TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: For Scientology watchers, former LAPD cop Eugene Ingram is a legendary figure. For 30 years he was the chief operator in the church’s retaliation schemes. Nearly a decade ago we tracked him down in retirement. But now it’s his son who is causing chaos, and in a surprising place. [What is this Substack thing, anyway?]
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Technology Cocktail
“My current concern is tech quality over the world. Whereas the majority of auditors do a good job, there are some who don’t, and it is these who have our reputation at stake. The general outness has been traced (as usual) to out TRs and metering. Lack of a Cramming in Qual Divs and even lack of Qual Divs is what has brought this about. TRs and metering are out of the view of a C/S. He only sees what is written on the Auditor Report. A Cramming should exist in every org and every bog should cause the auditor to be sent to Cramming on the material missed.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1978
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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 [55] Mark Bunker [56] Trish and Liz Conley [57] Trish Conley [58] Alex Barnes-Ross [59] Alex Barnes-Ross [60] Alex Barnes-Ross [61] Alex Barnes-Ross [62] Alex Barnes-Ross [63] Alex Barnes-Ross [64] Tory Christman [65] Tammy Synovec [66] Dennis Erlich [67] Alex Barnes-Ross [68] Valerie Ross [69] Kat in Austin [70] Mark Bunker [71] Phil Jones
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“I recall a patient encountering such a somatic where it seemed like mother had gotten the crabs. He complained about these crabs for about two weeks, and had scratched himself practically raw during that time. But he was held in that engram and had been there most of his life! That is what is known as getting crabs for 40 years.” — L. Ron Hubbard, June 17, 1950
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“BIG WIN: The Adelaide Ban is to be repealed according to the Attorney General at the Adelaide Labour Convention. This is a GO victory. The A/G there Tom Minchin did it. He is being made a Kha Khan. So the tide rolls back the way it came. A lovely birthday present for Mary Sue. The Telex arrived in the first few minutes of her birthday today.” — The Commodore, June 17, 1971
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“I met John McMaster in 1984. He was very bitter about and critical of LRH. He lived in squalid degraded conditions and became involved with a weird offshoot group called ‘Avatar.’ He did not demonstrate a deep understanding of the tech and in my opinion was not competent to develop Power Processes. As far as S&D goes, from my conversations with McMaster, he was going at a very oblique angle and didn’t understand S&D but was looking at an entirely different rundown unconnected with PTSness.”
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1996: News posted this week that US First Lady Hillary Clinton was fooled into a public demonstration of support for a Scientology front organization. Excerpts from two St. Petersburg Times articles. “So, there was a smiling Hillary Rodham Clinton. There were the foster families from Pinellas County. There was the ‘Hands of Hope Quilt’ decorated with 250 brightly colored hand prints. And there on the quilt was … a quote from Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Unbeknownst to Mrs. Clinton or her staff, the group greeted warmly by the first lady last Tuesday is headed by two Scientologists and promotes Hubbard’s controversial beliefs as part of its promotional literature. ‘We were not aware that it is affiliated with the Church of Scientology,’ Lisa Caputo, Mrs. Clinton’s press secretary, said Monday upon hearing of the group’s connections. ‘It was a very quick hello.’ After that quick hello, the president of the Hands of Hope Quilt project put out a news release that took note of Hubbard’s works and reported that one of the White House visitors had presented Mrs. Clinton with a copy of one of Hubbard’s books. Describing the quilt, the news release says: ‘A quote from the renowned humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard runs through it, ‘A good stable adult with love and tolerance in his heart is about the best therapy a child can have.’ Her press secretary, Lisa Caputo, said afterward that Mrs. Clinton and her staff didn’t know the controversial organization was associated with the quilt group. Not so, insist the Scientologists. ‘There was no intention whatsoever to be deceptive in any way,’ said Sue Taylor, spokeswoman for the Church of Scientology International in Washington. After the Times reported the visit Tuesday, Taylor showed a reporter a letter sent to Mrs. Clinton’s scheduler a few weeks earlier that clearly linked the quilt effort and the Church. The letter from Hands of Hope president Marsha Friedman mentions that the Church of Scientology opens its Clearwater auditorium to foster children each year for a Christmas party. The letter also notes that the quilt the group planned to present to Mrs. Clinton includes Hubbard’s quote. Caputo said last week that she couldn’t find the letter.”
