Cult leader Victor Barnard back in Minnesota to face charges
Source: Star Tribune
Cult leader Victor Barnard back in Minnesota to face charges
Extradited from Brazil, he is now in the Pine County jail.
By Liz Sawyer Star Tribune
June 18, 2016 8:08pm
Cult leader Victor Barnard has been extradited from Brazil and was booked into the Pine County jail on Saturday afternoon, authorities said.
Barnard, now 54, who led the River Road Fellowship near Finlayson, Minn., faces 59 counts of first- and third-degree criminal sexual conduct. He is accused of raping girls and young women from his isolated congregation, victims he called "maidens."
His accusers have said he twisted biblical passages to convince them that a sexual relationship with their pastor was just as much God's will as it was for King Solomon to have concubines.
Barnard fled to Brazil, was captured in February 2015 and had been imprisoned there ever since.
Even though that nation's Supreme Court had approved Barnard's extradition back to Minnesota, a dispute between Brazilian and U.S. authorities over any potential sentence delayed the move for several months. There had been concerns among U.S. authorities that the delay could last up to three years.
Read more: http://www.startribune.com/accused-cult-leader-victor-barnard-back-in-minnesota/383521071/
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)We just had several radical Christians arrested here in Philadelphia for trafficking in girls.
It is time we woke up and confronted radical Christianity.
SkyDaddy7
(6,045 posts)It tends to be a common theme among all religious fundamentalist especially within Christianity & Islam but it is not isolated to just those two. It is really SAD to read about the violence these two religions can invoke but sexual assaults on women & children happens far more often & in most cases never talked about or reported.
Speaking of confronting "radical Christianity"...In Idaho they literally turn a blind eye to young girls being married off at 14, 15, 16yrs old to OLD MEN with multiple wives & force them to have a baby a year! It is disgusting! I just watched a VICE News report on this & it is horrible!
SkyDaddy7
(6,045 posts)If you're interested...
sarcasmo
(23,968 posts)Isn't that what Pat Robertson and the rest of the evangelicals do?
dembotoz
(16,802 posts)imagine you are a leader of a group of people and you discover you can sleep with whomever you want....age no barrier
maybe marital status no mater
when ever you want
heady stuff
kid in a candy store?
great plot for a porn movie...except for the kid stuff......
Eugene
(61,874 posts)Source: Associated Press
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS PINE CITY, Minn. Jun 20, 2016, 5:40 PM ET
A judge set bail at $1.5 million Monday for a religious sect leader who's charged with sexually abusing girls at a secluded compound in rural Minnesota.
Victor Barnard, 54, made his first state court appearance since his extradition from Brazil. U.S. marshals delivered him to the Pine County Jail on Saturday.
Pine County prosecutors charged Barnard in April 2014 with 59 counts of criminal sexual conduct for allegedly having sexual relationships with two girls in his "Maidens Group" at his River Road Fellowship compound near Finlayson, about 90 miles north of Minneapolis.
The U.S. Marshals Service put him on its most wanted fugitives list, and authorities finally caught up with him in a Brazilian resort town in February 2015. Brazilian authorities said he had arrived in Brazil in March 2012.
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Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/bail-set-15-million-sect-leader-charged-abuse-40001253