Martinez, Georgia -- The head of an alleged cult kept his wife from working for 37 years, had her restrained to keep her from leaving their palatial home and committed adultery, she alleges in court filings.
Her filings for a temporary protective order and a divorce offer a glimpse into their luxurious but apparently tumultuous life at an 11,000-square-foot mansion in Columbia County’s exclusive West Lake neighborhood.
An alleged cult leader made his first federal court appearance Thursday, a day after being arrested during a raid of his lavish Columbia County mansion.
Authorities on Thursday announced another indictment related to the House of Prayer, a day after the church leader and seven others were rounded up.
The FBI and Columbia County deputies raided a West Lake mansion Wednesday, arresting the leader of the House of Prayer — a group critics call a cult that scams veterans out of benefits.
Among her requests were that she be granted use of their Rolls-Royce and he pay her back for a ruined Chanel purse.
The FBI on Wednesday raided the nearly $2 million home at 3816 Honors Way, arresting the leader of the House of Prayer Christian Church.
He goes by the name Rony Denis, but authorities say he stole that identity in 1983, so they don’t know his true name.
He and seven other church leaders are named in a federal indictment accusing them of various financial crimes that benefited themselves and a church, which some call a cult that targeted veterans in a scheme to soak up their benefits.
Marjorie Denis filed for the temporary protective order against her husband on Jan. 17, 2024, according to court documents obtained by News 12.
She asked that the court order Rony Denis to stay away from their home and child.
She said that the day before she filed for the order, her husband brought in six people “to hold us down and subdue us by force.”
It’s not clear in that entry who she meant by “us,” but she does note elsewhere in the filing that she and Rony Denis had a child living in the home.
She noted in the filing that if her husband learned of her whereabouts, she feared he would hurt her.
She said that she and her child depended on using the mansion as their residence and that they be granted use of it.
She also asked the court to grant her the use of their 2020 Rolls-Royce.
And she asked the court to order him to reimburse her for a Chanel purse that was thrown into the pool and for dirtying up clothes she’d purchased to open a boutique.
When asked in the questionnaire whether she and her child depended on Rony Denis for their support, she wrote that he “never let me work under duress for 37 years.” She asked for temporary child support.
According to the divorce complaint she filed on Feb. 7, 2024, they got married on Feb. 22, 1998, in Missouri and had a 19-year-old daughter.
It noted that they had been separated since January 2024.
Aside from the marriage being “irretrievably broken,” the divorce complaint accuses Rony Denis of adultery.
How was lavish lifestyle funded?
According to a federal indictment, the church founder used his stolen identity to become a U.S. citizen in 2002 and went on to establish the church that same year in Baton Rouge, La.
He later moved the headquarters to Hinesville, Ga., and it ultimately opened about a dozen locations in the U.S., mostly near military installations.
Some of those locations, including one at 2952 Old Tobacco Road in Augusta, were raided three years ago by the FBI, which seized boxes full of documents.
Authorities and critics say the church and its affiliate House of Prayer Bible Seminary specifically target military members and veterans in a scheme to get their benefits.
Some veteran members were directed to enroll in the seminary with tuition to be paid through GI Bill benefits, authorities said. However, there was little to no instruction, authorities allege, and the veterans’ benefits were exhausted as the money was funneled into church-controlled accounts.
Authorities said defendants also recruited church members to serve as “straw buyers” of real estate, concealing the true buyers’ identities. They falsified VA loan applications and used forged powers of attorney, then leased out these homes, collecting more than $5.2 million in rental income between 2018 and 2020, authorities said. Some of the straw buyers were left with damaged credit and foreclosures, according to authorities.
The church also committed fraud against the government, according to the indictment.
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