Strong City Withdraw From Community

by Rachael Grant

Following the removal of children by child welfare workers, it has been reported by neighbours that the Strong City cult in north-eastern New Mexico ranch country, near the Colorado border, have become withdrawn and unresponsive.

The Strong City group, lead by self-proclaimed Messiah Wayne C. Bent, known to followers as Michael Travesser, first seemed to fit into the community when they relocated from Arizona, with many members choosing to go to work in the area.

The Albuquerque Journal said that members have begun dropping out of community activities, have quit their jobs, have started to ignore the upkeep of their land, and have disconnected their telephones.

The children were taken due to fear of their welfare, and it is now up to the child welfare agency to assess whether their parents were neglectful, or abandoned their children, placing them at risk in the group.

Bent, 66, who considers the removal of the children from the compound as ‘kidnapping’, has since issued a threatening letter to Gov. Bill Richardson from Strong Group’s website.

This is the first time that children have been removed from the group, but not the first time that law enforcement have investigated suspicious activities. The FBI, with state police, visited the compound in 2002 after allegations of a mass suicide plan.

In 2004, children in the group were questioned after an unannounced visit by state police officers and welfare workers.

Bent, who last year predicted the end of the world would take place on October 31st, and who considers himself to be the second coming of Jesus, admits on his website that he lies down with virgins.

When pressed, he denies all accusations that he has had sex with the virgins in question.

One girl, talking on the website, aged 16, says that she testifies that she was not molested by Bent.

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