TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: Character assassination is how Scientology reacts to questions about its abuses, and for Alex Barnes-Ross it’s coming at him from all sides. He let us into the details of just one operation the ‘church’ threw at him recently, and how he’s managed to turn the tables on them. [What is this Substack thing, anyway?]
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Technology Cocktail
“Medicinal drugs such as diet pills, codeine. novocaine, and others have gone into ‘restim’ years after they were taken and had supposedly been eliminated from the body. Thus it seems that any or all of these hostile biochemical substances can get caught up in the tissues and their accumulation probably disarranges the biochemistry and fluid balance of the body. These substances must be eliminated if the person is to get the most possible gains from mental and spiritual processing.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1979
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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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“Instead of running him on CCHs or something like this, or trying to straighten up something, nah! let’s go for broke; let’s clear him! Not take too many hours at it, either. All right. Now, that’s possible. That can be done. But, let me call this to your attention, it is — this is the controverting fact. It is not being done. Now, you can’t argue with that, can you? Now, I could get down and scream and howl and beat the floor, and Hitlerize the room. But let me tell you something, that isn’t going to do any good. That isn’t going to do any good at all. That’s in the line of reason, or something like this mounts up. If you looked at it very broadly you could say, ‘Well, nobody can audit.’ I mean, that’s the first thing you’d say. ‘Nobody can run a session in the whole world, except just this little handful or maybe five,’ you know. Something like that. But that’s an unacceptable datum that isn’t true, see. So it must be that there were some great big broad bugs on this, and the biggest bug — and I finally located what it was, a very simple bug — it’s just the fact that the goal and the terminal easily disappear in the face of an out-rudiment.” — L. Ron Hubbard, August 24, 1961
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“Any real emergency is chaotic. The drilling of sequences of actions is a stable series of data that prevents the chaos from overwhelming one. Interesting bit of history here. I developed the theory and practice of ‘Battle Conditioning’ used in WW II. I did a paper on it for the Navy before the war and was sent over to the Army G2 with it and Army G2 got it in practice, training by crawling under machine fire and all that. Must have saved a few hundred thousand lives! Nobody even ever said thank you but that’s all right.” — The Commodore, August 24, 1970
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“This Present Time problem has always been present through Earth’s time. They only become apparent when some elite runs a scheme. Just the idea that there have been people believing as if L. Ron Hubbard would be coming back in a new body to this planet with its silly inhabitants… There even has been this bloke claiming he had received a letter from L. Ron Hubbard about that. We have this situation as original tech is not applied for some time now! Consider that for a moment. Reflect on the technology and how things were ongoing prior to the late 70s. Everything has gone down ever since! The problem today is people claiming that they have original technology and not the Church of Scientology, when they both have not! In fact they present the SAME status quo of the technology. There are David Mayo and David Miscavige clones all about tricking you to believe something that is not.”
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2001: The Field Staff Member statistics through August, 2001 were posted to a.r.s this week. FSMs receive a percentage of the money they arrange to be paid to Scientology. 1. Marilyn Beck; 2. Timothy Corbo; 3. Floyd R. Sloat; 4. Frederich Golin; 5. Mike Hoy; 6. Nancy Dunham; 7. Tom Soracco; 8. Randy Weber; 9. Cindy Bamforth; 10. Wendy Ettricks. Missions: 1. Burbank; 2. Inglewood; 3. Beverly Hills; 4. Capitol; 5. Buenaventura. Class V Orgs. 1. CC Int.; 2. Las Vegas Foundation; 3. Los Angeles Foundation; 4. Orange County; 5. Mountain View. Groups: 1. Howson FSM Group; 2. Way to Happiness Int; 3. Narconon Int; 4. Narconon N.B.; 5. Oh Tee Productions, Inc.”
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“I’m the Dennis Hopper of the ‘Down with Scientology’ club.”
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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 August 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 December 1.
Civil litigation:
— Leah Remini v. Scientology, alleging ‘Fair Game’ harassment and defamation: Some defamation claims were removed by Judge Hammock. Judge Hammock’s ruling is on appeal. Leah’s appeal brief was filed June 3. Respondent briefs are due September 2.
— 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 Does’ response to Scientology’s appeal brief submitted July 30. Scientology’s reply due October 20.
— 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] Scientology school loses crucial ability to host foreign students after inspection
[TWO years ago] ‘Harass and discourage’: The role of lawyers and journalists in Scientology’s attack plans
[THREE years ago] The best TV show on Scientology you never got to see, Episode 3: Carol Nyburg
[FOUR years ago] Leah Remini podcast: Ian Rafalko talks about his father, chiropractor Eric Berg
[FIVE years ago] Danny Masterson changes his tune about criminal case in new civil brief
[SIX years ago] Paging Graham Berry: Another Scientology horror story of credit fraud targeting retirees
[SEVEN years ago] The Scientology pamphlet that has finally convinced us this planet is theirs
[EIGHT years ago] What’s at stake in Tuesday’s San Antonio court hearing with Scientology’s former enforcer
[NINE years ago] Ken Dandar’s courtroom nightmare is finally over (unless Scientology starts it over from scratch)
[TEN years ago] Tonight, it’s Boston! And that has us thinking about Beantown’s connections to ‘Miss Lovely’
[ELEVEN years ago] Scientology claims credit for solving the crisis in Ferguson, Missouri
[TWELVE years ago] LA Sheriff Lee Baca to Grace Scientology Gala, Days after Celebrity Centre Employee Arrested for Planning to Kill a Cop
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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 3,365 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 3,869 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 4,375 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 3,925 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 2,915 days.
Klaus Büchele has not seen his daughter Jasmin in 5,301 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 2,796 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 6,100 days.
Marc Headley has not seen his mother Trudy in 4,751 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 3,969 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 5,523 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 4,864 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 13,435 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 9,351 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 5,518 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 5,100 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 5,359 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 4,396 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 4,112 days.
Marie Poulin has not seen her mother June in 3,676 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 1,991 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 3,166 days.
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 4,848 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 5,185 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 10,039 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 5,154 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 3,516 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 3,925 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 4,315 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 4,199 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 3,764 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 4,275 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 4,535 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 15,639 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on August 24, 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
