From Football to Fanaticism: The Robert Rozier Story Part Two

On this Episode of Playing Dirty: Sports Scandals, we plunge further into the abyss with Robert Rozier, whose journey from NFL player to fanatic cult member takes a shockingly dark turn. Join Jay Harris as he dissects the heinous actions that sealed Rozier's fate, including his grim transformation into a 'death angel' of the cult. The roots of manipulation and violence ran deep, and transformed an organization from charitable to criminal.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome back to playing dirty sports scandals. I'm Jay Harris,
a veteran ESPN sportscaster, and on this show your brave barista,
serving up the juiciest, darkest scandals to ever rock the
world of sports. Today, we're diving back into the six
Saga of Robert Rosier and getting a taste for how
a life that started with big promise went terribly wrong.

(00:30):
Cleanse your palette while you still can, because this tale
is about to get goorier than blood orange juice. I'm
not gonna lie to you knowing what's coming. It's hard
for me to crave anything, including juice, just at the moment,
because the only word to describe Robert Rosier's path from

(00:53):
this moment onwards is nauseating. In our last episode, we
left off in nineteen eighty two when Robert crossed paths
with community activists turned cult leader Yahweh Ben Yahweh. Having
failed in the NFL and the Canadian Football League, Robert
Rogier was down on his luck and looking to build
a new life in Miami when he met impassioned Nation

(01:15):
of Yahweh founder and leader Yahweh Ben Yahweh. He thought,
as many did at the time that he finally discovered
a higher purpose. His purpose. Here was an organization espousing
black superiority during an age of political and racial unrest.
Here was an organization where a disillusioned black man like
Robert could regain his voice in America and feel empowered.

(01:39):
But while Yahweh Ben Yahweh served up a manifesto that
resonated outwardly for many African Americans after the Miami Riots, internally,
within the walls of his Temple of Love, twisted and
terrible practices were increasingly at work. The more powerful Yahweh
Ben Yahweh became between nineteen eighty one and nineteen eighty four,

(02:00):
the crueler his methods of control grew. More and more
he intruded into the most personal aspects of his followers' lives,
exerting control over their actions, finances, and even their most
intimate relationships. In the months leading up to his initial
meeting with Robert Rogier, Yahweh Bin Yahweh's manipulation reached a

(02:22):
new level. For some members of the Nation of Yahweh,
their leaders escalating brutality seemed to run counter to everything
they'd believe the organization to stand for. Where was the kindness,
the unity, the empowerment of their fellow black man. Why
was the Nation of Yahweh buying up fancy real estate
now instead of routinely cleaning up lower income communities. Why

(02:45):
were followers being physically hurt daily, with sexual assault now
a common practice. By nineteen eighty one, a renegade group
of sixteen Nation of Yahweh members had had enough. They
broke off from the Temple of Love with plans to
create a new and competing Yahweh temple across town. Furious,
Yahweh Ben Yahweh labeled these sixteen members the hypocrites and

(03:09):
allegedly ordered that his remaining members retaliate against the outcasts severely.
On November twelfth, nineteen eighty one, Aston Green, a twenty
six year old mechanic and one of the sixteen members
who had broken away from Yahweh Ben Yahweh, returned to
the Temple of Love. While we don't know exactly why
Aston decided to return, given his commitment to the overall

(03:33):
Nation of Yahweh movement, it may well have been that
he was seeking to confront Yahweh Ben Yahweh directly about
how the organization's doctrine had devolved in recent months. Whatever
his rationale for returning Aston Green was doomed as soon
as he stepped foot onto Yahweh Ben Yahweh's turf. According

(03:55):
to Khalil Amani, a former Nation of Yahweh member who
witnessed the event, the head of security gathered about a
dozen followers and escorted Aston Green to a secluded back room.
I was instructed to guard this side door, a directive
you don't question from the head of security. Inside that room,
the sounds of violence quickly erupted. Amani, driven by a

