Legal Statement. Yahweh, who was finally arrested in 1990,also faced allegations of sexual abuse involving girls as young as 10. The two-hour special explores how YahwehBen Yahwehmanipulated thousands, led with intimidationand gained political influence for more than a decade. As she got to her front door, three men approached her and shot her once, according to police, who determined that it was a robbery. "We love all moral men and I teach you to be moral," he tells his followers in a sermon entitled, "What is the Duty of the Followers of Yahweh." Scruggs is still steaming over what he calls Rozier's con-job deal. Yahweh Ben Yahweh Daughter: Who Is Venita Mitchell, And What Does She You worked 16 hours a day and then with the two-hour guard duty, you worked for the temple 18 hours a day.". Yahweh ben Yahweh, born Hulon Mitchell Jr., makes an appearance before the media at the Temple of Love in Miami, Nov. 25, 1986. Twenty-seven checks in all, totaling $2,200. "Every man had a two-hour guard duty that they did around the clock seven days a week," he says. Amani said after his escape, he walked into the FBI office and spilled my guts, telling them everything that he saw and heard over the years. Yahweh Ben Yahweh: Making My Holy Name Known - YouTube And I knew any sign of weakness could cause me to the same fate.. "I went up to meet him and we went at each other," Scruggs says. Uncovered: The Cult Of Yahweh Ben Yahweh Extended Sneak Peek - YouTube "Yes, Yahweh ben Yahweh delivered her himself," he says. We were trying to grab everything we could about him and what he was espousing at the time," Roadruck says. Religious sect founder Yahweh ben Yahweh was found guilty in connection with the plotting of 14 murders, two attempted murders and a firebombing. Khalil Amani came forward for Oxygen's new special. "We wouldn't have just had to pay Rozier to lie, but a number of people," Scruggs says. The Miami Herald reports in a story on May 14, 1992 that the trial has gone on for so long that Yahweh defendants are in court reading the Bible and Machiavelli's "The Prince." Scruggs's secretary, Pamela Crumpler, is shot to death at the front door of her Dade County home, but Metro-Dade police and the FBI determined it was not connected to the trial. When Roadruck and King go inside the "Temple of Love," they notice green carpet. "I had one of the ears," he says. Ahinadad Israel, who was ultimately acquitted of any crimes, created disorder in the court. Symonette was known as Maurice Woodside until 1992, when the black supremacist cult leader he followed, Yahweh ben Yahweh, was jailed for leading a conspiracy to murder 14 white people in . The state's key witness is Robert Rozier, who admits to participating in the murder of Branch. Once in that room, you got on your knees on a very thin carpet And you were there on your knees for up to nine hours. His message spreads, but so do reports of beatings, extortion, arson, a. The prosecution says he wrote checks for brake pads, groceries, video rentals and to pay a bar tab from an account that had been closed. Copyright 2019 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved. ET on Investigation Discovery. The mans body and decapitated head later turned up in the Everglades. In one abrupt show of authority, Moshe made all the men line up and drop their pants. One was in the print shop, "because Yahweh ben Yahweh wanted to print his own literature, bibles and stuff instead of having other people do it for him.". Preview. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. ", Symonette says he was walking on Broadway in New York with Yahweh ben Yahweh when they saw Trump get out of a limo. Uncovered: The Cult of Yahweh Ben Yahweh Premieres on March 10th. "I know I never did that. "You can't imagine all the stuff that came out at the trial," he says. The special features interviews with former and current followers of the group, as well as law enforcement, legal experts and family members. They are there to clean out the building that the Nation of Yahweh has purchased, and they are going to do whatever it takes to evict anyone who won't leave. Market data provided by Factset. He was born into an Antioch Church of God in Christ family in Enid, Watch Oxygen anywhere: On Demand, online or across mobile and connected TVs.Uncovered: Yahweh Ben Yahweh Told His Daughter the Authorities Would Arrest Him - Bonus | Oxygen Born in 1935 in small-town Kingfisher, Oklahoma, the man who would declare himself Yahweh Ben Yahweh grew up experiencing racial discrimination firsthand in the 1940s and 1950s. During a time of great racial divide, Yahweh, which in Hebrew means the Lord son of the Lord, aimed to rehabilitate the drug-riddled neighborhoods of Miami. "Because the Yahwehs were going to kill him," Scruggs says. "Blacks for Trump" Leader Was in Violent Cult - The Intercept was ultimately convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and sentenced to 18 years behind bars, Today, Mitchell remains an advocate for her father and is the author of , The Biological Children of Yahweh Ben Yahweh Speak Out, a book that . He never gave those order that was all made up. As of yet, I have received no response. I remember it like it happened yesterday. In 1981 a group of 16 broke off with plans to create a new Yahweh temple across town. Yahweh ben Yahweh, Leader of Separatist Sect, Dies at 71 "People were trying to overthrow Yahweh. Brown was heard pleading for his life as he tried to escape. "All he wanted was to be left alone and to die in peace.". One month later, FBI agents slapped handcuffs on him and soon charged the former Hulon Mitchell Jr. and 15 of his followers with multiple counts of murder, attempted murder, racketeering, arson and extortion. "I used to hear about things like this," he says. His disciples are familiar on the streets, too, dressed like their leader, in white robes and turbans. The Azazel was the white man. Several outbursts, including one by defendant Ernest Lee James, a.k.a. He learned otherwise when a member of the offshoot group returned to the Temple of Love on Nov. 14, 1981, demanding to speak with Moshe, who was away. "Yahweh ben Yahweh used coded words," he says. