CLEVELAND — The leader of an Amish breakaway group and his followers were convicted Thursday of hate crimes in beard- and hair-cutting attacks against members of their own faith after a dispute over religious differences.
A federal jury found Samuel Mullet Sr. guilty of orchestrating the cuttings of Amish men’s beards and women’s hair last fall in attacks that terrorized the normally peaceful religious settlements in eastern Ohio. His followers were found guilty of carrying out the attacks.
Mullet and four of his children were among 16 people who prosecutors say planned and carried out the five separate attacks that amounted to hate crimes because they were motivated by religious disputes. Prosecutors say the defendants targeted hair because it carries spiritual significance in their faith.
All the defendants, who were charged with hate crimes, are members of Mullet’s settlement that he founded near the West Virginia panhandle.