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The ringleader in a series of unusual hair- and beard-cutting attacks on fellow Amish religious followers in the U.S. was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison.

Before his sentencing, Samuel Mullet Sr. told the judge that he had been blamed for running a cult and was ready to take the punishment. The judge also sentenced 15 other members of the deeply traditional group to prison terms ranging from one to seven years.

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Amish believe the Bible instructs women to let their hair grow long and men to grow beards once they marry. Cutting it would be offensive to the group.

However, Mullet’s followers broke into homes, restrained men and women and sheared their victims, sometimes with tools used to clip horse manes.

The government said the attacks were retaliation against Amish who had defied or denounced Mullet’s authoritarian style.

The court heard Mullet, an Amish bishop, presided over a settlement of about 18 families near the town of Bergholz, Ohio.