Ohio Amish sect leader sentenced to 15 years for attacks

By Kim Palmer

CLEVELAND (Reuters) - An Ohio Amish sect leader was sentenced on Friday to 15 years in federal prison for his leadership role in beard- and hair-cutting attacks on members of other Amish communities in 2011.

Prosecutors had recommended a life sentence for Samuel Mullet Sr., 67, who was convicted of a hate crime in September for orchestrating attacks carried out on six Amish men and two women, though he was not present for any of them.

Fifteen of Mullet's followers in the breakaway Amish sect from Bergholz, Ohio, who were also convicted of multiple counts of conspiracy and kidnapping under federal hate crimes laws received lesser prison sentences on Friday.

(Reporting by Kim Palmer; Writing by Mary Wisniewski and David Bailey; Editing by Paul Thomasch)