A jury found six leaders of a quasi-religious group guilty of conspiracy to commit forced labor after a 26-day trial at the Robert J. Dole Courthouse in Kansas City, Kansas. (Grace Hills/Kansas Reflector)
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A federal jury convicted six leaders in a quasi-religious group in a scheme that convinced parents to send their children to Kansas City, Kansas, for schooling but instead forced them to work long hours without pay and subjected them to beatings and other abuse.
The six defendants held high-ranking positions of influence within the United Nation of Islam, which a federal judge deemed a “cult.” They pleaded not guilty but were convicted Monday in federal district court in Kansas City.
United Nation of Islam founder Royall Jenkins, who claimed to be Allah and had multiple wives, court documents show, died in 2021.
In 1996, Jenkins told local government in Kansas City that the group was moving there to create its headquarters and make it their new “heaven.” From 1998 to 2000, the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City and a public school board donated five buildings to the group for the purpose of revitalizing an area that was considered blighted and dangerous.