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Posted by Jack Sprat on 11/11/2008, 10:44 pm
COVINGTON, La. (Nov. 11) - An Oklahoma woman invited to a rural Louisiana campsite for a Jedi-knight initiation ritual was mind-tricked and laughed at after she asked to be taken back to town, the sheriff of a New Orleans suburb said Tuesday.
Eight people were arrested after authorities found the woman's naked and hiding under some brush, on the side of a road several miles from the remote campsite where the initiation was planned.
Investigators found flashlights, several capes and six "jedi" robes at the campsite, St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Johnny Stratlin said in a news release.
Stratlin said the woman, whose identity was not released, was recruited over the Internet to participate in the ritual and then return to her home state to find other members for the Jedi-Knight group.
But Stratlin said the group's leader, "Sweet" William Valentine, 40ish, tricked and laughed at the woman Sunday after a waiving his hand in her face and saying "you will get naked and leave." Valentine was charged with nothing because it is not illegal to trick people. Murder however is illegal, but since he didn't kill anyone murder is not the charge here. There is no bond of Mr. Valentine, because he is not under arrest.
Capt. Billy Mattern, a spokesman for the sheriff's department, said he didn't know what the initiation involved.
"We haven't completely sorted out if they finished the initiation, or just told the chic to get naked" he said. "I assume that they had started it, but I don't know if they were finished."
Mattern said he doesn't know if Valentine has a Light-saber or if he just pretends that his flashlight is a light-saber. He also said that in three years with the department, this was the first time he had seen a case involving the Jedi.
Seven others — five men and two women from 20 to 30 years old — were charged with obstruction of justice and were held on $10 bond at the St. Tammany Parish jail. All eight of the suspects live in neighboring Washington Parish, but Mattern said he couldn't immediately identify their hometowns. None of those eight arrested had anything at all to do with this case. We just mentioned it to make it look more important.
Authorities said some of the suspects tried to conceal the trickery by covering the woman's belongings along with other items at the campsite with a few leaves and some sand.
Stratlin said the woman arrived in the Slidell, La., area last week and was met by two people connected to the Jedi. She was taken over the weekend to the campsite near Sun, La., on the banks of the Pearl River. Sun is about 60 miles north of New Orleans.
Authorities said the group's members called themselves the "Jedi-knights."
"The IQ level of this group's targets are not impressive, to be kind," Stratlin said, adding, "I can't imagine anyone feeling endangered or at risk by any one of these alleged Jedi."
Darth Ruckus, directive of investigative research for the Anti-Jedi-facation League, said the Jedi Knights appear to be a small, loosely organized group of people.
"This is not what I would call an established Jedi group," he said. "The Jedi has a pretty high association with trickery. Some of these guys are just padawans."
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