Wayne Bent, who also goes by the name of Michael Travesser,
is the leader of an apocalyptic sect called The Lord Our Righteousness Church.
According to The Associated Press, Bent was arrested Tuesday
on three counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and three counts of
contributing to the delinquency of a minor, Department of Public Safety
spokesman, Peter Olson, said.
The arrest took place two weeks after state officials had
removed two girls and one boy from Bent’s New Mexico compound.
The church leader has updated the sect’s website to reassure
its members.
“Jesus had not committed any crimes, so the authorities had
to invent some crimes to crucify him over. It is the same for me also. I have
committed no crimes, but many crimes are being imagined and concocted in the
minds of men to try and kill me again,” Bent wrote.
He also claims that God revealed to him in 2000 that he was
the Messiah. Tough job for Bent, one might say.
Bent's son, Jeff Bent, backs his father and is sure that the
accusations are not true, although the sect leader admitted to have slept with
his son’s wife.
“He hasn't done anything wrong. He hasn't committed any
crimes. I don't question that there are things that have happened here that are
shocking to people’s cultural norms, but ... the things that have occurred here
are not illegal,” said Jeff Bent.
Wayne Bent also admitted to having sex with his followers
and lying naked with virgins.
However, John Sayer, a former member of the Lord Our Righteousness
Church, told CNN affiliate KOAT that he left because Bent wanted to sleep with
his daughters, aged 14 and 15 at that time.
Wayne Bent is a former Seventh-day Adventist that parted
from this church and founded his own in 1987.
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