Woman Pleads Innocent to Beating Children

One of the three women facing felony charges for allegedly beating their own children as a religious discipline pleaded not guilty Wednesday.

Valerie Okongwu was charged with three counts of unlawful corporal punishment for allegedly beating three of her children in a supposed religious ritual to purge them of demonic influences, authorities said.

A second woman, Yulonda Wade, who faces four similar charges, is free on bail, and the third, Nita Sims, is in custody on outstanding traffic warrants and will be charged with three unlawful corporal punishment felonies, Los Angeles police said.

Nine children taken away from members of the Jesus Cathedral religious group the day after Christmas are now in foster care, and another is with a relative, police said.

Officers said that when the children, as young as 4 years old, misbehaved, they were whipped until they screamed “Demon anger, be out of me!”