João Teixeira de Faria, Oprah Winfrey’s spiritual healer, was sentenced to an additional 99 years in prison after pleading guilty to raping hundreds of women and young girls.
João de Deus, translated as “John of God” and also known as “The Entity,” built a worldwide reputation as a medium and faith healer in a small town in the center west Brazilian state of Goiás. Faria became famous for his intense methods of healing, praying intensely for believers by placing his hands on them to cure all their afflictions. Some even claimed some of his miraculous healings involved surgical procedures without any anesthesia.
Anti-child trafficking activist Sabrina Bittencourt “blew the whistle” on Faria, accusing him of running “a baby trafficking operation where children were then sold to childless couples,” according to a Daily Mail report back in 2018. Death threats followed Bittencourt before she mysteriously “committed suicide.”
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Faria was initially sentenced to 19 years in prison in 2018 after being found guilty of raping four women. More than 250 women came forward, accusing Faria of sexually abusive behavior at his “healing center” before he was convicted. On Monday, Faria was sentenced to an additional 99 years in prison for sexual crimes committed against additional victims between 2010 and 2018.
“With the new convictions, the medium’s sentences add up to 370 years, 9 months and 15 days in prison. The sentences await judgment of appeals. Now, there remain four criminal prosecutions against João de Deus awaiting sentencing. According to the Court of Justice of Goiás, all cases are in the final arguments phase.”
In addition to the prison sentence, Faria must pay thousands of dollars in compensation for moral damages to the victims.
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