Stories about the Amish as victims – or perpetrators – of crime.
Unfortunately harassing the Amish happens often enough that it even goes by a few colorful terms such as “Amo-bashing”. It can range from petty vandalism to verbal abuse to even assault. A pair of recent incidents go a step further into felony criminal territory. Two Amish couples in Geauga County, Ohio were held up a week ago in separate incidents on the same road. The…
The news came yesterday that Monroe Beachy, Ohio Amishman and investment fund manager, received a 6-and-a-half year sentence for fraud. Investors in Beachy’s popular fund lost around $17 million, around half of its total value. U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach described it as “fraud on a massive scale.” Beachy, 78, requested to serve his sentence at home, but this was rejected, and he will be going…
Chances are you’ve heard of the recent attacks on Amish by now. Members of a small Ohio group have been entering Amish homes and cutting off men’s beards and men’s and women’s hair. Authorities have gotten involved and now there are serious charges – kidnapping and burglary – against the perpetrators. The group in question is located near the town of Bergholz in Jefferson County…
Attacks against Amish have a long history. These have ranged from verbal abuse to more serious offenses such as theft, vandalism, and arson. In some cases, Amish have been injured or even killed. A series of barn burnings in Big Valley, PA in the early 1990s, or targeted assaults and robberies against Amish in the Nappanee, Indiana area, are just a couple of the more…
The failure of A&M investments tests the Holmes County community A financial controversy has been playing out in the Holmes County, Ohio Amish settlement over the past few months. Amishman Monroe Beachy operated A&M Investments, a fund in which hundreds of locals, mainly Amish, invested money. One day early last summer, a sign appeared on the door of A&M Investments’ Sugarcreek office, reading simply: “Due…
This is a disheartening story (no longer online) which I’ve meant to address, about child abuse in one Amish community. Four bishops in a Missouri Amish community have been charged with failing to report sexual abuse inflicted by an adult member of the community upon two children. Clearly there is no moral question that abuse of any kind is a criminal matter, and not one…
Just read an interesting article in the Mount Vernon News about the relationship between law enforcement and Amish in a few Ohio communities. One of the two sheriffs interviewed–hailing from Knox County, an area with a relatively small Amish population–says that law enforcement tries to be sensitive to Amish customs and in particular the Amish system of church discipline. “I believe a lot of times…
The crime was horrendous. But the point now is not the crime – it’s the hard issues at hand for the Amish community of Ed Gingerich – allegedly the only Amishman ever tried and convicted for the death of another human being. Gingerich killed his wife in a fit of insanity in 1993. A paranoid schizophrenic, he was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and served a…
The body of ex-Amishman Eli Stutzman – convicted of one murder, suspected in four others – lies in a Texas morgue, unclaimed by his former Ohio Amish community. Stutzman’s DNA may be the case-breaker in the 1985 deaths of two Colorado men. Gregg Olsen, author of Abandoned Prayers, commented on the case which has hounded him for the past 20 years. Olsen shares an interesting…
The stories are heartbreaking. You feel for the victims. It’s hard to imagine what they’ve been through. But at the same time, a 20/20 piece on Amish abuse from a few years back points to the generalizations that many journalists rely on to tell their story. The 20/20 folks lean heavily on cliches and misconceptions–from the ominous opening music, to the overplayed stories they trot…