Nuwaubian leader pleads not guilty
Macon Telegraph/May 9, 2002
By Rob Peecher
United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors leader Malachi York and his
wife Kathy Johnson pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that
they were involved in transporting minors across state lines for
sex.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Claude W. Hicks Jr. said he will consider
the issue of bond at a hearing Monday because the U.S. Attorney's
office is opposing bond. Hicks also provided the defendants copies
of a sentencing guideline prepared by the federal probation
office. Though the sentencing guidelines may change, Johnson faces
70 to 87 months in prison and York faces 135 to 168 months in
prison.
York and Johnson were arrested Wednesday in Baldwin County by
federal agents. York is accused in a four-count indictment of
transporting children from New York to Putnam County for the
purpose of sex and at a separate time from Putnam County to
Florida, also for the purpose of sexual activity. Johnson is a
co-defendant in only one of the counts.
Following the arrests Wednesday afternoon, federal agents and
officers from several Middle Georgia sheriff's offices stormed the
476-acre Nuwaubian village in rural Putnam County. During the raid
on the village, only one other person was taken into custody - a
man identified as being wanted in Gwinnett County - but
authorities spent several hours on the property confiscating
potential evidence.
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