The leader of a Black supremacist Egyptian-themed cult is seeking early release from federal prison, claiming in papers filed last month that he suffers from a recurring medical condition that causes parts of his body to swell.
Dwight “Malachi” York, a former writer and musician, founded the UFO-obsessed United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors in 1967. He was arrested on May 8, 2002, after authorities raided the cult’s Georgia “Tama-Re” compound, and was accused of molesting dozens of children.
York, now 80, was convicted of transporting minors across state lines for sexual purposes and financial crimes. He has been in prison since 2004, serving a 135-year sentence at the ADX Florence Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.
York’s petition, filed February 13, claims he suffers from complications caused by hereditary angioedema, a rare condition that causes severe swelling that can kill if it affects the throat and constricts one’s airway.
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The filing claimed that the medical treatment York receives at the prison is substandard, at best.
“This motion is not about revisiting Mr. York’s past,” his attorney, Judith Delus Montgomery, wrote in her client’s petition. “It is about his present reality: an elderly man with a serious and potentially fatal medical condition who requires care the prison system cannot provide.”
Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills, who was part of the team that investigated the initial claims against the cult, objects to York’s release.
“This man here is a serial rapist, a child molester that committed the most heinous of crimes in our society, short of torturous murder, and did it generationally,” Sills told WMAZ. “You don’t get, in my opinion, much worse than that.”
In addition to his convictions, York has also admitted to 40 counts of aggravated child molestation, 34 counts of child molestation, two counts of influencing witnesses and one count of sexual exploitation of a child.
Former U.S. Attorney Max Wood, who prosecuted York in federal court, told the station the petition mirrors a pattern he observed during the original case.
Wood said the York prosecution stands as “the most significant case in Middle Georgia for the last 50 years,” not only for its scale but for what it revealed about how major cases should be built.
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“This was huge,” he said. “York was a master of having either a lawyer or a member of his cult just file something as a citizen. They filed all these things in the court system.”
If you suspect child abuse, please call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or visit ChildHelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential, and the hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).