Burlington Man Pleads No Contest In Southington Cult Killing

By Justin Muszynski, The Bristol Press

August 12, 2021

A Burlington man who has pleaded no contest in connection with a murder tied to an area cult won’t appear before a judge again until next spring, as he awaits the trial of his co-defendant before his case is resolved.

Sorek Minery, 45, appeared in New Britain Superior Court on Tuesday and was given a continuance until April 5 of next year.

Minery, who is being held on $2 million bond, has already accepted a plea deal, having pleaded no contest to one count of conspiracy to commit murder. The deal he took does not include a specified sentence. The “open plea” means he will learn his sentence after the trial of his co-defendant, Rudy Hannon, 75.

Hannon has rejected an offer from state prosecutors and elected in June 2019 to go to trial. The start of the trial has yet to be scheduled, as trials in the state’s judicial system were essentially put on hold for more than a year because of the pandemic.

Minery, in the meantime, must wait until after Hannon’s trial before he learns his fate. He could be asked to testify against the 75-year-old.

Hannon, who is being held on $2 million bond, has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and murder in the commission of a felony.

Minery and Hannon were charged in a case involving the 2004 killing and dismembering of Paul Sweetman, a “Chief Apostle” in the 1970s cult started by the late Brother Julius Schacknow.

Hannon is accused of convincing Minery that Sweetman, of Southington, was hurting his wife, Joanne, and needed to be killed.

Joanne Sweetman was believed to be the “Holy Spirit” by cult members.

Minery allegedly beat Sweetman, then he and Hannon stuffed his body into a freezer at Minery’s shop in Plainville, according to the arrest warrant in the case.

Minery then allegedly dismembered Sweetman’s body with a saw and disposed of the body parts in various places in New Britain, court papers said.

One of Sweetman’s legs was found by New Britain police a few months later, but detectives didn’t crack the case until 2016, when a lieutenant in the Criminal Investigations Division noticed that Sweetman had been reported missing around the same time the leg was found.

The investigation led police to find Sweetman’s torso buried under a shed that Minery owned in New Britain.