A doomsday cult leader who claims he is the reincarnation of several biblical prophets has been sentenced to 26-to-life in prison on the charges of child bigamy and sodomy in Utah. John Alvin Coltharp, 34, was sentenced in Manti’s 6th District Court on Wednesday, according to Fox 13. The man, who led an apocalyptic group known as the “Knights of the Crystal Blade” in Spring City, pleaded guilty of inflicting trauma on six children.
The cult leader kidnapped four children last year in central Utah. Police found two of them in a mobile home near Cedar City, while the other two children were found hiding in empty water barrels near-freezing temperatures. Samuel Shaffer, another cult member who was charged, said that he was “betrothed” to Coltharp’s 8-year-old daughter, while Coltharp himself was married to his 7-year-old daughter. READ MORE
