Charges Facing Defendants

Macon Telegraph/October 26, 2002
By Rob Peecher

Nuwaubian leader Malachi York and the woman his followers refer to as his "main wife" were arrested on federal warrants May 8 just before sheriff's deputies and agents with the FBI raided the Nuwaubian village. Within a week, York, Kathy Johnson and the other defendants were indicted in a 116-count state indictment alleging child sex crimes. Earlier this month, York and the other defendants were re-indicted by the state.

The new indictment charges York with 120 counts of child molestation, 50 counts of aggravated child molestation, 13 counts of enticing a child for indecent purposes, one count of rape, two counts of influencing a witness, two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and nine counts of statutory rape.

The new state indictment charges Johnson with 10 counts of child molestation and two counts of aggravated child molestation. Chandra Lampkin faces three counts of child molestation and two counts of aggravated child molestation. Khadijah Merritt faces eight counts of child molestation and three counts of aggravated child molestation. Isityr Cole faces one count of child molestation, and is the only defendant free on bond.

Federally, York faces four counts of transporting minors across state lines for the purpose of sex. Johnson also is named in one of those counts.