Twelve Tribes member Eugene Hunt and state order to pay child support

September 1993 The state seeks to have Eugene Hunt held in contempt for failure to pay child support.  The issue revolves around Hunt’s “ability to pay” and his claim that his religious beliefs as a member of the Northeast Kingdom Community Church in Island Pond deprive him of that ability.  The Island Pond church alleges…

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Cult defector helps bring another’s child back home

The Chronicle March 23, 1983 Juan Mattatall, a defector from the Northeast Kingdom Community Church of Island Pond [now known as “Twelve Tribes] who is trying to get his own three year old daughter back from Europe in the custody of cult leader Eugene Spriggs, has reportedly helped bring another defector’s child home from Spain….

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Defender of the faith

The Boston Globe Magazine Sally Johnson March 12, 1993 Ten years ago, Jeanie Swantko left her job as a Vermont public defender to join Island Pond’s radical community “The Twelve Tribes.”  Today, she uses her legal skills to champion for the church against its critics. Jeanie Swantko was asleep in an upstairs room in a…

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Mom seeks to save kids from cold hands of cult

The Palladium Times Andrea Schrader December 16, 1991 Scriba – A pained expression came over her face and her eyes widened and welled with tears. “I’m afraid of repercussions the church might take against my children because of what I’m doing,” she said. Laurie Marrano Jonson’s children have been missing for two years.  The Northeast…

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Couple’s marriage almost foundered

Chattanooga Times January 10, 1980 Bill Casteel Steve and Elizabeth Petty spent approximately one year as members of the Vine Christian Community Church.  Disappointed and disillusioned, they finally walked away from the group.  It took them a year to put their lives and their marriage back together.  “It took us a year to repair the…

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Vermont village accepts church once under fire

The Philadelphia Inquirer William Cockerham July 20, 1989 Island Pond, Vt. – Five years after state troopers raided a controversial church settlement in this remote village near the Canadian border and took more than 100 children into protective custody, church members have gained acceptance by longtime residents. No longer are there rumors of child abuse,…

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SECT ABUSE CHARGE DISMISSED

Source: Associated Press/ New York Times AP Published: June 13, 1985 MONTPELIER, Vt., June 12— Vermont’s last child abuse charge against a member of the Northeast Kingdom Community Church was thrown out of court today, five days before it was scheduled to go to trial. Acting Judge F. Ray Keyser of St. Johnsbury District Court…

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Children and the Cult

Source: New England Monthly/December 1984 By Barbara Grizzuti Harrison NOTES: Barbara Harrison went to Island Pond and saw this bizarre cult in its daily life, interviewing various members, and learning what it is like to face fiercely judgmental hatred. She was especially concerned for the welfare of viciously treated children. In 1971 a carnival barker…

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