Page 7 - ARUBA TODAY

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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 7 augusT 2018

Kids found in rags in New Mexico amid tale of guns, exorcism

By MARY HUDETZ and KATE Hogrefe's deputies are
BRUMBACK searching for the child,
Associated Press along with the FBI and
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) Georgia authorities in Clay-
— A raid on a New Mexico ton County, where officials
desert compound turned say the boy was living be-
up 11 children wearing rags fore his father took him
and living in filth, and also around Dec. 1, 2017.
broke open a bizarre tale The boy's mother told au-
of guns, exorcism, and a thorities the boy suffers from
search for a missing young seizures, cannot walk be-
boy who suffers from sei- cause of severe medical is-
zures and is nowhere to be sues, and requires constant
found. attention.
The boy's father was among She told police in Decem-
five people arrested after ber that Wahhaj had taken
the raid near the border the boy for a trip to a park
with Colorado. Documents and never returned.
made public in a court fil- Clayton County police said
ing Monday said the father in a missing persons bul-
told the boy's mother be- letin that Wahhaj and his
fore fleeing Georgia that son were last seen Dec. 13
he wanted to perform an in Alabama, traveling with
exorcism on the child be- five other children and two
cause he believed he was adults. This Friday, Aug. 3, 2018, photo released by Taos County Sheriff's Office shows a rural compound
possessed by the devil. Georgia authorities said during an unsuccessful search for a missing 3-year-old boy in Amalia, N.M.
Taos County Sheriff Jerry Wahhaj was traveling Associated Press
Hogrefe said deputies ar- through Chilton County on
rested the father, Siraj Ibn Dec. 13 with seven children report said. pound came amid a two- consisted of a small travel
Wahhaj, and four other and another adult when It was not immediately month investigation in col- trailer buried in the ground
adults on child abuse their car overturned. Wah- known Monday whether laboration with Clayton and covered by plastic
charges after finding the haj told police the group Wahhaj and the others County authorities and the with no water, plumbing
11 children Friday inside a was traveling from Geor- charged in the child abuse FBI, according to Hogrefe. and electricity.
makeshift compound in the gia to New Mexico to go case in New Mexico — He said FBI agents surveilled Hogrefe said the adults
tiny community of Amalia, camping. another man and three the area a few weeks ago and children — ages 1 to
near the Colorado border. The trooper who wrote the women believed to be the but did not find probable 15 — had no shoes, wore
It was littered with "odorous report said he found no mother of the 11 children cause to search the prop- dirty rags for clothing and
trash" and lacking clean camping equipment in or — had retained attorneys. erty. "looked like Third World
water, authorities said. near the vehicle but that The public defender's of- That changed when Geor- country refugees."
Inside, Wahhaj, 39, was Wahhaj was in possession fice in Taos County did not gia detectives forwarded The grandfather of the miss-
found heavily armed with of three handguns, two immediately return tele- a message to Hogrefe's of- ing boy, Imam Siraj Wah-
multiple firearms, including rifles, a bag of ammuni- phone message from The fice that initially had been haj of Brooklyn, New York,
a loaded AR-15, before he tion, and a bulletproof vest. Associated Press seeking sent to a third party, saying: issued a plea on Face-
was taken into custody, the Wahhaj told the trooper comment. "We are starving and need book for helping finding his
sheriff said. that he owned the guns The Taos County sheriff food and water." grandson.
His son, Abdul-ghani, who legally and had a Georgia identified the women fac- What authorities found was In a federal court filing
was 3 when he disap- permit to carry concealed ing charges as 35-year- what Hogrefe called "the in 2006, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj
peared last December, weapons. old Jany Leveille, 38-year- saddest living conditions claimed he was harassed
was not among the chil- "Mr. Wahhaj seemed to be old Hujrah Wahhaj, and and poverty" he has seen on his way to and from Mo-
dren found. But Hogrefe very concerned about his 35-year-old Subhannah in 30 years on the job. rocco by customs agents
said authorities have rea- weapons and stated sev- Wahhaj. They were arrest- Other than a few potatoes at JFK Airport in New York
son to believe the boy was eral times that they were ed in the town of Taos and and a box of rice, there because he is "the son of
at the compound several his property and that he booked into jail. was little food in the com- the famous Muslim Imam
weeks ago. owned them legally," the The search at the com- pound, which Hogrefe said Siraj Wahhaj."q