Last night our Los Angeles readers got a chance to see an excellent 7-minute report put together by KABC Channel 7 on how much Scientology itself was a factor in the May preliminary hearing which now has actor Danny Masterson facing trial and the possibility of life in prison for raping three different women.
We were in the courtroom for those four days in May, as was KABC producer Lisa Bartley, and she’s now put together this report with evidence that was presented at the hearing, including some audio of two of the victims. It’s a strong piece, and we were happy to help out Channel 7 with an interview as well.
If you were following along with us during the hearing (Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4), this material should be familiar, but it’s great to see it put all together in a strong package like this.
As we said in a recent piece, we don’t expect that Monday’s hearing will include a motion to dismiss from Masterson and will only deal with motions to quash Masterson’s subpoenas that were served on various people (including your proprietor). And after that, trial is scheduled for November, but we have been told it might get pushed back into January.
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Jon Atack and Karen de la Carriere
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“You’d be surprised how often you find a wrong date. And you’re running the Helatrobus implants, so you think, and you go right into the next goal for which you’ve listed. And then you try to get ‘absolutably’ and you can’t get a rocket read, and you say, what’s happened? TA’s up and stuck. I’ve got this next goal ‘to be a goof.’ It’s obviously the next goal in line, only it isn’t here. Shucks, man, you’re probably running a Bear implant. It’s probably shot back on the track Lord knows where, because the one thing a GPM won’t do is properly time. You can duration a GPM and you can time a GPM and you can get the date of a GPM almost endlessly. Why? Because its primary basis is lousing up time. Those two opposing items fire against each other — sound like time to the PC — produces a no-change situation. So the GPM floats on the track and so it’s very difficult to time a GPM. So it’s just nothing to get the next GPM in line to run, and find out that it isn’t at forty-three trillion but at fifteen trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion. Embarrassing. Eventually you go back and start looking for wrong dates on the case, and you finally locate that ‘to be a goof’ is not the next Helatrobus GPM but a GPM which exists in the early limbos of nowhere.” — L. Ron Hubbard, August 7, 1963
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“COMM EVS: Officers who fail to take full responsibility for their areas, divisions and sections without further orders will hereafter be comm eved for offenses after this date and will be reduced to swamper. Ethics is obviously out on this vessel and some of its officers are obviously more interested in being good fellows than putting a well run ship here.” — The Commodore, August 7, 1969
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“I’m ready to argue that anything as attacked and vilified as Scientology must be a pretty damned effective spiritual technology. As a comparison, look at the ineffective crap that the media and general public ARE willing to rally around – psychiatric medications, for example. I just got out of session, and it was a good and productive session. Somebody totally ARC-broken with Scientology should have their ruds flown, by themselves if they are solo trained, by someone else if they are not. Sitting in a huge ARC break for years and years, or for decades – what kind of nonsense is that?”
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1999: MSNBC reported this week that when Congressman Sonny Bono attempted to leave Scientology, he called on the FBI for protection. “Sonny did try to break away from Scientology, Mary Bono told Bardach in taped interviews, and they made it very difficult for him. But the situation was even worse than the article indicated, according to the source, who says that in desperation Bono asked for help from the FBI. The FBI does not comment on such matters. It was a bad situation, says the source. Imagine if a member of Congress has to resort to that. What does it say for the ordinary citizen. The insider also says that George magazine got hold of the explosive information, but too late to make it into the article. I’ve got to hand it to John [F. Kennedy Jr.], says the source. He may have been a novice publisher, but he was completely fearless about taking on the church.”
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“My IP was blocked from the Washington Times comments because I kept bringing up the Rev. Moon connection so I started using Tor, then they started using an app that could tell you were using a proxy. Cults SUCK.”
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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, 2020 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 23. Appeal hearing scheduled for Aug 23-27.
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] Clearwater Police release reports from closed Scientology child sex abuse investigation
[TWO years ago] Scientologists behaving badly: What’s prison time to a trillion-year-old thetan?
[THREE years ago] Proof that the US government has all it needs to act on Scientology — and it has for 50 years
[FOUR years ago] ‘Scientology and the Aftermath’: Mike Rinder answers a few of our questions after TCA win
[FIVE years ago] Scientology’s sneaky anti-psychiatry front has found a new way to target kids in Florida
[SIX years ago] How Scientology sets up its members to find themselves helpless in court
[SEVEN years ago] Camilla Andersson on Tom Cruise, and a gift for the Scientologist who has everything!
[EIGHT years ago] Prepare to Be Audited: Claire Headley Takes Us Through Scientology’s “ARC Straightwire”
[NINE years ago] Scientology’s Recruitment Film: The Version They Don’t Want You to See
[TEN years ago] Scientology Goons Exposed: “Make Marty’s Life a Living Hell”
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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 2,385 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 2,890 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,410 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,430 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 1,321 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,628 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 2,496 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 3,270 days.
Doug Kramer has not seen his parents Linda and Norm in 1,600 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 4,074 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 3,390 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,956 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 7,875 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 4,043 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,624 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 3,885 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,923 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,636 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 2,161 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 516 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,691 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 6,242 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 3,391 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,711 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,566 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,685 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 2,041 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 6,344 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,450 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 2,848 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,724 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 2,307 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 2,802 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 3,056 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 14,165 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on August 7, 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
