Dwight Malachi York, who has been incarcerated in a maximum-security federal prison in Colorado for 22 years, has filed a petition for compassionate humanitarian release.
York is best known as the self-proclaimed founder of the Nuwaubian Nation, which occupied 476 acres along Shady Dale Road in Putnam County. On 22 acres of that land, he built an Egyptian-themed compound known as Tama-Re, where roughly 200 members lived and operated from 1993 to 2002, according to Eatonton Messenger archives.
Putnam County Sheriff Howard R. Sills ultimately led the raid on Tama-Re, which dismantled the group’s organized presence in the county. York, along with several leaders and members, was arrested during the operation.
The May 8, 2002, raid reportedly involved approximately 80 FBI agents and more than 100 additional law enforcement officers from across Georgia.
When asked about York’s recent petition, Sills told The Eatonton Messenger, “If they decide to release him, I can tell you who will be standing outside the gate of that federal prison. It’s going to be me waiting there to bring him back to Georgia.”
The petition, filed by York’s attorneys—Charles Tucker Jr. of Tucker McCann Law Group in Bethesda, Maryland, and Judith Delus Montgomery of Atlanta Family & Immigration Law—was sealed in February. U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles H. Weigle ordered the filing sealed due to sensitive medical information protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
According to the motion to seal, York, now 81, is seeking release due to a history of hereditary angioedema (HAE), a genetic disorder typically diagnosed in childhood that causes episodes of severe swelling in areas such as the hands, feet, and airways, potentially making breathing difficult.
“Where’s the compassion for all of the victims that I guarantee remember what happened to them?” Sills said.
Authorities have long reported numerous victims tied to York’s crimes.
Sills said he first became aware of potential victims in 1998, when medical professionals alerted him that young teenage girls from the Nuwaubian compound were giving birth. According to Sills, adults accompanying the girls restricted communication and interfered with legally required medical care and examinations.
A lengthy investigation followed, culminating in the 2002 raid and York’s arrest. On Jan. 24, 2003, York pleaded guilty in Putnam County Superior Court to 77 felony counts, including aggravated child molestation, child molestation, influencing witnesses, and sexual exploitation of a child, according to court records.
“The maximum sentence for all that is 1,720 years,” Sills said. “But he was returned to federal custody immediately afterward and has never been sentenced on those charges. So if he is released, he would have to come back here to be sentenced.”