We post a lot of court documents here at the Underground Bunker. It’s one of the things that sets this news site apart from others: We often show you the documents in a case rather than simply describe them to you.
So, with that in mind, we figured it was only fair that we post here the motion that our attorneys, Scott Pilutik and Graham Berry, filed in court Monday. We’re asking the court in Los Angeles to quash a subpoena that Danny Masterson’s defense lawyer Tom Mesereau served us with in May.
If you remember, Mesereau’s process server handed us the subpoena while we were sitting in the hallway on the ninth floor of the criminal courts building on a break during the third day of Masterson’s preliminary hearing.
Mesereau’s subpoena is attached to the motion. As for the motion, we expect that it speaks for itself. It’s scheduled to be heard in court on August 9, the same day that Masterson’s most recent motion to dismiss will be argued.
Our understanding is that Masterson will be arguing that his rape charges be dismissed based on the idea that the evidence presented during the preliminary hearing was inadequate.
At this point, Masterson’s criminal trial is scheduled for November after Judge Charlaine Olmedo ruled that there was sufficient evidence of the three counts of forcible rape that were presented at the prelim. If Masterson is convicted, he’s facing 45 years to life in prison.
So, two different things being handled on August 9: Masterson’s motion to dismiss criminal charges, and our motion to quash Mesereau’s subpoena.
Here’s our document, which contains a few redactions of personal information contained within Mesereau’s subpoena:
People v. Masterson: Ortega… by Tony Ortega
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“I took a hard-boiled, hardheaded, sonic shut-off, somatic shut-off, reality shut-off case and had him pretend he was dead, in the hope that he would swing into the dead person in whose valence he was, and then he could tell us all about the funeral. So I said, ‘Go to the time when you were dead.’ So he obligingly went to 1797 in Sicily, when he was in a farmhouse dying. He died with full somatics. I thought this was very interesting, so I brought him up to present time and thought about it a little more, and took another case….We are discovering incidents back there. I never investigated them before, although I probably should have. We don’t currently know much about them except that people feel better when they are run. This is not part of the standard technique of Dianetics at present although I have known this material was there for some time.” — L. Ron Hubbard, July 22, 1950
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“NOTICE: Any FEBC student who arrived here before April 20th is overdue for completion. Your Orgs need you; therefore, you should do everything in your power to complete all your outstanding cycles quickly and thoroughly so that you can be fired. As per HCO PL of Feb 22, 1968, ‘The secret of any executive success is the ability to COMPLETE cycles of action QUICKLY.'” — Mary Sue Hubbard, Controller, July 22, 1971
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“I don’t think LRH knew I was coming from the future. I didn’t get that until after I had the sessions where I listened to Alex Collier tell us this period of time had already happened and the future is in terror and we came back to fix it in Sept 11, 2012. Everything opened up then. I couldn’t get the Church of Scientology to know this because I didn’t know it yet. I think LRH spotted this in me and thought maybe I was another one of him and I could feel at FSO he was a bit afraid of me. I could feel it. I joined the Sea Org right after I went out of body into a UFO the night before I joined to Sea Org in 1971 and I had a compulsion to get to LRH and get him to Audit me and deliver whatever messages they flooded into me. If I could have gotten to him then maybe the takeover wouldn’t have happened.”
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1997: The declaration of Roxanne Friend was posted for the first time on the net this week. Roxanne later died from a tumor that went undiagnosed during her time on Scientology staff. Some excerpts: “It was my understanding that everything about Scientology could be proven factually in the same manner as a scientist proves a scientific fact. These points are discussed at length in many Scientology publications. The Scientologist is not exposed to the above teachings until long after he/she has been indoctrinated into the group and subjected to mind control. Thus, for me, it became impossible to see the conflict between the scientific pretenses of Scientology and the ‘beliefs.’ I never accepted Scientology as a religion or belief and I continued to consider myself Jewish throughout my association with Scientology. I was also told that Scientology attempted to gain its status as a religion for two purposes — one being to avoid taxation for the organization and its constituents; and two, being to avoid having to come under scrutiny for its practices of Scientology and the far-out nature of the Upper Levels while I was still a member. During my relationship with Scientology, I was referred by Scientology to the Shaw Health Center for regular medical treatment. I was told that all of the doctors at Shaw were practicing Scientologists who used Scientology principles and techniques in their diagnosis and treatment. I was consistently dissuaded by my auditors and case supervisors from obtaining treatment from non-Scientologist physicians.”
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“My opinion is that the ‘true believer’ type personality is as much, if not more, the reason why some people end up in cults, than the ‘mind control’ explanation.”
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Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker
Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Next hearing set for August 9. Trial tentatively scheduled for early November.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay sentenced to 9 years in prison. Jeff’s sentencing to be scheduled.
