List of convicted religious leaders
Encyclopedia
This is a list of religious leaders who have been convicted of serious crimes before, during or after their period as a religious leader.
Violent crimes
- Tony AlamoTony AlamoTony Alamo is an American religious leader and convicted child sex offender. He and his late wife Susan are best known as the founders of an organization currently known as Tony Alamo Christian Ministries. The organization is based in and around Fouke and Alma, Arkansas, United States, and has...
- Headed a Santa Clarita commune. Convicted of tax evasion in 1994 and then resided in a halfway house in Texarkana. In 2009, he was convicted of ten federal counts of taking minors across state lines for sex, and sentenced to 150 years in federal prison. - Shoko AsaharaShoko Asahara, born on March 2, 1955, is a founder of the controversial Japanese new religious group Aum Shinrikyo. He was convicted of masterminding the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway and several other crimes, for which he was sentenced to death...
- Founder of Aum ShinrikyoAum ShinrikyoAum Shinrikyo was a Japanese new religious movement. The group was founded by Shoko Asahara in 1984. The group gained international notoriety in 1995, when it carried out the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway....
sentenced to death by hangingHangingHanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
under Japanese lawJapanese law-Historical Developments:Pre-Modern History The early law of Japan was heavily influenced by Chinese law. Little is known about Japanese law prior to the seventh century, when the Ritsuryō was developed and codified. Before Chinese characters were transplanted and adopted by the Japanese, the...
for involvement in the 1995 Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subwaySarin gas attack on the Tokyo subwayThe Sarin attack on the Tokyo subway, usually referred to in the Japanese media as the , was an act of domestic terrorism perpetrated by members of Aum Shinrikyo on March 20, 1995....
. - Wayne Bent (aka: Michael Travesser) - Founder of Lord Our Righteousness ChurchLord Our Righteousness ChurchThe Lord Our Righteousness Church, sometimes called Strong City, is a religious community near Travesser Park, Union County, New Mexico. It originated with a group of about eighty adherents who migrated to the area from Sandpoint, Idaho in 2000. In 2008, the community consisted of approximately...
, sometimes called Strong City. Was convicted of one counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor in 2008. Was sentenced to 18 years with eight years suspended.
- Graham CapillGraham CapillGraham John Capill is a former New Zealand Christian leader and politician. He served as the first leader of the now-defunct Christian Heritage Party, stepping down in 2003. In 2005 he was convicted of multiple sexual offences against girls under 12 years of age and sentenced to nine years...
- former leader of Christian Heritage New ZealandChristian Heritage New ZealandThe Christian Heritage Party of New Zealand was a New Zealand political party espousing Christian values...
. Sentenced to nine year imprisonment term in 2005 after multiple charges of child sexual abuse against girls younger than twelve.
- Matthew F. HaleMatthew F. HaleMatthew F. Hale , more commonly known as Matt Hale, was the third Pontifex Maximus of the white supremacist religion, Creativity, and the founder of the group formerly known as the World Church of the Creator and now known as The Creativity Movement. The organization's headquarters were based in...
- Former leader of Creativity Movement sentenced to a 40-year prison term for soliciting an undercover FBI informant to kill a federal judge.
- Warren JeffsWarren JeffsWarren Steed Jeffs was the president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints . In 2011, Jeffs was convicted of two felony counts of child sexual assault....
- Once President of Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day SaintsFundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day SaintsThe Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is one of the largest Mormon fundamentalist denominations and one of the largest organizations in the United States whose members practice polygamy. The FLDS Church emerged in the early twentieth century when its founding members left...
(a polygamist Mormon sect), convicted of rape as an accomplice (overturned in 2010). Jeffs also awaits trial in other states and in the federal court system. - Jung Myung SeokJung Myung SeokJung Myung-Seok is the founder of an international organization called Providence. He is also known by the names of Joshua Jung, Joshua Lee Jung, Joshua Lee, and JMS....
- South Korean religious sect leader and founder of ProvidenceProvidence (religion)Providence is a Christian religious movement most notable for its bible study formerly called the 30 lessons, for the controversies surrounding its founder, and its fast growth...
