Dwight “Malachi” York has pleaded guilty to sexually exploiting and abusing minor children. He made his admission in open court yesterday, reports Associated Press.
The deal York and his attorney worked out with federal prosecutors would place the “cult leader” in prison for not less than 15 years followed by 3 years of supervised release.
York is 56. This would mean the Nuwaubian leader would be 71 upon release and 74 when his supervision ended.
Maybe federal prosecutors are betting York won’t live long enough to be a free man?
It is unclear how the current plea bargain would affect state charges, which includes a 208-count grand jury indictment.
York also has also been sued by his victims, one lawsuit alone is for $1 billion dollars.
With his confession in public the Nuwaubian leader has made moot his followers claim that he is the somehow the victim of conspiracy or “persecution.”
York is simply a pedophile properly charged for his heinous criminal conduct.
Perhaps the current deal on the table reflects not only the hopelessness of York’s defense, but his desire to be incarcerated within a federal prison, which would be far more comfortable than the state prison system in Georgia.
York is an experienced inmate who served three years in prison during the 1960s for resisting arrest, assault and possession of a dangerous weapon in New York.
His group began in New York during the 1970s before moving to Georgia ten years ago. York paid almost a million dollars to buy a 476-acre parcel that would eventually become his Nuwaubian compound near Athens.
Though the criminal case of Dwight York may be nearing its end, the suffering of his victims will go on for years. York sexually abused at least 13 children, ranging in age from 4 to 18. They will live with the memories of that abuse for a lifetime.
At one time York lived like a king in a $500,000 home in Athens, but now it seems the “cult leader” will soon be housed in a cell, probably within protective custody.
Even convicts find it difficult to live with sex offenders as sick, destructive and despicable as Dwight York.
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