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Pretrial conference August 21 in Los Angeles
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud: Next pretrial conference set for Sept 9.
Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Oral arguments were heard on July 30 at the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Petition to US Supreme Court submitted on May 26. Scientology responded on June 25.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: California Supreme Court granted review on May 26 and asked the Second Appellate Division to direct Judge Steven Kleifield to show cause why he granted Scientology’s motion for arbitration. Oral arguments scheduled for Oct 5.
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach tax debt: Eleventh Circuit ruled on Sept 9 that Feshbachs can’t discharge IRS debt in bankruptcy. Dec 17: Feshbachs sign court judgment obliging them to pay entire $3.674 million tax debt, plus interest from Nov 19.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Third amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, Cannane victorious, awarded court costs. Case appealed on Dec 24.
Concluded litigation:
— Dennis Nobbe, Medicare fraud, PPP loan fraud: Charged July 29. Bond revoked Sep 14. Nobbe dead, Sep 14.
— Jane Doe v. Scientology (in Miami): Jane Doe dismissed the lawsuit on May 15 after the Clearwater Police dropped their criminal investigation of her allegations.
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THE PROSECUTION OF DANNY MASTERSON
We first broke the news of the LAPD’s investigation of Scientology celebrity Danny Masterson on rape allegations in 2017, and we’ve been covering the story every step of the way since then. At this page we’ve collected our most important links, including our four days in Los Angeles covering the preliminary hearing and its ruling, which has Danny facing trial and the potential sentence of 45 years to life in prison.
After the success of their double-Emmy-winning, three-season A&E series ‘Scientology and the Aftermath,’ Leah Remini and Mike Rinder continue the conversation on their podcast, ‘Scientology: Fair Game.’ We’ve created a landing page where you can hear all of the episodes so far.
LEAH REMINI: SCIENTOLOGY AND THE AFTERMATH
An episode-by-episode guide to Leah Remini’s three-season, double-Emmy winning series that changed everything for Scientology watching. Originally aired from 2016 to 2019 on the A&E network, and now on Netflix.
SCIENTOLOGY’S CELEBRITIES, from A to Z
Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!
Other links: SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks. Scientology’s Ideal Orgs, from one end of the planet to the other. Scientology’s sneaky front groups, spreading the good news about L. Ron Hubbard while pretending to benefit society. Scientology Lit: Books reviewed or excerpted in a weekly series. How many have you read?
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THE WHOLE TRACK
[ONE year ago] Scientology is a special hell for the ‘staff’ who work at your local ‘org’
[TWO years ago] Sudden change in Maiden Voyage events in Los Angeles a clue to Ideal Org problems?
[THREE years ago] A tale of two cities: Scientology courts pols and police in one place, acts sneaky in another
[FOUR years ago] Janis Grady’s new book on life in Scientology: Jon Atack’s take, and an excerpt
[FIVE years ago] Was it something we said? Scientology wants Cindy Plahuta’s letter in fraud lawsuit struck
[SIX years ago] How Scientology is Tom Cruise? How he put ethics ‘ruthlessly’ in on his own family
[SEVEN years ago] More trouble for Scientology fundraising and recruitment in Europe
[EIGHT years ago] DISCONNECTION: A Double Dose of Scientology’s Toxic Use of ‘Leverage’
[NINE years ago] Neil Gaiman, 7, Interviewed About Scientology by the BBC in 1968
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Bernie Headley (1952-2019) did not see his daughter Stephanie in his final 5,667 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 2,369 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 2,874 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,394 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,414 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 1,305 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,612 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 2,480 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 3,254 days.
Doug Kramer has not seen his parents Linda and Norm in 1,584 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 4,058 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 3,374 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,940 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 7,859 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 4,027 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,608 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 3,869 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,907 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,620 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 2,145 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 500 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,675 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 6,226 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 3,375 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,695 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,550 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,669 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 2,025 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 6,328 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,434 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 2,836 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,708 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 2,291 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 2,786 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 3,040 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 14,149 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on July 22, 2021 at 07:00
E-mail tips to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We also post updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.
Our new book with Paulette Cooper, Battlefield Scientology: Exposing L. Ron Hubbard’s dangerous ‘religion’ is now on sale at Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats. Our book about Paulette, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.
The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2020 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2020), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)
Other links: BLOGGING DIANETICS: Reading Scientology’s founding text cover to cover | UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists | GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice | SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts | Shelly Miscavige, 15 years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ
Watch our short videos that explain Scientology’s controversies in three minutes or less…
Check your whale level at our dedicated page for status updates, or join us at the Underground Bunker’s Facebook discussion group for more frivolity.
Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news | Battling Babe-Hounds: Ross Jeffries v. R. Don Steele
