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	Swami's Contribution to Hays County: $1.2 Million By Eric Dexheimer The Statesman November 5, 2011 http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/investigative/entries/2011/11/05/swamis_contribution_to_hays_co.html?cxntfid=blogs_focal_point Swami Prakashanand Saraswati's disappearance from a Hays County courtroom days after he was convicted of molesting two young girls, and hours before he was to be sentenced for the crimes, cost his followers $1.2 million, according to a story published Friday on the website of the San Marcos Mercury, an online paper that covers San Marcos and Hays County. Part of that figure had already been made public. In order to secure the guru's release following his April 2008 arrest, his followers had put up a $1 million cash bond to get him out of custody, which was forfeited when the founder and spiritual leader of the Barsana Dham ashram southwest of Austin fled. What was unknown was how much of a $10 million promissory note written by a devotee named Peter Spiegel had been collected by the county. Spiegel, a California infomercial producer and longtime follower of the Indian spiritual leader, had promised the money to secure the return of Prakashanand's passport pending his March 2011 trail. Following the guru's disappearance, however, Spiegel reached a confidential settlement with Hays County to pay only a portion of that to close the case. When the Mercury asked for details of the settlement, the county refused and the paper appealed. But an October 17 attorney general's decision came down in the Mercury's favor, and the county released a copy of a $200,000 personal check, dated June 28, made out to Hays County. A copy of the check and story can be viewed on the Mercury's website. A jury found Prakashanand guilty of 20 counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact this past March 4. The charges were based on allegations of two women whose families lived at the 200-acre ashram off RM 1826 in Driftwood in the 1990s. They said the guru kissed and fondled them on numerous occasions over the course of several years, beginning when they were as young as 12. A third woman also claimed the holy man had kissed and groped her during the same period. Although her account was heard during the two-week trial, the accusations were not part of the official charges because the statute of limitations had expired. Prakashanand disappeared some time between the Friday he was convicted, and the Monday he was due to be sentenced. The U.S. Marshals Service said it had traced the then-82 year old wheelchair-bound guru to Mexico, but apparently has since lost track of him. Six weeks after Prakashanand went on the lam, Barsana Dham changed its name to Radha Madhav Dham.
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