> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.berkeleyscanner.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Alleged ‘Om’ cult leader, son arrested in sex abuse case - URL: https://www.berkeleyscanner.com/2026/08/21/crime/alleged-om-cult-leader-son-arrested-berkeley-sex-abuse-case/ - Published: 2026-08-21T12:37:29.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-21T12:56:16.000Z - Description: William Brumfield, 90, was arrested on suspicion of lewd and lascivious conduct, records show. His son Marbel Om faces even more serious charges. - Author: Emilie Raguso - Tags: Crime, South Berkeley, BPD, Sex crimes, Arrests, #articles, #tips, Oakland The son of an alleged Bay Area cult leader who used the name "Om" has been charged with sexually assaulting a relative in Berkeley when she was a little girl, records show. Thursday, [Berkeley police](https://www.berkeleyscanner.com/topic/berkeley-police-department/) arrested "Om" himself — 90-year-old William Brumfield — on a warrant alleging [lewd and lascivious conduct](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes%5FdisplaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=288&lawCode=PEN&ref=berkeleyscanner.com) with a child under 14. The case began in May when a 25-year-old woman told [Berkeley police](https://www.berkeleyscanner.com/topic/berkeley-police-department/) she had been sexually abused by three adult male relatives, including Brumfield, when she was between 5 and 10 years old, according to court papers. The woman said her family had been part of a cult that operated in Berkeley and Oakland in the early 1970s, police wrote. Its followers were known as "Om lovers" and "lovers of Om." The group "engaged in extreme behaviors, including advocating for children's sexual activity and subjecting minors to sexual and physical abuses," according to charging papers. The woman described several incidents of sexual abuse, including one on a private bus parked near a Berkeley BART station in 2006 or 2007, police wrote. "There were naked women on the bus," according to charging papers, and Brumfield made the girl touch his penis, police wrote. She was 5 or 6 years old, she said. During another incident, the girl was in a [South Berkeley](https://www.berkeleyscanner.com/topic/south-berkeley/) apartment, in the 2900 block of Adeline Street, with one of Brumfield's adult sons, she said. He sexually assaulted her "at least three times over a period of a few days" in 2010, when she was 9 or 10, police wrote. The man "told her not to tell anyone about what he did because he would get in trouble," according to police. About a month after speaking with police in May, the woman called the man — who is now 48 — to confront him about what happened. During the call, police say, he admitted he had sexually assaulted her and apologized. "I was wrong," he told her, according to police. "Very wrong." Officers [arrested the man, Marbel Om](https://www.localcrimenews.com/welcome/searchArrests?firstname=marbel&lastname=om&city=&ref=berkeleyscanner.com), on Monday near the Berkeley police station, according to charging papers. Om, who also uses the name Marvel, according to court papers, has now been charged with intercourse with a child under 10 and committing a sex crime with a child under 10, records show. The charges carry potential sentences [totaling 40 years to life](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes%5FdisplaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=288.7&lawCode=PEN&ref=berkeleyscanner.com) if imposed consecutively, according to the penal code. As of Friday, he was still in custody, held without bail, with a pretrial hearing set for Aug. 28. Brumfield was being held on $350,000 bail and is set for arraignment Monday, according to booking records. ## What was the Om United World Brigade? The Om United World Brigade announced its presence in Berkeley in June 1970 with a three-person nude march down Telegraph Avenue, the Berkeley Barb reported at the time. Its leader was William Brumfield, who told the Barb he "found his true being" after traveling to Mexico and meditating on religious questions, later changing his name to "Om" and founding what he said was a new religion. His group offered "Sacred Eroticism" classes — in the nude — teaching people "how to reach the eternal Bliss, with a capital 'B,'" the Barb reported in 1970: "the eternal ecstasy that is like an eternal orgasm." A subsequent Barb article described sexual intercourse as part of the group's religious rituals, calling it a "Temple Game." Black Panther Party co-founder Huey Newton described Brumfield's group as a "[spiritual cult called Om Eternal](https://s3.amazonaws.com/files.commons.gc.cuny.edu/wp-content/blogs.dir/34636/files/2025/01/Huey-P-Newton-Revolutionary-Suicide.pdf?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com)" in his 1973 autobiography, *Revolutionary Suicide.* (Newton knew Brumfield as Richard Thorne; they met at Oakland City College and lived together for a time in North Oakland before Newton formed the Black Panther Party with Bobby Seale, according to the book.) Brumfield's group was also described as a cult in a detailed 2003 East Bay Express article featuring allegations from a woman who said [Brumfield had sexually abused her](https://eastbayexpress.com/children-of-om-1/?ref=berkeleyscanner.com) as a teenager. She had filed a police report a year before the Express story was published, but the statute of limitations had run out, the paper reported at the time. The Express article also detailed allegations of other abuse involving Brumfield and the Om group, including claims of "ritual sexual acts upon children." 🚨 ****The Berkeley Scanner was the first to report this news.** [****Share tips**](https://www.berkeleyscanner.com/tips/) **with TBS to help us provide the most timely, comprehensive coverage for you and your neighbors.** ## Sign up for The Berkeley Scanner Authoritative public safety and politics news coverage in Berkeley, CA Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.