Faith

‘We’re Not a Cult’: Rogue Amish Leader Speaks Out After Beard & Hair Cutting Assailants Arrested

Amish Hair & Beard Cutting Assailants Arrested; Leader Speaks Out

This combo made from photos provided by the Jefferson County Sheriffs Department shows, from left, Levi Miller, Johnny Mullet, and Lester Mullet, of Bergholz, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jefferson County Sheriffs Department)

BERGHOLZ, Ohio (The Blaze/AP) — The story about the hair and beard-cutting, renegade Amish sect simply won’t go away. Now, the leader of the breakaway group confirms that the attack on fellow Amish in which a man’s beard was cut off was a religious issue stemming from long-standing resentment of his group’s treatment.

The goal was to send a message to Amish in Holmes County that they should be ashamed of themselves for their treatment of the community, which has been called a cult, said 66-year-old Sam Mullet (yes, that’s his real name).

“We’d like to get up in the morning, be left alone, live like normal people,” Mullet said Monday, speaking at his farm outside Bergholz, a village of about 700 residents where he established his community in 1995. “They won’t leave us be.”

Authorities in Jefferson County, home to the world’s largest Amish community, on Saturday arrested two of Mullet’s sons, 38-year-old Johnny Mullet and 26-year-old Lester Mullet, and another man from the community, 53-year-old Levi Miller, on burglary and kidnapping warrants out of nearby Holmes County.

The three men had a hearing Tuesday and were to be moved to Jefferson County from the jail in Steubenville, about two hours away. Similar attacks against several people, some of them women, have occurred in recent weeks in the area, and authorities have said two more arrests are expected this week.

In one attack, men are accused of entering a home and saying, “Sam Mullet sent us here, and we’re here on religious business,” Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla said. Scissors and battery-powered clippers were used in the attack.

Amish men typically grow beards as adults and stop trimming them when they marry, and the beards are held in high esteem.

The Amish are known for careful selectivity of technology, their peaceful ideals and close guarding of their privacy. Such divisions are rare, and it’s even rarer still for legal authorities to get involved.

Mullet said he didn’t order the hair-cutting, as Abdalla has suggested, but didn’t stop his two sons and the other man from carrying out the attack last week on a 74-year-old man in his home in rural eastern Ohio.

“I didn’t order anything like that,” he said, and added: “I didn’t tell them not to; I’m still not going to tell them not to.”

Mullet said he’s upset that his breakaway group, about 120 people living on several small farms, has been called a cult by detractors. He said he moved the members of his group about 100 miles from Richland County just to be by themselves.

“We’re not a cult. We’re just trying to live a peaceful life,” Mullet said. “I was hoping I could move here, try to start a group of church people, do things in school and church the way we wanted.”

Mullet said he should be allowed to punish people who break the laws of the church, just as police are allowed to punish people who break the laws of the state.

“You have your laws on the road and the town – if somebody doesn’t obey them, you punish them. But I’m not allowed to punish the church people?” Mullet said. “I just let them run over me? If every family would just do as they pleased, what kind of church would we have?”

Comments (19)

  • Nathaniel Horn
    Posted on October 17, 2011 at 11:47am

    Almost everyone is going insane. Is it in the water? The air? Is it the contrails? The pesticides in the food? The hormones and antibiotics in the meat? Government plot? Whatever it is, it’s bad. We’re like the Roman Empire at the end. I don’t even know what country I am in anymore. Lead poisoning and the resultant mental retardation destroyed the Romans. What will the archaeologists write about us?

    Report Post » Nathaniel Horn  
  • MSrebel
    Posted on October 15, 2011 at 10:39pm

    @Pamela Kay- Mr Mullet doesn’t have Internet!! He doesn’t have electricity!

    Report Post »  
    • Rumelysteam
      Posted on October 16, 2011 at 1:03am

      Don’t be so sure MSREBEL as to whether he has internet or electricity. Many Amish near me have electric, phones, cell phones, computers, and use tractors for transportation. Just no cars or TVs, though some are starting to get them.

      Report Post »  
  • opa
    Posted on October 15, 2011 at 10:11pm

    What I want to know, is what did the guy do to warrant his hair being cut off?

    Report Post »  
    • svenskasandy
      Posted on October 16, 2011 at 12:59pm

      I agree. What is the crime? maybe the crime is arresting someone that shouldn’t be arrested.

      Report Post » svenskasandy  
    • Aloosewire
      Posted on October 17, 2011 at 9:16am

      According to the story the crime was calling Mullet’s group a cult.

