On March 31, we reported the startling news that Hanan Islam, 62, had died of cancer, which also happened to end the prosecution against her for stealing about $4 million from the state of California through Medi-Cal fraud, and with the use of a Scientology rehab clinic.

So imagine our surprise when we [...]]]>

On March 31, we reported the startling news that Hanan Islam, 62, had died of cancer, which also happened to end the prosecution against her for stealing about $4 million from the state of California through Medi-Cal fraud, and with the use of a Scientology rehab clinic.

So imagine our surprise when we learned that since that day, the Los Angeles Superior Court has sworn out an arrest for her.

Say what?

According to the court record, when Hanan’s attorneys showed up on June 9 to tell Judge H. Clay Jacke II that their client was no longer among the living and that her case should be ended, the judge was apparently perturbed that they had not brought a death certificate with them, and issued a warrant for arrest and bail set at $20,000. It also appears to have put the $250,000 bond that was already keeping her out of jail in some jeopardy.

 
Now, we know this news will get the conspiracy minded wondering if Hanan has “faked” her death in order to get out of being prosecuted. But we don’t think that’s the case.

We looked up her bail bond company that had secured the $250,000 bond and gave them the call. The person who spoke to us told us that this actually wasn’t very unusual at all.

“This happens once in a while. And since the name you gave me doesn’t ring a bell, I’m assuming it’s not a case I’m concerned about,” the representative at 365 Bail Bonds told us.

Well, he might not be concerned, but we haven’t heard back from the prosecutor on the case after we sent an email to see if he has any concerns about something nefarious going on.

Meanwhile, although Hanan was characterized as the ringleader of the $4 million Medi-Cal fraud, three of her children are still facing prosecution in the matter, including her notorious son Rizza Islam, who was last year named one of the 12 biggest sources of online misinformation about vaccines.

According to a state investigator who testified in a preliminary hearing in the case, Rizza helped create fake reports about high school kids supposedly being treated at the Scientology clinic that were then sent to the state in order to get insurance payments for treatment that didn’t actually happen.

His next court date is August 22, for something called a “readiness hearing.” One website we checked suggested that a readiness hearing is held when a trial is imminent. Could that be the case with Rizza? We don’t see a trial date on his docket, but we will continue to monitor this case that has dragged on for years.

And at least the judge is all over arresting this dead woman, so the case has that going for it.

 
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Bonus items from our tipsters

Is your favorite pulling ahead?

 
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Now available: Bonus for our supporters

Episode 3 of the Underground Bunker podcast has been sent out to paid subscribers, and it’s a conversation about the Scientology litigation we’re keeping a close eye on. Our LA correspondent Jeffrey Augustine helps us keep track of what’s going on in court right now. Meanwhile, we’ve made episodes 1 and 2 available to everyone, with Claire Headley exposing Tom Cruise, and Marc Headley on what it must be like for David Miscavige living in Clearwater, Florida. Go here to get the episodes!

 
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Source Code

“When we go into the idea of supreme beings or gods or big thetans or something like that, well, we’ve just taken the whole curve all the way around and the only thing we’ve got on this planet today is just pure nuttiness on this subject, see, the theory of the Big Thetan, see. Actually, the Big Thetan theory is simply one of the GPMs and it — there’s end words that have to do with gods and things like this, you see. And there’s one of the root words — several of the root words — have to do with worship and so forth and it’s just goofiness, see? There isn’t anybody, any Big Thetan around who’s permeating everything that just because you say, ‘Now, please give me cake and ice cream for my supper tonight,’ is going to suddenly go into a brown study and wonder how to get you cake and ice cream tonight, see. There just is no such being.” — L. Ron Hubbard, July 15, 1964

 
——————–

Avast, Ye Mateys

“I could write quite a book these days. So many things have been wrapped up. Insanity and its causes and mechanisms for instance. I wish things would groove in more smoothly. Actually I have at least 2 books to write that are front line in importance. The one on insanity and one on studies of revolution. The last would become a text book for the state that would in fact make them bring about a revolution to prevent one! So I have hopes in getting things going smoother. It depends on handling these WHYs and getting back in the Flag – to CLO – to Org pattern that with the FEBC began this boom and will continue it.” — The Commodore, July 15, 1971

 
——————–

Overheard in the FreeZone

“Goodbye Kelly. Find a new body and hurry back soon or break free if you can.”

 
——————–

Past is Prologue

1998: The Edmonton Examiner published an apology this week to Professor Stephen Kent. The Examiner distributed Scientology’s Freedom magazine as an insert in the paper. Freedom attacked Professor Kent in the insert. “In early June of 1998, the Edmonton Examiner inadvertently distributed copies of the Freedom Journal to some Edmonton homes. The Freedom Journal is published by the Church of Scientology International and made certain allegations concerning University of Alberta Professor Stephen A. Kent (Ph.D.). The Edmonton Examiner is not aware of any basis for the printed allegations and was wrong to distribute material which represented Professor Kent in a derogatory manner. Further, the Edmonton Examiner apologizes to Professor Stephen A. Kent for any embarrassment caused and sincerely regrets its role in the distribution of this material.”

