<p>GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A woman who once ran a Florida religious group described as a cult by prosecutors has been sentenced for the 1980s deaths of two young children.</p>
<p>Anna Young, 79, was sentenced Wednesday after pleading no contest to second-degree murder and negligent manslaughter, according to Alachua County court records. She received 30 years for the murder conviction, which will run concurrently with 15 years for manslaughter.</p>
<p>Young operated the House of Prayer cult near Gainesville in the 1980s and 1990s, officials said.</p>
<p>Young caused the death of a toddler named Emon Harper sometime between 1988 and 1989 through abuse and starvation, prosecutors said.</p>
<p>Young was arrested in 2017 after her daughter told authorities about Emon’s death and other abuses at the House of Prayer, the <a href="https://www.gainesville.com/story/news/crime/2021/02/17/house-prayer-leader-gets-30-year-term-toddlers-death-micanopy-cult-leader/6784385002/">Gainesville Sun </a> reported. Several former members confirmed the child’s death, though no body was ever recovered.</p>
<p>Earlier this week, prosecutors added the manslaughter charge for the death of Katonya Jackson, who died in 1983 after being denied medication, officials said.</p>
<p>Young was previously convicted of child abuse in 2001, records show. She bathed a child in a mixture of bubble bath and a laundry detergent with bleach in 1992, officials said. It caused severe burns, which Young treated with herbal creams.</p>
