Deputies Oust Group Living in Angeles Forest

A woman calling herself the God Jehovah and eight followers who have lived since December in an elaborate shelter--complete with moat--in Angeles National Forest must now answer to a higher authority: the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The eight women and one man, all dressed in matching white shirts and pants, were arrested Friday on suspicion of trespassing after ignoring numerous requests by U.S. Forest Service officials to move, authorities said. In a letter to Forest Service officials, the group said divine revelation led them to the base of the 4,021-foot Warm Spring Lookout peak.

“They were going to pray for [victims of] the earthquake,” said Dani Lear, a U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officer. “They were going to pray for the Oklahoma City bombing [victims]. They apparently were praying for everything.”

A canvas and plywood shelter with Astroturf for carpet was built around a van the group parked next to a fire road in Warm Spring Canyon, about 10 miles north of Castaic, Lear said. She said the shelter included an insulated roof, a stone patio and a shallow moat dug around the van.

“The whole thing was neat,” she said. “There was nothing dirty about it. It was just a very permanent situation, or so they thought.”

But Lear said the group was using nearby bushes as toilets and burying large amounts of trash. Although camping in the remote area is legal for limited amounts of time, Lear said she knew of no one who had done so since campgrounds are located a few miles away.

Arrested were Nan-Hyang An, 54, who claimed to be the divine leader of the group, Kum-Suon Kuon, 62, Jung-Sook Park, 38, Chon-Ho Sin, 41, Pil-Sook Kim, 43, Mi-Sook Park, 31, Jae-Soo Chang, 41, Mak-Mak Cho, 51, and Chang-Hwan An, 35. Deputies said all are considered unemployed transients.

Forest Service employees first encountered the group Dec. 20, thinking the van and a subcompact car they also brought to the area were stuck in mud, according to a report by Deputy Bryan White. Members of the group refused offers of help and agreed not to camp at the site for more than 21 days.

Authorities continued asking the group to move throughout the winter and during the spring, White noted. Each time the group promised to move on, but never did.

They got water from a nearby stream and food apparently was purchased in bulk at a warehouse store. They were always seen wearing white uniforms or dark-green sweat clothes, Lear said. She said they apparently spent a large amount of time writing on legal tablets at the shelter.

Lear said she first encountered the group about a week ago and--not knowing about previous attempts to dislodge them--told them they had to leave by last Thursday. When Lear returned to the camp on Friday she received a six-page letter from Nan-Hyang An stating the group was required by divine order to remain at the location and authorities were “beasts and worms” for trying to make them move.

“They had no intentions of moving anybody, and they were going to stay there until they died,” Lear said.

Sheriff’s deputies arrested the group mostly without incident, although Lear said Nan-Hyang An “got a little pushy” until she was handcuffed. All nine remain in custody pending a decision by the district attorney’s office on whether charges will be filed against them.

But the mystery surrounding the group isn’t over yet. Lear said Forest Service employees are still taking apart the shelter and determining what else may have occurred in the canyon during all those months.

“In the letter they stated that they wanted to let me in on a secret,” Lear said. “They had a castle built into the mountain by the stream and had camouflaged it with bushes and such.”

She and other Forest Service employees found a trail near the shelter that they thought might lead to the “castle,” but instead found a clearing among some bushes.

“We started digging and found all kinds of trash,” she said. “There were three large suitcases full of clothes, acupuncture sets, and as we continued digging among all the clothes and trash we found more brand-new clothes.”

Lear said workers will continue searching the canyon, believing almost anything is possible after all that has occurred over the past several months. “We are still under the impression that there is a castle down there somewhere,” she said.