 
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Random Howdy

“Scientology is ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ meets ‘Ancient Aliens’.”

Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Trial scheduled for October 11.
— ‘Lafayette Ronald Hubbard’ (a/k/a Justin Craig), aggravated assault, plus drug charges: Last hearing was on January 18, referred to grand jury. Additional charges also referred to grand jury after January 5 assault while in jail.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay sentenced to 9 years in prison. Jeff’s sentencing to be scheduled.
— Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Readiness hearing scheduled for August 22 in Los Angeles
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud: Next pretrial conference set for September 19.
— Yanti Mike Greene, Scientology private eye accused of contempt of court: Found guilty of criminal and civil contempt.

Civil litigation:
— Baxter, Baxter, and Paris v. Scientology, alleging labor trafficking: Complaint filed April 28 in Tampa federal court, Scientology moving to compel arbitration.
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Selection of arbitrators underway. Next court hearing: February 2, 2023.
— 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, next status hearing October 25.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Third amended complaint filed, trial set for December 6.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: New trial ordered after appeals court overturned prior ruling.
— Chiropractors Steve Peyroux and Brent Detelich, stem cell fraud: Lawsuit filed by the FTC and state of Georgia in August, now in discovery phase.

 
——————–

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.

SCIENTOLOGY: FAIR GAME

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?

 
——————–
THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] Valerie Haney’s Supreme Court petition gets a date for discussion, but don’t get your hopes up
[TWO years ago] New Scientology video brings up past lives, the nuttiest and most gruesome part of Hubbardism
[THREE years ago] Jokes aside, has Scientology ‘Clear’ Joy Villa managed to ‘safepoint’ the White House?
[FOUR years ago] Scientology proves it will try to capitalize on just about any disaster
[FIVE years ago] Whale watching update: Your 2017 mid-year guide to who’s keeping Scientology alive
[SIX years ago] Scientology caves: Fred Haseney avoids court hearing, will take camera to Big Blue tomorrow
[SEVEN years ago] Nick Lister: Scientology asked me to seduce Mike Rinder’s wife in a spy operation
[EIGHT years ago] Lawsuit number 17 filed by Las Vegas attorney against Scientology’s rehab network
[NINE years ago] Scientology’s Drug Rehab Fights Class-Action Lawsuit With Move to Federal Court
[TEN years ago] Video from the Memorial of Alexander Jentzsch; Also: Scientology Commenters of the Week
[ELEVEN years ago] Scientology’s “Documentary” of Marty Rathbun Revealed!

 
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——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on July 15, 2022 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, 1995-2021 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2021), 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

A memorial service for Hanan Islam has been scheduled for Saturday to take place at the gymnasium at Compton College in Southern California. Her son, Ronnie “Rizza” Islam, announced on his Instagram account on Sunday that his mother died after a ten-year battle with colon cancer. She was 62.

More than [...]]]>

A memorial service for Hanan Islam has been scheduled for Saturday to take place at the gymnasium at Compton College in Southern California. Her son, Ronnie “Rizza” Islam, announced on his Instagram account on Sunday that his mother died after a ten-year battle with colon cancer. She was 62.

More than six years ago, we broke the news that Hanan, Rizza, and two of Hanan’s daughters, Zakiyyah and Nimat, had been charged on felony counts for running a Medi-Cal insurance scam out of World Literacy Crusade, the notorious Scientology front operation located in the Los Angeles working class suburb of Compton. Two other employees were also charged, and two high school principals and a high school football coach faced lesser counts for participating in the scheme.

The three educators lost their jobs, and in October 2019 state investigators laid out their case against the Islams in a preliminary hearing, and Hanan and her children were bound over for trial.

Since then, a series of pretrial conferences had taken place, with a trial date being put off repeatedly. We reported earlier that Hanan’s health was being raised in court as a reason for the case being delayed. She was facing the most serious charges as the scam’s ringleader. And because she had previous felony convictions, she was facing a more serious potential penalty than her children were.

At the time of the preliminary hearing, Hanan and Rizza, who were also involved in the Nation of Islam, tried out some “sovereign citizen” arguments, disrupting proceedings by claiming that the court had no jurisdiction over them. Both were arrested and led away from the courtroom in handcuffs for short stays in jail.

According to the state investigators, the Islams were using unwitting high school students (supplied by the three educators), who had no idea that they were being counted as drug rehab patients. The Islams paid “ghost writers” to create narratives about the treatments of these students, which were submitted to the state as insurance claims. Between 2010 and 2013, the state alleged, the Islams had pocketed about $3.8 million in illegal claims. (We found evidence that the scam may have been going on considerably longer, at least as early as 2005, and may have involved much more money.)

