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Post by chephren on Mar 29, 2004 16:02:54 GMT -5
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Master-9
Apprentice
You can't stop NUWAUBU!!!!
Posts: 172
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Post by Master-9 on Mar 29, 2004 20:28:32 GMT -5
York's federal sentencing postponed
By Sharon E. Crawford
Telegraph Staff Writer
Federal sentencing for convicted child molester Malachi York has been postponed until April, court officials said Friday.
The court also postponed a hearing on restitution and York's request for a change of counsel, U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Pam Lightsey said Friday. Lightsey said she didn't know why those hearings - all scheduled for this week - were postponed.
York is now scheduled to be sentenced in federal court at 9 a.m. April 22.
The delay in federal court also has stalled York's case in Putnam County Superior Court, Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Fred Bright said Friday.
"Right now, we're in a holding pattern," Bright said. "All I'm waiting on is for him to be sentenced in federal court, and then we'll bring him to Putnam County to be sentenced on the state charges.
In January, a jury convicted York on federal charges of racketeering and child molestation. Prosecutors have said that under federal sentencing guidelines, York could be sentenced from 20 to 30 years in prison.
In January 2003, York pleaded guilty in Putnam County Superior Court to 40 counts of aggravated child molestation, 34 counts of child molestation, one count of sexual exploitation of a minor and two counts of influencing witnesses.
As part of the plea agreement, Bright's office agreed to a 50-year sentence for York with 14 years to serve in prison and 36 years on probation and York admitted to molesting 13 children.
York, 58, began his organization in 1967 in Brooklyn, N.Y., as a Muslim community. The group's ideology has undergone several shifts, claiming ties at various times to Christians, Jews, ancient Egyptians, cowboys and American Indians. At one time York claimed to be an alien from another planet.
Claiming to be from the planet Rizq, York moved his group, the United Nuwabian Nation of Moors, from its base in upstate New York to a 476-acre farm in Putnam County in 1993 and began erecting pyramids and Egyptian-style buildings without proper permits. At times, as many as 150 people reportedly lived on the farm. Since 1997, the group has been at odds with county officials over zoning and building issues connected to those structures.
Federal and state law enforcement agencies have investigated York since at least the 1980s for crimes ranging from weapons violations to murder to counterfeiting checks. But in May 2002, it was the sex charges that finally led to York's arrest.
Federal agents arrested York and, with deputies from the Putnam County Sheriff's Office, raided the compound.
They executed search warrants and took five children into protective custody. Those five children are among the 13 York admitted to sexually abusing in the state case.
To contact Sharon E. Crawford, call 744-4384 or e-mail scrawford@macontel.com.
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