Sect Members Jailed in Boys' Case

The Associated Press, May 13, 2000

FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) - Two more members of a religious sect have been jailed for refusing to testify in an investigation into the whereabouts of two boys.

Authorities believe the boys may have been buried in a Maine park last year.

Roger Daneau, 64, and his son, Mark Daneau, 21, were ordered jailed Thursday. The men are members of a strict religious sect that rejects conventional medicine and schools, authorities said.

Three other members of the sect - Roland Robidoux, Tim Daneau and Michael Robidoux Mingo - were jailed last week for not cooperating with the grand jury.

Another man, Jacques Robidoux, has been in jail since November for refusing to give investigators the whereabouts of his 10-month-old son, Samuel.

Two former members of the group told investigators last year that Samuel and his newborn cousin, Jeremiah Corneau, died and were buried by members of the sect in Baxter State Park.

Investigators failed to find the boys, but uncovered journals written by an unidentified group member that claim Jeremiah was stillborn, and that Samuel was denied food for weeks before dying in the spring, prosecutors have said.

The journal claimed group members viewed Samuel's death as the will of God.

Officials in Maine plan to renew their search for the bodies.

"We'll be going over much smaller area, but with many more people, and hopefully we'll get lucky," said Warden Sgt. Roger Guay.