Jurors in the trial of Wayne Bent, 67, aka the New Mexico Messiah, were sent home Friday after failing to reach a verdict on his molestation charges.
Prosecutors in the Taos courtroom said in 2006 Bent lay in bed naked with two sisters, ages 14 and 16, touched them, and also kissed them. Because of those actions, the leader of the Lord Our Righteousness Church, was charged with criminal sexual contact of a minor and contributing to the deliquency of a minor.
Bent insists he is a “stand-in” for God and that the girls initiated the actions. The younger girl, in fact, wants to return to the sect’s compound and become Bent’s wife. Her father took the rest of the family and left the sect earlier, but the girl returned. His defense attorney said the girl "considers herself married to God," not to Bent.
Bent, for his part, told police he had touched the girls in "a healing type of manner," putting his hand on their sternums. The younger girl, according to the defense attorney, said that "after he laid his hand on her she did feel closer to God."
Bent allegedly told church members that God had told him to sleep with seven virgins.
Bent left the Seventh Day Adventist Church 21 years ago. God “spoke” to him in 2000 and told him he was the Messiah. With about 80 adherents, he formed The Lord Our Righteousness Church near Travesser Park, Union County, New Mexico. By 2008, the community consisted of approximately fifty people.
About 30 of his followers have been in the Taos courtroom. The trial continues on Monday.
(For more background on this story, read Ground Report article, “New Mexico Messiah Denies Child Abuse,” posed on May 1, 2008.)