While the corpse of an elderly, devout supporter decomposed on a toilet in a one-bathroom rural Necedah home for two months, at least 25 checks were written on the Mauston bank account she shared with the woman charged with covering up the death.

The woman, Tammy Lewis, 35, is one of about six living adherents of the Immaculate Conception Chapel. The group is a spinoff sect unsanctioned by any mainstream religion, a fact met with indifference by most in Necedah, long a mid-Wisconsin hotbed of confusing but enthusiastic spiritual seekers.

The mortal remains of one of them, Alvina Magdaline Middlesworth, 90, were found propped on a toilet in a house on Shrine Road by a Juneau County Sheriff's Department deputy last week.

Since then, the dead woman's former priest in Washington state said Monday that he and others, after researching the Necedah group, tried to dissuade her from traveling. Instead, he said, she agreed to stay put, but then sold her home and belongings and moved — with the help of Lewis — in 2005.

Others chipped in. The longtime town chairman said the leader of Lewis's church, Alan Bushey, was "a charlatan from the word go," and another priest in a nearby 200-member congregation in Necedah said Monday "we steer clear of that man. No one takes him seriously."

Bushey, who will be 58 Wednesday, and Lewis have been charged in Juneau County Circuit Court with two felony counts of causing mental harm to a child, with Lewis facing an additional misdemeanor charge of obstructing an officer when she allegedly attempted to deflect a deputy's search for Middlesworth.

The mental harm to a child charges stem from accusations that Bushey and Lewis predicted financial doom to Lewis' two children, and threatened to send them to public school if they revealed there was a corpse in the bathroom. According to the criminal complaint, Middlesworth was the church's financial angel.

The children have since been placed in foster homes.

A search warrant returned Monday noted Lewis had a joint account with Middlesworth at the Bank of Mauston's Necedah branch. Since the woman's death, the account received direct deposits of three $590 Social Security checks and two $510 annuity checks, and Lewis admitted paying bills through the account since the death.

Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth declined Monday to say who wrote the checks. He said additional counts could come this week or next. He said he has been in touch with federal prosecutors, who would handle Social Security violations.

Lewis was helping Middlesworth change clothes in the bathroom about two months ago when she died, the complaint said. Lewis said God told her if she prayed hard enough, Middlesworth would revive.

She also said her "superior," who is also her co-defendent and bishop of the church, offered encouragement in that mission as he received "signs" from God that such a miracle was on the way. They even left the bathroom door open for the first three days, but then closed it, according to the complaint.

Quiet departure

The Rev. Michael O'Brien, of St. Mary of the Valley Catholic Church in Monroe, Wash., said Monday he believes Lewis helped Middlesworth leave without notice in the fall of 2005.

Middlesworth, whose husband, Fred, died in 1990, was a longtime member of St. Mary of the Valley, said O'Brien.

"She left in 2005, and I believe Tammy (Lewis) came out and got her," said O'Brien.

He suspects Middlesworth, who would have been in her late 80s at the time, may have become interested in Bushey's church when she visited her sister in Wisconsin.

"When this business came up, some of her friends and myself did some looking on the Internet to find out what it was all about, and I also called the diocese (in La Crosse), and got the word it was not a legitimate Catholic church," said O'Brien.

"She kind of pretended she wasn't going to go, but quietly sold her home and moved everything out and took off," he said.

He said members of the church "are really sad about what happened to her, but understanding that in those circumstances there was nothing more anyone could do.

"She was a very nice woman, and very sincere. You hate to see somebody get taken in like that," he said.

Life estate

After moving, she wrote the priest a letter saying she bought a house and 2� acres of land.

The issue of what she owned is somewhat of a tangle. Town Chairman Vince Marchetti said Monday the home where she was found dead is owned by the Middlesworth Life Estate, and was purchased from the Hilltop Family Trust, of Hazelton, Iowa. Its value is assessed at $78,200.

A life estate is a way for a person to stay in their home and establish a surviving ownership. Tammy Lewis is apparently the recipient of that, said Daniel Berkos, who was appointed her lawyer Monday.

The Hilltop Family Trust also owns the church's chapel, a converted home at N10314 Queensway valued at $134,000.

A search of real estate records in Juneau County turns up another transaction made Jan. 7, 2007, that transfers the property of Carol Newland, also on Shrine Drive, to Middlesworth, Lewis, Elizabeth Kohles and Newland. The warranty deed appears to establish a survivorship for the property that ends with Lewis and is also called a life estate. Newland refused to comment, except to say "God bless you."

'Funny ideas'

Marchetti, the town chairman who lives a few houses away from the house where Middlesworth was discovered, called Bushey the leader of "a pseudo Roman Catholic operation," that was a spinoff of another group that started 15-20 years ago that was served by a "real" retired Catholic priest.

Declaring independence and calling himself a bishop, Bushey emerged at Immaculate Conception, Marchetti said. That was "about nine or 10 years ago."

"He had some funny ideas about religion," Marchetti said, adding, "there is nobody objective about this. Everybody in Necedah has an opinion."

Bushey apparently was married, to a woman in Georgia, and divorced. The woman's brother-in-law said the divorce was long ago, and she wasn't interested in talking about it.

Lewis and Bushey remained in the Juneau County Jail on Monday with bail set at $50,000.

Lewis, who is also called "Sister Mary Bernadett," lived in Union Center, New Lisbon and Columbus over the past several years. Her husband is believed to be in Oklahoma, according to court records.

Berkos, her lawyer, said he has requested she receive a mental health evaluation, as "she obviously has some emotional issues right now."

Diocese statement

The Diocese of La Crosse issued a statement Monday afternoon stating "in the Necedah area, though many organizations and independent groups claim to be Catholic entities, only St. Francis parish is part of the Diocese of La Crosse and thus in communion with the Roman Catholic Church."

The Rev. David Sansone, of Our Lady of Victory Chapel, who called his church "traditional Catholic, with the traditional Latin Mass, but not affiliated with the Diocese of La Crosse," said Monday of Bushey that "we steer clear of that man, we know he has created a lot of trouble."

Sansone was worried about the media coverage of Middlesworth's death.

"The media always presents people like us unfavorably," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.