Ralph "Father" Roberts was the head of a religious cult called the Siblings of the Sun and a suspect in the murder of Amanda Clark in "Mr. Monk Joins a Cult".
Ralph Roberts was a former car salesman, possessing a natural charm and an inherent talent for deception, being able to easily convince and manipulate others with affirmations, emotional bonding and empty promises.
Biography[]
Under the title of "Father", using his rhetoric, he founded the Siblings of the Sun, which presented itself as a new age commune dedicated to inner self-fulfillment. The group was clearly a cult, but Roberts denied this, referring to it as "an organization". In contrast to its benign appearance, the cult specifically targeted those in precarious social situations, such as drug addicts, loners and the mentally unwell, and served only to persuade their members into giving up all their money and liquidating any existing assets to give to Roberts, who would secretly spend the funds on private villas, yachts and other luxury items. According to Dr. Kroger, journalists had exposed how much Roberts was really worth: $20 million, although it is possible that number had increased considerably by the time Monk met him. Even highly intelligent individuals, such as recruiter Ted, previously an accomplished MIT professor, or even Monk were easily converted into loyal followers and coaxed into emptying their accounts. He sold himself as the eternal one, claiming to be an immortal being, immune to all illness, not even receiving the common cold. However, unbeknownst to anyone, he had a private doctor give him cortisone shots due to having a bad back, a fact later uncovered and revealed by Monk, who uses it to expose Roberts as a charlatan in front of his most devoted followers.
Roberts later appears in "Mr. Monk's 100th Case", being interviewed for a documentary about Monk, showing that he's been put in prison since the events of "Mr. Monk Joins a Cult", currently serving a ten year sentence for fraud. Roberts, surprisingly, has no hard feelings towards Monk. He even extents his thanks to the man, supposedly for helping him find true eternity by pulling him away from the lavish lifestyle he enjoyed in freedom with his usual serene demeanour, before dropping the act when a guard calls his name, becoming clearly annoyed, muttering two censored expletives before being cut off at his third. His criminal charge is given as fraud, but it is unknown what the exact charge was, the extent of Monk's involvement, nor is it known whether it was even related to his cult. Roberts says that he was imprisoned two months after Monk joined his cult. The circumstances of his arrest are unknown, but Monk was responsible, because Roberts he began his interview by saying: "Do I remember Adrian Monk? That's like asking the Titanic if it remembers the iceberg!" It is possible that Monk's attention on the cult resulted in the department discovering his fraudulent activities. However, seems most probable that, because Monk exposed him as a fraud publicly, this was his undoing, and his followers reported him to the authorities for defrauding them under false pretenses. Since he asked Monk for his life savings to "prove" his devotion to the cult, it is a near certainty that he did this with others, which is how he made much of his wealth. In addition to being incarcerated, his assets were probably seized to repay all the people he scammed.