. Convicted for raping several of his followers. - William KammWilliam KammWilliam Kamm also known as The Little Pebble or the antipope Peter II the Roman is the leader of a religious group called the Order of St. Charbel, which claims however to be part of the Roman Catholic Church and due to be approved by the hierarchy...
- An Australian religious sect leader and self-styled Pope Peter IIPope Peter IIPope Peter II is a hypothetical Papal name and, in recent times, a common name for sedevacantist group leaders styling themselves as popes.-The name and its connotations:...
who was sentenced to prison in October 2005 for a string of sexual attacks on a 15-year-old girl. In August 2007 his sentence was increased after being found guilty for a series of sexual abuses against another teenage girl over a five year period. - Ervil LeBaronErvil LeBaronErvil Morrell LeBaron was the leader of a polygamous Mormon fundamentalist group who ordered the killings of many of his opponents, using the religious doctrine of blood atonement to justify the murders...
- Led a small sect of polygamous Mormon fundamentalists, and was convicted of involvement in the murder of two people and plotting to kill another person in 1981. - Alice LenshinaAlice LenshinaAlice Lenshina was a Christian religious leader who founded the Lumpa Church. She was born Alice Mulenga Lubusha in the Chinsali district of the northern province of Northern Rhodesia. Alice was the name she was given at baptism, while Mulenga was her traditional African name...
- Zambian head and founder of the Lumpa ChurchLumpa ChurchThe Lumpa Church, an independent Christian church, was established in 1953 by "Alice" Lenshina Mulenga in the village of Kasoma, Northern Rhodesia...
. Conflicts with the government over the sect's rejection of taxes led to a violent confrontation and her subsequent imprisonment. - Jeffrey LundgrenJeffrey LundgrenJeffrey Don Lundgren was a self-proclaimed prophet, former leader of a cult group, and convicted mass murderer of five people...
- Headed splinter group from Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, executed October 24, 2006, for multiple murders. - Charles MansonCharles MansonCharles Milles Manson is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction...
- Leader of the Manson Family who is serving life for first degree murder. - Shukri MustafaShukri MustafaShukri Mustafa was an agricultural engineer who led the extremist Islamist group Jama'at al-Muslimin, popularly known as Takfir wal-Hijra. He began his path toward Islamist thought by joining the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1960s. After being arrested for activities related to the group he became...
- Egyptian leader of Takfir wal-HijraTakfir wal-HijraJama'at al-Muslimin , popularly known as Takfir wal-Hijra , was a radical Islamist group led by Shukri Mustafa, which emerged in Egypt in the 1960s as an offshoot of Muslim Brotherhood, inspired by Sayyid Qutb.The group was...
who was captured and executed for the kidnap murder of an Egyptian ex-government minister. - Fred PhelpsFred PhelpsFred Waldron Phelps, Sr. is an American pastor heading the Westboro Baptist Church , an independent Baptist church based in Topeka, Kansas...
- Leader of anti-gay Westboro Baptist ChurchWestboro Baptist ChurchThe Westboro Baptist Church is an independent Baptist church known for its extreme stance against homosexuality and its protest activities, which include picketing funerals and desecrating the American flag. The church is widely described as a hate group and is monitored as such by the...
. Convicted for disorderly conduct and battery. - Howard Douglas Porter - Pastor at Hickman Community Church, convicted of first-degree murder, embezzlement, elder abuse and attempted murder in 2008.
- Swami Premananda of TiruchirapalliSwami Premananda of TrichyPremananda is the monastic name of ....... who ran an Ashram in the Tiruchirapalli district of Tamil Nadu, India....
- Inidian religious leader convicted and sentenced to two life sentences for the rape of 13 girls and murder in 2005. - Jacques Robidoux - Leader of defunct group The Body of Christ who is serving time for first degree murder after starving his son, apparently thinking it was God's will.
- Paul SchäferPaul SchäferPaul Schäfer Schneider was the founder and former leader of a sect and agricultural commune of German immigrants called Colonia Dignidad —later renamed Villa Baviera—located in the south of Chile, about 340 km south of Santiago...
- Former head of Chile-based Colonia DignidadColonia DignidadVilla Baviera , formerly known as Colonia Dignidad is a hamlet in Parral Commune, Linares Province, Maule Region, Chile. Located in an isolated area of central Chile, it lies 35 km southeast of the city of Parral, on the north bank of the Perquilauquén River. It was founded by a group of German...
