Four arrested in Amish-on-Amish religious attacks sparked by internal feud in Ohio community

Authorities have made four arrests in a string of Amish-on-Amish violence that has ravaged an Ohio community.
WKYC-TV reported that Levi Miller, Johnny Mullet and Lester Mullet were rounded up Friday for the alleged role in crimes by 'The Bergholz Clan.'
The group was allegedly part of a breakaway sect driving to homes and attacking fellow Amish with scissors, cutting off the men’s beards and the women's hair - which is seen as degrading in Amish culture.
A fourth suspect was also arrested, but was not immediately identified, according to Fox8.com.
The victims, which included children as young as 13, were targeted by as many as 27 members of the gang.
Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla said more arrests will take place over the coming days.
The attacks occurred over the past month in the heart of Ohio's Amish population, one of the largest in the United States.
Farmer’s wife Arlene Miller told how her husband Myron was dragged out of their bed by his beard, taken outside and assaulted.
She said: ‘The guys came up and surrounded him and cut off a chunk of his beard. They were unable to get any more because he struggled so hard against them.
'The [attackers] say this is to uncover sins, and it’s to straighten us out.’
A 57-year-old woman said her sons and a son-in-law who had joined the rival group and are involved in a cult attacked her and her husband.
After chopping off her husband’s whiskers, they shaved her head.
'They did this to me,’ she said, taking off a bandana to show her baldness.
Sheriff Abdalla described another savage attack in an interview with Fox8.com.
'In Holmes County, the bishop was supposed to perform a wedding yesterday for his son, and because they had cut his beard off, he refused to do it. He's scared to even come out of the house.'
Traditionally, the Amish settle their differences peaceably and do not co-operate with police, but the Millers have pressed charges.
'This is not a religious fight,' Mrs Miller said. 'We believe we're in danger. They're like hate crimes. They’re terrorising people and communities.'
The Bergholz group has built a village in a picturesque valley near the Ohio River where about 16 families, who dress in their religion’s Victorian-style costumes, are raising a large number of children.
They are educated in a small schoolhouse and help their parents farm the land and maintain the traditional carriages and horses they travel in.
Mrs Miller claimed that the break-away group’s leader, Bishop Sam Mullet, was using cult-like practices, including sleep-deprivation and brain-washing, to keep his followers loyal.
'They totally separate themselves,' she said.
An Amish man who knows members of The Bergholz Clan said the attacks were motivated by religious fanaticism.
He said that members of the group had shaved off their own beards and hair 'under the impression that would cleanse them before God.'
He added: 'They long ago moved from being a church to a cult.'
Mullet, who's also the father of two of the suspects, denied being directly involved in the beard and hair attacks.
But he said he gave some of the young men he knew may have been involved  'a talking to.'
He admitted, however, that he had fallen out with the victims, saying they had been 'excommunicated' for being insufficiently principled.
He added that since the attacks had been motivated by ‘religion’, the police had no right to intervene.
It’s all religion,’ he said. 'We can’t understand why the sheriff has his nose in our business, but that seems to be what they did here.'
Mullet admitted the incidents stemmed from doctrinal differences.
'It started with us excommunicating members that weren’t listening or obeying our laws,' he said.
Sheriff Abdalla said the investigation had been hampered by the traditional reluctance of Amish to turn to law enforcement.
He said; 'You see this crime being committed, and I'm sitting here with my hands tied. I can't do a thing.'
The Amish often shun modern conveniences as matter of spiritual principle.
Donald Kraybill, a professor at Elizabethtown College and an expert on Amish life, said: ‘It's common practice for married Amish to have beards, and likewise, women do not cut their hair based on biblical teaching.'
He added that Amish-on-Amish violence 'is extremely rare.'
The suspects have been charged with kidnapping and burglary in one of the four attacks.
They are being held on $250,000 bond each.
Known for their plain dress and distrust of modern technology, the Amish are a Protestant sect created by a religious schism in Switzerland in the late 17th Century.
They have their own schools, and adherents are required to marry within the faith.
They value manual labour, ride around in horse-drawn carts and are largely isolated from the communities around them - an aspect of life that was vividly portrayed in the 1985 Harrison Ford film Witness, about a young Amish boy who is the sole witness to a murder.
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