AP 06/19 1526 Amen Capture HEMET, Calif. (AP) -- Last week, Lightning bolted. But

AP 06/19 1526 Amen Capture


   HEMET, Calif.  (AP)  --  Last  week,  Lightning  bolted.   But
authorities have proved that the long arm of the law  can  strike
twice against the same church leader.

   Lightning  Amen,  leader  of the Christ Family religious sect,
was arrested with four followers Wednesday night after  Riverside
County  sheriff's deputies surrounded a trailer west of here, the
sheriff's office said.

   Amen, 50, had disappeared June 10 just before a jury convicted
him of possessing and  transporting  methamphetamine  for  sales,
possessing  a  hypodermic  needle  and  possession of a concealed
weapon in October 1986.

   He  faces  a  maximum  sentence  of  seven  years  in  prison.
However,  further  charges  are  pending following the seizure of
suspected drugs, $4,200 in cash and several weapons when  he  was
arrested Wednesday, officials said.

   Amen was  formerly  known  as  Charles  Franklin  McHugh.  His
Christ Family has about a dozen members and roamed the California
desert before settling in the Hemet  area  in  the  early  1980s.
Followers  are  vegetarians  who  wear  white  robes  and espouse
non-violence.

	In December 1985, 10 church members were sentenced to jail for
growing $900,000 worth of marijuana at the sect's ranch.
   
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