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 Gov. Mary Fallin Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin today signed SB 295, turning “Stacy’s Bill” into “Stacy’s Law.” On July 19, 2012, Stacy Dawn Murphy died of an overdose at Narconon Arrowhead, the Church of Scientology’s flagship drug rehab facility near Canadian, Oklahoma. Hers was the third patient death in only nine months, and it launched county and state investigations, multiple lawsuits, and now a new law that will give the state greater oversight of the facility. Governor Fallin took less than a week to sign the bill after it was forwarded to her by the state legislature. “I think she did it because it gives the state agencies more time to formulate the new rules. And it keeps Scientology from lobbying her not to sign it,” says Stacy’s father, Robert Murphy. Continue reading OKLAHOMA GOVERNOR SIGNS LAW AIMED AT SCIENTOLOGY DRUG REHAB
 Jodie Fleischer of WSB-TV reported today that things just got a lot worse for Scientology’s drug rehab program in the Atlanta area.
When state investigators and county police raided Narconon Georgia on April 26, we knew they were looking for evidence of insurance fraud. But now Gwinnett County DA Danny Porter tells Fleischer that he’s also looking into multiple cases of credit card fraud at the facility that resulted from Narconon officials allegedly taking out cards in the names of patients without their permission — and then charging them to their maximum extent. If that sounds familiar, you may remember our story from March 21, when attorney Gary Richardson filed five new lawsuits against Scientology’s flagship rehab center in Oklahoma, Narconon Arrowhead. In one of those lawsuits, former Narconon patient Sue Anne Newman alleged that two credit cards had been taken out in her name by Narconon officials, and she was charged $14,500 without her knowledge or permission. Continue reading Investigation of Scientology Drug Rehab Program in Georgia Shifts to Credit Card Fraud
 In Salt Lake City, a retired schoolteacher and her son are suing a group of people they accuse of running a Ponzi scheme involving — and designed to benefit — the Church of Scientology in Utah.
Carol Bee and Brian Bagley are suing a group of investors in a state court action, but also have filed a complaint in the bankruptcy of Barry and Kimberly Hunter, two Scientologists who became insolvent when the financial services company they were trying to get off the ground, Portfolio Manager International, failed in 2011. The Hunters have responded in detailed court filings denying that PMI was a Ponzi scheme, and they say that Bee and Bagley were harmed not by PMI but by a man named Christopher Hales, who is currently serving 7.5 years in federal prison for bank fraud. The Hunters say that they actually tried to help Bee and Bagley once they realized Hales was acting strangely about the investments that Bee and Bagley had given him. But since the Hunters made those responses, Bee and Bagley have now filed a beefed-up amended complaint asserting that Barry Hunter and his other partners formed PMI in 2005 as a fraudulent scheme that would in part raise money for a Scientology foundation. Continue reading Lawsuit Alleges Church of Scientology in Utah Involved in Ponzi Scheme
 Yeah, we know this is a stretch Welcome to the Cinco de Mayo edition of Scientology Sunday Funnies! We really can’t think of any sort of connection between our weekly collection of wacky Scientology mailers and a meaningless American holiday that celebrates binge drinking. But what the heck! We will toast David Miscavige with our first margarita tonight. So anyway, our tipsters have come through with another collection of church come-ons, and it’s a good day for a chuckle, because we have a feeling that things are really going to heat up on the blog this week. Not only do we have several big investigative stories working, but we hear that some big legal proceedings we’ve been following are going to pop at any moment. This week is like a big fat piñata filled with little tequila bottles just waiting to burst open! All right, enough with the Battle of Puebla. Let’s get on with the Funnies.
Continue reading Cinco De Funnies: Getting Drunk on the Wisdom of Ron! Advertisement
 Earlier this week we told you that Laura DeCrescenzo’s forced-abortion lawsuit against the Church of Scientology had reached a crucial stage, and that the church is scrambling to prevent a release of thousands of pages of documents that could bolster DeCrescenzo’s case.
The documents come from Laura’s “pc folders,” which were compiled as she spent years undergoing brutal interrogations as a member of the church’s “Sea Org.” Unlike in a Catholic confessional, DeCrescenzo’s auditing sessions were not only recorded by auditors, but those notes were reviewed and shared by case supervisors and other church employees — the church itself admits that some 250 officials compiled or reviewed these notes, which contain intimate secrets about DeCrescenzo’s private life. When she demanded the documents — which fill about 140 folders and were compiled over a decade — the church tried to keep them secret under California law that protects priest-penitent confessions (even though it was the penitent — DeCrescenzo — who wanted the material). The superior court in Los Angeles ruled that because Laura’s notes were shared by so many church employees, that law didn’t apply, and the church has already lost an appeal of that decision. So now the church has petitioned the state’s supreme court, arguing that the law itself is unconstitutional because it discriminates against Scientology’s concept of confessional confidentiality. We now have the church’s petition, and we’re sharing it with our readers. Continue reading SCIENTOLOGY TO CALIFORNIA SUPREMES: State’s Priest-Penitent Law is Unconstitutional
 Former Scientology spokesman Mike Rinder has been using his blog to document just how desperate the church is getting as it pursues its “Ideal Org” strategy.