(04:19):
need to know what was happening, peeked inside to witness
a brutal scene. Aston was savagely beaten, stomped upon, and
bludgeoned with the wooden staffs carried by the followers. The
thumping noises were unmistakable, the sound of a life being
extinguished with chilling indifference, Amani Khalil remembered grimly. Another former

(04:42):
sect member, Ricardo Woodside, corroborated Amani's account, with United Press
International reporting that he, along with his brother and other
Nation of Yabweh members, beat dissident member Aston Green with
a tire iron and our fists in a back room
at the temple in nineteen eight. Any available spot that

(05:02):
was open on his body was beaten. He looked horrible.
Blood was on the floor and all over his face,
and he was moaning and groaning. The unthinkable assault ended
with Aston Green being wrapped in a green carpet and
duct taped, his barely conscious body making desperate, labored noises
as it was carried past Khalilamani and out the Temple

(05:26):
of Love door. Aston was then loaded into the trunk
of a car with one of the members clutching a machete.
Under the cloak of darkness, Aston was driven to the Everglades, where,
on the orders of Yahweh bin Yahweh, he was barbarically beheaded.
How could something so horrible have happened? The sect had

(05:50):
clearly become an overt danger to society. Ricardo Woodside shared
years later that before the murder of Aston Green, yahwe
Ben Yahweh preached the hypocrites must die to his congregation.
Ricardo further revealed that Yahweh ben Yahweh praised the members
who had butchered Aston Green, but chastised them for not

(06:11):
leaving Aston's car with his body. Yahwe ben yahwe said,
we should have left the car and the body together
so the hypocrites can see what Yahweh, who is God did.
Ricardo then revealed that Yahweh Ben Yahweh said, when we
take the next head, we're going to put the head
in a basket and hang it on a post, so
the whole city can hear Yahweh and fear Yahweh. Fear.

(06:36):
That word sums it up. Yahweh ben Yahweh's rule was
fueled by fear, and he was just getting started. In
the aftermath of Aston Green's horrific execution, Aston's roommates Carlton
Kerry and Mildred Banks suffered severe consequences for their role
in the hypocrites rebellion too. Carlton and his wife Mildred,

(06:59):
who were con considered by Yahweh ben Yahweh to be
leaders among the dissenters, attempted to alert the authorities about
the violent, criminal behavior going on inside the Temple of Love.
When word got back to Yahweh ben Yahweh that his
ex followers had gone to the police, the repercussions were
bound to be bloody. Carlton carry and Mildred Banks were

(07:23):
attacked at their home in an apparent direct retaliation for
their cooperation with law enforcement. Carlton died on the spot
from multiple gunshot wounds, while Mildred was rushed to Miami
International Hospital. The life threatening nature of her injuries was
immediately apparent in the emergency room. They showed her neck

(07:43):
and it was almost completely chopped off and she was
drowning in her own blood. Miami Dade Police Detective Steed
road Rock remembered with horror. Once Mildred had survived at
emergency procedure and was sufficiently recovered, Detective road Ruck conducted
a bedside interview. I remember two shots ringing out and

(08:04):
I screamed, Mildred told him. Mildred amazingly remembered the terrifying
events of November fifteenth, nineteen eighty one, with vivid detail.
Apparently Yahweh Ben Yahweh's death. Angel enforcers had been lying
in wait for Carlton and Mildred to return from their
police interview, where the couple had pointed the finger at
Yahweh ben Yahweh for the murder of their roommate, Aston

(08:26):
Green wearing ski masks. Yahweh's death, Angels attacked Carlton and
Mildred as soon as they walked through the door of
their house. Carlton was shot to death, but miraculously Mildred survived,
being shot in the chest and having her throat slit.
Once the gunmen had left her for dead, she dragged

(08:46):
herself to a neighbor's house after trying in vain to
use her own home phone. Yahweh's death angels had cut
their phone line in a clear attempt to prevent them
from either calling for help or surviving the attack. Later,
members of the Nation of Yahweh came forward to reveal
that Yahweh ben Yahweh had held a pep rally to
celebrate the death of the infidels even as Mildred Banks

