Clayton— the Self-Professed Messiah of a Doomsday Cult Went From Presiding Over His Compound to a Cell at the Clayton/Union County Jail on Tuesday, Courtesy of the New Mexico State Police.
Wayne Bent, aka Michael Travesser, was booked into the jail— where he turned down an offer of juice and a bologna sandwich— on multiple charges of sexual contact with minors.
In an Internet posting before his arrest early Tuesday, he said he had committed no crime and compared his impending arrest to the persecution of Jesus.
Bent, 66, had previously admitted having sex with adult followers and acknowledged "lying with naked virgins"— although he denied having sex with minors.
He is being held on charges of criminal sexual contact of a minor, a second-degree felony, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a fourth-degree felony.
The acts of which he is accused involve three young girls, including one who was 12 at the time of the alleged misconduct, according to a State Police officer's affidavit filed in Union County magistrate court.
The 12-year-old was naked when she lay chest to chest with Bent, according to the affidavit. Two older teenage girls told police they also were naked with Bent and that he kissed them. One said he touched and kissed her breasts.
But Bent's son told the Journal on Monday that his father is being persecuted by state agencies and that Wayne Bent's followers are now engaged in "spiritual warfare with the secular state power."
"The mark of the beast is enforcing its will on the believers," Jeff Bent said in a telephone interview.
'Very soft-spoken'
Wayne Bent was arrested without incident by State Police agents at his Strong City compound near Des Moines in rural Union County, said DPS spokesman Peter Olson.
Bent is the leader of The Lord Our Righteousness Church, which came to Union County in 2000.
A magistrate judge who signed an arrest warrant Monday set Bent's bail at $500,000, cash only. He is scheduled to appear in court here at 11 a.m. Thursday for an arraignment.
"He was extremely quiet, very soft-spoken," said Clayton Police Chief Scott Julian, describing Bent as he was taken by State Police to the old brick jail just off Main Street.
Julian said Bent was very thin, weighing about 120 pounds on a 5-foot-7 frame. "He's refused water, juice and a bologna sandwich for lunch," said Julian. "He did say on his Web site he was on a hunger strike."
Bent was allowed three phone calls but didn't make any.
Bent was wearing a white T-shirt and jeans, and his only question was to ask why he was being fingerprinted.
"We explained that it was part of the booking process," Julian said.
'Appealing to God'
Jeff Bent said Tuesday that he is not concerned about his father posting bail, saying that God will help his father be set free.
"I don't foresee that the legal process will be our focus," he said. "Right now we are appealing to God."
Wayne Bent, who believes he is the second coming of Jesus, posted a comment on his group's Web site Monday morning saying that he is guilty of nothing.
"The current upheaval over me ... was the same for Jesus," Bent wrote. "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. Men are so stupid, though, for they do not know that they cannot kill Spirit."
Jeff Bent said his father has never had sex with minors but acknowledged Wayne Bent did have some contact with the children.
"There were several times in which skin-to-skin events did occur," he said. "That's public knowledge."
Minors interviewed
According to the affidavit, agents interviewed four children beginning April 23. The children were recently removed from the compound by police and child welfare workers.
The affidavit also states:
- A 17-year-old girl identified as A.S. told agents she "lay naked" with Bent when he "kissed her lips like a husband and wife do" and also "touched and kissed her breasts" in August 2006.
- A 16-year-old girl identified as L.S. said she was naked when she and Bent "had lain skin to skin" in July 2006 and that Bent also kissed her.
- A 13-year-old girl identified as J.T. said that she lay "chest to chest" with Bent at the compound in April 2007. J.T. said "she was the only one naked" during the incident. The girl would have been 12 at the time.
- A 16-year-old boy identified as D.D. told police that 10 people received letters from Bent as "chosen" virgins. Seven of the 10 were selected, and D.D. told State Police that Bent lay "naked with the seven virgins." He said he didn't witness the act but had heard about it from different people, including some of the "chosen." The boy also said people at the compound are considered to be married when they sleep together.
Persecution anticipated
Tuesday's arrest comes on the heels of a three-week investigation by State Police, the state's Children, Youth and Families Department and the Union County Sheriff's Department.
CYFD removed the children from the compound beginning April 22 after the department received information they may have been subjected to inappropriate contact.
The children have either been placed in state custody or released to parents who do not live in Strong City, a CYFD spokeswoman has said.
Jeff Bent, a former San Francisco police officer, said he resents the state agencies that took the children from the compound.
