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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Mom Says Bent Violated Her Trust

By Vic Vela
Journal Northern Bureau
       TAOS — The teenage sisters whom cult leader Wayne Bent is accused of molesting believed they had been told by God to be two of seven virgins who were supposed to be married to Bent, the girls' parents testified here Tuesday.
    The father of the girls said that Bent — a self-proclaimed Messiah and leader of The Lord Our Righteousness Church — once held a meeting with all the virgins at the group's Strong City compound in Union County and told them to pray to see if God wanted them to be one of the chosen seven.
    Bent, 67, faces two counts each of criminal sexual contact of a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He has previously admitted to "lying with naked virgins" but has denied having any improper sexual contact with underage girls.
    The sisters were 16 and 14 at the time of the August 2006 incident that the charges stem from. According to State Police reports, the older girl told police that she "lay naked" with Bent, who "kissed her lips like a husband and wife do" and also kissed her breasts. The younger child said she and Bent "had lain skin to skin" and that Bent also kissed her.
    The girls' parents are former followers of Bent who, at the time of the incidents, had moved off the compound but were still members of Bent's church and had left their daughters at Strong City.
    "I felt like he violated my trust by doing what he did with my daughters," the girls' mother testified Tuesday, day two of Bent's trial. She also said the older daughter "felt like committing suicide" after the incident.
    But the younger girl has promised that next year she will rejoin Bent at the compound as an adult, according to her father. The mother wept as she told jurors that she feels as if she has "lost" the younger daughter to Bent, whom the girl "is in love with."
    Neither parent testified that the girls had sex with Bent. Both admitted under cross examination that they provided the girls with little supervision while they were away from the compound.
    Bent's attorney, Sarah Montoya, maintains that Bent never touched the girls' intimate parts and that the contact took place near the clavicle.
    The girls' father, asked Tuesday by Montoya whether he felt that the part of the body where the girls told him they were touched could be classified as their breasts, replied, "Not exactly."
    Montoya also asked the father how he feels about Bent. "I feel like he's still a friend to me," he said. "But I felt him and the girls went behind my back (to have improper contact with each other)."
    Both parents said that Bent was the main authority figure at the compound and that his word trumped those of churchgoers who were also parents. "(The children) were encouraged by the church to listen to God's voice over their parents," the girls' mother said.
    The girls — who are now 18 and 17 — are expected to testify today. But prosecutor Tomas Benavidez cautioned jurors on Monday that the girls are not willing participants in the state's case against Bent.