In 2004, Hanan created American Health and Education Clinics with her partner the Rev. Alfreddie Johnson Jr. at the World Literacy Crusade, and was running it as a Narconon drug rehab. “We use the Narconon program developed by L. Ron Hubbard,” World Literacy Crusade’s website stated on a now-defunct page that is preserved on the Internet Archive. (Alfreddie Johnson was not charged with a crime in relation to the scam being run out of his facility. And the World Literacy Crusade itself no longer exists.)

In 2008, the Los Angeles Times reported that the World Literacy Crusade was the scene of a near riot as it turned out that the $1,500 vouchers it was selling for Section 8 housing turned out to be fakes.

As a result of that incident, Hanan wrote up a Scientology “Doubt Formula,” which we first published in 2019.

In 2012, Hanan Islam and Alfreddie Johnson were featured in a series of stories in the Tampa Bay Times which described how they flew to Florida and took over a struggling charter school, imposed Scientology teaching methods over the objections of parents and some teachers (who were fired), diverted large amounts of the school’s state money to the World Literacy Crusade, and left town after riding the charter school into the ground.

“Calling herself ‘Dr. Hanan,’ Islam…said she was a naturopathic physician with two doctorates and a master’s degree from Rochville University and the Eden Institute. Rochville is an online school the Washington Post called ‘a diploma mill.’ No university named ‘Eden Institute’ could be found by the Times,” wrote Tampa Bay Times reporter Drew Harwell.

The next year, the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) reported on widespread Medi-Cal abuse, and found that Hanan Islam had a criminal past. “Throughout her decadelong tenure at American Health and Education Clinics, authorities seemed to take no note of her criminal history. In the mid-’90s, she had pleaded guilty to a federal charge of providing a fake name on a passport application. She also had been convicted of grand theft for forging a $29,000 check,” CIR’s Christina Jewett and Will Evans reported.

We also found that Hanan had an interesting connection to the Danny Masterson criminal and civil cases. When Jane Doe 1, one of the women accusing Masterson of raping them while they were Scientologists, first reported her 2003 incident to the church, it was Alfreddie Johnson who, along with a Scientology official named Kirsten Caetano and Luke Watson, a friend of Masterson’s, tried to set up a meeting between the That ’70s Show actor and his accuser so he could listen to her allegations. Hanan Islam helped prepare the space for the meeting, which took place at the World Literacy Crusade. The meeting went awry, however, when Masterson made inappropriate jokes, interrupting Jane Doe 1’s description of the incident. But Hanan, we pointed out, could have testified in Masterson’s case that the Church of Scientology was well aware of the allegations against Masterson. That obviously won’t happen now.

Hanan’s son Rizza is not only facing his own felony charge in the Medi-Cal case, he was recently named one of the country’s 12 biggest sources of online disinformation about vaccines in a study by Center for Countering Digital Hate and Anti-Vax Watch.

At his Instagram account, where he announced his mother’s passing, Rizza posted this statement about how he was coping.

Sign up for a daily email when we post a new story on Scientology.

Did you know you can get an email every morning when we post our daily Scientology story? We know some of the folks who come to the Underground Bunker aren’t here to talk about the politics of the day, and that’s why we created a daily politics feature over at our other blog, The Lowdown, and we ask readers to take their political discussions over there. And if you drop us a line at tonyo94 AT gmail, we’ll put you on the list so you get a morning reminder that a new Scientology story has been posted — and only for our Scientology stories.

 
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Source Code

“We pick up somebody. Let’s say he’s a Marine captain or something, and we’re auditing him. He’s been a Marine years ago. Obviously, this person is no mystic. This person is no spiritualist. He knows nothing about these things. Let’s audit him, and get through, and so forth. And we audit him for about five hours, and he’s making very slow progress. And he’s liable to ask you at the end of the five hours if you really think his guardian angel approves of the techniques you’re using. Don’t be too alarmed if you hear such a reaction, because there’s practically 100 percent of the populace, one time or another, have been mixed up with spirits, spiritualism, mysticism or any one of the allied lines by which man has sought truth and has gotten booby-trapped. This Marine, you find out, served a long hitch in Santo Domingo. And all the time he was in Santo Domingo he was talked to continually by a mamaloi. Otherwise, this boy’s been sane ever since. He receives all of his directions from a witch doctor, or a witch. Yeah, he’s been ordering troops around on the advice of a witch doctor for years. This is not uncommon. Because a thing is not spoken about is no reason it doesn’t exist or isn’t known. And that’s a good rule for you to go on.” — L. Ron Hubbard, March 31, 1954

 
——————–

Avast, Ye Mateys

“My thanks to S. Moreau, R. Savage, Gerry Armstrong, and H. Harrison for helping on a voluntary basis cleaning up Fwd Tween Decks and Storage and mest moving in Hold 1 last night. L.H. 2 has been cleaned and restowed. Anyone littering or enmesting the area of any hold space will be dealt with severely by Ethics. These spaces (as well as all ship spaces) must be kept neat, clean and secure.” — Capt W.B. Robertson D/Captain FSO, March 31, 1971

 
——————–

Overheard in the FreeZone

“There is a lot of work ahead. I don’t believe specialist auditors can do the job (they can help a lot of individuals, but there are too many for one or even ten thousand auditors). What is needed is that EVERY person in the world know how to deliver a session, and do so whenever someone near them needs one. Twill eventually get the job done.”