, was convicted of sexually abusing 25 children. - Roch ThériaultRoch TheriaultRoch "Moïse" Thériault was the leader of a small religious group based near Burnt River, Ontario, Canada. Between 1977 and 1989 he held sway over as many as 12 adults and 22 children, he had 26 children when he passed, fathering the other 4 during visits in prison from some of the "wives"...
- Former head of "Ant Hill Kids commune" serving a life sentence in Canada for the murder of Solange Boislard. - Yahweh Ben YahwehYahweh ben YahwehYahweh ben Yahweh was the adopted name of Hulon Mitchell, Jr. , founder and leader of the Nation of Yahweh, a black supremacist new religious movement founded in 1979....
- Head of Nation of YahwehNation of YahwehThe Nation of Yahweh is a predominantly African-American religious group that is the most controversial offshoot of the Black Hebrew Israelites line of thought. It was founded in 1979 in Miami by Hulon Mitchell, Jr., who went by the name Yahweh ben Yahweh. Its goal is to return African Americans,...
, convicted for Federal racketeeringRacketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations ActThe Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization...
charges and conspiracy involving 14 murders. - Dwight YorkDwight YorkDwight York , also known as Malachi Z. York, Issa Al Haadi Al Mahdi, et alii, is an American black supremacist and leader of the Georgia-based "Nuwaubian" movement, currently imprisoned on a 135 year sentence for child molestation.York's "ministry" began in the late 1960s, from 1967 preaching to...
- Head of NuwaubianismNuwaubianismThe Nuwaubian Nation or Nuwaubian movement led by Malachi York,...
, convicted in 2004 of multiple RICORacketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations ActThe Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization...
, child molestation, and financial reporting charges and sentenced to 135 years in prison.
Non-violent crimes
- Jim BakkerJim BakkerJames Orsen "Jim" Bakker is an American televangelist, a former Assemblies of God minister, and a former host of The PTL Club, a popular evangelical Christian television program.A sex scandal led to his resignation from the ministry...
- Created the PTLPTLPTL may refer to:* The PTL Club, a defunct television program* PTL Satellite Network, a defunct Christian cable network on which The PTL Club was shown* Praise The Lord, a television program on the Trinity Broadcasting Network...
organization. Convicted of fraudFraudIn criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
and conspiracy charges after illegally soliciting millions of dollars from his followers. - Hogen Fukunaga - Founder of Ho No HanaHo No HanaThe Japanese sect Ho No Hana Sanpogyo was a new religious movement founded by Hogen Fukunaga. It is often called the "foot reading cult," because its founder, Hogen Fukunaga, claimed he could make a diagnosis by examining people's feet...
who was given a twelve year jail sentence for fraudulently gaining 150 million yen from his followers. - Kent HovindKent HovindKent E. Hovind is an American young earth creationist. Hovind speaks on creation science and aims to convince listeners to reject theories of evolution, geophysics, and cosmology in favor of the Genesis creation narrative as found in the Bible...
(Dr. Dino) - founder of the Creation Science Evangelism ministry. Willful failure to collect, account for, and pay over Federal income taxes, knowingly structuring transactions in Federally-insured financial institutions to evade the reporting requirements, and obstructing and impeding the administration of the internal revenue laws. - L. Ron HubbardL. Ron HubbardLafayette Ronald Hubbard , better known as L. Ron Hubbard , was an American pulp fiction author and religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology...
- Founder of ScientologyScientologyScientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by science fiction and fantasy author L. Ron Hubbard , starting in 1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics...
. He was convicted of petty theft and ordered to pay a $25 fine in San Luis Obispo, California 1948 and in 1978 was convicted of illegal business practices, namely, making false claims about his ability to cure physical illnesses in France. He was sentenced to four years in prison, which was never served. - Luc JouretLuc JouretLuc Jouret , born in Kikwit, Belgian Congo, was a Belgian religious group leader in Switzerland. He co-founded the Parti Communautaire Européen with Jean Thiriart, a leading member of the neo-Nazi Jeune Europe Belgian group...
