STEUBENVILLE, Ohio — The Jefferson County <NOBR>sheriff</NOBR> says a renegade group has been attacking fellow Amish, cutting off their hair and beards.
Sheriff Fred Abdalla in Steubenville said Thursday that his deputies have been hampered by the reluctance of Amish to press charges.
His office is working with sheriffs in Carroll, Holmes and Trumbull counties investigating attacks. No charges have been filed but several victims suffered minor injuries.
The sheriff says men and sometimes women from a group of families disavowed by mainstream Amish have terrorized a half dozen or more fellow Amish. They allegedly cut the beards off men and the hair off men and women.
The sheriff says the motive may be related to religious differences involving 18 Amish families who have drawn previous attention from law enforcement.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Four Amish men have been <NOBR>arrested</NOBR>, charged in one of four bizarre attacks on other Amish people.
The attackers barge into homes and use scissors to cut the beards and hair of the victims.
Investigators believe members of the “Bergholz Clan,” which has been described as a group of religious castoffs, are responsible.
The attacks have happened in four different counties in Eastern Ohio: Jefferson County, Holmes County, Trumbull County and Carroll County.
Experts say that Amish men are required to let their beards grow after they’re married and that women follow Biblical rules that they’re not to cut their hair.
The attacks, they say, are meant to shame and humiliate the victims.
“As one Amish man told me he’d rather be dead than have his beard cut off,” said Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla.
Apparently, the motive was to punish people who had weak faith, and the attackers would take back hair to prove they had carried out the assaults.
The four men are charged with kidnapping and burglary in one of the four attacks. They’re being held on $250,000 bond each.
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