A convicted child rapist named Matthew Volz — who now goes by "Marina Volz" — is currently housed in a New Jersey women's prison, and as part of ongoing settlement negotiations, he's demanding permission to conduct outdoor nude Wiccan ceremonies, be designated as a Wiccan religious leader, and marry his male accomplice behind bars. I promise you I did not make any of that up.
This is where we are, America. A man who horrifically abused his own 7-year-old daughter is sitting in a women's facility making demands like he's negotiating a new car purchase. The system isn't broken. It's possessed.
Let's rewind to how we got here, because the backstory is somehow even worse than the headline. According to The Gateway Pundit, Volz's abuse of his daughter began in December 2018 in Franklin Township, New Jersey. The child had been taken from her mother in Oregon and brought to Volz — a decision that will haunt everyone involved for the rest of their lives. Volz didn't act alone. His co-defendant Adam Romero — now going by "Ashley Romero" — and two others, Sean Allen, 54, and Dulcinea Gnecco, participated in the abuse.
When Judge Peter J. Tober sentenced Volz to 25 years with 25 years of parole ineligibility in 2022, he described the case as "a vortex of darkness." He added, "If this was not heinous, cruel, and depraved, I don't know what is." Sean Allen received a 12-year sentence. Gnecco got 5 years for child endangerment.
A vortex of darkness. That's a judge talking. Not a columnist. Not a pundit. A judge who sat through the evidence and couldn't find words strong enough.
Volz was initially placed at South Woods State Prison — a men's facility, because Volz is a man. But in 2023, the New Jersey Department of Corrections updated his records to "female," and he was transferred to Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women. So now the women in that prison get to share their facility with a convicted pedophile who destroyed a 7-year-old girl. Progress!
And it gets better. Volz has submitted 12 specific demands as part of settlement negotiations. Among them: permission to conduct outdoor nude Wiccan ceremonies, official designation as a Wiccan religious leader at the facility, and — my personal favorite — authorization to marry his co-defendant Adam Romero, who is also housed at Edna Mahan. The man who helped him rape a child. He wants to marry him. In a women's prison. During settlement talks.
The facility already allows Volz to keep a Book of Shadows, a pentacle, incense, electric candles, and grape juice as a wine substitute. Joy Lynch, the head of religious services at Edna Mahan, is apparently already accommodating his Wiccan practice. But that's not enough. He wants to get naked outdoors and call it religion.
Here's what's worth noting: Volz was reportedly president of the Clark College Queer Association in Washington state just one year before the abuse began. He also previously received a $5,000 settlement from the Somerset County Sheriff's Office in a separate case. This is a man who has figured out that the system will bend over backward for anyone who wraps their demands in the right identity language.
This isn't a transgender rights story. This is a predator exploitation story. A child rapist figured out that claiming a new gender identity gets you transferred to a softer facility, and that filing religious accommodation demands keeps the bureaucrats scrambling. Every demand he makes is a test of how far the system will debase itself.
The answer to every single one of his 12 demands should be two letters long. But in New Jersey, in 2026, we apparently have to have a serious legal conversation about whether a pedophile deserves nude witchcraft privileges. God help us.
