Israeli cult leader charged with enslavement, rape
Jerusalem (CNN) — An Israeli man accused of having 23 wives and fathering 59 children was charged Sunday in a Tel Aviv court with multiple counts of sexual assault, rape, sodomy and enslavement.
Goel Ratzon, 60, was arrested last month.
Authorities charge that he lived in a compound with the 23 wives, having convinced them that he was omnipotent.
All the wives tattooed Ratzon’s name and picture on their arms and the children’s names are all derivatives of his name, according to the court papers.
Ratzon married his first wife in 1972, added a second wife in the early 1980s, and from 1991 added another 21 wives, according to the indictment.
