MAUSTON, Wis.(AP)
A woman accused of helping her religious leader hide a decaying
corpse on her toilet so they could continue collecting her Social
Security was convicted of a misdemeanor in a deal for her to
testify against the leader, a prosecutor said Monday.
Tammy Lewis, 36, of Necedah, pleaded no contest to obstructing a
police officer and fined $350 in a plea bargain that defers
prosecution of more serious charges. Juneau County Circuit John
Roemer ordered her to pay the fine within 60 days or serve a
seven-day jail sentence.
Lewis and Alan Bushey, 58, were accused of hiding 90-year-old
Magdeline Alvina Middlesworth's body on a toilet in Lewis'
home after she died in March. Investigators said Middlesworth and
Lewis were members of a religious sect Bushey led called the Order
of the Divine Will.
Bushey told Lewis that God would revive Middlesworth, who
friends and family said was from Washington state, investigators
said.
Lewis in May initially told a sheriff's deputy that
Middlesworth was on vacation.
The deputy later discovered the elderly woman's rotting body
in Lewis' stench-filled home.
She also told authorities she was Middlesworth's power of
attorney, and the older woman used all of her money to support
their six-member religious group. Investigators believe
Middlesworth's Social Security and annuity checks totaling
nearly $3,000 were deposited after her death into a bank account
she shared with Lewis.
As part of Lewis' plea deal, five other charges, including
three felony counts of hiding a corpse and causing mental harm to a
child, will be dismissed in two years if she cooperates with
prosecutors and follows other court orders involving her children,
District Attorney Scott Southworth said.
"We view her as a victim as well of Alan Bushey,"
Southworth said. "We also understand the power, the mental
power, that Alan Bushey was exercising over her, the coercion he
was exerting over her."
A deferred prosecution agreement calls for Lewis to continue to
receive mental health treatment and testify against Bushey in a
trial set to begin in April, the prosecutor said.
She and her two children, now ages 12 and 15, will be witnesses
in the trial, he said.
Lewis' son told detectives Bushey told him demons were
destroying Middlesworth's appearance as she decayed in the
bathroom to make it look like she wouldn't rise from the dead,
the criminal complaint said.
The mother certainly engaged in odd activities, Southworth said
Monday.
"I realize some people may say she just got off with a slap
on the hand or whatever," he said. "There is a volume of
information on the case, a lot of which I cannot divulge to the
public. Based on everything we learned, I do believe this was a
fair and just way of handling her matter."
Lewis' attorney, Dan Berkos, said his client turned to
Bushey and the sect for support about three years ago after she
separated from her husband. "She had no work skills. She
didn't have a way to provide for her children."
Bushey provided security for her, the attorney said. "It
appeared he was using money from other people to support
everybody."
The attorney said he didn't know whether Lewis believed that
praying would bring Middlesworth back to life. But Bushey had
convinced her to follow whatever he said to do, Berkos said.
Lewis is "very relieved" her case has been resolved,
he said. "She has made some really great progress emotionally
and even physically. She is looking forward. She is no longer
looking backward at how things should have been different.
Everybody is geared toward reunifying her with the kids and getting
the family back together."
That could happen within the next year, "assuming things go
well," he said.
Southworth said no plea negotiations are taking place with
Bushey.
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