(09:09):
was fighting for her life in the hospital. According to
crimelibrary dot org, although some attendees at the Temple of
Love were horrified by the news, they dared not show it.
The temple guards were watching the congregation closely, looking for
any sign of inconformity. The members had no choice but

(09:29):
to clap their hands and praise Yahweh with the rest
of the hoard. They didn't want to be next on
Yahweh ben Yahweh's hit list. Mildred Banks was put into
witness protection and the investigation into the now murderous Nation
of Yahweh cult began in earnest after two murders and
one attempted murder. Surely the authorities would take down the

(09:51):
cult and the killers right well. It proved to be
a greater challenge than the Miami Dade Police had anticipated.
Nation the tapes, the media stuff that Yahweh ben yahwe
would hand out to his followers, preaching the hatred of
white men. We were trying to grab everything we could
about him when we went into the Temple of Love

(10:12):
and find out what he was espousing at the time,
Detective Roadruck said of his investigation into Yahweh ben Yahweh.
We tried to build a case. We tried to get
a search warrant. We did go into the temple with
some building inspectors, but Yahweh ben Yahweh and his cronies
weren't cooperating or talking or anything. Still, Detective Steve Roadrock

(10:33):
and his fellow detective John King didn't leave their undercover
visit to the Temple of Love empty handed. They managed
to find evidence, albeit inconclusive evidence that linked the crime
scene of Aston Green's murder to the Nation of Yahweh
cults headquarters. It all came down to carpet. Tacky green carpet,

(10:55):
the very same type of green carpet that had been
wrapped around Aston Green as his killers lugged him out
of the Temple of Love into the trunk of their car,
and the very same type of green carpet that had
been found by investigators at the site of Aston Green's
to capitation in the Everglades. Even though detectives road Ruck
and King had made the carpet connection, how could they

(11:17):
prove that Nation of Yahweh members were murderers? After all,
carpet companies have more than one customer, and you'd better
believe that Yahweh Ben Yahweh's attorneys were ready to fight
the point. No, the detectives would need more to tumble
Yahweh Ben Yahweh's dark empire, and so the investigation stalled.

(11:40):
The local government was hesitant to confront a prominent black
religious leader without incontrovertible proof of wrongdoing. The community, which
had over the years benefited from Nation of Yahweh charitable activities,
was reluctant to speak out against the benefactor, and of
course ex members of the Nation of Yahweh were now
utterly terrified to come forward. By this time. X NFL

(12:03):
defensive end Robert Rogier was a Nation of Yahweh death angel,
living in the Temple of Love and enforcing Yahweh Ben
Yahweh's deranged will. He apparently lived there, carrying out orders
starting from nineteen eighty two and contributing to Yahweh Ben
Yahweh's reign of terror. Yahwei Ben Yahweh's brutal campaign felt
interminable to everyone with their own moral conscience still intact,

(12:28):
and it wasn't until nineteen eighty five, four years after
the chilling nineteen eighty one murders, that authorities finally acknowledged
possessing physical evidence linking the Yahweh sect to the gruesome
decapitation of Aston Green. This breakthrough came about after the
Miami Dade Organized Crime Bureau and the FBI collaborated to

(12:48):
amass a significant intelligence file on the Nation of Yahweh.
Much of this file was based on hearsay, but its contents,
including multiple allegations of child sexual abuse use, were collectively
alarming enough to demand greater action. What the authorities were
really hoping for, what they really needed to take that
greater action, was to flip some nation of Yahweh members

(13:12):
into testifying. We always felt somewhere along the line someone
would trip up and they'd start talking. Detective Steve Roadruck said,
little did he know that the someone they had been
waiting for had traded in football cleats for a machete
and was about to do what he'd always done, mess up.
Only this time, Robert Rogier messing up was the key

