Bond hearing to continue next week in Augusta for alleged cult leader
Published By admin
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – A bond hearing will continue next week for an alleged cult leader arrested during an FBI raid of his lavish Columbia County mansion.
The man known as Rony Denis is accused of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and aiding and assisting in filing a false tax return.
A little under a week after he was arrested, his bond hearing began around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday and went on for hours without a decision.
Denis was feeling ill, so the judge wrapped up around 6:30 p.m. without a bond decision. News 12 witnessed a Central EMS ambulance go through the gated security of the Federal Justice Center.
The hearing will resume Sept. 26.
Nearly 100 members of the House of Prayer Christian Church made their way to the grounds. Only 20 members were allowed in the courtroom and another ten in the overflow room, so many stood outside.
Much of the discussion on Wednesday focused on Denis’ stolen identity. Authorities know Rony Denis isn’t his real name.
U.S. Attorney Margaret Heap says Denis needs to stay behind bars because he’s a flight risk and because she’s concerned he could obstruct justice by intimidating witnesses.
The hearing included four hours of testimony from a Department of Homeland Security investigator describing how the real Rony Denis apparently came to the U.S. in 1980 through the Port of Miami, but the alleged cult leader assumed his identity and used it to join the U.S. military.
The U.S. government apparently didn’t even compare the fingerprints of the two until this year.
At one point, up to three people were using the identity, authorities said.
Denis later applied to become a U.S. citizen via his military service. Citizenship is offered through U.S. military service to non-citizens who serve honorably. Denis was denied due to missing a deadline.
Testimony revealed he also applied for citizenship through sponsorship by his American wife.
The State Department was alerted to defendant Denis when it conducted an operation to identify passports connected to Social Security numbers of deceased people in 2010-2012.
Investigators found the real Rony Denis’ widow in Florida. She informed them that her husband died in 1989.
Ultimately, the department dropped the case against Denis due to the expiration of the statute of limitations for passport fraud.
Content retrieved from: https://www.wrdw.com/2025/09/18/bond-hearing-continue-next-week-augusta-alleged-cult-leader/.
