A court case involving an Aromas man charged with molesting a
13-year-old girl led several women to come forward to describe a
bizarre living situation they called a cult in the hills of San
Benito County.
Aromas – A court case involving an Aromas man charged with molesting a 13-year-old girl led several women to come forward to describe a bizarre living situation they called a cult in the hills of San Benito County.
Three women say that the man, Richarde Monde, portrayed himself as a personal growth counselor, brainwashed at least six female followers and fathered six children with three of them over two decades. He enticed them with promises of personal growth and the chance to be in a band called The Final Cut, they said.
Monde refused to comment about the criminal charges and the allegations that he’s a cult leader. He referred all comments to his attorney, Public Defender Greg La Forge. La Forge said the allegations stem from a custody battle Monde has been involved in with one of the women since November 2003.
“Based on the facts I have, I don’t believe it’s a cult at all. I don’t believe any of it, nor do I believe it’s relevant to this case,” La Forge said. “They (some of the women) are using the DA as a pawn to get an advantage in their civil case.”
San Benito County Sheriff’s detectives began investigating Monde for a
committing a lewd act with a child in July of last year and during interviews learned about the group’s alleged behavior, said Detective Chris Green. District Attorney John Sarsfield refused to comment on the molestation case because it is open.
The investigation was sparked when the child Monde allegedly molested was arrested for shoplifting in July 2003 and told her probation officer of the molestation that occurred several years before, Green said. A report wasn’t submitted to the District Attorney’s Office until January 2004 and Monde was arrested in April, according to court documents.
“The word ‘cultic’ activity has popped up numerous times, but there’s nothing illegal about that,” he said. “There have been allegations of brainwashing but we don’t know if that’s true or not.”
Green confirmed he’d heard many of the claims made by the women concerning sexual activity, possible physical and emotional abuse, the existence of a cult and brainwashing. Another local high-ranking law enforcement official confirmed many of the women’s claims and said the environment was “cult-like” and the numerous women living with Monde were “like his wives.”
The women lived with Monde, 55, in a gated and secluded house on seven acres on Chateau Drive in Aromas, said Shannon Eaton, a woman who left the group nine years ago after spending 17 years with Monde. She now lives in Santa Cruz.
The group moved into the house in 1992 and all of the women were sexually involved with Monde to some degree, Eaton said. He strictly controlled their diet, their sleeping patterns, asked them to change their names and made them work while he spent the money that was put in a communal pot, she said. Eaton worked in a mechanic shop with some of the other women in San Benito County, she said. Monde now works as a houseman at Eagle Ridge Golf Course in Gilroy, according to court documents.
Another woman, whose daughter lived with Monde for almost 13 years and is embroiled in the custody fight over their 4-year-old child, corroborated Eaton’s account of the group’s lifestyle. She asked to remain anonymous because she is afraid of Monde and said it could affect the outcome of her daughter’s custody case.
“He looks for women who are real young and without a strong father figure and he brainwashes them,” she said. “They don’t know what they’re thinking or feeling.”
The daughter, who also did not want to be named, said Monde threatened to take her child from her when she told him she was leaving the group last year.
Eaton said Monde’s claim that the women are conspiring to affect the outcome of the custody case by fabricating the lewd act charge and the allegations of a cult is “absolutely not true.” She chose to come forward and talk about her experience as a way to help her move on with her life.
“The last thing he said to me was, ‘You better not talk about what goes on here.’ That was verbatim,” Eaton said.
Many women came in and out of the house over the years, Eaton said. He kept them there by breaking down their individuality, convincing them they were dependent on the group and telling them they would never survive on their own, she said. She said Monde believed people should confront their fears and anxieties head on.
“Part of his thing was that you have no borders. There was no sacred area,” she said. “He doesn’t respect society’s standards of what’s against the law.”
Life in the house over the years was turbulent, Eaton said. Monde had a totalitarian personality, and while he wasn’t violent often, Eaton said physical abuse did occur.
Detective Green said he’d heard claims of physical and emotional abuse during the course of his investigation and that there was one previous report of physical abuse to a child that was determined to be unfounded.
“There may not have been unfounded abuse but there was not enough evidence to support it,” he said.
However, one of Monde’s neighbors, Dee Figini, said the women and children were always nice and seemed happy living in the house.
“None of the women ever had bruises, the kids never had black eyes – they were all fine,” she said. “They were healthy, clean, basically well adjusted. Clean and sober as far as I could tell.”
Figini said she had little contact with Monde – just to say “Hi” when passing on the road.
“I always thought they were great neighbors,” she said.
Not every aspect of the group was negative, Eaton said. She said Monde had all the women change their names to names that cast out all their negative personality traits and focused only on the positive. She originally changed her name to Spring but decided it was too “hippy” and then legally changed it to Shannon, she said.
“You were supposed to have a name that envisioned positive things to help you grow to be a positive person. It’s hard to understand how someone can get into a situation like this. You come for the good stuff,” she said. “A misconception of people in cults is they’re stupid or weak. Everybody there is a highly intelligent person who wanted more out of life. We just happened to meet him when we were disillusioned with the real world. They defined my reality, literally. It was worth it to me because that’s all I had.”
Eaton said two women still live with Monde.
The homes on Chateau drive are fairly spread out and another of Monde’s neighbors, who asked to remain anonymous, said he doesn’t see too much of the group but thought the arrangement was odd. He said the term cult “might have been thrown around” by other neighbors.
“There have been rumors flying about activities over there,” he said. “Other than the fact that it’s a man of color living with a group of white women, it’s enough to generate conversation. But he’s innocent until proven guilty.”
Sarsfield said he did not charge Monde with bigamy because California does not recognize common law marriages. Fifteen states and the District of Columbia recognize common law marriages between a man and a woman if they live together for a period of time and have an agreement to be married, according to the Web site findlaw.com.
Monde is scheduled to appear in court for the lewd act charge on Nov. 24 in San Benito County Superior Court.
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or
em*******@fr***********.com