(13:34):
to good ultimately prevailing, because his sloppy crime scenes and
drive for self preservation at all costs would bring Yahweh
ben Yahweh's cult to its knees. Here's how it went down.
In the violent crescendo of Yahweh ben Yahweh's radical teachings,
Robert Rogier found himself at a crossroads that would define

(13:57):
his fall from a sportsman to a zealot. Robert, like
all of Yahweh Ben Yahweh's followers, had been systematically indoctrinated
to see himself as a divine warrior, a death angel,
ready to commit murder in the service of his leader.
Aston Green and Carlton Kerry were just the first two
victims of yahwe Ben Yahweh's bloody crusade. Former member Khalil Amani,

(14:21):
who was in the cult alongside Robert Rogier until nineteen
eighty five, revealed that yahwe Ben Yahweh used his sermons
to give veiled directives to his followers. Yahweh used coded words,
Khalil explained in the Oxygen documentary Uncovered the Cult of
Yahweh ben Yahweh. For example, he used a word called azazel,

(14:42):
which in Hebrew means scapegoat, and he basically taught that
in our own land, we'd have these goats that we
would bring once a year and we'd kill them for
the sins of Israel. But yahwe Ben Yahweh took it
further and he'd say white people are the new goats,
and he said that proof of a k the kill
is to bring back the head of the azazel. And

(15:03):
we knew that the azazel was not a goat, because
we weren't in our land with goats. The azazel was
the white man. So the language was coded, but everyone
in the congregation clearly understood what Yahweh bin Yahweh meant
when he would say those kinds of things. He was
asking for ears and heads in all that kind of stuff.

(15:24):
Khalil Ahmani's account is incredibly frightening and gives clear insight
into the messaging Robert Rosier was being fed day in
and day out. After Khalil Amani made the heartbreaking decision
to kiss his wife and two children goodbye and flee
from the Nation of Yahweh in nineteen eighty five, the
cult apparently became even more sinister, and in nineteen eighty six,

(15:47):
amidst an atmosphere charged with violence, Robert Rogier took a
personal step further into the ABYSS by joining the Brotherhood.
The Brotherhood was a secretive and militant faction within the
Nation of Yahweh way that was notorious for its brutal
initiation rights. Membership into the Brotherhood required the murder of

(16:07):
those deemed white devils as per Yahweh Ben Yahweh's preaching,
and the presentation of a body part needed to be
delivered as proof of the deed. This ritualistic violence by
members of the Brotherhood was intended to cleanse the Nation
of Yahweh community from external evil influences and cement the
member's loyalty to their leader. According to the Miami Herald,

(16:32):
there was a rash of ear cases that cropped up
during this time. The brutality of the brotherhood was making
its mark on the city at large now, and people
were understandably scared. The nation of Yahweh was escalating its
violent reign, and police had yet to definitively pen crimes
on the cult. It wasn't until May twentieth, nineteen eighty

(16:53):
six that authorities finally caught a break, and sadly, that
progress came at a high price. Two police officers in
Delray Beach, an a fluent community with a majority of
residents or Caucasian, spotted a white van on a lonesome road.
The officers smelled gasoline, but as nothing illegal was readily apparent,

(17:15):
the road was just off the beaten path, and they
didn't want to stir up trouble needlessly, they just jotted
down the license plate number before leaving. If only they'd
dug deeper. Just a few hours later, a couple of
blocks away from where the officers had spotted the white van,
fire bombs exploded in a neighborhood, badly burning two children.