 
——————–

Past is Prologue

1998: The St. Petersburg Times ran a story this week on Scientology’s growing attempts to influence Washington politics. “After years of holding the U.S. government in contempt, the Church of Scientology is enlisting members of Congress, the U.S. State Department and even President Clinton to advance its agenda in foreign lands. Prodded by the Scientologists’ paid lobbyists and its cadre of sympathetic entertainers, several lawmakers and the Clinton administration have criticized the German government for allegedly discriminating against Scientology practitioners. They even got their argument against Germany to the floor of the House of Representatives last November. The lobbying push comes amid an ongoing criminal investigation into a suspicious death of one of its parishioners at Scientology’s Clearwater headquarters – the latest in a history of controversy involving the church. That history includes convictions of 11 Scientologists on charges stemming from break-ins of government offices in the 1970s. Scientology has used lobbyists in Washington in the past, but in the years since the IRS ruling the organization has stepped up its lobbying effort. Records made public last week show that Religious Technology Center, a Scientology affiliate in Los Angeles, paid almost $725,000 to a Washington-based firm to lobby Congress in 1997 and 1996.”

 
——————–

Random Howdy

“Hubbard thought ‘1984’ was a How-To manual.”

 
——————–

Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Next pretrial conference May 31. Trial scheduled for August 29.

Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Eleventh Circuit affirmed ruling granting Scientology’s motion for arbitration. Garcias considering next move.
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Valerie’s motion for reconsideration denied on March 15.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Appellate court removes requirement of arbitration on January 19, case remanded back to Superior Court. Scientology has said it will file an anti-SLAPP motion.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Third amended complaint filed, trial set for June 28.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, Cannane victorious, awarded court costs. Appeal hearing held Aug 23-27. Awaiting a ruling.
— Chiropractors Steve Peyroux and Brent Detelich, stem cell fraud: Lawsuit filed by the FTC and state of Georgia in August, now in discovery phase.

 
——————–

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.

SCIENTOLOGY: FAIR GAME

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?

 
——————–
THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] The Top 25 People Enabling Scientology, No. 4: The LAPD
[TWO years ago] Mark Bunker, now as city councilman, confronts issues with Scientology on day one
[THREE years ago] Scientology is putting Ideal Orgs in every country where it operates — except one
[FOUR years ago] A Scientologist is running for lieutenant governor in Nevada — and it’s who you probably suspect
[FIVE years ago] Jonny Jacobsen: The tweets about Scientology that got a comedian in hot water
[SIX years ago] Reason Rally 2016 in Washington DC: The Underground Bunker wants to see you there!
[SEVEN years ago] Can you help French prosecutors find these witnesses to the death of a Scientologist?
[EIGHT years ago] Paris elects its first female mayor — and you have to see her record on Scientology!
[NINE years ago] Easter Sunday Funnies — Also: Our SMERSH Madness Championship!

 
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——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on March 31, 2022 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, 1995-2021 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2021), 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

 We have numerous legal updates for you today, starting with some news we’ve been waiting a long time to hear: Finally, there is a trial date set for Hanan and Rizza Islam.

At a pretrial conference on Tuesday trial was set for May 20 in the case, which seeks felony convictions against Hanan Islam, 61, and [...]]]>

 
We have numerous legal updates for you today, starting with some news we’ve been waiting a long time to hear: Finally, there is a trial date set for Hanan and Rizza Islam.

At a pretrial conference on Tuesday trial was set for May 20 in the case, which seeks felony convictions against Hanan Islam, 61, and three of her children, including her son Ronnie “Rizza” Islam, 30.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been more than five years since we broke the news that felony charges had been filed against several Scientologists who had operated a sketchy Narconon rehab out of their “literacy center” in Compton, California. The Islams were charged with ripping off the Medi-Cal insurance program by submitting bogus charges in an elaborate scam that involved unsuspecting high school students who were used as clients in the scheme.

The case also ruined the careers of three prominent African-American high school educators, who faced lesser charges in the scam. They included two local high school principals and the coach of the legendary Dominguez High School football team, who were all fired as a result.

And yet, even though this case involves the use of unwitting high school kids, the ruined careers of three local educators, the hiring of “ghost writers” to produce bogus insurance claims, and that it brought together Scientology, the Nation of Islam, and quack drug treatments in a scam that ripped off the state’s health insurance fund of nearly $4 million, not a single word about this criminal prosecution has appeared in the Los Angeles Times.

We figure that’s a big reason why the case has moved at such a glacial pace, with trial now finally scheduled more than five years after these defendants were first charged, and more than a decade since the crime first began taking place, from 2010 to 2013.

What does it take to get the LA Times over its reluctance to cover Scientology stories in its own back yard?

