TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: This weekend Leah Remini and Yashar Ali posted the first online photo of Julian Swartz, the notorious Scientology enforcer in a day-care scandal we wrote about in 2015, featuring a woman we named Ellen. Now, Ellen tells us she has made a big decision: It’s time to identify herself. [What is this Substack thing, anyway?]
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Technology Cocktail
“The main danger of security checking is not probing a person’s past but failing to do so thoroughly.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1961
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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 as Danny faces a potential sentence of 45 years to life in prison. NOW WITH TRIAL INDEX.
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THE PODCAST: How many have you heard?
[1] Marc Headley [2] Claire Headley [3] Jeffrey Augustine [4] Bruce Hines [5] Sunny Pereira [6] Pete Griffiths [7] Geoff Levin [8] Patty Moher [9] Marc Headley [10] Jefferson Hawkins [11] Michelle ‘Emma’ Ryan [12] Paulette Cooper [13] Jesse Prince [14] Mark Bunker [15] Jon Atack [16] Mirriam Francis [17] Bruce Hines on MSH
— SPECIAL: The best TV show on Scientology you never got to see
[1] Phil Jones [2] Derek Bloch [3] Carol Nyburg [4] Katrina Reyes [5] Jamie DeWolf
— The first Danny Masterson trial and beyond
[18] Trial special with Chris Shelton [19] Trial week one [20] Marc Headley on the spy in the hallway [21] Trial week two [22] Trial week three [23] Trial week four [24] Leah Remini on LAPD Corruption [25] Mike Rinder 2022 Thanksgiving Special [26] Jane Doe 4 (Tricia Vessey), Part One [27] Jane Doe 4 (Tricia Vessey), Part Two [28] Claire Headley on the trial [29] Tory Christman [30] Bruce Hines on spying [31] Karen de la Carriere [32] Ron Miscavige on Shelly Miscavige [33] Karen de la Carriere on the L’s [34] Mark Bunker on Miscavige hiding [35] Mark Plummer [36] Mark Ebner [37] Karen Pressley [38] Steve Cannane [39] Fredrick Brennan [40] Clarissa Adams [41] Louise Shekter [42] John Sweeney [43] Tory Christman [44] Kate Bornstein [45] Christian Stolte [46] Mark Bunker [47] Jon Atack [48] Luke Y. Thompson [49] Mark Ebner [50] Bruce Hines [51] Spanky Taylor and Karen Pressley [51] Geoff and Robbie Levin [52] Sands Hall [53] Jonny Jacobsen [54] Sandy Holeman
“The fellow wants to get out of the woods and there are two trails. And one trail lies much deeper into the woods and the other trail goes out on to the plain. And all you have to do is put up a sign at the crossroads and point to that trail which goes deeper into the woods and say, ‘This way lies freedom,’ you see, and you’ve promptly trapped a lot of people.” — L. Ron Hubbard, September 18, 1963
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“I was looking over Base Order No. 29 from 1967. There is no reason really it had to suffer such radical changes except that it was never checksheeted and packed for posts. The large amount of know-how in Flag Orders was never fully mimeo filed and related to posts by checksheet. This also solved a long standing mystery. The officer corps of some professional armies is terrible while their enlisted ranks up to non-comm are excellent. Germany lost 2 wars because of this. The US armed forces are remarkable examples of this. Suddenly dawn broke. The duties of everyone are well and totally written up and published right up to the top non-comm. Officers from low to high never had to learn any of this, even built up contempt for such knowledge and had no such plain texts for their own duties. I’ve seen it in commercial companies and elsewhere for a long time. Never could figure out why leadershp was so poor even for excellent troops or workers. Well, there it is. Hats, texts training in the lower echelon and almost none in the upper.” — The Commodore, September 18, 1970
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“If you do the bridge your not going to be told about secret weather control programs, about vaccines brain damaging people, about the secret space program, about secret depopulation programs (programs run to kill us), about underground bases being built by the new world order in case of a cataclysm (they have literally built underground towns with all this advanced tech) and they fly around in UFOs which they keep secret from us, i mean there is just so much going on that we are not told about in scientology or in mainstream life, but at least scientology makes us smarter so that then we can investigate and find out about all these things.”
