DeKalb County jury seated in rape trial of alleged polygamist cult leader Eligio Bishop

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. - After an hours-long process, a jury was seated Wednesday in DeKalb County in the rape trial of an accused cult leader.

Prosecutors say Eligio Bishop assaulted one of his followers and then posted explicit videos of the woman online.

Dozens of prospective DeKalb County jurors faced questions Wednesday in a county courtroom as lawyers on both sides worked to figure out who will decide Bishop’s fate.

"Has anyone else heard anything about this case before you came to court today," Senior DeKalb County Assistant District Attorney Michael Coveney asked the jurors.

"Is there anyone here, you yourself, have been accused of sexual assault or improper touching," asked Bishop’s defense attorney Robert L. Booker.

The questions from prosecutors and the defense are designed to get a fair and impartial jury for Bishop who is accused of raping a woman trying to leave his alleged cult called Carbon Nation.

In March 2022, the woman says Bishop asked to see her as she was packing her stuff at a home off of DeKalb County's Lavista Road. That is when investigators say the alleged assault took place, but that is not all and that is why prosecutors asked prospective jurors this question.

"Is there anyone, themselves, a close friend or family member ever had an intimate video of themselves shared without their consent," Coveney asked.

Prosecutors say the victim later found explicit videos of her posted online. Prosecutors call it revenge porn.

During Bishop's preliminary hearing, his lawyer called the rape allegation a he said, she said situation.

The victim who we are not identifying was not present Wednesday, but one of her supporters was here.

"She is feeling strong, she's looking forward to telling her story," said Chantelle Coleman. "The totality of everything that happened that night, I think that there are a lot of people that  have only heard bits and pieces."

Bishop also had supporters at the courthouse. None of them wanted to go on camera.

Bishop faces several charges, including rape and three counts of sharing sexually explicit content illegally.

The trial is expected to last a week and a half.

Who is Eligio Bishop, "Natureboy," "3God?"

Eligio Bishop, the 41-year-old leader of the suspected cult Carbon Nation who goes by "Natureboy" and "3God," is facing charges of rape, false imprisonment, and prohibition on sexually explicit transmissions.

Bishop has been in custody in DeKalb County since 2022, when he was arrested in April after a former member of his organization went to the police.

The woman recently left the group and told police how Bishop mistreated women.

Jury selection and a motions hearing were set to begin at 9 a.m. on Wednesday in DeKalb County Superior Court.

SUSPECTED CULT LEADER ARRESTED ON RAPE, FALSE IMPRISONMENT CHARGES DURING DEKALB COUNTY RAID

Carbon Nation leader accused of abuse, revenge porn

During a hearing a month after his arrest, DeKalb County Police Detective Monica Panosian testified that a woman, who FOX 5 Atlanta is referring to as "AV," reported to investigators on March 30 that she had recently left Bishop's cult and that he had posted multiple videos of them having sex on Twitter without her consent.

ALLEGED SEX CULT LEADER POSTED SEXUALLY EXPLICIT VIDEOS ON TWITTER

"She stated Mr. Bishop is doing revenge porn on her because she left him," said Panosian.

AV told police Bishop had ordered other women in the group to hit her because she "made a face" at him. The woman then told Bishop she wanted to leave, and he told her to pack her things while the other women screamed at her.

As she waited for a rideshare driver to pick her up, AV told investigators Bishop asked her to come say goodbye to him.

"He began to tell her how she was his b**** and that she was no longer allowed to leave," said Det. Panosian. "She stated she began to essentially beg him to leave and began to cry. She stated Mr. Bishop then began to attempt to have sex with her. She told him no and he continued."

The woman waited until the morning when most of the other people in the house were asleep and snuck out, according to police.

Panosian said AV changed her phone number and ceased all contact with the cult. Three days after she left, police said the woman discovered the videos and called police.

Former member reflects on time with Carbon Nation

A former member of Carbon Nation told FOX 5 in 2022 that the group started out as a Black counterculture group. The woman, who was with the group for a year, said it began with a shared common goal but turned into something else entirely.

"It's a cult. It's definitely a cult," said Erikka Carroll.

Carroll said she joined the group around 2016 and that it was a positive experience at first.

"Initially, it was a great experience. It was a community of people all with the same goal but when that goal started to change, that's when it became toxic," she said.

Carroll said things started to change when the group moved to Honduras, and it turned from a community-centric group to one that revolved more around its leader.

"It was a lot of mental and verbal abuse. It was only physical abuse with him and his wives. It wasn't a point where he beat us," said Carroll.

Carroll said it was shortly after that time that Bishop went from the moniker "Natureboy" to his followers calling him "3God."

She now believes Bishop is someone who is brainwashing and mistreating women who trust him.

"He is someone that needs to be locked up, either in jail or in a mental asylum," Carroll said.

Carbon Nation members defend Eligio Bishop

"The Black man is God," one follower said days after Eligio Bishop's arrest. "And y'all just locked up the Messiah."

The members of Carbon National said the group focuses on positivity and called Bishop a healer of oppressed Black men and women.

"The accusations that are being brought up against 3God are false, because women, they come here on their own will," said Kayla Buckner, a Carbon Nation member.

"3God is a very caring being, a very loving being, he’s very caring, he’s very holy," one of his followers told FOX 5.

Standing outside the DeKalb County home the day after the raid, the group denied that anyone was or is being held against their will.

"This is a revolving door, you can come in and out as you please, no one is being…no one is going to hold you against your will here," said Buckner.

Members said everything sexually took place among adults and was consensual. They said several women come and go from the organization because they don’t necessarily like what they learn about themselves.

Supporters of Bishop said his arrest was just another organized attack against him.

What does Caron Nation believe?

Bishop has a heavy social media footprint having made online music videos and life coaching tapes as well as soliciting donations. The group showed some of the nonsexual videos posted by Bishop to FOX 5 after being invited into his home on Thursday.

Despite being an American citizen and Atlanta native, he took his Carbon Nation group to Central and South America to try to create what they call a more ideal community.

Carbon Nation members said they follow a vegan diet and believe — among other things — that all people are different shades of brown. 

"We had gone back to indigenous living and our true roles as men and women and some people, women come here, they don't get their way, and they go against the Black man, they do false allegations," said Buckner.

"We teach about sexuality, religion, and these are thing that as people are very defined and in confined in our belief systems," said Armstead.

Current members maintain the goal of the group has not changed.

"Our life is a matter of helping humanity and healing the Black man and woman and healing us from our traumas and our evil ways of white supremacy," Buckner said.

But for every positive thing mentioned online or by a member of the group, there appears to be at least two negative criticisms online.

According to critics of the group, followers are asked to live as part of a commune-style "family" being asked to surrender their money and possessions. Those same critics have said once members are part of the group, they are not allowed to leave. A quick search of the internet will reveal reports on at least two such members. That is something current members deny.

Critics have said the group now appears to be a cult.

"The first time I heard that, I thought it was kind of cool," Bishop told the Associated Press in 2020. "Me? A black man, a cult leader? I’m from the hood."

Bishop in the same interview expressed how his group has been misunderstood everywhere they have gone, including Costa Rica, which they were forced to leave in 2017.

"We’re a group of African Americans that are protesting our conditions by leaving them," he said. "They just make us look crazy on the internet."

The group has not only been thrown out of Costa Rica but was also asked to leave Nicaragua and Panama, according to reports.

Bishop and several members of the group were arrested back in June 2020 for violating Hawaii’s quarantine policy. They were eventually sent back to California.

The Associated Press and Claire Simms contributed to this report.