We’ve done our best to keep an eye on it here, thanks to help from Jeffrey Augustine covering some wild days in court for us. After years of inactivity, the case picked up in October 2019 when the Islams faced a preliminary hearing and Hanan tried to pull some bizarre sovereign citizen nonsense on the court. It got her and Rizza arrested, but didn’t prevent the state from putting on devastating testimony about how they had worked the scam. But after the case was bound over for trial it went into another long wait.

With no pressure coming from the local paper of record, Rizza Islam has not shied away from continuing his antics as an anti-vaxx huckster thirsty for publicity. For example, we were stunned to see this photograph that he posted last week at his Instagram account, showing off a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition that he had received from L.A. Congresswoman Karen Bass.

 
We sent a detailed email to her communications director, asking why she gave Rizza Islam this certificate, and he sent us this statement:

An organization serving girls in the foster care system in South Los Angeles held its annual concert in 2019 and requested certificates for individuals that they were honoring. Rep. Karen Bass is a founder and co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth and has fought to protect the vulnerable and abused throughout her career. Our office provided the certificates when they were requested, using standard language on pre-printed Congressional certificates. These certificates did not in any way constitute endorsement of individual honorees. The Office of Rep. Karen Bass was at no time aware of the felony charges against Ronnie Islam. Rep. Bass, who has seen The Aftermath series, in no way supports his poisonous anti-Semitic and pro-Scientology beliefs.

 
In other legal news, there’s a hearing today in Los Angeles Superior Court to determine whether Scientology can saddle Valerie Haney with $160,000 in sanctions. As we explained on Sunday, Valerie’s “crime” was that she asked Judge Richard Burdge Jr. to reconsider his January 2020 ruling denying her a right to trial and derailing her lawsuit by granting Scientology’s motion that she should have to submit her grievances to its internal “religious arbitration” instead. Valerie’s attorneys told Judge Burdge that they had found new evidence that put his ruling in doubt, but Burdge didn’t see it that way. Scientology complained that the new evidence wasn’t new at all, and asked Judge Burdge to sanction Valerie’s side for what it cost them to answer her motion for reconsideration.

Normally, we’d consider it a long shot for sanctions to be granted, but twice now Judge Burdge has seen things Scientology’s way in important rulings, so who knows. We’ll let you know what we hear from court as soon as we can.

In a new filing from Miscavige’s attorney, the always colorful Jeffrey Riffer blasts away at attempts by the plaintiffs to serve Miscavige, including the new attempt we told you about last month.

Probably the most interesting thing in this typically bombastic document from Riffer’s pen is that he repeatedly ridicules the attempts to serve Miscavige at the Hollywood Guaranty Building when it’s plainly obvious, Riffer asserts, that Miscavige has been in Clearwater, Florida all this time.

We’ve been reporting that Miscavige has been attending “graduations” in Clearwater in recent weeks, but this is the first time that we’ve seen an official confirmation that Dave is now a Florida resident.

 
And more news, this time from federal court, where we’ve been anticipating a special evidentiary hearing in the case of Scientologist donor and Middletown, NY chiropractor Jay Spina which was scheduled for next week.

Spina was arrested along with his brother Jeffrey Spina, their sister, and another employee at their clinic and charged with Medicare fraud. A physician who worked out of their clinic was also charged with fraud.

The Spina brothers were both big-time Scientology donors and actively supported its front groups. They pleaded guilty to fraudulently billing Medicare and using a complex scheme to try and hide what they were up to. But there was a dispute over how much Jay was willing to agree to admit to as far as restitution and forfeiture, and both sides asked the court to hold a “Fatico hearing” to present testimony. It would be sort of a mini-trial, and we were looking forward to it.

But now a new filing in the case reports that the two sides have settled their differences about restitution, and a hearing is no longer required. And they’ve informed the court that Jay insists on being sentenced in person and not via videoconference. With Covid still raging, that will mean putting off the sentencing yet again. We’ll keep an eye on when the court decides to attempt another sentencing date.

UPDATE: Jay Spina’s sentencing has now been set for March 2.

 
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Source Code

“Putting tickets on the windshield of a car is illegal, according to our own Consititution, which requires personal service. Police get away with it because people don’t want the bother of going down and getting a trial date set. So they send in the amount of an arbitrary fine. This is duress and extortion — so there’s no difference between a criminal and a cop.” — L. Ron Hubbard, January 14, 1954

