Nuwaubian denied bond in Putnam County court

Macon Telegraph/August 24, 2002
By Rob Peecher

Eatonton -- Kathy Johnson, the woman accused with Nuwaubian leader Malachi York of numerous counts of child molestation, was denied bond Friday in Putnam County Superior Court.

During the five-hour bond hearing, several members of the United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors, a black separatist group with a 476-acre village in Putnam County, testified about Johnson's character. Among them were two medical doctors associated with the group, a Macon police officer and a Monticello police officer.

A Putnam County grand jury named Johnson, 33, and three other women in a 116-count indictment accusing them of molesting children with York. Followers refer to Johnson as York's "main wife."

She also is indicted with York on federal charges of transporting minors across state lines for the purpose of having sex with them.

Johnson is in federal custody. A federal magistrate judge has set a $75,000 bond for her release. Attorney Brian Steele of Atlanta told Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge William Prior she could make the federal bond but wanted to know first if bond would be set in the state case.

District Attorney Fred Bright opposed bond and called Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills and Putnam sheriff's detective Tracey Bowen to testify about the charges against Johnson. Bowen testified some of the alleged victims in the case have tested positive for sexually transmitted diseases, and at least three children - two girls and a boy - allege that Johnson participated with York in the sexual abuse against them.