Alan Bushey Sentenced

Alan Bushey won't be hiding any corpses and collecting the Social Security checks of the deceased for two years.

From the Wisconsin State Journal:

The Necedah religious leader who pleaded no contest in February to hiding the body of an elderly follower on a toilet for weeks was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison.

Alan Bushey, 59, also faces three years of extended supervision for the crime, in which he told a parishioner to keep the corpse of 90-year-old Magdeline Alvina Middlesworth in her house because the woman could be restored to life by faith and prayer. Her body was left to decompose on a bathroom toilet for weeks before it was discovered by investigators in May 2008.

Prosecutors said Bushey kept the body hidden so he could collect Middlesworth’s Social Security checks and annuities. Bushey’s attorney, Thomas Steinman, argued that Bushey thought God would bring Middlesworth back to life.

Bushey's attorney argued that Bushey thought God would bring Middlesworth back to life.

Yeah, right.

Why was he collecting her Social Security checks and annuities? Did he intend to deliver the money to her when she came back to life? Was that the plan?

Bushey is a con man using his religion as a front.

The sentence by Juneau County Circuit Court Judge John Roemer came after a four-hour session capped by an apology from Bushey in which he said he truly believed there was a chance God could have performed a miracle and restored Middlesworth to life.

"We’re supposed to do the natural thing — I should have called the coroner — and leave the supernatural to God," Bushey told the court. "I really blew it."

Why would Bushey call the coroner if he really believed God might be bringing Middlesworth back to life?

His apology doesn't fit with the beliefs he proclaims.

Why would he say that he "really blew it"?

Does Bushey no longer think that God intended to raise the woman from the dead?

I wonder if God told Bushey to keep collecting those checks for two months.

Roemer, who called the case "horrific," said the rotting corpse devastated the two children, now 14 and 16, who lived in the house. District Attorney Scott Southworth said they had to use a bucket in a closet for a toilet. Bushey told them that a demon was making the body decay and that they weren’t praying hard enough to bring Middlesworth back to life, Southworth added.

Bushey had also been charged with two counts of causing mental harm to a child and two counts of theft. Those counts were dismissed in the plea agreement, but a single count of causing mental harm to a child was read in for sentencing purposes.

This is really a terribly sad aspect of this terribly creepy case.

Tammy Lewis, under the direction of Bushey, subjected her then 15-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son to a home life that was out of a horror movie. Those kids lived a nightmare.

Lewis was only convicted of a misdemeanor for her role in the scam. She paid a $350 fine. That's all. She kept a decaying corpse propped up on the only toilet in her home for two months. Her children lived with this dead body occupying their bathroom for two months!

Two days would be horrible. Two hours wouldn't be too great.

How could Lewis and Bushey allow the children to live under those conditions just so they could keep the money rolling in?

It's horrible.

Bushey faced a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and fine of $25,000. Southworth had sought a sentence of four years in prison and three years of extended supervision.

I think two years is a very light sentence.

Bushey will be in prison a year for each month he and Lewis hid Middlesworth's body.

That's not enough. No fine? Just two years for what he did to those children?

I don't think justice was done here.