Putnam grand jury reindicts top
Nuwaubian
Atlanta Journal-Constitution/October 4, 2002
By Bill Osinski
Eatonton --- The state has expanded what is already believed to
be Georgia's --- and perhaps the nation's --- largest child
molestation case by reindicting Nuwaubian leader Dwight York.
The Putnam County grand jury handed down a
208-count indictment Thursday, nearly doubling the number
of crimes alleged in its previous indictment of York in May.
York is named in 197 of the counts.
Eight new alleged victims were identified by the state for the
new indictment.
"This has been the most voluminous case, in terms of number of
counts, number of victims, and the sheer scope of the
investigation that I've ever been associated with," said
District Attorney Fred Bright, the lead prosecutor in the case.
"It becomes mind-boggling after a while."
As with the earlier charges, almost all of the counts are child
molestation or aggravated child molestation, a crime in whice
force or violence is alleged.
Bright said the second indictment was necessary in order to
ensure that the state's case is as complete as legally possible.
"I want the trial jury to hear the whole
scope of the child molestation that happened here in Putnam
County," Bright said.
Defense attorneys have filed a motion for a change of venue for
the trial, and Bright said he will not oppose it.
York, 57, moved with 100 or so of his followers to a 400-acre
rural property in Putnam County in 1993 from Brooklyn, N.Y.,
where the group was a Muslim-oriented organization called Ansaru
Allah Community.
Once in Georgia, the group went through
several name and identity changes before York settled on the
United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors.
A joint federal-local investigation began after police received
anonymous tips that York was molesting children in the group,
culminating in his arrest in May and a raid on
the Nuwaubian property by about 300 law enforcement
officers.
York has also been indicted in federal court and charged with
four counts of transporting children across state lines for the
purposes of illegal sexual activity. He was denied bail on those
charges and he remains in federal custody.
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The above article shows that
bill osinski have been involved from the very beginning to
defame Dr. York and the Nuwaubians, name change and identity,
like we don't know who we are let them tell it we are the N-Word
Bail Is Denied for Sect Leader
Accused of Molesting Children
New York Times/May 15, 2002
By David Firestone
Atlanta -- The leader of a black religious sect based in an
isolated rural Georgia compound was denied bail today after
federal prosecutors said he had molested dozens of children in
the last decade.
Dwight Z. York, the spiritual leader of a group called the
United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors, was charged by a state grand
jury on Monday with 74 counts of child molestation, along with
rape charges. Mr. York was arrested last week by the F.B.I. on
federal charges of sexual exploitation of minors.
Mr. York has denied the charges.
The arrest is the latest clash between the authorities and the
150-member group since it moved in 1993 from the Bushwick
section of Brooklyn to a 400-acre ranch in Putnam County, about
65 miles southeast of Atlanta. Group members have long said they
were being persecuted by white authorities because of their
race.
There have been several standoffs over the years when county
officials tried to investigate zoning violations on the
property, like operating a nightclub and retail stores on land
zoned for agricultural use.
Neighbors have complained about a 40-foot
pyramid the group erected on the Egyptian-themed compound, along
with statues of ancient gods.
But the complaints against the group were never particularly
serious until last week, when F.B.I. agents raided the compound
and arrested Mr. York and his companion, Kathy Johnson, after a
four-year investigation prompted by a complaint to a local
social services agency.
The authorities
said they believed that as many as 35 children, ages 4 to 18,
had been molested by Mr.
York.
An F.B.I. agent, Jalaine Ward, said that
the government had testimony from 15 witnesses who said Mr. York
molested the children and that some of the acts could be
documented with videotapes and photographs. Some of the
children are expected to testify against Mr. York.
At today's hearing, several of Mr. York's followers testified
that they knew of no sexual abuse, and doctors for the group
said they had seen no signs of molestation.
Mr. York's lawyer, Leroy Johnson, said he had seen no evidence
to back up the government's charges, and he said some of the
children had been coached by the group's enemies to lie about
Mr. York.
"He was black in a white community," Mr. Johnson said, "and he
had the audacity to put up those huge statues. When that was
done, it created a fear in the mind of those folks there against
this group."
The Putnam County sheriff, Howard Sills, denied that race had
had anything to do with the charges.
"There's not one shred of evidence of that," Sheriff Sills said.
"It is an opportunistic thing being used by individuals
responsible for heinous crimes."
After the hearing, Claude Hicks, a federal magistrate, refused
to release Mr. York on bail, saying there was probable cause to
believe that abuse would continue if he were released.
Mr. York is a felon who served three years in prison in the
1960's for resisting arrest, assault and possession of a
dangerous weapon. In the late 1980's and early 1990's, he led a
mosque on Bushwick Avenue in Brooklyn, where his followers,
sometimes clad in long white robes and armed with shotguns,
guarded the building.
