Redlands police this week arrested a third leader of a secretive Hemet-based religious order in connection with the disappearance of a Tennessee man who was an ex-congregant and last known to be seen at a Starbucks in Redlands in 2023.
Ramon Ruiz Duran Jr., 44, was arrested on suspicion of murder and conspiracy to commit murder, both for the missing man, Redlands police said.
He was apprehended in Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday, Jan. 12, and waived extradition to California. He was booked into the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga on Thursday, Jan. 15.
On Friday, Duran pleaded not guilty to both charges in Superior Court in San Bernardino. He was being held in lieu of $1 million bail.
“Duran was a senior member of His Spirit Led Assemblies,” said Jacquelyn Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office.
Emilio Ghanem, 40 at the time of his disappearance, remains missing as of Friday. Authorities say they believe he is dead.
The charges against Duran follow murder charges against the heads of the church that District Attorney Jason Anderson has described as a “tightly controlled religious organization that is centered around their beliefs and also centered around being a business.”
Shelley Bailey “Kat” Martin, 62, who calls herself Prophetess, was charged with two counts of murder: one for Ghanem, and another for the 2010 death of 4-year-old Timothy Thomas, who was placed in the care of Martin and her husband by his parents and died of a ruptured appendix, authorities said.
Martin’s husband, Darryl Muzic Martin, 58, who goes by Pastor Muzic, was charged with murder in Timothy’s death. Timothy’s father, Andre Thomas, was charged with murder in his son’s death as well.
And congregant Rudy Franco Moreno, 43, was charged with murder in the apparent death of Ghanem.
All have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Anderson, on Friday, revealed to a Southern California News Group reporter a detail never previously publicly disclosed: Prosecutors believe Rudy Moreno and Duran were working with Ghanem “at or near” the time of his disappearance. They pretended to want to be in business with Ghanem, but it was a ruse, Anderson said.
Ghanem worked for the church’s pest-control business before leaving the order and establishing his own pest-control firm. Before Ghanem vanished, the church sent him a cease-and-desist letter accusing him of stealing its customers, authorities said.
Separately, Claremont police are investigating the disappearance of another ex-congregant, Ruben Moreno, who is Rudy Moreno’s brother.