 
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Avast, Ye Mateys

“Spectatorism is very great in our modern society. Because some people cannot conceive of causing anything they just watch it. They don’t do anything. They are not PARTICIPANTS. They are spectators. You see this in magazines. Hee hee hee articles about how odd this is or that is. No understanding of it. It’s just odd and one watches it in a detached sort of way. Below this is somebody who doesn’t even notice. Such a person has to come up scale just to be a spectator. An unfinished cycle of action comes about because (a) The importance of it is not grasped (b) The cycle itself is not fully understood. (c) Non compliance and false reports are given as a method of self-protection wherein are hopes it will not be noticed. What we need are more PARTICIPANTS, more team mates. You belong to the SO or you don’t. If you do you’re at cause over the various situations. So we define an SO Member the way you do an OT — At cause over Life, Thought, Matter, Energy, Space, Time and Form. The degree you can be cause in handling the targets and needs of a group determines right away how far you’ve come up the line. Blaming case is effect, isn’t it? Sex is effect, isn’t it? I don’t care what your grade is, you are alive. Your true ability depends on the degree you can exercise the definition of OT over your post in forwarding the purposes of the group. You are actually insulting yourself to insist that I personally make whatever advances are made on vital actions of the group. If what you are trying to do doesn’t happen its a poor comment on your OTism.” — The Commodore, January 14, 1969

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“We have been looking at things globally and realize that many people have lost jobs or had to take out loans etc to deal with economy fluctuations. We also realize that many of you may be experiencing tougher times given the situation and it is important now more than ever to get up the Bridge! So we have considered everyone and would like to offer everyone the opportunity to go up the Bridge, therefore we are running a MASSIVE sale on our auditing packages! Spots are limited as our organization can only take on so many people, so get in contact TODAY!”

 
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Past is Prologue

1998: An unpublished letter to the St. Petersburg Times from Cynthia Kisser was posted this week. The letter was written in response to an article in the Times about the lawsuits from Scientology that destroyed CAN. Cynthia was the Executive Director of the old Cult Awareness Network. “The real Cult Awareness Network never agreed to allow Scientologists as members as a result of the litigation by Scientologists. CAN toughened its local membership requirements, rather than softening them, after Scientologists began suing the local chapters to force the chapters to let them become members. No Scientologist ever won a single lawsuit over membership in CAN at either the local or national level, and CAN never modified its policies after the litigation against it by Scientologists began, and never let any Scientologists join as members who had previously been denied membership. CAN won every one one of the membership lawsuits, or the Scientologists withdrew them themselves before trial. As a face-saving tactic Scientology has made such a claim that CAN did reform its membership policies as a result of all the litigation….I am very proud that CAN was able to make case law supporting the rights of private associations to control their own membership and admittance to attendance at their private meetings. The protection by CAN through case law in federal and California courts of the freedom of association rights of private organizations reflects the true spirit of the true CAN’s work, and is a legacy which Scientology cannot erase, only try to undercut by misrepresenting the truth and hoping that legitimate media repeat this misinformation.”

 
——————–

Random Howdy

“The tech is the meaningless musings of a drug- and alcohol-addled madman who was making it up as he went along. You might as well have been playing hide-and-go-seek for 17 years.”

 
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Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Masterson’s demurrer denied Oct 19, arraignment delayed to Jan 20.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing delayed to March 2.
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Trial scheduled for May 20 in Los Angeles

Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Oral arguments were heard on July 30 at the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Petition for writ of mandate denied Oct 22 by Cal 2nd Appellate District. Petition for review by state supreme court denied Dec 11.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Dec 30, Judge Kleifield granted Scientology’s motions to compel arbitration; Jan 29, Masterson’s request to stay discovery pending the criminal case
— 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: Second amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.

Concluded litigation:
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, Cannane victorious, awarded court costs.
— 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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SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks

The Australian Seven News network cancelled a 10-part investigation of Scientology and its history of dirty tricks. Read the transcripts of the episodes and judge for yourself why Tom Cruise and Tommy Davis might not have wanted viewers to see this hard-hitting series by journalist Bryan Seymour.

SCIENTOLOGY: FAIR GAME

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’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?

 
——————–

THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] Scientology ripped apart his family, but this former member explains why he doesn’t fight it
[TWO years ago] EXCLUSIVE: Scientology tells A&E it has ‘blood on its hands’ for murder in Australia
[THREE years ago] Scientology plans Narconon drug rehab for Ireland, but the locals are not having it
[FOUR years ago] The most incredible lie Scientology attorney Monique Yingling told ABC ’20/20′
[FIVE years ago] Oscar snubs Alex Gibney’s Scientology documentary ‘Going Clear’ despite buzz
[SIX years ago] Scientology reveals a lot more of its lofty plans for the former KCET studios
[SEVEN years ago] Being and nothingness: And now we move on to Scientology’s Operating Thetan Level Four!
[EIGHT years ago] ATLANTIC MAGAZINE SPIKES SCIENTOLOGY ADVERTORIAL AFTER BACKLASH
[NINE years ago] Scientology Recon: Commenters of the Week!

 
——————–

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on January 14, 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, 1995-2019 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2019), 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

So, there’s some good news and some bad news for Hanan Islam, the Scientologist who is accused of running a sophisticated $3.8 million fraud scheme out of a Scientology Narconon clinic in Compton and is facing trial next month.

On the one hand, she made bail this week, and considering that [...]]]>

So, there’s some good news and some bad news for Hanan Islam, the Scientologist who is accused of running a sophisticated $3.8 million fraud scheme out of a Scientology Narconon clinic in Compton and is facing trial next month.

