis, Kansas, referred to as the College of Arts and Logistics of Civilization, which didn’t present acceptable instruction in most topics.
As an alternative, a number of the little one victims labored in companies in Kansas Metropolis, whereas others have been trafficked to companies in different states, together with New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Maryland, Georgia and North Carolina, the indictment alleges.
Prosecutors mentioned the youngsters lived in overcrowded services usually overrun with mould, mice and rats. There have been strict guidelines about what they may learn, how they dressed and what they ate. Some have been compelled to endure colonics. Punishments included being locked in a darkish, scary basement, prosecutors mentioned.
They have been informed they might burn in “eternal hellfire” in the event that they left.
In Could 2018, U.S. Decide Daniel Crabtree referred to as the group a cult and ordered it to pay $8 million to a girl who mentioned she spent 10 years performing unpaid labor.
Sentencing hearings are set for February within the little one labor case. The convictions carry sentences of as much as 20 years in jail for Majeed and as much as 5 years for the opposite defendants: Yunus Rassoul, 39; James Staton, 62; Randolph Rodney Hadley, 49; Daniel Aubrey Jenkins, 43; and Dana Peach, 60.
Emails looking for remark have been despatched Tuesday to attorneys for all six defendants.
Two different co-defendants beforehand pleaded responsible to conspiracy to commit compelled labor.
