SoCal religious sect leaders arrested after two members go missing

A husband and wife who run an Inland Empire religious group have been arrested and automatic weapons and ghost guns seized by Redlands Police as they investigate how a former follower disappeared two years ago under suspicious circumstances.

Emilio Ghanem disappeared in May 2023 shortly after he left the Hemet-based “His Way Spirit Led Assemblies” and started a rival pest control company to the one run by the religious group leaders. Authorities are also searching for a second man associated with the group who vanished in 2017.

Ghanem, 40, was reported missing shortly after he visited a Starbucks in Redlands, where he was meant to meet someone, according to police. A rented Nissan Frontier pickup, which he was driving that day, was spotted on surveillance video sometime after the same day in Grand Terrace.

Detectives earlier this year found “the rental truck along with additional evidence,” according to Redlands Police.

“We are investigating it as a potential homicide,” confirmed Carl Baker, a city spokesman.

Redlands Police declined to say whether they have evidence of a shooting in the death of Ghanem, but said on Tuesday they served a search warrant in the 1300 block of Christobal Lane in Colton and recovered several weapons. It was at least the fourth search warrant served in connection with Ghanem’s disappearance.

Ghanem’s rental truck that was recovered with evidence by Redlands Police

(Redlands Police Department)

Two of the leaders of the Assemblies group were arrested Aug. 14. Pastor Darryl Muzic Martin, 57, of Hemet, and his wife, 62-year-old Shelly Bailey “Kat” Martin, were arrested on suspicion of possessing illegal weapons. The wife, whom the Assemblies described as the prophetess, was later released following an unspecified medical episode, police said.

The pastor and his wife were arrested after detectives served a search warrant Aug. 14 at the Laguna Hills Lodge in Laguna Hills where they recovered electronic devices and took the husband and wife into custody.

Earlier in the month, police served search warrants at homes in Hemet and Anza. Two people were arrested on Aug. 6 during the operation in Hemet. Rudy Franco Moreno, 43, and 58-year-old Kelvin Lee Mackey, both of Hemet, were arrested on suspicion of being felons in possession of firearms.

During the Hemet and Anza searches, detectives found “several illegal firearms, including converted fully automatic rifles, short-barreled rifles and unserialized ghost guns along with electronic devices and other digital evidence,” according to police.

The pastor and three others arrested during the search warrants are now out of custody and have not yet been charged.

Ghanem, who had relocated to Nashville, was back in the Inland Empire in May 2023 to bolster his pest control business, according to police. Ghanem had worked for the pest control company Fullshield Incorporated, run by the church’s leaders, before starting his own business after moving to Nashville to be with family.

Relatives told KTLA that he gone back to California to start poaching clients for his new business, his family said. But the move led to Fullshield serving him a cease-and-desist letter just weeks before he vanished, the family told KTLA in 2023.

Redlands detectives are also working with Claremont Police, who are investigating the disappearance of Ruben Moreno, who was affiliated with His Way Spirit Led Assemblies, according to Claremont police.

Moreno, a Perris resident, was 41 years old at the time of his disappearance. A family member reported him missing in August 2019. But Claremont police said he was actually last seen in December 2017 at a home in the 3900 block of Swarthmore Court in Claremont, where members of His Way Spirit Led Assemblies, a religious organization, previously gathered.

Claremont investigators said Moreno “was living at the residence with other members of the religious organization. The group no longer occupies or meets at that residence,” according to police. Claremont Police investigators say they won’t comment on whether foul play is suspected.

Many of the members, including Ghanem, worked for the pest control company Fullshield Incorporated, but he started his own business after moving to Nashville, Tenn. to be with family.