3 11-14-88 06:08 pps ill, ore. Stiff prison term is message for abusive cults SPOKANE, Wa

   3 11-14-88 06:08 pps ill, ore.

   Stiff prison term is message for abusive cults

   SPOKANE,  Wash. (UPI) _ A judge issuing a warning to religious
cults that child abuse will  not  be  tolerated  Monday  when  he
imposed  a  stiff prison sentence on a church leader in the death
from untreated diabetes of a 10-year-old boy.

   Discarding prosecuting and defense attorneys'  recommendations
for  a  30-day  jail  term,  Superior Court Judge John Schultheis
ordered a two-year prison term for Jeffrey Siegel, former Spokane
pastor of the "No-Name Fellowship."

   "I have an obligation, I believe, to send a message to whoever
might be in the same situation you were in and anyone  who  might
be  interested  in  beginning  a religious cult, to let them know
this activity cannot be tolerated," Schultheis said.

   Siegel pleaded guilty to second-degree  criminal  distreatment
in  the  December death of Aaron Norman at his Mead, Wash., home.
Prosecutors said the boy's parents, at the urging of  Siegel  and
fellowship  founder Doug Kleber, spanked and prayed for the dying
boy and failed to seek medical attention.

   Kleber, 34, also  pleaded  guilty  to  second-degree  criminal
mistreatment and  is  to  be  sentenced next month.  The victim's
father, Bob  Norman,  was  convicted  of  manslaughter  after  an
emotional  trial and probably also will be sentenced in December.
Charges were dismissed against Aaron's mother, Judith.

   Schultheis  reprimanded  Siegel  for  deliberate  cruelty   in
Aaron's  death,  particularly for recommending spanking the dying
boy.

   Siegel, 33, who now lives in  Champaign,  Ill.,  had  faced  a
maximum  of  five  years  in prison for the criminal mistreatment
conviction and for pleading guilty to simple assault for spanking
an adult church member with a belt during church services.

   Siegel and lawyers for Kleber and Bob Norman  had  no  comment
after the sentencing.

   The fellowship, which had no official name, was founded in the
1970s in Champaign by Kleber as a Bible study group for athletes.
Kleber,  who  now  lives  in  Urbana,  Ill.,  was a University of
Illinois football standout.

   The group's leaders believe in harsh discipline,  the  literal
meaning  of  the  Bible and faith healing rather than traditional
medicine.

   Before Aaron's death,  the  fellowship  had  about  200  adult
members in Spokane; Champaign; Plano, Texas; and Passaic, N.J.

   Former  fellowship  members say that at one point, about three
years ago, the founder of the Ecclesia Athletic Association spoke
to No-Name Fellowship members in Illinois.

   They say Eldridge  Broussard  Jr.  frightened  the  fellowship
members during   his   short   stay.     Fifty-five  children  in
Broussard's Oregon group, mostly from the Los Angeles area,  were
taken  into  protective  custody  this  fall after his 8-year-old
daughter died, allegedly from beatings.