ABSTRACT
Dr. York’s legal process might be described as a long-drawn-out epic battle, marked by dramatic reversals of fortune on both sides.
The state charges of child molestation were compounded by new federal charges when the Mann Act was slapped on. The Mann Act of 1910 is a federal law that makes it illegal to transport minors across state lines for purposes of sexual exploitation.1 A federal grand jury indicted York and his “main wife,” Kathy Johnson, for four counts of moving children across state borders nine years earlier, for (alleged) sexual purposes. This referred to the move in the Spring of 1993, when the whole Holy Tabernacle Ministries community moved from Brooklyn, New York to Georgia, and many of the families living at the Jazzir Abba camp in Sullivan County, N.Y. drove south to Georgia in March 1993, and again in April 1993. The third and fourth counts charged York with taking children from Georgia to Florida for a trip to Disney World, again for alleged sexual purposes.
