From Spiritual Healer to Prisoner: Inside João Teixeira de Faria's Fall from Grace

Aug. 26 2021, Published 5:06 p.m. ET

Trigger Warning: This article mentions sexual abuse allegations.

The newest addition to Netflix's vast collection of true crime content material is John of God: The Crimes of a Spiritual Healer. The four-part docu-series tells the story of João Teixeira de Faria, a Brazilian man who claimed to be a medium and a healer. For decades, Faria claimed to be in touch with spirit guides, and he introduced alternative therapies to assist the ones suffering from various types of ailments.

Known as "João de Deus" aka "John of God," Faria operated on sufferers with none type of coaching, sanitized instruments, or anaesthesia. His treatment middle was once featured on an episode of Oprah's Next Chapter in 2013, and it used to be additionally coated on ABC News, and CNN. Many entrusted him with their care, however he was later accused of sexual abuse.

As loads of ladies came ahead to accuse him of abuse (which he denies), the previously exalted healer's empire began to collapse. Read on to determine what Faria was once accused of, and to be informed where he is now.

Who is João Teixeira de Faria? What did he do?

For years, Faria was once celebrated globally for his alleged healing powers, and for his visions. He opened his healing center and medical institution, Casa de Dom Inácio de Loyola, in Abadiânia in 1976. He would supply "visible" and "invisible" operations to these looking for non secular surgical treatment.

Though he had no medical coaching, Faria would cut into sufferers, and he claimed that the spirits of doctors and different healers would information his arms all the way through the procedures.

Many sought out and visited his heart, and he had thousands of ardent fans who believed that he may just make miracles happen. His empire endured to develop even more once his center was once featured on various tv systems.

While some other people were skeptical about Faria and the legitimacy of his therapeutic procedures for rather a while, he still continued to run his profitable healing industry until 2018.

Where is João Teixeira de Faria now?

During the height of the #MeToo movement in 2018, girls began to come ahead in droves towards Faria. They accused the medium of sexual abuse and of unwanted sexual advances. Many of his accusers claimed that the abuse took place right through his non-public healing sessions.

Feria had previously been accused sexual abuse years earlier, but he used to be acquitted of those charges in 2008.

One of his accusers was once his own daughter, Dalva Teixeira, who claimed that she were raped and overwhelmed as section of one of his remedies.

In December 2018, Feria turned himself in to the government. A year later, he was convicted of 4 rapes, and he used to be sentenced to 19 years. A month after his first conviction, Feria was discovered responsible of five more rapes and he used to be sentenced to an additional 40 years. He used to be also convicted of a firearms charge.

The disgraced figure is now Seventy nine years old, and he is these days imprisoned at the Aparecida de Goiânia Complex in Goiás, Brazil.

The convicted sex wrongdoer will spend the rest of his existence at the back of bars, as his overall sentence is sixty three years and 4 months lengthy.

The last credit of the Netflix sequence reveal that there are dozens of women who are nonetheless looking ahead to court docket selections with their very own circumstances in opposition to Faria. To date, masses of women have filed fees against the self-proclaimed healer.

John of God: The Crimes of a Spiritual Healer is available to stream on Netflix now.

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