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! The former U.S. assistant attorney says he had others who testified. Come look at my eyes. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! He created jobs. 11:56. 41 talking about this. The judge lectures Rozier as he sentences him to a California prison from 25 years to life, not for the check but for throwing away his chance at freedom. The other one is missing. Yahweh and "a few midwives" came to the house and delivered his daughter in 1980. Watch episodes of. Yahweh ben Yahweh's daughter also participated in the mini docuseries. is the covenant God of Israel. Theyhad a four-story apartment building, restaurants, stores, hotels, as well as hundreds of white cars. Right after the shooting incident at Opa-locka, a guy took off running and was hiding in some bushes. Rozier was problematic and Scruggs says he ended up having a "terrible relationship" with him. Amani said he was heartbroken that he couldnt take his children with him because he himself didnt know where to go. You would hope. Yahweh ben Yahweh encouraged his "Death Angels" tokill cult dissidents as well as random white people in acts of racial retribution. Passport. Did it shake my faith at the time? Scruggs tells me something he hasn't talked about, only to law enforcement. It was never shown. "I would invite you to look at the record," Scruggs recalls. The end of Yahweh ben Yahweh and the 'Temple of Love' - WPLG Local 10 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Legal Statement. 2:18. They wouldn't bring it to court. "He was found in the back seat stabbed to death. Symonette, whose Yahweh name is Mikael Israel, tells me he adopted the name Maurice from his mother's maiden name. By Arpita Adhya Published on : 00:33 PST, Nov 9, 2020. He says that the state has been making him offers. Residents of Opa-locka, Florida, were grief-stricken early Oct. 30, 1986, after two people were shot to death after an angry crowd gathered at an apartment complex where the Yahweh religious sect was evicting families. I ran back to my post. Yahweh, 6 Others Guilty 7 Acquitted; Jury Deadlocks on Racketeering Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! He changed his name again, finally embracing Yahweh Ben Yahweh. For those who werent, he reportedly did the deed to them himself. Yahweh ben Yahweh was alleged to have been behind a firebombing attack at Alfonso Bonaby's Delray Beach home in 1986. His name is changed to Robert Rameses. Borrego says there was an uproar when the Yahwehs came. "It doesnt get any better than that," she says. Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. According to the documentary,. Rozier remains in jail. Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. He wouldn't take responsibility, so he would rather scapegoat and throw his followers under the bus than accept responsibility for what he had instructed them to do.". The Nation of Yahweh is predominantly a Black Hebrew Israelite religious movement which was founded in 1979 in Miami by Hulon Mitchell Jr., who went by the name Yahweh ben Yahweh. He was a typical cult leader. She tells Taylor she still carries a bullet in her side from that night. "We gave up our jobs, school, whatever we had going on," he says. I was standing on guard at the time where he was taken to the back room of the temple. "I will tell you a story that I've never told outside of law enforcement. In 1990, when Yahweh ben Yahweh was indicted on federal charges, then-Local 10 News reporter Mel Taylor examined the Miami religious leader's past. More than a dozen members decide to break off and create a temple of their own. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. The Nation of YHWH believes that there is one God, YHWH, the Father of all men. So be it. It wouldnt be until 1985 while begging for donations to meet his quota for the group, that he was compelled to finally leave. Watch episodes of Uncovered: The Cult Of Yahweh Ben Yahweh, Sundays at 7/6c, only on Oxygen. Subscribe to Oxygen on YouTube: http://oxygen.tv/SubscribeUncovered: The Cult of Yahweh Ben Yahweh explores how Yahweh Ben Yahweh manipulated thousands, led with intimidation and gained political influence for more than a decade. Scruggs decided to keep the ear tucked away in the vault. Federal prosecutors branded Yahweh the most notorious criminal in South Florida, charging he used his Temple of Love as a front for a cult that enslaved its followers, controlled what they ate, who they married and even when and how they had sex. Former Nation of Yahweh member Khalil Amani, the former Lloyd Rodney Clark, was asked to be one of the full-time workers