The former head of a Putnam County cult, now serving a 135-year sentence on child-molestation charges, wants $2 billion.
And he wants it in 20 days.
Dwight D. York filed a lawsuit in Macon's U.S. District Court Thursday demanding compensation from various government agencies. His three-page suit argues that he is a Native American and the U.S. legal system has no jurisdiction over him.
"I am not or never have been a part of this corporate state or their judicial system," York writes.
He adds, "The reason I am asking for the amount of money damages is because I think a message should be sent to everyone in North America that you should not rape, murder, pillage or do treason, sedition, involuntary servitude, slavery, terrorism, fraud, extortion, grand theft, robbery, conspiracy and racketeering against a Native American Moor."
'A pseudo-religious sect'
York was the head of the United Nation of Nuwaubians, a Eatonton-based group that prosecutors called a "pseudo-religious sect."
According to a federal court ruling in the case, "Over the years, the Nuwaubian organization's official philosophy (as well as its name) has changed several times, alternatively finding its basis in Islamic, Hebrew, ancient Egyptian, Yamasee Indian, and various other cultures and religions."
York founded the group in Brooklyn in the 1960s, moved to upstate New York and eventually in the 1990s set up a compound off Shady Dale Road near Eatonton that featured a pyramid replica and other faux Egyptian relics.
Fourteen children testified against York
In 2004, a jury convicted him on 10 federal charges, including racketeering counts and transporting children across state lines for sexual purposes.
Federal prosecutors claimed that York molested and sexually abused countless children who were members of the Nuwaubian group.
Fourteen of those children testified in his three-week federal trial. Judge Ashley Royal gave York the maximum sentence -- 1,620 months or 135 years.
He is currently being held at the federal maximum-security prison in Florence, Colorado.
After his conviction, federal prosecutors seized the Eatonton compound and demolished it.
'You have 20 days'
Although federal prison records list him as Dwight D York, he filed his lawsuit this week as Malachi Z. York -- one of his aliases.
The federal docket for his 2002 criminal case lists several other aliases -- Isa Muhammad, Isa Alihad Mahdi and "Baba."
His lawsuit cites an 1871 law that allows people to sue local governments for civil rights violations: "I am looking for compensation from Title 42 Statute 1983 in the amount of two billion dollars."
York submitted several attachments with his lawsuit, including several documents arguing that he's not under jurisdiction of U.S. law, a form granting power of attorney to a Michigan man and a manila folder simply marked, "You have 20 days to comply."
As defendants, his suit names the "Macon County Police Department" -- a non-existent agency -- Bibb County, State of Georgia, FBI, an unidentified "Sheriff's Department" and Judge Royal.
No trial date has been set for York's lawsuit.
The federal Bureau of Prisons' website lists York's earliest release date as June 7, 2122.
