(DAILY BEAST) — An Ohio woman who escaped her family’s home after years of what she described as horrific, religiously-motivated abuse has filed a lawsuit accusing her mother, father, uncle, brothers, and a local cop of not only causing the abuse, but allowing it to continue, then covering it up once authorities became suspicious.
In the 22-page civil suit, filed Feb. 21 in Cincinnati federal court, Serah Bellar says her parents “mandated” that all of their 18 biological children and one adopted child attend their uncle’s Dove Outreach Church in Waverly, Ohio.
“This cult-like ‘church’ is owned, operated, and ministered by Defendant James Bellar, the brother of Defendant Robert Bellar,” the suit states. “Defendant James Bellar preaches that siblings are meant to procreate with one another.”