Robert Rozier

Timeline

• 1982 — Rozier found Yahweh ben Yahweh's "Temple of Love".
• 1985 — Rozier decided to join "The Brotherhood", Yahweh's secret group.
• 1986 — Rozier was arrested and charged with murder.
• 1986 — Rozier was sentenced to 22 years in prison in Florida.
• 1996 — Rozier was set free after serving 10 years of a 22-year sentence; he was released with a new name and identity Robert Earnest Rozier (born July 28, 1955, in Anchorage, Alaska); he became involved with "The Brotherhood".
• 1996 — Rozier was set loose after testifying against Yahweh Ben Yahweh and other members of the Yahweh sect.
• Feb. 5, 1999 — Rozier was arrested for passing a bad check for $66 to pay for a car repair in Cameron Park.
• March 24, 1999 — New Jersey prosecutors charged Robert Rozier with stabbing a homeless white man to death in Newark as a religious sacrifice to Yahweh Ben Yahweh.
• March 6, 1999 — Federal prosecutors said Rozier set out to become an executioner for a Miami cult leader.
• May 15, 2000 — The check case involving Rozier was described as delayed and pushed back to the end of June; he had been in jail for more than 15 months.
• Jan. 13, 2001 — An entry referenced an account of the case and sentencing issue.
• Friday (year not specified) — An El Dorado County judge sentenced Rozier to 25 years to life in state prison under California's three strikes sentencing law.

Background

Robert Rozier was associated with Yahweh ben Yahweh's cult and its Temple of Love, and he later lived under different identities, including “Neariah Israel” and “Robert Rameses.” He adopted the name “Neariah Israel,” meaning “child of god,” after first serving a six month prison sentence and moving into the temple full time. Later, he joined “The Brotherhood,” Yahweh’s secret group, which required murdering a “white devil” and returning with a body part to join.

Rozier was born on July 28, 1955, in Anchorage, Alaska. Early in life, he attended Cordova High School in Sacramento, California, then attended Aberdeen Junior College before transferring to the University of California at Berkeley, where he played defensive end for the football team. He was drafted in the 9th round of the 1979 NFL Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals (pick 228 overall). He played in only six games before being released, allegedly for issues involving drugs. After leaving the NFL, he became involved with “The Brotherhood,” an alleged cult led by Yahweh ben Yahweh.

Rozier was also described as a protected federal witness, later living anonymously in Cameron Park while using the name Robert Rameses under the federal Witness Protection Program. He was described as having an auto-detailing business in Sacramento, having worked odd construction jobs in El Dorado County, and regularly stopping in for drinks at a roadside tavern in Coloma.

The offence

Rozier found the Temple of Love in 1982 and moved into the temple full time after first serving a six month prison sentence. In 1985, he decided to join “The Brotherhood,” Yahweh’s secret group, that required murdering a “white devil” and returning with a body part to join. Rozier admitted to killing seven people to please Yahweh. He was described as descending into Miami's Coconut Grove district and repeatedly stabbing an intoxicated man and his roommate until they died.

Rozier pleaded guilty in Florida to four murders and confessed to three other killings. He was later described as having “total remorse” for his actions as Neariah Israel and as having rebuilt his life through an intense spiritual and intellectual transformation.

In New Jersey, prosecutors charged Rozier with stabbing a homeless white man to death in Newark as a religious sacrifice to Yahweh Ben Yahweh. Prosecutors said Rozier stabbed Attilio Cicala in 1984 as a sacrifice a few days before the cult's leader was to visit Newark. Rozier was described as admitting killing seven people and as presently being in jail in California on $1 million bail at the time of the charging.

Investigation

El Dorado County deputies investigated Rozier’s bad check allegations after a manager of a Cameron Park auto parks store complained about a bounced $66 check for brake shoes. Rozier later volunteered that “Robert Rameses” was the name he took under the federal Witness Protection Program; he was described as “Bobby Rozier” before that.

Authorities tracked a total of 29 bounced checks totaling more than $2,000. Those checks were described as being for video rentals, groceries, tires and his bar tab. Rozier claimed there was a bank error, and authorities said he knowingly wrote checks on a closed account.

Police reported that Rozier’s fingerprints had been found at the scene of two random murders where transients were killed and their ears sliced off, and that press releases linked him with at least five murders in Miami and environs. Authorities in St. Louis and New York City were described as studying his possible involvement in other unsolved homicides.

Arrest

Rozier was arrested on multiple murder charges in Miami in November 1986. The arrest report listed his age as “404 years.” Rozier was described as being arrested and charged with murder on October 31, 1986.

After being released in 1996 with a new name and identity and after being placed in witness protection under the name Robert Ramses, Rozier was arrested on Feb. 5, 1999, for passing a bad check for $66 to pay for a car repair. After finding Rozier's true identity, police discovered a trail of 29 bounced checks totaling more than $2,000 and charged him with a felony. He was convicted under California’s third strike law.

Rozier remained in jail in the bad check case in lieu of $10 million bail, described as 10 times the bail amount in the New Jersey homicide case.

