DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A DeKalb County man is behind bars following a raid on his home Wednesday night. Eligio Bishop, aka “Nature Boy,” is charged with rape, false imprisonment, and various other charges.
Our cameras were on Wednesday night as officers searched the home and arrested Bishop follow a three-week investigation.
Dozens of officers, detectives, and a tactical team swarmed the house on Arbor Chase. Several people were led away in handcuffs and put into squad cars.
Nearby neighbors said Bishop runs an online cult called “Carbon Nation.”
“Carbon Nation is his cult. He’s been whooping girls, beating girls, fertilizing girls, getting girls ready for marriage,” a female neighbor said, not giving her name.
“He controls them, they do what he says. And like I said, it’s turned into abuse. The neighbors have been complaining about from what I hear,” another neighbor said.
Police would only confirm that Bishop was taken to the DeKalb County Jail on charges of rape, false imprisonment, and sharing sexually explicit content on social media. He is being held without bond.
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Channel 2′s Dave Huddleston went by the home Thursday afternoon and several people who claim they are Bishop’s disciples came out and talked with him.
“Basically, the police raided us on false accusations,” a disciple by the name of Musa told Huddleston.
Musa said Bishop is their god and as a group they believe in nature, nudity, and kindness. He said the criminal accusations are from a disgruntled former member of the Carbon Nation family.
“She said she was here under false imprisonment. We have live documentation of when we said, ‘Hey, if you want to leave, you can leave, nobody is forced to stay here,’” Musa said.
Musa has live documentation because Bishop shares his beliefs and teaching on social media.
According to a 2017 report from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Bishop is a former model, stripper, and barber.
Bishop also has ties to Atlanta dating back to at least 2009, but around 2016, he and his followers moved to first to Central America , then to Honduras, and then to Costa Rica, until they were forced to leave in 2017.
In 2020, reports show Bishop was arrested in Hawaii for breaking COVID-19 quarantine rules. It is not clear when he returned to Atlanta.
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