Convicted cult leader Dwight York seeks compassionate release citing rare medical condition

Putnam County, Georgia — Attorneys for imprisoned convicted cult leader, musician and author Dwight York, founder of the Nuwaubian Nation — a Black supremacist, Egyptian-themed and UFO-focused group — filed a Feb. 13 petition seeking humanitarian compassionate release.

The petition cited decades of recurring medical complications tied to hereditary angioedema. York is currently incarcerated at the ADX Florence Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.

Specific details about York’s health are protected under HIPAA privacy laws, but court filings indicate he has experienced ongoing medical episodes for more than 20 years related to the rare genetic condition, which can cause severe swelling and potentially life-threatening airway obstruction.

In a statement sent to 13WMAZ, York’s attorney Judith Delus Montgomery said the petition was filed due to “urgent and extraordinary medical circumstances.” 

She said York, 80, has endured decades of inadequate treatment in custody and that his condition carries a significant risk of fatal asphyxiation if not properly managed. 

“This motion is not about revisiting Mr. York’s past. It is about his present reality: an elderly man with a serious and potentially fatal medical condition who requires care the prison system cannot provide,” Montgomery said.

York is serving a 135-year federal sentence after being convicted of transporting minors across state lines for sexual abuse and related financial crimes. In Putnam County, he also pleaded guilty to dozens of child molestation counts tied to abuse within the group he led at a sprawling 400-acre compound south of Eatonton.

Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills, who led the local investigation into York’s organization, said any potential release would disregard the severity of the crimes and the long-term impact on victims.

“This man here is a serial rapist, a child molester that committed the most heinous of crimes in our society, short of torturous murder, and did it generationally,” Sills said. “You don’t get, in my opinion, much worse than that.”

York was originally indicted in Georgia on 197 counts, according to Sills. Under a plea agreement, York admitted to 40 counts of aggravated child molestation, 34 counts of child molestation, two counts of influencing witnesses and one count of sexual exploitation of a child.

“This is not somebody’s opinion,” Sills said. “This is literally what was said when he pled guilty here in the Superior Court of Putnam County.”

Former U.S. Attorney Max Wood, who prosecuted York in federal court, said the petition reflects a pattern he observed during the original case. 

Wood says the York prosecution stands as “the most significant case in Middle Georgia for the last 50 years,” not only for its scale but for what it revealed about how major cases should be built. 

“This was huge,” he said. “York was a master of having either a lawyer or a member of his cult just file something as a citizen. They filed all these things in the court system.”

Harassment during the investigation

Sills said the influence York wielded over followers extended far beyond the compound, fueling years of harassment directed at investigators, their families and local officials. 

He described being followed regularly by York’s supporters, sometimes with cameras only inches away. At one point, Sills said, the intimidation became deeply personal.

“This investigation went on for six years, and they harassed me, my family, my personnel, county attorneys, individuals in this county… on a level that no one has ever seen before,” Sills said. 

“Everywhere I went, I was followed with a camera, often no more than six inches from my face," Sills added. "Pictures of my child were distributed by the hundreds. They harassed everybody they could possibly harass. It’s a hell of a thing when the local photo processor calls you and said 'I just printed 500 copies of a picture of your child.'"

On another occasion, Sills said he feared his child could be abducted after a group of men surrounded his family during a trip to Atlanta.

“You go to Atlanta… and your wife and your 10-year-old child walks away from you into a shop… and then you are suddenly surrounded by 30 men and you worry about they’re gonna snatch your child,” Sills said. “I learned to carry a bigger gun.”

Despite decades of experience handling major criminal cases, Sills said the York investigation was the most difficult of his career.

“To find out that you are under investigation for doing nothing but what you should have done, and to have high officials doing their best to stop you from stopping this, that was the most difficult part,” he said.

Scale of the case

Authorities said the investigation spanned years and required close coordination between federal agents and local law enforcement. Dozens of FBI agents and sheriff’s deputies participated in executing search warrants at the Putnam County compound.

“There were 80 FBI squad agents and 125 deputy sheriffs that executed both federal and state search warrants that day,” Sills said. “Nothing like that has ever happened in the history of Georgia.”

Wood calls the case “a very excellent example of how federal and state authorities can and should work together,” noting that long-standing relationships between his office, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office and local prosecutors were critical to coordinating child molestation charges in state court with Mann Act and structuring charges in federal court. 

Wood also emphasizes the strategic decision to seek a guilty plea — even one that might be rejected — to spare child victims the trauma of testifying and to secure what he describes as a vital “psychological benefit” for them in seeing York admit his guilt. He said federal jurisdiction was established after investigators determined minors had been transported across state lines. 

“Child molestation is a state charge," Wood said. "You don’t see child molestation cases in federal court unless they involve crossing state lines, which we had here. We’re going to be seeing the remnants of this for 20 years. There are people walking around that have connections to this guy, maybe even his own children.”

Hospital staff in Central Georgia began to grow suspicious soon after York’s followers settled on the Putnam County compound, when a steady stream of teenage girls arrived pregnant but refused to identify the fathers. 

According to former U.S. Attorney Max Wood, the girls appeared coached; they knew how to fill out welfare and food stamp forms, and they consistently left the father’s name blank. Those pregnancies, combined with later testimony and documents seized during the raid, helped investigators build a clearer picture of York’s abuse.

Wood said some former followers claim York fathered more than 100 children. Prosecutors were able to confirm at least a large share of that number.

“We found written documentation where he had kept pictures of the mothers of 86 children,” Wood said. “So he had at least fathered 86 children.”

Debate over release

York’s attorneys argue his long history of medical complications warrants humanitarian consideration. Prosecutors and investigators involved in the original case say they believe the sentence remains appropriate given the severity of the crimes.

“I’m a compassionate person,” Sills said. “But where’s the compassion for all of these victims that I guarantee remember what happened to them?”

Sills said York could still face unresolved legal matters in Georgia if released from federal custody.

“He’s never been sentenced on these charges,” Sills said. “To my knowledge, he’s gonna have to come back to the Putnam County jail when he’s released, if he’s released. I certainly hope he’s not released.”

Wood said the case remains an example of coordination between agencies working across jurisdictions.

“We eventually got the bad guy,” Wood said. “And the system worked.”