Lord Our Righteousness Church

Common card · No. 202246

The Lord Our Righteousness Church (LORC) was, as of 2008, a religious community in Union County, New Mexico, in the northeast of that state, in a community its participants refer to as "Strong City". The group moved to New Mexico from Idaho, in 2000. As of 2000 it numbered perhaps 80 adherents, living in what news media termed a "compound", in makeshift dwellings; as of May 2008, it was reported to have about 50. Following accusations that the group's leader, Wayne Bent (who went by the name "Michael Travesser" in LORC), had had inappropriate contact with minors, New Mexico State Police removed three minors from the LORC compound after an April 2008 investigation. Arrested two weeks later, Bent was charged with three counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor, and three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. A jury trial began on November 17, 2008, and on December 15, 2008, Bent was convicted of one count of criminal sexual contact of a minor and two counts of contributing...

Read on Wikipedia