On the one hand, she made bail this week, and considering that she has been in the Los Angeles County jail system since October 1 and her bail amount was set at $250,000, she must be feeling pleased to be out of custody.

On the other hand, we just got our hands on a copy of the charges filed against her and three of her children, which have been updated and augmented since the four defendants went through a preliminary hearing and were bound over for trial.

Hanan and her three kids are looking at some pretty serious consequences here.

During the preliminary hearing, which took place October 1 to 7 at Los Angeles Superior Court, the state gave an indication of the volume of documentary evidence of the scheme the Islams are accused of operating: That between 2010 and 2013, Hanan 60, and her son Ronnie “Rizza” Islam, 29, and daughters Zakiyyah, 37, and Nimat, 43, operated a Scientology Narconon rehab clinic out of the World Literacy Crusade, a notorious Scientology front operation. Working with some corrupt local educators, the plot involved bringing unwitting high school students to the clinic, where they were shown films typically, but then “ghost writers” hired by the Islams created bogus treatment histories for the students so that the state Medi-Cal program could be billed as if the students had gone through extensive rehab programs. The scheme took about $3.8 million from Medi-Cal, the state testified.

Judge Michael Pastor, who bound over the defendants for trial, spoke about how serious and sophisticated the scam was. And as a result, the state has filed beefed-up charges against all four of the defendants. (A fifth defendant, Bayon Beverly Washington, failed to appear initially for the preliminary hearing and so her arraignment is being handled separately. We suspect she will also be included in the trial, which is scheduled to begin on November 21.)

This is what the Islams are facing…

Count 1: Presenting False Medi-Cal Claims
Penalty: 2, 3 or 4 years
Defendants: Hanan, Rizza, Nimat, and Zakiyyah

Special Allegation: Aggravated White Collar Crime
Penalty: 1 year enhancement
Defendants: Hanan and Zakiyyah

Count 2: Insurance Fraud
Penalty: 2, 3, or 5 years
Defendants: Hanan, Rizza, Nimat, and Zakiyyah

Special Allegation: Aggravated White Collar Crime
Penalty: 1 year enhancement
Defendants: Hanan and Zakiyyah

Count 3: Grand Theft
Penalty: 16 months, 2, or 3 years
Defendants: Hanan and Zakiyyah

Special Allegation: Aggravated White Collar Crime
Penalty: 1 year enhancement
Defendants: Hanan and Zakiyyah

Count 4: Failure to File Tax Return
Defendant: Hanan

Hanan Islam, besides facing the most charges, is also a previous felon, and so she may be looking at the higher end on the penalties.

Jeffrey Augustine, who has been reporting from court for us, says he has learned that at least some of the defendants have had the opportunity to plead to lesser charges, but chose not to.

Rizza Islam, meanwhile, made an appeal on social media for witnesses to come forward who might testify about being helped by the World Literacy Crusade and the Narconon clinic.

In other words, at this point it appears that the Islams, who have all pleaded not guilty, plan to fight for acquittals at trial. But now, the stakes are even higher, with all of them facing more serious penalties if they are convicted.

And a trial will bring out loads of evidence about what sorts of fraudulent activity took place under the licensed auspices of the Church of Scientology.

Should be interesting.

Here is the new charging document…

Islam Information: Charges by Tony Ortega on Scribd

 
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Bonus items from our tipsters

Meanwhile, in Canada…

 
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Source Code

“The Fifth Invader Force came in to use this area, and the name of this solar system is Space Station 33. They started to use this area without suspecting that the Fourth Invader Force had been there for God knows how many skillion years, had been sitting down, and they have their installations up on Mars, and they have a tremendous, screened operation…Now, as I say, this sounds science-fictiony. Well, don’t let it sound science-fictiony to you, because the truth be told, it’s not science fiction. In the first place, it’s not fiction, and it really isn’t very closely resembling what you read and call science fiction. Science fiction is just a very chimerical sort of a picture of it. Space is wild. There aren’t any writers down here and there’s no audience down here that could take real stuff about space. It’s wild!” — L. Ron Hubbard, October 30, 1952

 
——————–

Overheard in the FreeZone

“I think that a Seck Check for all returnees (LRH or not LRH) must be a mandatory action.”

 
——————–

Random Howdy

“When people say they got some good out of Scientology, I think to myself, ‘Yeah, telling your problems, fantasies or opinions to anybody, including hookers and homeless people, makes everybody feel better…derp!.’ This blog is my ‘auditing’.”

 
——————–

Scientology’s celebrities, ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and more!

We’ve been building landing pages about David Miscavige’s favorite playthings, including celebrities and ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and we’re hoping you’ll join in and help us gather as much information as we can about them. Head on over and help us with links and photos and comments.

Scientology’s celebrities, from A to Z! Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!

Scientology’s ‘Ideal Orgs,’ from one end of the planet to the other! Help us build up pages about each these worldwide locations!

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 our weekly series. How many have you read?

