In 2003, while based in Delaware, Ohio, Jenkins' "miracle water", drawn from a well on the grounds of his 30-acre (12 ha) religious compound known as the Healing Waters Cathedral,[2] was found to contain coliform bacteria by the Ohio Department of Agriculture.
Jenkins claimed tests conducted by independent laboratories all found the water safe for drinking and that the state ignored his findings.
[3] In 1979, Jenkins was convicted in Greenwood, South Carolina, of conspiracy to assault two men and of plotting the arson of two homes.
The legal guardian of Eloise Thomas, whose husband had died just three weeks before the marriage to Jenkins, former Ohio state senator Ben Espy, claimed on behalf of the woman's family that Thomas was incompetent and therefore incapable of knowing what she was doing when she attempted to marry Jenkins.
Jenkins has repeatedly denied accusations that he was attempting to marry the woman for the sake of her net worth, which was estimated at $4,000,000.