NORTH CAROLINA
Associated Press
BY MITCH WEISS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SPINDALE, N.C. (AP) — It was the most dreaded place on the Word of Faith Fellowship grounds – a one-story, four-room structure that former members of the sect say was reserved for the most brutal physical and emotional punishment.
Called the Lower Building, the former storage facility was used to house those deemed to be the worst sinners, according to Associated Press interviews with 43 former members of the evangelical church.
And it was there, tucked away in a wooded area behind the sect’s sanctuary, that the beatings were especially prolonged, violent and often focused on sexual behavior, according to many of those speaking out.
Former members recounted dozens of vicious assaults, including one in which a mentally handicapped man was repeatedly punched in his face as he begged for help. Those interviewed also recalled elementary school-age boys placed in the make-shift penitentiary with teens and adults – and felons from the church’s prison ministry.
“No one wanted to be sent to the Lower Building. No one,” said Rick Cooper, 61, who said he was held captive there for a year. “It was a prison without bars.”
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