at the "Temple of Love" by Yahweh ben Yahweh. But . Roadruck says law enforcement was suspect of the Nation of Yahweh for five years, even before the Opa-locka apartment murders. Then in 1990, Yahweh Ben Yahweh was arrested and accused of orchestrating multiple murders, ordering his inner circle, more formally known as the death of angels, to facilitate these violent actions on his behalf. Hunter Biden (Getty Images), Melissa Cohen (YouTube) After Joe Biden has been projected as the 46th president-elect of America, all the scrutinized eyes are on his family. "Yahweh ben Yahweh had talked voraciously about killing people," the former cult member remembers. Publicly at his "Temple of Love," Yahweh ben Yahweh teaches peace and morality. They get into a confrontation after the Yahwehs enter one of the men's apartments and carries out a refrigerator. While many would describe The Nation of Yahweh founder as a cunning and controlling master manipulator who conned his followers into believing he was the Son of God, Yahwehs daughter still believes he was a virtuous and holy man. U.S. District Judge Norman Roettger presides over the trial of Robert Rozier, who was expelled from the Nation of Yahweh by Yahweh ben Yahweh. I was afraid. He called himself the Spirit of Truth And he had these hazel and blue eyes that seemed to change colors on me. They want bigger fish and feel that he can give them bigger fish. ET) and exclusively previewed above. One of them was the murder weapon used to kill Broussard and Brown, and the other weapon was Raymond Kelly's gun from the murder a month before in South Miami.". "People would always rubberneck by that house," she recalls. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy and served a five-year sentence. I would have prosecuted him myself.". And being caught attempting to flee would have resulted in his death sentence," he said. I thought he was very eloquent But I was actually afraid of him for some reason I thought I was in the presence of Jesus. The murders happened with Robert Rozier himself. BELIEFS. Moshe did not back away from critics who may have considered his early preaching to be brainwashing. He cooperated and ended up going to the federal witness protection program where he had his identity changed. Though some community members became concerned about Yahwehs rapid property acquisition, others embraced their new neighbors. Amani says followers at the temple and Yahweh ben Yahweh now know they are being watched after the two incidents. Ricardo Woodside, Michael's brother, was also part of the Nation of Yahweh. I guess if he's changed, you know, it's OK," she tells then-Local 10 News reporter Kelley Mitchell. If you need help with the Public File, call (954) 364-2526. "The government paid (him and others) to lie, they received money to lie, to testify against Yahweh ben Yahweh. The attorney says he was going to show one of the severed ears at the trial. Broussard and Brown were two residents who verbally refused to go, Frazier reports. I think were living in very extremist times And with social media, people are very bold in sharing their so-called opinions. My eyes are exactly like this book says. Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. Religious sect leader Yahweh ben Yahweh regulated the members sleep schedules, work habits and even sex lives. "They have his head wrapped up in carpet, some extra carpet that we had in the temple, and they had masking tape around the carpet," Amani says. On Nov. 14, 1981, Carey and Banks go to the police, saying they fear for their lives. Borrego says there other recent killings had police puzzled, but now the Opa-locka shootings might hold the answers to those crimes, too. Residents of the complex tell the news media that about 75 Yahwehs descend on the apartments. Season 1 Episode 1 - Videos. Within 10 minutes, your knees are on fire I was smiling internally because I then knew my time was near. "I don't shy away from that whatsoever. The door was open. If you need help with the Public File, call (954) 364-2526. ", An investigator went to California to research Rozier. May 9, 2007 Yahweh ben Yahweh, who, as the charismatic leader of a religious, black separatist sect in the Miami area was convicted of conspiring to murder white people as an initiation rite,. The Yahwehs, at the time, were in the process of a major fix-up, buying dilapidated apartments, then cleaning them up. Danny Borrego worked in the homicide division as an investigator for the Miami-Dade Police Department. "They weren't all together blameless themselves," he says. In December 1980 the group brought an abandoned warehouse in an impoverished neighborhood and remade it as their so-called Temple of Love, where followers who dressed in white would live and adhere to their leaders preaching. Here are four things viewers will learn from the show. But the cult phenomenon is very real. (Oxygen). It was all on corroborators who would parrot and say to get on the bus of the prosecutors and get a deal. Members of the black religious sect known as the Yahwehs enter Miami federal court, Nov. 20, 1990, to attend a bond hearing for Hulon Mitchell Jr., known to his followers as Yahweh ben Yahweh. In 1990, Yahweh was arrested and accused of orchestrating multiple murders, ordering his inner circle to facilitate these heinous crimes on his behalf. ", Roadruck says Banks did give them information about what was