- A founder of the Order of the Solar TempleOrder of the Solar TempleThe Order of the Solar Temple also known as Ordre du Temple Solaire in French, and the International Chivalric Organization of the Solar Tradition or simply as The Solar Temple was a secret society based upon the modern myth of the continuing existence of the Knights Templar...
. He was convicted in Canadian Federal Court of conspiring to buy illegal handguns. - Henry LyonsHenry LyonsReverend Henry J. Lyons is a former President of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc..-Early life:Henry was raised by his grandfather, a Deacon named Booker T. Lyons. His own father, who was only 16 when Henry was born, played a minimal role in his childhood. He attended Gibbs Junior College...
- Former President of National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.The National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. is the largest predominantly African-American Christian denomination in the United States and is the world's second largest Baptist denomination...
Convicted for racketeering and grand theftGrand theftGrand theft or grand larceny is a category used to rank the severity of crime associated with theft.Generally, in the United States it is defined as intentional taking property of others in an amount exceeding the state statutory amount....
. - Barry MinkowBarry MinkowBarry Jay Minkow is a former businessman, pastor and convicted felon. While still in high school, he founded ZZZZ Best , which appeared to be an immensely successful carpet-cleaning and restoration company. However, it was actually a front to attract investment for a massive Ponzi scheme...
- Head pastor of San Diego's Community Bible Church, and founder of the Fraud Discovery InstituteFraud Discovery InstituteThe Fraud Discovery Institute was founded by Barry Minkow in 2001. Minkow had been released from prison in 1995, where he was serving a sentence for a financial scam based around a carpet-cleaning company called ZZZZ Best...
, who had turned to religion and entered the ministry after release from prison for the notorious ZZZZ Best fraud, returned to prison in 2011 for further acts of securities fraud while serving as a clergyman. - Sun Myung MoonSun Myung MoonSun Myung Moon is the Korean founder and leader of the worldwide Unification Church. He is also the founder of many other organizations and projects...
- Leader of Unification ChurchUnification ChurchThe Unification Church is a new religious movement founded by Korean religious leader Sun Myung Moon. In 1954, the Unification Church was formally and legally established in Seoul, South Korea, as The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity . In 1994, Moon gave the church...
, imprisoned for criminal tax fraud in the 1980s. - Bhagwan Shree RajneeshOsho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh)Osho , born Chandra Mohan Jain , and also known as Acharya Rajneesh from the 1960s onwards, as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh during the 1970s and 1980s and as Osho from 1989, was an Indian mystic, guru, and spiritual teacher who garnered an international following.A professor of philosophy, he travelled...
– later called Osho. Fined $400,000 and given a 10-year suspended sentence following a plea bargainPlea bargainA plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence.A plea bargain allows criminal defendants to...
agreement in which he made an Alford pleaAlford pleaAn Alford plea in United States law is a guilty plea in criminal court, where the defendant does not admit the act and asserts innocence...
to (1) a charge of having concealed his intent to remain permanently in the U.S. at the time he applied for his visa extension and (2) a charge of having conspired to have followers stay illegally in the country by having them enter into sham marriageSham marriageA sham marriage or fake marriage is a marriage of convenience entered into with the intent of deceiving public officials or society about its purpose. Arranging or entering into such a marriage to deceive public officials is itself a separate violation of the law of some countries...
s. DeportedDeportationDeportation means the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. Today it often refers to the expulsion of foreign nationals whereas the expulsion of nationals is called banishment, exile, or penal transportation...
from the United States.
See also
- List of Christian evangelist scandals
- Destructive cultDestructive cultA destructive cult is a religion or other group which has caused or has a high probability of causing harm to its own members or to others. Some researchers define "harm" in this case with a narrow focus, specifically groups which have deliberately physically injured or killed other individuals,...
- Religious terrorismReligious terrorismReligious terrorism is terrorism by those whose motivations and aims have a predominant religious character or influence.In the modern age, after the decline of ideas such as the divine right of kings and with the rise of nationalism, terrorism more often involved anarchism, nihilism and...
- Religious violenceReligious violenceReligious violence is a term that covers all phenomena where religion, in any of its forms, is either the subject or object of violent behaviour. Religious violence is, specifically, violence that is motivated by or in reaction to religious precepts, texts or doctrines...