"These are children who have been a part of our church since they were babies," he said. "It's not easy seeing them be taken away, but the children have had ample preparation that the day would come that we would be persecuted."
He said his father was notified Monday that charges would soon be filed and that he and other followers were able to give his father a hug before a dozen or so State Police officers took him away.
"It was a little bit tense," he said. "We felt a bit nervous seeing (a large police presence). But we were calm, and our emotions were just focused on wishing our savior well."
Jeff Bent said the "spiritual warfare" his group is waging with the state is not violent.
"It involves prayer and speaking the truth," he said. "God is the one who makes the moves. He gives us instructions."
The son also denies there was a mass suicide planned by cult members, an allegation State Police and FBI agents investigated in 2002.
"Suicide has been a constant allegation," Jeff Bent said. So, too, is a report that his father predicted that the end of the world was supposed to come last year, he said.
"The end of the world is a process," he said. "We don't know when these events will manifest themselves, but the wicked will be judged."
Under the spotlight
Julian, the Clayton police chief, said that in his four years on the job here, he has never had any interaction with Wayne Bent or other cult members.
"But this has brought a lot of attention," Julian said. "We've heard from ABC News in New York, 'Inside Edition,' all the Albuquerque TV stations, two from Amarillo and The Associated Press."
Union County has a population of about 3,800.
An employee of the jail said she worked at a title company when Bent closed on the ranch land he bought eight years ago.
"We thought it was a little old man gonna run some cows," she said. "All of a sudden, there's kids and modular houses and campers and pickup trucks."
Kathy Dinkel, who was working at Clayton Petals Too on Tuesday afternoon, owns a ranch that borders the cult's land.
"They wanted to come over on our land to do their Peace Walks— that's how they got tranquillity, I guess," Dinkel said, "but we said, 'You won't let us on your land, so we don't want you on our land.' ''
Della Wetsel, who was having a smoothie at the Crossroads Coffee on Tuesday afternoon, said she was born and reared in Des Moines and that the uproar over Bent's group is the most exciting thing that's happened in Des Moines since 1969, when she was robbed at gunpoint while clerking at a grocery store.
"I think the Texas (Mormon) thing sparked all this," she said. "It appears these things are popping up everywhere."
Online messages
Wayne C. Bent, known to his followers in The Lord of Our Righteousness Church as Michael Travesser, appeared to be posting messages on the church Web site as late as 7:41 a.m. Tuesday— shortly before he was arrested by State Police.
Here are excerpts from some of the recent writings attributed to Bent on the Web site:
SATURDAY
"CYFD have never been able to prove any problem here. ... If the beast cannot find any true evidence, it must now manufacture it from the haunted souls who hate God's children.
"Now, the mob howls and boasts and lies about us continually. Even some who I once broke bread with, lie and raise up their heel against me, in order to get notice and approval from Satan, but they will soon be no more. ... This was not the world I grew up in, but it is the world I am leaving. My children will go with me."
SUNDAY
"I have had many folks send me little clips and news articles about how I have been so evil to those giving interviews about me. ... When you hear one demon, you hear them all. Someone told me, 'You don't have to be in the gutter to know what is in it.' ''
"There are many people who want to kill me, just as they wanted to kill Jesus. But no one can touch me at all without my Father's permission. I cannot be hurt, except He gives it. And if He gives the wicked to hurt me, or kill me, I am content to yield to that, for as with Jesus, his death only turned up the heat about a hundredfold. ...
"Whenever people speak against me publicly, I have a little pang for them, for I realize that their final judgment will be more painful than one who has not come against me. Their hell fire will be hotter and longer."
MONDAY
"It was the same for Jesus. 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. Men are so stupid, though, for they do not know that they cannot kill Spirit. ... My Spirit cannot be killed by dogs and snakes or anything else."
MONDAY
"Just a little bit ago, through my chain of enemies, I have heard the story that the State is preparing a four part indictment against me. I don't know if this is true, but it could very well be. ... When the beast does not like what you say, or how you practice your religion, it will come for you as he came for our children and the Mormon children.
"This is the end of the world. Our natural world, and your world also. I have many enemies who would seek my life and kill me personally, if they thought they would not get into trouble for it. ... They would hate heaven, because I will be there."
-- Journal Staff Report
Go 'Inside'
National Geographic Channel is scheduled to air "Inside a Cult," about Wayne Bent and his group, at 8 and 11 tonight.
