Carbon County Justice of the Peace Johnny Seiffert set bond Friday at $250,007 for Fromberg sect leader Geody Harman, who was arrested Wednesday on a Utah warrant on rape charges.
Harman, who describes himself as first counsel of the Holy Ghost of the Church of the Firstborn of the General Assembly of Heaven, appeared before Seiffert by video from the Yellowstone County Detention Facility. Seiffert advised Harman of his rights and continued the bond as set in the warrant. Harman will be arraigned Aug. 25 in District Court.
Meanwhile, an extradition hearing date has not yet been set for the church's president, Terrill Dalton, but officials in Hot Springs County, Wyo., expect it to happen soon. Dalton was arrested Thursday in Thermopolis, Wyo., on a warrant charging him with felony first-degree rape.
The charging documents allege that Harman raped a then-15-year-old girl in Utah sometime between 2005 and 2006. Dalton is charged with two felony counts of first-degree rape of the same girl, also between 2005 and 2006.
Earlier this week, the victim identified herself to a Salt Lake City television station as Cynthia Dalton, Terrill Dalton's daughter who is now 20.
Hot Springs County Sheriff Lou Falgoust said Dalton, 43, requested a formal hearing in front of a magistrate in the county's Circuit Court and said there's a possibility he'll want to fight extradition back to Utah, where the warrant was issued.
In an interview with The Gazette in March, Dalton said he is the Holy Ghost and the father of Jesus Christ. According to charging documents, Dalton told his daughter that Harman was God and that if she had sex with him, she'd be blessed. He also allegedly told the girl that she would be blessed if she had sex with him as well.
Dalton was arrested Thursday night on Highway 20 outside of Thermopolis, Wyo. Falgoust said his office received a call from the U.S. Marshals Service that Dalton was driving back to Fromberg from a job when his car was broken down outside of town.
Authorities confirmed the warrant and arrested him without incident and he is being held at the Hot Springs County jail on a $250,007 bond set by the warrant.