(17:37):
The gasoline sent the officers had picked up had been
from people inside the van making Molotov cocktails. Now, to
be clear, a Molotov cocktail is not a drink. A
Molotov cocktail is a hand thrown incendiary weapon. It consists
of a glass bottle filled with a flammable substance such
as gasoline, and is equipped with a fuse such as

(17:58):
a sock or rag soaked in alcohol or kerosene. When
the fuse is lit, it ignites the flammable contents upon impact,
creating a firebomb. Dubbed the poor man's grenade, Molotov cocktails
have a long history of collateral damage and it was
devastating to the Delray Beach community. They have children caught

(18:18):
in the crossfire of Yahweh Ben Yahweh's twisted battle. The
only silver lining from this tragedy was that it helped
unlock another piece of the evidence puzzle. Sergeant Robert Brand
with the Delray Beach Police Department went to where the
white van had been spotted before the firebomb attack and
collected samples of the kerosene gasoline mixture. It matched the

(18:42):
homemade Molotov cocktail bombs. Quickly, authorities race to identify who
the van belonged to, now that they'd identified the vehicle
as the bomb creation site, and guess what. The license
plate was traced back to a very well known owner,
the Nation of Yahweh in Miamiami. So Sergeant Brand went
to the Temple of Love to follow up the lead

(19:04):
and noticed a very unusual looking wine bottle in a
display case. It was the same type of bottle that
had been used for the Molotov cocktails in Delray Beach.
From this moment, it seemed as though the police had
caught a tailwind, with their long stagnant investigation into the
Nation of Yahweh suddenly making progress on the heels of

(19:27):
the fire bombing. The guilt ridden former Nation of Yahweh
elder Khalil Amani, who has also gone by the names
Lloyd Clark and Yehudah Israel, pushed his own fear to
one side and walked into the Miami FBI headquarters. Overwhelmed
by remorse for his activities while in the cult, and
particularly upset that an infant girl had been injured in

(19:49):
the Nation of Yahweh's Delray Beach explosion. Khalil exposed the
extensive criminal activities of his former sect. The list of
transgressions he revealed included bombings, child abuse, welfare fraud, and murders.
Yet still, the police needed someone to corroborate Khalilamani's confessions

(20:12):
in order to make their case against the powerful Nation
of Yahweh stick. So, instead of arresting Khalilamani for his
role in Yahweh's criminal empire, the FBI recruited him to
work under the code name El Indio, hoping that he
could help them identify and encourage other Yahwehs to come forward.
But before Khalilamani and the FBI could strategize a peaceful

(20:34):
solution to gathering witnesses, the next horror unfolded. On October
twenty eighth, nineteen eighty six, just five months after the
Delray Beach firebombing, the Nation of Yahweh initiated the siege
of a run down apartment complex in Opa Laca, Florida,
just six miles from the Temple of Love. Seventy five

(20:55):
Yahweh followers piled out of two limousines, six buses, avail
and several cars. They surrounded the building, clinching six foot
sticks they called staffs. Of life. Wielding these sticks, the
Yahwehs ordered the tenants to vacate their homes immediately. You see,
the nation of Yahweh had bought the building and they

(21:15):
were determined to take it over and kick everyone out,
even if they had to resort to violent measures to
achieve their aim. What transpired was a two day standoff.
Some desperate residents struggled with the Yahwehs, and gunfire was
heard from inside the complex. Furious and frightened residents called

(21:35):
Opolaca police to no avail. In the time that it
took the police to arrive on the scene, the situation
escalated to a deadly level. Two residents denounced the Yahwehs
on TV, and ten hours later they were shot dead.
Former local ten news reporter Vicki Fraser reported from the
scene that the apartment complex had now become the site

(21:56):
of a double homicide, saying the victims are rooted off.
Broussard and Anthony Brown, who witnesses said apparently argued with
Yahweh members just hours before they were found shot. They
were shot within close range and the head and back.
Broussard died at the scene. Brown was heard pleading for
his life as he tried to escape. Sources say he

(22:18):
was shot once in the back, then three more times
in the head. He died two hours later at Jackson
Memorial Hospital. A green car that had entered the complex
was impounded with several white robes like the ones worn
by members of the Nation of Yahweh in the back seat.
At the scene, Metro Dade police found an unidentified man

