A Callahan County man with ties to the House of Yahweh religious group has been arrested on sexual assault charges involving his stepdaughter.

Yeddidiah Hawkins was arrested last night on a Callahan County warrant charging him with sexually abusing a 14 year old girl.

He remains in the Taylor County Jail on $500,000 bond. 

According to the warrant from Callahan County District Attorney Shane Diel, the girl allegedly suffered years of abuse by Hawkins since she was 8 years old.

The incidents are alleged to have occurred at Hawkin's home in Callahan County.

Diel’s office had the girl interviewed at the Abilene Police Department's Child Advocacy Center.

The allegations came out of that interview.

The warrant indicates that in that interview the teen alleged she had been sexually abused since the age of 8.

Yeddidiah Hawkins

The warrant also mentions two other parties, a Jane Doe who has close ties to the sect, who stated the 40 year old Hawkins was planning to take his 14 year old as a wife. Also a John Doe who was a member of the sect for several years and has since left but has close ties within the sect.

All of the claims are mentioned in the warrant.

The Callahan County District Attorney's office could not comment today on the ongoing investigation. The sexual assault of a child charge is a second degree felony

The case is expected to go before a grand jury before the end of the year.

The House of Yahweh religious group has repeatedly been in the news over the past several years. The group is headquartered on T&P Lane in Abilene and has a large compound in Callahan County near Clyde.

Last year the group was in the news concerning prophesies of nuclear war, the death of the infant son of a member and charges stemming from the death of a child of a church member.

• In the summer of 2006 the group’s leader, Yisrayl Hawkins, said he had matched prophesies in the bible with world events. He said he had determined that the war in the Middle East will become a nuclear conflict on September 12^th of 2006. He had gathered his followers at the compound awaiting a nuclear war which never came.
• In July 2006 Abilene police investigated the death of 1 month Rephayah Isaac Lindsay whose parents belong to the group. The child’s father, 31 year old Sean Lindsay, told police the child wasn’t feeling well and they took him for a car ride. During the ride the child died. Lindsay admitted to burying the child’s body at an undisclosed location. He cited the group’s religious beliefs for not reporting the death or burial. During questioning police allowed him to leave on his own and retrieve the infant’s body. A pathology report later indicated that the baby died from protein malnourishment and traumatic asphyxiation. No charges were ever filed in the case.
• In October of 2006 church member Desiree Kay Gideon was sentenced to five years on probation after she pleaded guilty to charges that she performed surgery on her 7 year-old daughter Terri in 2003.  The child died after the procedure which involved taking a chunk of flesh from the girl’s leg.  Gideon agreed to testify against Rebecca Hawkins, another member of the religious group, in return for the probated sentence.
  
  

This story was originally posted at 6:30 p.m. on October 17th, 2007.