Church leader David Miscavige seems more determined than ever to raise money from church members in order to purchase and renovate downtown landmarks in cities around the world, even though they seem unneeded and then go largely empty. (Rinder documented just how empty in a remarkable story about one of the first Ideal Orgs, in Johannesburg.) Years of effort goes into the fundraising and rehabbing of these buildings, and everything about these efforts suggest that Miscavige seems to believe that their grand opening ceremonies present huge public relations opportunities for Scientology, which has, in the last year, been suffering through the worst publicity of its existence. Continue reading Scientology is Staking Everything On Portland Like It Actually Matters
 Welcome to our ongoing project, where we blog a 1950 first edition of Scientology’s bible, Dianetics, with the help of ex-Scientologist, lawyer, and author Vance Woodward. Go here for the first post in the series.
Vance, we’ve reached a chapter titled “The Laws of Returning,” and it’s at moments like these that we wonder how this book was ever taken seriously by anyone. “Let us take an engram which comes from one of Mother’s bowel movements,” L. Ron Hubbard writes in this chapter and, come on, what human being puts those words together in a sentence? Continue reading Dianetics: Super Colon Blow For Your Mind
 Stacy Dawn Murphy Oklahoma’s State Senate today passed SB 295 with a unanimous vote of 43 to 0, and now the bill — aimed at tightening regulation of drug rehab facilities in the state — will go to Governor Mary Fallin, who is expected to sign it into law. The new statute is a direct result of recent deaths at Scientology’s flagship drug rehab center, Narconon Arrowhead, which is in the eastern part of the state. Three patients at the facility died between October 2011 and July 2012, resulting in multiple state and county investigations and numerous lawsuits, all of which are still pending. Last summer, Sen. Tom Ivester announced that he wanted to pass legislation that would increase state oversight of the controversial facility. The Democratic senator teamed up with a conservative Republican in Oklahoma’s House, Rep. Jason Murphey, and today SB 295 passed its final hurdle in the legislature. Continue reading OKLAHOMA LEGISLATURE PASSES DRUG REHAB BILL AIMED AT SCIENTOLOGY’S NARCONON
 Things have really heated up in Laura DeCrescenzo’s forced-abortion lawsuit against the Church of Scientology. As we reported earlier, the church has been ordered to turn over more than a hundred of DeCrescenzo’s “pc folders” — which contain notes taken while she underwent intense interrogations at the hands of church officials, and which should yield thousands of pages of supporting evidence for her allegations of abuse in Scientology’s “Sea Org.” But with only days to go, the church is fighting mightily not to release that material.
We have learned that a petition filed by Scientology was denied by California’s Appeals Court, and on Monday the church then filed a petition with the state’s Supreme Court. If that petition is denied, Scientology may even petition the US Supreme Court. The church claims that it should not be forced to turn over what it says are confidential confessionals protected by clergy-penitent privilege — even though it’s the penitent, DeCrescenzo, who wants access to the documents. Continue reading SCIENTOLOGY DENIED: CA Appeals Court Won’t Help Church in Forced-Abortion Lawsuit
 Claire Headley is taking us on our journey to train as Scientologists. She and her husband Marc were Sea Org workers who escaped from Scientology’s International Base in 2005. She spent years working with Scientology’s “tech,” and was trusted to oversee the auditing of Tom Cruise. Go here to see the first part in this series.
Claire, after all the study tech and word clearing and memorizing of Scientology slogans we’ve already gone through, you’re telling us that we have even more to endure? CLAIRE: Well, next is “Method One Co-Audit,” and it’s where you’re paired up with another person. You then audit each other on Method One word clearing. The “end phenomena” (or EP as it’s called in the world of Scientology) is the recovery of one’s education. We can run through the steps of the process. And after completing Method One word clearing and Student Hat (which we’ve already covered) you are now a “Fast Flow Student.” THE BUNKER: Please tell us that means we get a big certificate to take home. Continue reading The Scientology Method: Drill, Baby, Drill!
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