(22:42):
hiding in a field close by. He was wearing the
familiar white turban worn by Yahweh members. Someone else donning
white was on side of the Opa Laca siege as well.
Robert Rogier, and Robert's crimes had finally caught up with him,
as the investigation into the shooting death of residents Rudolf
Broussard and Anthony Brown revealed his fingerprints everywhere. The sloppiness

(23:07):
of the crime scene itself exuded arrogance or perhaps laziness,
and delivered incontrovertible evidence to the police of Robert's involvement.
During his arrest, the bizarre details Robert Rogier provided to
the officers, such as listing his age as four hundred
and four years old and his proclamation of praise Yahweh

(23:27):
response to police questioning underscored the deep indoctrination he had undergone.
Backed into a corner by assistant state Attorneys Don Horne
and Michael Band, Robert Rogier confessed to everything in exchange
for a lesser sentence, admitting to murder as part of
his initiation into the ultra violent Yahweh sect of the Brotherhood,

(23:49):
and to the executions of Rudolf Broussard and Anthony Brown.
For his cooperation, Robert received a plea deal granting him
a reduced prison sentence of twenty two years. The fact
that any deal was on the table for Robert, given
the severity of his crimes, highlights the desperate need police
officers had for inside information to dismantle the Nation of

(24:12):
Yahweh cults operations. It seemed that Robert's details, coupled with
the account provided by Khalil Amani, would at least be
sufficient for the authorities to act. Ironically, Miami Mayor Xavier L. Suarez,
who clearly did not have insight into the investigation unfolding
in his own backyard, declared a Yahweh ben Yahweh Day

(24:33):
on October seventh, nineteen ninety. Just a month later, Mayor
Suarez had to distance himself from the proclamation. When Yahweh
ben Yahweh was indicted on federal racketeering and conspiracy charges,
Mayor Suarez must have been stunned to have his political
pandering backfire so quickly, and of course he promptly emphasized
that the Yahweh ben Yahweh day had been requested by

(24:55):
another commissioner and that he himself had only ever met
the Nation of Yahwa leader once. At times, the stomach
churning nature of politics gives the scandals I serve up
when playing thirty a run for their money. In any event,
With Miami's mayor busy cleaning egg from his face and
the press in a frenzy, Yahweh Ben Yahweh's trial moved forward,

(25:20):
as well as the trial of fifteen other Nation of
Yahweh members, on January second, nineteen ninety two. The legal
proceeding were set against the backdrop of dramatic courtroom dynamics,
including the presence of heavily guarded defendants in white robes
and turbans, and the charges were incredibly serious, encompassing at
least fourteen murders, along with a gruesome attempted beheading and

(25:44):
the Delray Beach firebombing. Khalil Lamani, the ex cult member
turned FBI informant, was the first witness to testify against
Yahweh Ben Yahweh himself. Looking eye to eye in that
courtroom was terrifying, Khalil later admitted, but I knew it
had to be done. It was liberating for me to
look at Yahweh Ben Yahweh and speak my peace. Other

(26:06):
witnesses followed Khalil's lead, corroborating the atmosphere of fear and
brutality within the cult and recounting appalling acts of violence,
including the public beating death of twenty two year old
karate champion Leonard Duprie. According to The La Times, one
of the prosecution's witnesses was Yahweh Ben Yahweh's sister, Jean Solomon,

(26:28):
a former sect member, who testified that she and about
seventy others had gathered in the Temple of Love to
watch as a former karate champion was beaten to death
with a tire iron. After Leonard Duprie was dead, Jane
Solomon said Yahweh ordered her and other women to strike
the body. According to crimelibrary dot Org, Yahweh Ben Yahweh

(26:51):
made every single man, woman, and child in his congregation
hit the dying Leonard Dupree as he screamed in agony,
reasoning that they would all be bound together by blood.
Yahweh viewed this is ensuring that no one's hand would
be clean and that no one would be able to
denounce the murder to the authorities. The flock that kills together,