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1995: Developments in the Scientology vs. FACTNet case. From the Denver Post: “A US Supreme Court justice yesterday denied an appeal by the Church of Scientology to stay a district court order that it return computer materials to a man the church has accused of stealing church secrets, an attorney said. The stay was denied late yesterday by associate Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, according to Natalie Hanlon-Leh, an attorney for Lawrence Wollersheim of Boulder.
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“One of the few things I agree with the Scientologists on is that the whole Vistaril thing is weak. Vistaril, a/k/a hydroxyzine, is one theetie-wheetie drug. You need to take a whole bottle of this shit to even remotely get a buzz. Vistaril has never been considered a true psych drug. I know it is an antihistamine, anti itching agent. That’s how I first encountered it. The point is that us trying to say it’s a psych dug like Valium is absurd.”
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Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker
Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Found guilty on two counts on May 31, remanded to custody. Sentencing on Sep 7.
— ‘Lafayette Ronald Hubbard’ (a/k/a Justin Craig), aggravated assault, plus drug charges: Grand jury indictments include charges from an assault while in custody. Trial scheduled for August 15.
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud.
Civil litigation:
— Leah Remini v. Scientology, alleging ‘Fair Game’ harassment and defamation: Complaint filed August 2, first hearing set for Dec 4.
— Baxter, Baxter, and Paris v. Scientology, alleging labor trafficking: Forced to arbitration. Plaintiffs allowed interlocutory appeal to Eleventh Circuit.
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Appellate court removes requirement of arbitration on January 19, case remanded back to Superior Court. Stay in place at least through sentencing of Masterson on Sep 7. Next hearing set for Sept 26.
— Jane Doe 1 v. Scientology, David Miscavige, and Gavin Potter: Case unsealed and second amended complaint filed. Next hearing Nov 6.
— Chiropractors Steve Peyroux and Brent Detelich, stem cell fraud: Ordered to mediation.
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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] Bombshells in Danny Masterson case: Grand jury testimony, and evidence against Scientology
[TWO years ago] VIDEO: Scientology turns to rock ‘n’ roll to save its soul, and you’re invited!
[THREE years ago] Scientology celeb Danny Masterson to be arraigned today for raping three women
[FOUR years ago] Scientologists facing felonies try ‘sovereign citizen’ gambit in tense L. A. court hearing
[FIVE years ago] Giving Scientology TV a run for its money — it’s the premiere of the Bunker network!
[SIX years ago] Moss wins Emmy for portraying totalitarian cult victim and doesn’t care what you think about it
[SEVEN years ago] In the wake of raids, Scientology’s sneaky consulting front shrinks markedly in Russia
[EIGHT years ago] Scientology about to throw its Harlem party — and we need your eyes and ears!
[NINE years ago] RATHBUN SUIT: Scientology’s last swipe in its anti-SLAPP appeal before hearing next week
[TEN years ago] Scientology’s “Bridge:” Claire Headley Gets Us to CLEAR!
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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 3,156 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 3,671 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 3,221 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 2,211 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 2,092 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 5,396 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 3,267 days.
Doug Kramer has not seen his parents Linda and Norm in 2,372 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 4,819 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 4,161 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 12,727 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 8,646 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 4,813 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 4,395 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 4,656 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 3,692 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 3,408 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 2,972 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 1,287 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 2,462 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 7,013 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 4,144 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 4,482 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 9,337 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 4,456 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 2,812 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 7,115 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 3,221 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 3,619 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 3,495 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 3,060 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 3,573 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 3,827 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 14,936 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on September 18, 2023 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, 1995-2022 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2022), 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
Tony Ortega at The Daily Beast
