Eugène Richer Dit Laflèche - the mystic Montreal cop still has followers

Eugène Richer Dit Laflèche 1871-1925 was a Montreal cop before launching a religious movement that is still a pretty big deal to this day.
   Eugene Richer was hired as a cop for his tall, muscular physique but was quickly let go for running a bordello.
   He started la Mission de l'Esprit Saint (MES) in Montreal in 1913.
   He eventually moved to Fall River, Massachusetts and hooked up with Adelard Glasson and started calling himself Joseph Manseau.   
   He told people that he was Jehova, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. He had five concubines and asked followers to give him all their money. He got in trouble with the cops when he started giving sermons in see-through robes.
    So in November 1923 he moved to North Los Angeles and called himself John Lafleche. He died Jan 12, 1925 and one of his followers, Georges Hache took over and announced that the world was coming to an end. 

   It didn't and the group's alleged 144,000 followers were a bit disillusioned that the sun was still rising. Several of Richer's Montreal followers were repeatedly jailed, including one Wilfrid Messier, who defrauded 104 people of their life savings by promising good stuff and telling them he was the reincarnation of Eugene Richer. They wanted their money back but Messier had already blown it on the ponies.
  Richer's successor as leader, Eugene R. Robitaille,, whose followers called him "Prince Charming" but who reporters described as "short, plump partly bald," was busted for subversion at the group's temple at 6910 St. Hubert in 1941. Police said that they seized pornographic books.
   Police alleged that the group supported the Nazis.
   Gustav Robitaille was Richer's appointed successor here in Montreal. He was a fat organist who fathered at least 15 children and died in 1965. He would bless your baby and that sort of thing. He was replaced by a committee of 29 servants, mostly his sons.
   One of those sons, Emmanuel Robitaille predicted the end of the world in 1975. Many followers got to work building a special holy place in Oka but were quite surprised when the world didn't end.

Sources: 1-Susan Palmer. 2-This article from 1969. The MES still seems to exist, but probably in nowhere near the numbers at their peak which saw 2,000-3,000 followers here in Montreal. Here's their site.

c. 1917