UPDATE::Prison for MN sect leader Victor Barnard in girls' sex assaults

The leader of an isolated religious sect in Minnesota pleaded guilty Tuesday to sexually assaulting two teenage girls who were members of his community.

As part of the plea deal, Victor Barnard, 55, agreed to serve 30 years in prison.

Barnard was the longtime leader of the River Road Fellowship near Finlayson, about 90 miles north of Minneapolis.

Prison for MN sect leader Victor Barnard in girls' sex assaults

What to Know About Sex Offender Victor Barnard -- The Cut

It's hard to believe anyone could rape and brainwash so many people and get away with it for so long, but Victor Barnard did. The Minnesota religious cult leader convinced 150 people he was like God, invited them all to live on an isolated campground, and coerced the parents in the group into letting him rape their oldest daughters (his "maidens") for years, all in the name of Jesus Christ.

Fifty-four-year-old Barnard fled the U.S. two years ago after two women accused him of abuse, sparking an international manhunt and landing him on the U.S. Marshals Service’s Most Wanted List. He was captured and held in Brazil for over a year until last weekend, when he was finally extradited back to Pine County, over an hour's drive north of Minneapolis. On Monday, Barnard appeared in court for the first time, facing 59 counts of first- and third-degree sexual assault of minors from the two women who claim he raped them for years.

The judge set bail at $1.5 million. Prosecutors, who are preparing for Barnard's next court appearance on July 5, say Barnard's followers are now liquidating their assets to pay for his release.


What to Know About Sex Offender Victor Barnard -- The Cut

UPDATED::Victor Barnard, Fugitive Minnesota Cult Leader, Spotted In Washington

UPDATE::  ‘Maidens’ cult leader booked into Pine County Jail

Former Minnesota fugitive Victor Barnard, a religious leader who fled to Brazil to avoid charges of sexually abusing young girls, was booked Saturday afternoon into the Pine County Jail.

Barnard, 54, faces multiple felony charges alleging criminal sexual conduct, including sexual contact with minors under age 13.

Barnard became the subject of an international manhunt and landed on the U.S. Marshals Service’s “Most Wanted” list after being charged with 59 counts of criminal sexual conduct in April 2014. Prosecutors allege he chose 10 girls and young women from his River Road Fellowship to live apart from their families in a “Maidens Group” and housed them in a camp near Finlayson, 90 miles north of the Twin Cities.

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Authorities in Washington say they have received a "credible tip" as to the location of Victor Barnard, the leader of a cult-like religious sect who is accused of sexually abusing at least two girls.

According to the Washington State Patrol, Barnard, 52, was spotted at a McDonald's restaurant in Raymond on Wednesday. He left with an unidentified female, in a dark blue Audi two door, with tinted windows and a spoiler, police said.

"Additional information was developed that places Barnard in the Raymond and Aberdeen areas for approximately the previous week," the state patrol said in a Wednesday press release.

Court documents provided to The Huffington Post show Barnard is facing 59 counts of criminal sexual conduct related to two young women, who claim he abused them for nearly a decade at the church he led.

The two victims, the criminal complaint alleges, were among several girls who lived at the River Road Fellowship compound in Finlayson, Minnesota, which is located about 90 miles north of Minneapolis.

According to police, the congregation is an offshoot of The Way International, a nondenominational Christian group.

Victor Barnard, Fugitive Minnesota Cult Leader, Spotted In Washington

Caught in a cult's dark embrace | Star Tribune

Victor Barnard played the shepherd, wearing linen clothes and sometimes wielding a shepherd’s crook.

The minister kept his flock close, urging members of the River Road Fellowship to move to four clusters of properties in this rural area and discouraging the girls from traveling to town. As he grew more controlling, he warned his followers against those who might turn against him — calling them wolves in sheep’s clothing.

“That always gets to me now,” former congregant Micah Vail said. “He used that analogy over and over. … It turned out he was the one who was playing everybody.”

Barnard, 52, is now the center of a nationwide manhunt after Pine County prosecutors charged him with using his status within the sect to coerce girls into having sex with him. Two women told investigators that Barnard raped them after they were chosen, at ages 12 and 13, to live near him as part of an honored and cloistered group of “maidens.” He faces 59 counts of first- and third-degree criminal sexual conduct.

In interviews since the charges, several former congregants said they are saddened — but not shocked — by the allegations after reflecting on how Barnard increasingly cut the fellowship off from society. The ministry changed, too, as Barnard introduced new rules under the guise of religion. It ended as a place where adultery and sex abuse could have secretly flourished, they said.

Such an isolated religious sect is the “perfect environment for abusers to victimize kids,” said Stephen Kent, a sociology professor at the University of Alberta who researches alternative religions.

Oftentimes, leaders do not answer to any outside authority, “so there’s no accountability,” Kent said. They create structures to have exclusive access to children. Then they use religion to “cloak their misbehavior.”

Caught in a cult's dark embrace | Star Tribune