The Amish clan leader jailed in a raid on his Ohio compound was earlier caught on tape discussing the possibility of more beard-cuttings just days after a group of his followers were locked up, according to federal officials.
In a recorded jailhouse phone call, the leader of the splinter Amish community, Sam Mullet Sr., also threatened to kill someone if his grandchildren were taken, according to a federal affidavit.
Mullet, 66, was arrested along with six followers during an FBI-led raid Wednesday in the tiny town of Bergholtz, Ohio. It was there, officials say, that he controlled a flock of about 16 families with an iron fist, forcing some to sleep in a chicken coop and having sex with married women in order to “cleanse” them.
Following a string of bizarre assaults in which Mullet followers allegedly chopped off mainstream Amish men’s beards and women’s hair, officials on Oct. 7 arrested five Mullet adherents. They were charged in attacks that federal officials now say Mullet encouraged.
Just two days later, one of Mullet’s incarcerated sons spoke with his father from the Holmes County Jail, according to a FBI agent’s affidavit. At one point, Sam Mullet was recorded saying that “Ray and the men are ready to do it again,” prompting Lester Mullett to remind his father that the call was being recorded.
At another point, the elder Mullet said “some of the guys wanted to go out tonight and do it again,” an apparent reference to the hair attacks. Another unidentified person was also recorded saying that, once their current situation was worked out, “we can go out and get more beard hair.”
When Lester Mullet said he was worried about the possibility his children would be taken away, the father replied that somebody would “get killed” before that happened.
On Wednesday, dozens of FBI agents and other officials raided the so-called Bergholz Clan compound, where Mullet and more than 120 others live, arresting him, three of his sons, and two others. All face federal hate crime charges related to the hair attacks. Officials say the assaults were designed to humiliate Amish people who believe the Bible instructs men not to shave and women to grow their hair long.
This month, one of the men, Emanuel Schrock, led a hair-cutting attack on an Amish couple who had been thrown out of the Mullet clan, according to court documents. Sam Mullet encouraged the cuttings as revenge on followers of Amish bishops who had excommunicated him and overturned his own excommunications, officials said.
In an interview with The Daily last month, Mullet denied that he ordered the attacks, and spoke defiantly against a local sheriff he said was meddling in his community’s affairs.
“They’ve been trying to get me for 10 years,” he said. “I’m not afraid. I don’t do anything to be afraid of. All the lies they put out there, doesn’t mean it’s true.”
Calls to Mullet’s attorney were not returned yesterday. He and the other man charged last week are to appear in a federal court in Youngstown, Ohio, on Wednesday.
In a recorded jailhouse phone call, the leader of the splinter Amish community, Sam Mullet Sr., also threatened to kill someone if his grandchildren were taken, according to a federal affidavit.
Mullet, 66, was arrested along with six followers during an FBI-led raid Wednesday in the tiny town of Bergholtz, Ohio. It was there, officials say, that he controlled a flock of about 16 families with an iron fist, forcing some to sleep in a chicken coop and having sex with married women in order to “cleanse” them.
Following a string of bizarre assaults in which Mullet followers allegedly chopped off mainstream Amish men’s beards and women’s hair, officials on Oct. 7 arrested five Mullet adherents. They were charged in attacks that federal officials now say Mullet encouraged.
Just two days later, one of Mullet’s incarcerated sons spoke with his father from the Holmes County Jail, according to a FBI agent’s affidavit. At one point, Sam Mullet was recorded saying that “Ray and the men are ready to do it again,” prompting Lester Mullett to remind his father that the call was being recorded.
At another point, the elder Mullet said “some of the guys wanted to go out tonight and do it again,” an apparent reference to the hair attacks. Another unidentified person was also recorded saying that, once their current situation was worked out, “we can go out and get more beard hair.”
When Lester Mullet said he was worried about the possibility his children would be taken away, the father replied that somebody would “get killed” before that happened.
On Wednesday, dozens of FBI agents and other officials raided the so-called Bergholz Clan compound, where Mullet and more than 120 others live, arresting him, three of his sons, and two others. All face federal hate crime charges related to the hair attacks. Officials say the assaults were designed to humiliate Amish people who believe the Bible instructs men not to shave and women to grow their hair long.
This month, one of the men, Emanuel Schrock, led a hair-cutting attack on an Amish couple who had been thrown out of the Mullet clan, according to court documents. Sam Mullet encouraged the cuttings as revenge on followers of Amish bishops who had excommunicated him and overturned his own excommunications, officials said.
In an interview with The Daily last month, Mullet denied that he ordered the attacks, and spoke defiantly against a local sheriff he said was meddling in his community’s affairs.
“They’ve been trying to get me for 10 years,” he said. “I’m not afraid. I don’t do anything to be afraid of. All the lies they put out there, doesn’t mean it’s true.”
Calls to Mullet’s attorney were not returned yesterday. He and the other man charged last week are to appear in a federal court in Youngstown, Ohio, on Wednesday.
