Judge lowers bail for N.M. sect leader
Posted on Friday, May 9, 2008
CLAYTON, N. M. — A judge reduced the bail of an apocalypticsect leader accused of sex crimes against minors, but rejected his request Thursday to be released on his own recognizance.
Union County Magistrate Ilene Taylor cut Wayne Bent’s bail from $ 500, 000 to $ 50, 000. Bent was returned to jail, where authorities said he has refused to eat or drink since his arrest Tuesday.
Bent, who goes by the name of Michael Travesser and claims to be the Messiah, is accused of touching three underage female followers, one of whom was 12, when they lay naked with him in 2006 and 2007.
Bent said he did not have any money to pay for a lawyer, so he was assigned a public defender, Sarah Montoya. Montoya tried to enter a plea of innocent, but Taylor said the purpose of Bent’s first court appearance was to read him his rights and the charges against him, not to enter a plea.
A preliminary hearing was to be held for Bent within 10 days unless he posts bond, in which case the hearing would be within 60 days.
Bent, 66, is the leader of The Lord Our Righteousness Church, whose members moved in 2000 to a remote former ranch near the Colorado line that they call Strong City. He has acknowledged having sex with followers and lying naked with virgins but denies any children or adults were molested. He has said the virgins asked for sex and he refused.
Bent is charged with three counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The charges grew out of a state investigation. The Children, Youth and Families Department removed three teenagers from Strong City in late April.
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