(27:14):
Yahweh reasoned, stays together. After Leonard Dupree's slow and agonizing death,
a group of men rolled his body up in carpet
and dumped it near a canal. They later claimed or
have forgotten the exact location, and to this day police
have never been able to recover Leonard's body. That is
an absolutely horrifying account, and when Robert Rogier took the stand,

(27:40):
his testimony was equally chilling. The initial question posed by
Assistant US Attorney Trudynuviki to Robert was stark, how many
people have you killed or helped to kill? Robert's response
was immediate seven. He elaborated that six of these killings
were executed under direct orders from Yahweh Ben Yahweh, with

(28:02):
the seventh victim being a persistent panhandler whose requests for
money and cigarettes drove Robert to kill him. Robert Rogier
described how he and other cult members were instructed by
Yahwei Ben Yahweh to kill any white devil they encountered.
He then recounted a specific episode where they found a

(28:23):
man unconscious in a car outside a bar. Using their
twelve inch blades, which were standard issue for the sex
so called Death Angels, they stabbed the man repeatedly. After
severing one of his ears and accidentally losing it in
the dark, they successfully took the other as a trophy
to present to Yahweh Ben Yahweh. Robert claimed that Yahweh's

(28:44):
reaction to this brutal act was one of sheer joy,
highlighting the deep evil and violent worship practices that marked
the cult. As a reward for the man's ear, Yahweh
Ben Yahweh allegedly gave the Death Angels a day off
from their duties, and Robert Rogier casually noted in his
testimony that they celebrated by going to the movies. Of course,

(29:10):
the defense challenged Robert Rosier's credibility. In classic form, head
defense attorney Alsie Hastings portrayed Robert as a liar seeking
to reduce his own sentence by slinging mud at Yahweh
ben Yahweh. Attorney Hastings and his team pointed out that
there was no definitive evidence that Yahweh bin Yahweh himself
had ordered the killings and claimed that Robert was an

(29:33):
independent serial killer. Once Robert Rogier's questioning had concluded, Yahweh
ben Yahweh took the stand and introduced himself to the
jurors as the grand Master of the Celestial Lodge, architect
of the universe, blessed and only potentate, and founder of
the Nation of Yahweh. He continued to preach to the jurors,

(29:55):
saying that he had been the son of God all
my life but didn't know it. Even as he was
on trial for serious crimes, Yahwei ben Yahweh exuded confidence,
clearly believing that he could convince the jury of his
innocence in the same way he convinced Robert Rosier and
so many others in his flock to become killers in
his name. But the jurors didn't buy that the cult

(30:21):
leader was the son of God, and on September fourth,
nineteen ninety two, yahwe Ben Yahweh was convicted of conspiracy
to commit murder and received an eighteen year prison sentence.
Six Nation of Yahweh members received sentences between fifteen and
sixteen and a half years of imprisonment, and Robert Rojier
received his twenty two year reduced plea deal sentence. Nowadays,

(30:44):
only about forty four percent of prisoners in the United
States served their full term, so it's not entirely surprising
that Yahwei Ben Yahweh served just nine years before being
released on parole in two thousand and one at the
age of sixty six. Following his release, yaiyawe Ben Yahweh
wanted to rejoin his followers, but he was prohibited from
communicating with the Nation of Yahweh members by the courts.

(31:07):
He eventually passed away in two thousand and seven at
his home in Opa Loaca, Florida, from prostate cancer. Today,
the Nation of Yahweh still exists, but is much diminished
in size and influence, with most of its assets depleted.
While the group no longer openly expresses its most controversial doctrines,
the core beliefs remain largely unchanged, and yahwe Ben Yahweh

(31:31):
continues to be revered as a messianic figure by many
of the remaining followers. As for Robert Rogier, the talented
athlete turned serial killer, he seemed never to learn the
path of righteousness. After serving only ten years of his
twenty two year sentence, Robert was released and given support

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under the Federal Witness Protection Program. As of twenty twelve,
it cost taxpayers ten million dollars a year to keep
the United States Federal Witness Protection Program or float. And
you might be interested to know that less than five
percent of relocated witnesses are actually free of any wrongdoing.
According to Mental Floss, the vast majority of people in

