**Updated***Amish Accused In Bizarre Crime Wave

[Five-0]

Amish Accused In Bizarre Crime Wave - News, Sports, Jobs - The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register

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Amish Accused In Bizarre Crime Wave
October 5, 2011
By MARK LAW For the News-Register , The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register
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STEUBENVILLE - Numerous members of the Amish community near Bergholz are under investigation by at least four sheriff's departments involving incidents in which homes were broken into and Amish victims had their hair and beards cut off.

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Department received two reports on Tuesday from individuals in Holmes and Carroll counties involving hair-cutting incidents.

In Carroll County, a group of Amish men knocked on a door of an Amish man's home, pulled him out by his beard and tried to cut off his beard. The Carroll County Sheriff's Department reported the Amish men referred to themselves as being part of the "Bergholz Clan."

In Holmes County, a group of Amish men burst into a home and cut the hair off men and women inside and cut the beards off the men. Holmes County Sheriff Timothy Zimmerly said the victims included a 13-year-old girl and a 74-year-old man. Zimmerly and one of his detectives were at the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department this morning gathering evidence from a truck and horse trailer that was believed to have been used in connection with the assaults on Tuesday.

Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla said there was an incident in Trumbull County about three weeks ago in which a group of Amish men and women from Bergholz went to a home in that county and cut the hair off men and women inside.

A truck and horse trailer used to transport the Bergholz Amish men was traced back to a man living outside Dillonvale. The driver said he went to a horse auction in Mount Hope in Holmes County on Tuesday with 27 Amish persons, who rode in the truck and horse trailer, according to a report from the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department.

The Amish men asked the driver to stop at a home in Holmes County. A group of the Amish men got out of the truck, walked up to the house and then came back, telling the driver to "go," according to the driver's statement given to Jefferson County sheriff's deputies.

The driver said the same thing happened at the home in Carroll County, according to the sheriff's department.

The driver told a deputy he thought the situation seemed suspicious but the Amish men were speaking "Dutch."

[pgg]

[Car 4]

OMG! Amish hair terrorists.....what ever shall we do?


Car 4

[IndianaFuzz]

Waiting for Pudge to chime in.......

[Pudge]

Waiting for Pudge to chime in.......

I'm not touching this one with a ten foot pole.

[Pudge]

Update: It's now gone Federal



FBI Arrests 7 in Ohio Amish Haircut Attacks



BERGHOLZ, Ohio (AP) -- Authorities raided the compound of a breakaway Amish group in eastern Ohio on Wednesday morning and arrested seven men on federal hate crime charges in hair-cutting attacks against Amish men and women.

Among those arrested were the group's leader, Sam Mullet, and three of his sons, Johnny, Daniel and Lester, said Mike Tobin, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Cleveland.

Fox 8 News Jack Shea reports the other individuals arrested on hate crime charges are Levi Miller, Eli Miller and Emanuel Schrock

A criminal complaint, filed in Cleveland, charges the seven individuals with religious hate crimes that carry a maximum potential penalty of life in prison if found guilty.

Authorities have said several members of the group carried out the attacks in September and October by forcefully cutting the beards and hair of Amish men and women. Cutting the hair is a highly offensive act to the Amish, who believe the Bible instructs women to let their hair grow long and men to grow beards and stop shaving once they marry.

The attacks struck at the core of the Amish identity and tested their principles. They strongly believe that they must be forgiving in order for God to forgive them, which often means handing out their own punishment and not reporting crimes to law enforcement.

Mullet told The Associated Press in October that he didn't order the hair-cutting but didn't stop his sons and others from carrying it out. He said the goal of the hair-cutting was to send a message to Amish in Holmes County that they should be ashamed of themselves for the way they were treating Mullet and his community.

"They changed the rulings of our church here, and they're trying to force their way down our throat, make us do like they want us to do, and we're not going to do that," Mullet said.


FBI Arrests 7 in Ohio Amish Haircut Attacks - WJW

[Jenna]

Among those arrested were the group's leader, Sam Mullet, and three of his sons, Johnny, Daniel and Lester, said Mike Tobin, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Cleveland.[/URL]

Their name made them do it....