going on behind closed doors at the "Temple of Love.". He tells them he fits qualifications that are in the Bible: "The garment down to the foot and wooly hair. Jump on up and leave America without the white man's permission. But Amani says that the spiritual leader's preaching contains cryptic messages that are understood by members of the Nation of Yahweh. This class is taught by The Honorable Yahweh Ben Yahweh. They can't find cause to convict him on the second racketeering charge, which would have linked him directly to the murders. He came up to me that Monday morning. As he proclaims his power, some members are growing disillusioned. Yahweh ben Yahweh: The Miami cult leader who claimed to be the 'real Yahweh reportedly made all the men line up and drop their pants to see who was circumcised or not. He wanted to see who was circumcised and who was not, Amani recalls. They weren't actually shooting at us. Weintraub says, at that point, Yahweh just wanted to be left alone. She had to be put in the hospital. "A victim named Raymond Kelly was found murdered outside of the Teepee Lounge in South Miami," Borrego says. The Nation of Yahweh is tied to that. Early the next morning, they are ambushed. Ricardo, who left the Nation of Yahweh in 1985, testified against Yaweh ben Yahweh. Residents of the Opa-locka apartments win in court when a judge rules that the sect had waged a campaign of extortion and terror against them. He says that they were ordered by Yahweh ben Yahweh himself. I told him, 'I am after you from this point out. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. A system means an order, a method, a truthful mathematical sequential fact. I jumped on that city busand that was the end for me.. Immediately after the federal trial, the state files murder charges against Yahweh and three other defendants in the death of Cecil Branch, who was stabbed to death more than two dozen times and both his ears severed on Sept. 20, 1986. He was escorted by a group of 10 men to the back of the building, beaten with a hammer, and then loaded into a car carrying the Temples chief of security, who Amani saw grabbing a machete, according to the episode. They prosecuted an innocent man knowing full well of his innocence, saysMitchell. He was stabbed multiple times, but what made this murder different is that both his ears had been severed. We tried to get a search warrant. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! He was born Michael Woodside. Borrego says he had never come across anything like it. Bring that faggot out!' ", But there is something else: "Something funny about his eyes, his eyes were as a flame of fire. "To be blessed, you must be ethical: and the definition of ethics is a system of moral principle. Today, Mitchell remains an advocate for her father and is the author of The Biological Children of Yahweh Ben Yahweh Speak Out, a book that define[s] his message and purpose.. Yahweh Ben Yahweh Biography and Early Life Yahweh Ben Yahweh is an American man who founded and led the Nation of Yahweh, a new religious movement. "Publicly, Yahwehs were noticed in their white robes. He was sprawled out, as if someone had fallen asleep in the back seat of the car, his legs hanging out of the rear door. For more on the Nation of Yahweh and its charismatic leaders murderous reign, watch Mondays People Magazine Investigates: Cults at 9 p.m. The evidence was far from that. But we knew it came out of the temple. "I know that doesn't come out in the media like that, but that's what it was. But, two years later, in early February of 1982, they move in with Yahweh and other followers. I am the one the whole Earth has been waiting on.. It was just unbelievable seeing all of this unfold knowing he didnt deserve it.. That same year, 26-year-old Aston Green was beaten by several members and later decapitated. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Khalil Amani changed his name while in the witness protection program after testifying about what he saw inside Yahweh ben Yahweh's "Temple of Love.". He said, 'Richard, I didn't do this one.' Yahweh Ben Yahweh, the self-proclaimed Son of God comes to Miami promising salvation. Venita Mitchell, Yahweh Ben Yahweh's daughter, recounts seeing the media circus around her father's arrest. One neighbor says, "We don't need somebody like that. She spoke exclusively to Local 10 News, five years after she and Carey were ambushed at their Carol City home. Weintraub says she believes that Rozier acted on his own. The Saga of Yahweh ben Yahweh | National Vanguard "We saw helicopters and police undercover driving by (the temple) slow. In October 1990, the mayor of Miami presented Yahweh Ben Yahweh with a key to the city in recognition of the local religious leaders contributions to the region and his sects efforts to revive impoverished pockets of the community. There is substantial cause to base a 25-page federal indictment on Yahweh ben Yahweh and 15 codefendants. or redistributed. Uncovered: Yahweh Ben Yahweh : Venita Mitchell Recounts - YouTube "The one thing that was true that Yahweh kicked him out of the temple," she says. 3:43 Digital Original Yahweh Ben Yahweh's Daughter Describes Her Cult Leader Father 2:44 Preview Yahweh Ben Yahweh: Raymond Kelly is Found Dead in South Florida in 1986 1:25 Preview Yahweh Ben Yahweh: Former Cult Member Discussed Yahweh Ben Yahweh's Extreme Control Over His Followers 1:16 Exclusive