HOLMESVILLE — Two more men have been arrested for the recent attack on a 74-year-old Amish man in Holmes County. Holmes County Sheriff Timothy W. Zimmerly said Eli Miller, 32, and Daniel Mullet, 37, turned themselves in this morning.
“They were in the house and participated in the attacks,” Zimmerly said.
The men arrested in Jefferson County on Saturday for the attack have been transferred to Holmes County, Zimmerly said. Court appearances for all of the suspects had not yet been scheduled as of this morning.
The men arrested in Jefferson County on kidnapping and burglary charges were Johnny Mullet, 38, Lester Mullet, 26, and Levi Miller, 53. The Mullets are sons of Sam Mullet, 66, the leader of an Amish group in Bergholz in Jefferson County.
Zimmerly said the attack apparently grew out of an incident a few years ago when Sam Mullet had a couple families shunned. A committee of Amish bishops from across the state reviewed the actions and ruled against Mullet, sparking his move to Jefferson County and setting up his own group.
The attack on the man in Holmes County was apparently an attempt to get revenge on the bishops who ruled against Mullet. The man in Holmes County was one of the bishops on the panel, as was a man attacked in Carroll County.
Zimmerly said reported attacks on women that involved cutting their hair did not occur in Holmes County. He said the only women involved were the man’s wife, who was grabbed and thrown by the attackers, and a 13-year-old girl who ran into the house. She was also struck and thrust away.
“[The females] did not have their hair cut,” Zimmerly said.
