Controversial, self-proclaimed 'prophetess' Glynis Bethel behind bars in Baldwin County

BAY MINETTE, Al.
Glynis Bethel, the self-proclaimed prophetess from Loxley who over the summer caused the Baldwin County school system to go into lock-down because of a threatening phone call, is being held without bail in the Baldwin County jail and is expected to serve sentences on various charges.

Bethel

Bethel, 49, was transferred Wednesday from the Mobile Metro Jail to the Baldwin County Corrections Center in Bay Minette. Jail records list Baldwin charges of obstructing government operations, harassment, disorderly conduct, third-degree criminal trespass, criminal coercion and fugitive charges.
Baldwin sheriff’s spokesman Maj. Anthony Lowery said the charges are unrelated to the incident in July in which Bethel left a voicemail with sheriff’s deputies saying that she was armed with a gun and was ready to be a martyr. Baldwin school officials locked the doors at all facilities as a precaution in the wake of the call. At that time, Bethel’s whereabouts were uncertain.
In February 2010, Bethel pleaded guilty to coercion and obstructing justice and in each case was sentenced by Baldwin County District Judge Michelle Thomason to serve six months of a one-year sentence and given two years on probation, according to court records. The sentences were to run concurrently, records show. She also pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and was given a 30-day suspended term and one-year probation.
Bethel appealed those cases but all were denied, according to Lowery and court records.
Once transferred to Baldwin County on Wednesday, she was served with outstanding warrants, which included three issued in June for failing to appear in court relating to the 2009 cases. There were also three other warrants and three bond forfeitures issued in January relating to several cases from 2010, Lowery said.
Ashley Rains, spokeswoman for the Mobile Police Department, said Bethel was picked up by Mobile police on Aug. 4 for warrants out of Tennessee and remained in the Mobile Metro Jail until her transfer to Baldwin County.
Rains said she was unsure of what precipitated the arrest by Mobile officers. Court records show that Bethel pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in 2009 and another similar charge in 2006, both in Mobile County District Court.
It is unclear how long Bethel had been in the Mobile area.
For years, Orlando and Glynis Bethel gained local media attention occasionally through public antics in addition to legal battles with the school board, other government entities, and businesses.
Glynis Bethel garnered more attention after moving to Nashville late last year. In January, she tried to register her children to attend public schools in Brentwood, a suburb of Nashville, claiming that her family was homeless. Her group soon held protests outside Brentwood High School. Earlier this summer, she was tackled by police officers and charged with assault after allegedly spraying an officer in the face with pepper spray. She and a group of others had been preaching publicly on a downtown sidewalk.