(32:14):
witness protection are career hoods looking to be absolved of
charges for their own activities and protected from retribution. That's
certainly not how the Witness Protection program is portrayed in
the movies. Is it not to mention that different sources
put the recidivism rate for Witness Protection members at anywhere
between ten and twenty percent. Given Robert's history, the likelihood

(32:37):
of him breaking the law even after being given yet
another chance on the taxpayer's dollar was, let's face it,
pretty high. And that's exactly what happened. Despite getting a
new name, he became Robert Ramsay's instead of Robert Rozier.
On release into the Witness Protection program, Robert couldn't tow
the line. He tried to find peace in spiritualism and

(32:59):
even arder to build a normal life, engaging in entrepreneurial
ventures like auto detailing and web design while helping to
raise two children, But he threw all of his progress
away by going back to his roots and writing bounced
checks again. At age forty three, finally having established a
life of relative security, Robert repeated the same crime he'd

(33:22):
engaged in while playing for the Canadian Football League as
a thirty one year old back in nineteen eighty six.
The Eldorado County Deputies arrested Robert for writing the fraudulent
checks totaling just over two thousand, two hundred dollars. On
February fifth, nineteen ninety nine, Robert's anonymity in witness Protection
was blown, exposing him to serious danger. He is probably

(33:47):
the Nation of Yahweh's most hated enemy. Set Assistant US
Attorney Richard Scruggs, who prosecuted the Yahweh case, Robert Rogier
is their Judas, their enemy number one. Now Judas had
been brought out into the open with his life on
the line, all because he behaved recklessly. Not only that,
but under California's stringent three strikes law, Robert Rosier's past

(34:10):
offenses turned what might have been a misdemeanor into a
felony charge. He was convicted of check fraud, and this
time Robert received a twenty five year to life prison sentence. Currently,
Robert Rogier is still incarcerated at Mule Creek State Prison,
which is known for housing high profile criminals. Despite his

(34:30):
attempts at parole, Robert was denied release in twenty twenty
two and won't be eligible again until twenty twenty seven.
Robert Rosier's life, marked by glorious moments on the football field,
blinding darkness within a cult, and an ongoing struggle to
find his true purpose, serves as a potent reminder of
the profound impacts of our choices and the enduring shadows

(34:54):
they cast. Now, that was a scandal that stays with you,
causing more heartburn than a glass of carbonated orange juice.
What a terrible tragedy on every level, But it's also
an important tragedy to cover here. On Playing Dirty, We're
shining a light into sports darkest corners is more than

(35:14):
just storytelling. It's educating. As Rick Ross, an international cult
expert who runs the Cult Education Institute, wants everyone to understand,
extreme violence isn't the reason people join a group like
the Nation of Yahweh. Cults run a bait and switch
con Rick emphasized, they lure you in through false promises.

(35:36):
They don't reveal what's really behind the door because that
would scare off recruits. These groups are predatory. They feed
on people's vulnerabilities. It's important to share Rick Ross's words
in Robert Rogier's story because despite hearing less about cults
in the news nowadays, membership in sex is actually on

(35:56):
the rise. According to Eric Sweitzer, mtsph, a clinical psychologist
and director of the Cheris Counseling Centers in Massachusetts and
Rhode Island, Robert Rosier's tale isn't one that's relegated to history.
It remains pertinent today. Join me You're Brave, Barista and
Committed hosts Jay Harris for next week's fresh episode of

(36:19):
Playing Dirty Sports Scandals. Playing Dirty Sports Scandals is a
production of Dan Patrick Productions, never Ever Productions and Workhouse
Media from executive producers Dan Patrick, Paul Anderson, Nick Panela,

(36:42):
Maya Glickman, and Jennifer Claring. Hosted by Jay Harris, Written
and produced by Jen Brown, Francie Haiks, Maya Glickman, and
Jennifer Claaren