Three men arrested in a series of bizarre attacks in which the long beards and hair of Amish people have been hacked off are part of a breakaway “cult” whose leader is a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” seeking revenge for being ostracized, victims and authorities say.
Amish community members in eastern Ohio have been packing pepper spray, fearing they will be next to be assaulted. In the attacks, which began early last month, the barbaric barbers waylay victims in their own homes. Married men have seen their traditional long whiskers chopped off, while some women have had their long hair cut. Victims range in age from a 13-year-old girl to a 74-year-old man.
No one has been seriously hurt, but the hair-chopping is seen as a form of degradation in the community, where men do not shave and women do not cut their locks.
Brothers Johnny Mullet, 38, and Lester Mullet, 26, were booked Saturday along with Levi Miller, 53, on aggravated burglary and kidnapping charges in connection with the attacks. Each was being held on $250,000 bond. A fourth man, Lester Miller, 37, was questioned but released.
Authorities said more arrests are likely.
The Mullets are the sons of 66-year-old Sam Mullet, leader of the so-called Bergholz Clan. Based in the hamlet of Bergholz, the splinter group is made up of about 16 Amish families.
Sam Mullet has nursed a grudge against Amish bishops after he was chastened before hundreds of Amish from Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York in 2007, said Jefferson County, Ohio, Sheriff Fred Abdalla.
“They brought him on the carpet and he told them to go to hell,” he told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Sam Mullet had clashed repeatedly with Amish bishops, according to several media reports.
Abdalla said the Bergholz Clan has also been angry with his office since deputies backed by a SWAT team raided their enclave in 2007 to remove a child involved in a custody dispute that included sexual abuse allegations.
The sheriff believes Sam Mullet is behind anything that his followers do.
“He’s not Amish, but he says he’s Amish. He’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” Abdalla told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Two of these attacks involved bishops, so you could say it is retaliation with religious implications.”
Sam Mullet is not facing any charges, but Abdalla said he was “more than” a person of interest in the attacks.
“Nobody does anything without him putting his blessing on it,” the sheriff said.
A source with ties to the Bergholz Clan said Sam Mullet subjects dissidents in his flock to harsh punishments.
“He’ll beat and lock them up in the grainery of his,” the source told The Daily. “And they’ll get nothing but milk and bread for months. Then if they still don’t get in line, he’ll have the wives beat them.”
Arlene Miller, 46, whose husband, Bishop Myron Miller, was recently attacked, told The Daily she believes her family was singled out because they helped Sam Mullet’s brother and his family leave the Bergholz Clan.
“The reason they are targeting us is that we helped move them out of the community seven years ago. They wanted out because of the cult stuff going on,” she said.
Arlene Miller said her 15-year-old daughter, Leanna, opened the door about 11 p.m. on Oct. 4 to four men demanding her father.
Bishop Miller asked what they wanted and the men pulled him outside, Arlene Miller said.
She said the attackers snipped off part of her husband’s beard, but he fought back and managed to yank out some of the facial hair of one of his attackers. Those whiskers have been turned over to authorities as evidence.
It was not known whether the Mullet sons and Levi Miller had retained attorneys. But Sam Mullet ascribed tensions within the Amish community to grievances over religion.
“It’s all religion,” he told WKYC-TV. “That’s why we can’t understand why the sheriff has his nose in our business.”
He said he is being unfairly singled out. “I’m pointed out and held way up here for being the meanest of the bunch.”
Arlene Miller said Sam Mullet thinks he is untouchable. The Amish community, which eschews modern technology and uses horse-drawn buggies, doesn’t have a lot of interaction with outsiders, and prosecution of Amish is extremely rare.
“He thinks he’s Amish so the law will leave him alone,” she said. “That’s not true. We’re not above law. We as Amish believe that we are to obey the law and this guy is not doing that.”
Amish community members in eastern Ohio have been packing pepper spray, fearing they will be next to be assaulted. In the attacks, which began early last month, the barbaric barbers waylay victims in their own homes. Married men have seen their traditional long whiskers chopped off, while some women have had their long hair cut. Victims range in age from a 13-year-old girl to a 74-year-old man.
No one has been seriously hurt, but the hair-chopping is seen as a form of degradation in the community, where men do not shave and women do not cut their locks.
Brothers Johnny Mullet, 38, and Lester Mullet, 26, were booked Saturday along with Levi Miller, 53, on aggravated burglary and kidnapping charges in connection with the attacks. Each was being held on $250,000 bond. A fourth man, Lester Miller, 37, was questioned but released.
Authorities said more arrests are likely.
The Mullets are the sons of 66-year-old Sam Mullet, leader of the so-called Bergholz Clan. Based in the hamlet of Bergholz, the splinter group is made up of about 16 Amish families.
Sam Mullet has nursed a grudge against Amish bishops after he was chastened before hundreds of Amish from Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York in 2007, said Jefferson County, Ohio, Sheriff Fred Abdalla.
“They brought him on the carpet and he told them to go to hell,” he told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Sam Mullet had clashed repeatedly with Amish bishops, according to several media reports.
Abdalla said the Bergholz Clan has also been angry with his office since deputies backed by a SWAT team raided their enclave in 2007 to remove a child involved in a custody dispute that included sexual abuse allegations.
The sheriff believes Sam Mullet is behind anything that his followers do.
“He’s not Amish, but he says he’s Amish. He’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” Abdalla told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Two of these attacks involved bishops, so you could say it is retaliation with religious implications.”
Sam Mullet is not facing any charges, but Abdalla said he was “more than” a person of interest in the attacks.
“Nobody does anything without him putting his blessing on it,” the sheriff said.
A source with ties to the Bergholz Clan said Sam Mullet subjects dissidents in his flock to harsh punishments.
“He’ll beat and lock them up in the grainery of his,” the source told The Daily. “And they’ll get nothing but milk and bread for months. Then if they still don’t get in line, he’ll have the wives beat them.”
Arlene Miller, 46, whose husband, Bishop Myron Miller, was recently attacked, told The Daily she believes her family was singled out because they helped Sam Mullet’s brother and his family leave the Bergholz Clan.
“The reason they are targeting us is that we helped move them out of the community seven years ago. They wanted out because of the cult stuff going on,” she said.
Arlene Miller said her 15-year-old daughter, Leanna, opened the door about 11 p.m. on Oct. 4 to four men demanding her father.
Bishop Miller asked what they wanted and the men pulled him outside, Arlene Miller said.
She said the attackers snipped off part of her husband’s beard, but he fought back and managed to yank out some of the facial hair of one of his attackers. Those whiskers have been turned over to authorities as evidence.
It was not known whether the Mullet sons and Levi Miller had retained attorneys. But Sam Mullet ascribed tensions within the Amish community to grievances over religion.
“It’s all religion,” he told WKYC-TV. “That’s why we can’t understand why the sheriff has his nose in our business.”
He said he is being unfairly singled out. “I’m pointed out and held way up here for being the meanest of the bunch.”
Arlene Miller said Sam Mullet thinks he is untouchable. The Amish community, which eschews modern technology and uses horse-drawn buggies, doesn’t have a lot of interaction with outsiders, and prosecution of Amish is extremely rare.
“He thinks he’s Amish so the law will leave him alone,” she said. “That’s not true. We’re not above law. We as Amish believe that we are to obey the law and this guy is not doing that.”
