'John the Revelator': Mann Act conviction for transporting a girl told she would bear a redeemer

Proceedings

1. 1937-01-01 · conviction and sentence

   United States federal court, California. John Wuest Hunt, a follower of Father Divine's Peace Mission movement who took the name 'John the Revelator' and was addressed by followers as a divine figure, was convicted under the Mann Act of transporting a 17-year-old girl across state lines for immoral purposes and sentenced to three years. He had met her in Denver in December 1936, told her she was the reincarnated Virgin Mary destined to bear a new redeemer by immaculate conception, and transported her to California, where the sexual relationship began under that religious framing.

Documented coercion mechanisms

• claim that the victim was the reincarnated Virgin Mary destined to bear a new redeemer
• isolation from her family across state lines
• religious status treated as genuine by surrounding followers