Something like this comes along...
Durham, N.C. -- Police
charged a third person Wednesday in connection with beatings and rape
that authorities say were carried out by a satanic cult.
Diana
Palmer, 44, of Cottage Woods Court, surrendered to police Wednesday
afternoon. She was charged with being an accessory after the fact of
assault with a deadly weapon and was being held in the Durham County
Jail.
Palmer posted $30,000 bond Wednesday and was released from jail.
Joseph
Craig, 25, has been charged with kidnapping, rape, forcible sexual
offense and assault in the case. His wife, Joy Johnson, 30, has been
charged with aiding and abetting. Both were being held Wednesday in the
Durham County Jail.
The couple was arrested last week after a man
and a woman told police they were beaten, shackled to beds, kept in dog
cages and starved inside a home on Albany Street. Craig is accused of
committing the crimes while his wife watched.
...
Palmer is first vice chair of the Durham County
Democratic Party. Johnson resigned her positions as third vice-chair of
the Durham County Democratic Party and vice-chair of the Young
Democrats following her arrest.
"Diana is extraordinarily
trusting and caring. I don't think she would ever knowingly do anything
wrong," county party Chairman Kevin Farmer said.
State Sen. Floyd
McKissick, D-Durham, called the case "an isolated incident" and said he
doesn't expect any other Democratic Party activists to be implicated.
The
county party's Web site was disabled Wednesday, but Farmer said that
was related to a technical problem and not the allegations against
Palmer and Johnson.