Second Word of Faith member charged with assault

The Daily Courier/October 30, 2003

Forest City, NC -- Rutherfordton-For the second time in two weeks, a Word of Faith Fellowship member has been charged with assault.

Mark Robert Doyle, 41, of 118 New Flynn Road, Spindale is charged with misdemeanor simple assault on former WOFF member Benjamin Andrew Talley who now resides in Florida.

Talley, 18, returned to Rutherford County briefly this weekend to file the charges for an incident that occurred on November 6, 2001.

The complaint says that Doyle "unlawfully and willfully did assault and strike Benjamin A. Talley by hitting him repeatedly with a wooden paddle."

Magistrate Doug Elliott took the complaint and issued a warrant for Doyle's arrest Saturday. Doyle was located Monday and turned himself in Wednesday morning without incident after returning from a job in Hendersonville.

Doyle listed WOFF as his employer and was identified in earlier court cases as the boys' principal at the church school.

On October 17, WOFF cofounder and leader Jane Whaley was charged by Lacy Wien, a former WOFF member who claims Whaley spanked her, choked her and held her down for over an hour after Wien threatened to leave the church. Wien, 19, wanted to pursue a relationship with her now husband, Rubin Wien.

The statute of limitations on Talley's charge would have expired on November 6.

Doyle was given a court date of November 21. He was released on a written promise to appear.

Whaley is scheduled for court on November 14.