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“People bandy about the term ‘Satanist’ in relation to L. Ron Hubbard somewhat disingenuously. Aleister Crowley didn’t consider himself a ‘Satanist’ and Hubbard was a dilettante poseur playing at what he perceived to be ‘Satanism.’ A goodly portion of the Internet sites I’ve encountered in my readings and ‘research’ in the last five or so years that try to paint LRH as a some kind of serious Satanist have been Born-Again Christian sites, so they definitely have an agenda. Hubbard was about as much of a ‘real’ Satanist as Anton LaVey was. It was all part of the geek show for the rubes.”
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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. Sentenced to 30 years to life on Sep 7, 2023. DA’s response to appeal brief due June 13.
— ‘Lafayette Ronald Hubbard’ (a/k/a Justin Craig), aggravated assault, plus drug charges: Grand jury indictments include charges from an assault while in custody. Next pretrial hearing June 16.
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, convicted of fraud. Sentenced to 7 years in prison.
Civil litigation:
— Baxter, Baxter, and Paris v. Scientology, alleging labor trafficking: Forced to arbitration.
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson. Judge Upindra Kalra’s ruling denying Scientology’s motion to strike is on appeal.
— Jane Doe 1 v. Scientology, David Miscavige, and Gavin Potter: Case unsealed and second amended complaint filed. Scientology moves for religious arbitration, gets ruling to depose Jane Doe 1. Trial has been set for January 10, 2028.
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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] Bruce Hines: Scientology is one strange journey, sailor
[TWO years ago] PODCAST: ‘Chicago Fire’ star Christian Stolte on his Scientology experience
[THREE years ago] Scientology is bursting with news about its aging cruise ship, which is totally not sinking
[FOUR years ago] Private investigators stalking Leah Remini and Jennifer Lopez: The complete texts
[FIVE years ago] SCIENTOLOGY CELEB DANNY MASTERSON CHARGED ON MULTIPLE RAPE ALLEGATIONS
[SIX years ago] Mike Rinder returns to Scientology’s secretive Int Base! Well, sort of.
[SEVEN years ago] Scientology scores with political conservatives in Europe using the ‘religious freedom’ gambit
[EIGHT years ago] Paul Haggis: Marty Rathbun is using private info I gave him against Lawrence Wright
[NINE years ago] Maryland county explains why (don’t call it Scientology) can take a hike
[TEN years ago] Another document trove on L. Ron Hubbard’s troubled son, Nibs, the Scientology flip-flopper
[ELEVEN years ago] LISTEN: Rare tape reveals how L. Ron Hubbard really came up with Scientology’s space cooties
[TWELVE years ago] SCIENTOLOGISTS AT WAR, the Channel 4 Documentary
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Bernie Headley (1952-2019) did not see his daughter Stephanie in his final 5,667 days.
Joe Reaiche (1958-2024) did not see his daughter Alanna Masterson in his final 6,999 days.
Mike Rinder (1955-2025) did not see his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in his final 7,589 days.
Tammy Synovec has not seen her daughter Julia in 3,298 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 3,793 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 4,308 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 3,858 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 2,848 days.
Klaus Büchele has not seen his daughter Jasmin in 5,234 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 2,729 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 6,033 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 3,902 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 5,456 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 4,797 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 13,364 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 9,283 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 5,451 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 5,033 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 5,292 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 4,329 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 4,045 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 3,609 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 1,924 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 3,099 days.
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 4,781 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 5,118 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 9,972 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 5,087 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 3,449 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 3,858 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 4,254 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 4,132 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 3,697 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 4,208 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 4,464 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 15,572 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on June 17, 2025 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, 1995-2023 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2023), 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