      Report Post »  
  • Eblaze44
    Posted on October 15, 2011 at 8:18pm

    They ARE all cults – even the Roman Catholic Church and Baptists and Methodists and Buddhists the ARE all cults. don’t matter how you disect the sects, branches, offshoots, or just starting your own – all religions are cults – as well as a few things that aren’t religious. GO look it UP – the word cult.

    Report Post » Eblaze44  
  • abbygirl1994
    Posted on October 15, 2011 at 5:28pm

    As Christian’s. soon we will all be a cult.. this is an attack on Jesus and His people.. those who call themselves Christians should stand with all people of faith.. no matter their Christian faith.. I stand with Israel, I stand with the Amish.. do people really forget why are forefathers came to this country?? One of the reasons was to practice religious freedom.. when another so called Christian calls another a cult.. then they are not really Christian.. Jesus Said, “As I have loved you, love one another.” Are we doing that!

    Report Post » abbygirl1994  
    • AmazonWarrior
      Posted on October 24, 2011 at 6:39pm

      There were basically three kinds of people who settled here from Europe in the early days: those who were involved in commercial enterprise (i.e., wanting to get rich), criminals that the government dumped off, and those seeking various types of freedom from oppression. Unfortunately, the ones seeking religious freedom usually wanted freedom only for themselves and were intolerant of anyone who didn’t believe the same way. Dissenters were run out of town, and there was very little respect for the native Americans.

      Report Post »  
  • Potential Bag Lady
    Posted on October 15, 2011 at 2:38pm

    I used to live in SE Ohio. I doubt many people know how invested in puppy mills the Amish are. Some of the biggest being in Ohio & Pennsylvania. The Amish view puppies as cash crops. The care is abysmal. Horses are routinely mistreated-most bought off standard bred auctions (race horses or ones that didn’t make the grade). I have no use for The Amish. They market themselves as quaint farmers who don’t use electricity. Year after year tourist flock to Ohio & Pennsylvania to see the Amish and buy their furniture. Some of it is made in China. Please look at the Amish with eyes wide open.

    Report Post »  
  • Rumelysteam
    Posted on October 15, 2011 at 1:50pm

    You’d be surprised how much violence happens within the Amish community. Most local law enforcement and governments look the other way so as not to harm tourism and the general public’s naive view of the Amish. We’ve had murders, kidnappings, child abuse, etc. committed by Amish in the region. Take a look at amishabuse dot com if you wish. By the way, Jefferson County is not home to the largest Amish community.

    Report Post »  
  • nosaints1
    Posted on October 15, 2011 at 6:58am

    I’m not sure what to think about this. On the one hand it is quite disturbing to think of someone attacking people with sizzors, razors or what have you and cutting their hair but on the other hand there may be some religious disciplinary action going on here. The Amish have their traditions which have largely been kept out of the main stream of society. Before we judge this situation, maybe we need to get more of the facts.

    Report Post »  
    • amjs
      Posted on October 15, 2011 at 9:06pm

      Perhaps the reason Mr Mullet wanted to move away and run his church the way he wanted included some off the wall stuff…..well you can do what you want within the law, but you never have the right to attack another person and do anything to them. Most of the Amish do not conduct themselves in such ways of the world. And aside from the Amish, if these guys consider themselves Christian, they are bringing shame on the name of Jesus Christ. Shape up or stop claiming to be Christian.

      Report Post »  
  • georgiavietvet
    Posted on October 13, 2011 at 10:31pm

    i thought the amish were supposed to be a very peaceful people. maybe some of them are a bit like the “peaceful” muslims………………………………..

    Report Post »  
  • americathebeautiful
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 9:22am

    Let me get this straight…this is a hair cutting crime?

    Simple crimes for simple people. I’d take this crime on the street any day as opposed to what we have..lol

    Report Post »  
    • Ron2
      Posted on October 15, 2011 at 11:33pm

      Eblaze44 you sick puppie [ soryy for the insult to puppies!What cult do you belong to! Probably the Obama cult which will be voted out after the next election! You weird cult people seem to think anyone religious and who believes in god is a cult which just shows how sick you really are and lets us know it’s going to be extremely hot when you get where you are going!
      Seems this site went nuts this comment had nothing to do withAmericathe Beautiful since that is another nut altogether! Seems this is a nut who thinks it‘s ok to force their way into someone’s home if it’s just to cut their hair and or beard, well America the beautiful stop by and TRY to force your way into my home for ant reason, but be sure your will is made out and recorded because you will for sure need it and wont have time to make one out! Try me headcase!

      Report Post »  
  • pamela kay
    Posted on October 12, 2011 at 2:49am

    Well Mr. Mullet, you don’t have that authority and the fact that you allowed this to happen is disgraceful. I am glad to know that you have been punished.

    Report Post » pamela kay  

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