A federal judge sentenced six leaders of a Kansas City, Kansas, based quasi-religious group who forced children to endure abuse and work long, unpaid hours.
Kaaba Majeed — the second in command to Royall Jenkins, who founded the United Nation of Islam and died in 2021 — was sentenced to 10 years in prison and three years of supervised release.
Co-defendants James Staton and Randolph Rodney Hadley were sentenced to five years in prison and one year of supervised release; Daniel Aubrey Jenkins and Dana Peach to four years in prison and one year of supervised release; and Yunus Rassoul to five years of probation.
The defendants spent 26 days on trial last August and September, and after deliberation the jury found all defendants guilty of conspiracy to commit forced labor. Majeed also was convicted of five counts of forced labor.
Etenia Kinard and Jacelyn Greenwell, who pleaded guilty to the charges, will be sentenced on Sept. 22. Sentencing for the defendants who went to trial was scheduled for Feb. 18, but was pushed back six months.
Life inside the United Nation of Islam
The group, which was deemed a cult by a federal judge in 2018, moved to Kansas City in 1996 to “create a heaven on earth for Black people to live and thrive in anticipation of the ultimate rapture,” court documents show. The group was spearheaded by Royall Jenkins — who claimed to be Allah, have the power to create natural disasters, decide if members would burn in hell, and marry multiple women.
UNOI operated in 12 states and had 3,000 to 4,000 members, according to court documents. Royall Jenkins and some defendants convinced members to give all of their possessions to UNOI — including their children.
Children were sent to Kansas City — often without warning and late at night, one former member told Kansas Reflector — to attend the “University of Islam,” where officials promised life skills and education. Instead, children were taught UNOI ideology and how to treat members of the “Royall Family,” to which most defendants belonged. At the trial, one victim testified they were taught that “women were not needed.” Multiple victims testified that it took years to catch up on education after leaving UNOI.
Members as young as 8 years old were forced to work up to 16-hour days at UNOI’s various businesses — with names like “Your Diner,” “Your Bakery,” or “Your Gas Station” — without pay, according to court documents.
Some defendants instructed the children to tell suspicious customers they were doing an internship for school, U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson wrote in an order that denied all defendants’ motions for acquittal or a new trial.
Court documents said children were “rarely allowed to live with their families.” Victims at the trial testified that members were forced to live in crowded conditions and follow strict diets, and sometimes were denied permission to purchase items like underwear.
In comparison, the defendants lived in nicer homes with their own families. Court documents show that Majeed, Rassoul, Hadley and Staton all had minor female members as live-in help for child care, cooking, and cleaning on top of their regular work duties. Although members had given up their vehicles upon entering UNOI, the defendants had access to transportation. Hadley drove a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
“Royall and his leadership, including Defendants, obtained the labor of minor children and adult members by creating a climate of fear and coercion,” Robinson wrote.
On Friday nights, members would attend “math” class at the school from two to six hours. Children would be publicly humiliated and reprimanded for breaking UNOI rules — such as walking the wrong way down the street, weighing too much according to Royall Jenkins’ standards, or using the word “hi,” which Royall Jenkins said was connoted with hell. Their “disciplinary action” would be physical assault, with members of the group punching the subject in the chest in front of the auditorium. Court documents show that each defendant except for Peach spoke at “math” class.
“The climate of fear was created by not only subjecting someone to discipline, but by subjecting others to witnessing or even hearing about the discipline of someone else,” Robinson wrote.
At the trial, victims testified of beatings — with one testifying that Hadley and Daniel Aubrey Jenkins held him over train tracks.
One testified at age 8 she was forced to fast for two days, and from ages 7 to 12 she was forced to receive twice-weekly colonics.
Peach, who did not have any medical training, ran the “Kansas City Wellness Center” where these colonics were administered. Members needed permission to receive outside medical care and rarely received it. Instead, they would receive “treatments” from Peach.
Court documents show that multiple members died because they were denied proper medical care. One of those members was Shaquanta Williams, a 14-year-old girl who had begged Royall Jenkins to allow her to go to the hospital.
Royall Jenkins believed sickness was brought on by personal will, and ensured his members immortality. He said he could spiritually heal them. He died from complications of COVID-19.
The defendants
Court documents show that on Jan. 6, 2013, UNOI was effectively shut down.
While on trial, Majeed said that members of the board — including Majeed, Rassoul, and Staton — planned to shut down the organization after learning that Royall Jenkins had been using the funds for his lavish lifestyle and forcing his wives to have sex with one another.
“We tried to do a stealth breakdown, remove everything, then have Royall find out,” Majeed testified. “Our attempt was to make sure this didn’t happen again. Period.”
But Majeed said there was nothing he could do to stop Royall Jenkins.
“Going to the police would’ve stopped him,” said Maryam Zhuravitsky, an attorney with the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit, during cross-examination.
Robinson found that each of the defendants’ roles were essential to maintain the forced labor.
“This included but was not limited to Majeed’s leadership role as the second-in-command under Royall, directing UNOI officials in running its many businesses,” Robinson wrote in an order that denied the defendants new trials.
Majeed, 51, faced a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
While all defendants faced charges of forced labor involving specific victims, Majeed was the only one charged beyond conspiracy. Majeed and Rassoul were the only defendants to testify at trial.
The victims testified that Majeed and Rassoul separated and isolated siblings and that he coached minors to lie about their age to Department of Labor investigators.
Robinson wrote that “Rassoul’s role as the Supreme Minister, teaching UNOI adult and minor children the ideology and rules of UNOI and making dispatch decisions about minors” was essential to maintain the forced labor.
Rassoul, who at 39 is the youngest defendant, faced up to five years in prison.
“All the witnesses with knowledge of Yunus’ youth acknowledged their belief that Yunus had been brought into the cult at a very young age by his parents and had worked in the cult’s businesses (as a child, for free) just as they had,” wrote Tricia Bath, Rassoul’s attorney, in a court document.
The government argued that when Rassoul became a member of the board he “was no longer youthful at age 26.”
Robinson wrote that Rassoul was raised in UNOI. He married Royall Jenkins’ granddaughter and was adopted to the “Royall” family.
Robinson found that “Staton’s role as the CFO, overseeing marketing, public relations, and being the primary leader of ‘math class’ where teachings were applied and discipline ordered,” made him essential to maintain the forced labor.
Staton, 63, faced up to five years in prison.
Robinson wrote that “Hadley’s role in developing and running the biodiesel lab, teaching at the University of Islam, and directly imposing discipline, including severe punishments such as beat downs” made him essential to maintain the forced labor.
Hadley, 50, faced up to five years in prison.
Robinson wrote that Daniel Aubrey Jenkins’ role in “developing business and imposing severe discipline” made him essential to maintain the forced labor.
Daniel Aubrey Jenkins, 44, faced up to five years in prison.
Robinson found that “Peach’s role in developing and running the Wellness Centers and imposing discipline” made her essential to maintain the forced labor.
Peach, 60, faced up to five years in prison.
This story was originally published by the Kansas Reflector.
