Renegade Amish group charged with hate crimes in beard-cutting attacks

Indictment: 12 members of a breakaway Amish community have been charged over attacks where other community members had their beards cut off.

Twelve members of a renegade Amish group were charged with hate crimes in the bizarre beard-cutting attacks on other members of the sect in eastern Ohio, the Department of Justice said Tuesday.

Samuel Mullet and 11 members of his group also face charges of conspiracy, assault and tampering with evidence in the case that has drawn worldwide attention to the insular community.

Mullet and six of his followers were jailed in late November and five additional suspects were arrested this week.

The rebel Amish leader told the AP after his arrest in November that the attacks were to send a message to other Amish about how they treat his followers.

"They changed the rulings of our church here, and they're trying to force their way down our throat, make us do like they want us to do, and we're not going to do that," he said.

Prosecutors say Mullet and his followers forcibly cut women’s hair and men's beards and hair using battery-powered clippers or scissors in five attacks between September and November. The Amish believe the Bible instructs them to grow their hair after marriage.

They also allegedly injured people who tried to protect or rescue the victims from the offensive attacks and then conspired to conceal evidence.

In addition to the widely reported assaults, prosecutors say that the men placed over-the-counter medication in one of the victim's drinks meant to sicken him.

“One of our most fundamental rights is freedom of religion," Stephen Anthony, special agent in charge of the FBI at Cleveland Field Office, said in a statement. "The FBI, along with our law enforcement partners, are committed to protecting this fundamental right against those who would use violence and intimidation to attack it."

Mullet denied ordering the attacks to the AP, but admits he did nothing to stop them.

If convicted, the defendants face life in prison for the hate-crime charge alone.

"For nearly 500 years, people have come to this land so that they could pray however and to whomever they wished," said Steven Dettelbach, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. "Violent attempts to attack this most basic freedom have no place in our country."