Cult leader's companion sentenced in molestation case

The Macon Telegraph/April 13, 2004
By Sharon E. Crawford

A companion of cult leader and convicted child molestor Malachi York will spend two years in prison after pleading guilty Tuesday to molesting four children.

Though not legally married, prosecutors describe Kathy Johnson as the "main wife" of York, leader of the United Nuwaubian Nations of Moors, a quasi-religious sect based on a sprawling, Egyptian-themed compound in Putnam County.

As part of the plea agreement in Putnam Superior Court, federal prosecutors agreed to drop their case against Johnson, said Dawn Baskin, an assistant district attorney in the Ocmulgee Circuit.

Johnson, 35, was taken to the Putnam County Jail after pleading guilty to seven counts of child molestation.

Superior Court Judge William A. Prior sentenced Johnson to 20 years in prison - two of which must be served with the remainder on probation. Johnson was also banished from Georgia, except for Clayton County, and will not get any credit for the five months she spent in federal custody in 2002.

"Many of the victims in this case are just ready for this to be over with," Baskin said. "We have victims calling us and begging us to bring this to an end."