Stories about the Amish as victims – or perpetrators – of crime.
An Amish family in Lagrange County, Indiana is hoping for answers after their horse was killed in a drive-by shooting incident last week. From WSBT.com: It was a regular morning for the Miller family as they were heading outside to do their chores– that is until one of the children noticed something unusual. “I was putting on my socks and all of a sudden I…
News came last week of another financial scandal involving Amish investors as victims. According to the federal lawsuit, Earl D. Miller began recruiting investors in 2008 to join a number of investment vehicles, despite having no experience in fund management. The Goshen, Indiana resident is accused of “misrepresentations that Miller raised at least $3.9 million from at least 70 investors, but repeatedly lied to prospective investors.” According…
Over the past week, gunshots were fired at two Amish homes in the community in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin. There was also a third reported incident involving a school in the settlement. There’s not a lot of information in this article, but there are a few more details, including on a fragment of bullet found in between panes of glass in one home. Eau Claire…
Sam Mullet along with the seven remaining imprisoned members of the Bergholz community have just received shorter sentences for their roles in the 2011 beard-cutting attacks. From the report (no longer online): Mullet’s 15-year sentence was reduced to 10 years, nine months. Sentences for four men who received seven years were cut to five years. Sentences for three men who got five years were lowered to three…
A recent article in the Massillon Independent depicts the efforts of law enforcement in Holmes and neighboring Tuscarawas County to thwart large parties held regularly in the area. According to authorities, these parties, such as those held at a resort in Tuscarawas County, have a significant Amish youth presence. Drugs such as meth and cocaine are sold and used at them. From the article: Such parties are…
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports on the latest controversy surrounding Sam Mullet and imprisoned members of his community: The federal Bureau of Prisons is forcing some imprisoned members of an Ohio Amish community to study for high school equivalency certificates in violation of their First Amendment rights, a lawyer for the sect contends. Lawyer Edward Bryan, who represents imprisoned Amish bishop Samuel Mullet, said Friday he…
Over the years, a number of cases have come to light of Amish who have committed sexual abuse. Many have in turn wondered how prevalent sexual abuse is among the Amish – and why it seems to keep recurring. Certain questions come to mind: Why does sexual abuse happen in some Amish homes and communities? What is it about the Amish church and culture that…
From a recent report in the Cleveland Plain Dealer: The fractured Amish community of Bergholz is distraught over news that bishop Samuel Mullet and seven of his hate crime co-defendants have been assigned to prisons scattered across the country — some as far as 1,000 miles away. Samuel Mullet originally had been designated to serve his 15-year sentence in Loretto, Pa. — the same low-security federal correctional…
In an article in the latest Mennonite World Review, Donald Kraybill, who served as expert witness in the trial, had this comment on Sam Mullet’s group: “I call them a clan, and I do not consider them Amish at all.” More: In September, Kraybill gave five hours of testimony in a crowded courtroom. He visited the Bergholz area last year and interviewed about 15 people, including…
Sentences have been given in the Amish beard-cutting case: The leader of a dissident Amish sect was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Friday for a series of bizarre beard- and hair-cutting attacks on other Ohio Amish that drew national attention. Samuel Mullet Sr., 67, the leader, was sentenced in Federal District Court in Cleveland, for coordinating assaults that prosecutors argued were motivated by…