Trial

Rozier’s trial in El Dorado County was delayed repeatedly and pushed back to the end of June. He had gone through four defense attorneys in a month. Defense attorney William T. Yankey argued that Rozier should not have been subjected to sentencing under the “three strikes” law due to the service he provided the U.S. government in risking his life to testify against the Miami cult.

During pretrial hearings, Rozier’s original attorney, William T. Yankey, put a procession of Placerville county jail commanders and correctional officers on the witness stand to establish that jailers had opened several pieces of Rozier’s legal mail in violation of jail policy. Rozier protested practices that kept him shackled at the legs, waist and hands as he was moved about the facility. He subpoenaed officers to testify about a shooting drill in which volleys of birdshot were fired directly outside inmate cells, including Rozier’s.

Rozier reacted to disclosures about phone conversations between the prosecutor and an attorney for the Yahweh Ben Yahweh sect. Prosecutor Paul Sutherland disclosed he had had phone conversations with Texas attorney Wendy Rush and that he accepted Rush’s offer to provide him with transcripts of Rozier's Florida testimony, and notified the court when the lawyer said a Yahweh representative might want to visit the trial. Rozier said:

“Oh, my goodness. There's a huge contract out on my life”

Rozier disavowed his Florida past and claimed he was brainwashed and ordered to kill by cult leader Yahweh, described as “God on planet Earth.”

Rozier’s attorneys sought to subpoena U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno. Sacramento lawyer Angelo Vitale launched an attempt to subpoena her, but Kingsbury later appointed a local lawyer, El Dorado County attorney Lori London, to represent Rozier. London declined comment on the case.

Rozier said he feared for his safety because of contacts between an El Dorado County prosecutor and an attorney for a religious sect that he claimed wanted him dead. Rozier charged that his prosecution violated a plea bargain he made to become a star witness for the U.S. government.

Sentencing

El Dorado County judge Eddie T. Keller sentenced Rozier to 25 years to life in state prison under California’s three strikes sentencing law. The sentencing occurred after arguments in court and concluded the bounced-check case. Keller stated that “words like depraved, vicious, ruthless and callous come to mind” and sentenced him to the maximum term under California’s three strikes sentencing law for bouncing 27 checks totaling $2,200.

Judge Keller also lectured Rozier, stating:

“It was probably one of the greatest gifts, Mr. Rameses. You were home free. Free of the death penalty. Free of those cults. And you went back to committing crimes,”

Before the California three strikes sentence, Rozier had pleaded guilty in Florida to four murders and confessed to three others as part of a plea bargain. He won a reduced prison term for testifying against Miami sect leader Yahweh Ben Yahweh and his cult. In Florida, he was sentenced to 22 years in prison in 1986, served 10 years, and was released in 1996 with a new name and identity.

Appeals

No appeal information appeared in the provided material.

Outcome

Rozier was convicted in the El Dorado County check case and sentenced to 25 years to life under California’s three strikes law. At the time of reporting, he was described as awaiting a trial that could keep him behind bars for the rest of his years, but the case later reached the sentencing described above.

Aftermath

Rozier was described as living as Robert Rameses in Cameron Park while the check case progressed. He said he was sick of the wait in El Dorado County and would rather be shipped east to take his chances, saying:

“The United States government says this man has a whole new identity,”

He also said:

“And El Dorado County says, 'No, he doesn't.' ... If you have a man with a homicide charge, why spend this much on a check case? It should have been taken care of a long time ago.”

Rozier said his hidden past had become public and that his life was in danger. Neariah Israel was described as “long, long dead,” and Rozier said:

“I don't know how else to explain it, but that person is gone.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Scruggs described him as:

“He is probably their most hated enemy,”

and also said:

“He is their Judas, their enemy number one.”

Prosecutor Paul Sutherland stated:

“We're going to do everything we can to put him away. It's just unfortunate that the state of Florida couldn't do this.”

Other details

Rozier was described as saying that “Isn't that how they trained the Marines, by dehumanizing the enemy?” and also saying:

“I am the first to come to grips with what happened,”
“I am not living in a psychotic world. I'm living in a real world and having to face myself. I have grieved more than any human being can grieve.”

El Dorado County Sheriff Hal Barker said he criticized the shooting drill and said it shouldn't have been conducted while inmates were present. Judge Suzanne N. Kingsbury removed Rozier’s attorney as defense counsel and ordered a hearing on possible sanctions after a delay request just as jury selection was to begin in March.

Rozier’s New Jersey attorney, Herb Waldman, said Rozier, then an elder for a Yahweh temple in Newark, witnessed the killing and identified two assailants to authorities but did not participate.

El Dorado County District Attorney Gary Lacy said he feared New Jersey authorities may have a hard time winning a 16-year-old murder case and declared that the best chance to put Rozier away was the bad check case in his county. Lacy also said he vowed to finish it before turning Rozier over to New Jersey for prosecution.

Rozier was listed with aliases including Neriah Israel and Robert Rameses. He was described as an enforcer for the Hebrew Israelite cult and as having killed cult defectors and opponents, including at least one victim killed from personal spite. He was described as living under a third strike conviction for check kiting under California law.