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'Cult' rehab treatment cost man his leg, police say

Relatives blame church for couple's duct tape binding of her drug-addicted brother in Queens

The New York Daily News/October 16, 2012

By Henrick Karoliszyn

A Queens woman and her fiancé bound her brother so tightly in duct tape to "help him recover" from drug addiction and mental illness that doctors had to amputate his leg, cops say.

But relatives believe Myung Chung, 27, and her fiancé, Sung-Peel Youn, 39, were only following orders from what family members called a Korean-American Christian cult when they tied up Seungick Chung in their Flushing church.

"The couple believed the pastor, who is a woman," said Sung-Peel Youn's sister, Sarah Youn, 42. "They say she's God."

No one came to the door Tuesday at Pastor Ok-Joo Shin's Parsons Blvd. church.

Myung Chung, 27, admitted to cops that on the night of Oct. 4, she and her fiancé stuffed a sock in her brother's mouth and made sure it would stay there with duct tape.

They also used the tape to bind his wrists, ankles and knees, according to court papers.

"They made it so tight — and all the time they were praying and singing. They thought God would make him a regular person," said Sarah Youn.

Two days later, Myung Chung noticed her brother's foot was swollen. On Oct. 12, she took him to a dermatologist, who sent them to an emergency room, court papers show.

When Dr. Angali Bharati at New York Hospital Queens saw Seungick Chung, his right leg was purple, black and blue, she told cops. Doctors had to amputate the leg above the knee.

Cops arrested the two Friday and charged them with assault, reckless endangerment and unlawful imprisonment.

They are each being held on $150,000 bail.

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