 
——————–

THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] Scientology hails study vindicating its rehab program — so we take a closer look
[TWO years ago] Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard as a cop in Los Angeles: What’s the real truth?
[THREE years ago] Scientology will go after your kids with its quack ideas on drugs — even at a Christian school
[FOUR years ago] Leah Remini dishes on Scientology — Live-blogging the ABC 20/20 special
[FIVE years ago] Scientology outside the official church: ‘I’m quite happy with the world the way it is’
[SIX years ago] Clearwater Tent Showdown: Scientology Reportedly Getting Ready for Events Next Week
[SEVEN years ago] Another Scientology Victory: Photos of Marc Headley’s Roof Being Repaired!

 
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——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on October 30, 2019 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, 1995-2018 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2018), 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, 14 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

Once again, Jeffrey Augustine was on hand as the preliminary hearing continued yesterday in the case of Scientologist Hanan Islam and three of her children, accused of a scheme using a Scientology Narconon drug rehab clinic, corrupt local educators, and unwitting high school students to defraud the state’s Medi-Cal program [...]]]>

Once again, Jeffrey Augustine was on hand as the preliminary hearing continued yesterday in the case of Scientologist Hanan Islam and three of her children, accused of a scheme using a Scientology Narconon drug rehab clinic, corrupt local educators, and unwitting high school students to defraud the state’s Medi-Cal program of nearly $4 million between 2010 and 2013.

This was the third day of testimony in the preliminary hearing, which has the state presenting an outline of its evidence, and the judge, in this case Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor, determining whether there’s enough evidence to justify a trial.

In yesterday’s session, the state finished up its testimony, the defense attorneys argued that the case should be dismissed, but Judge Pastor found otherwise, and bound over all five defendants for trial. He set a date of October 22 for an arraignment, and then trial is supposed to begin within 60 days after that.

After the hearing, Hanan Islam, 60, and her son Ronnie “Rizza” Islam, 29, were taken back in their blue jail clothes to the county lockup. Judge Pastor set bail for Hanan at $250,000 and Rizza at $100,000. Hanan’s daughters Nimat, 43, and Zakiyyah, 37, remain released on their own recognizance. The fifth defendant, Bayon Beverly Washington, 46, failed to appear last week but she did appear yesterday morning, so she was taken into custody.

Here’s Jeffrey’s report of how the day went…

8:00 AM: I’m in the cafeteria at the Los Angeles Criminal Courts Building Downtown. I arrived early to get coffee and do e-mails. I see one of the deputies and ask if Hanan and Rizza were released on Sunday. He tells me no and that both were transported to the Court earlier in the morning and are in holding cells.

8:50 AM: Nimat and Zakiyyah Islam are present in the courtroom. Bayon Beverly Washington, the one defendant who is not a family member, enters the courtroom. A deputy advises her not to leave the courtroom as there is an arrest warrant for her. Washington had failed to appear the previous week for the preliminary hearing as ordered.

9:15 AM: Six deputies are in the courtroom. The bailiff orders the courtroom cleared and Bayon Beverly Washington is arrested and taken into custody.

9:20 Hanan and Rizza Islam are brought into the courtroom in handcuffs in their jail blues. Both are handcuffed by their left wrists to chairs.

9:25 Judge Michael Pastor enters the court. The court is called into session by the bailiff. Judge Pastor orders Bayon Beverly Washington to be held with no bail. Because of Washington’s failure to appear last week, she cannot participate in the preliminary with her co-defendants as the trial is already underway; the State will conduct a separate preliminary trial for Washington.

Judge Pastor notes that Hanan has exercised her right to be present. He demands that she state her name and acknowledge that she is the named defendant. After some minor protestations, Hanan does both. Gone are all pretenses of her sovereign citizen defense. She promises to comport herself in court.

9:30 Supervising Special Agent of the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) Robert Olesniewcz is called to the witness stand by Prosecutor Vincent Bonotto. Olesniewcz testifies that AHEC was incorporated as an LLC partnership. In an LLC partnership, the partners divide the income according to an internally agreed upon formula.

AHEC LLC tax filings showed the following income:

2010: $293,102 with Hanan taking 90 percent of the net income. Hanan failed to file a personal income tax return and failed to report $263,792 in income.

2011: $525,233 with Hanan taking 90 percent of the net income. Hanan failed to file a personal income tax return and report $472,710 in income.

2012: $1,047,769 with Hanan taking 50 percent of the net income. Hanan failed to file a personal income tax return and report $523,880 in income.

2013: No LLC tax filing made. The FTB investigated AHEC bank records and found that LA County paid AHEC $1,398,639 in Medi-Cal payments. Hanan’s personal income was computed by the FTB at the previous year’s 50 percent partnership profit. By that measure, Hanan did not report $699,319 income.

On cross examination by defense, Hanan’s attorney asked about statute of limitations on examining tax returns. The statute of limitations is six years; the state began investigating in 2014. Therefore, this attempt by the defense to find something is without merit.

The state enters exhibits 1-19 and 21-37 as previously agreed to by all parties. The People rest.

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The four defense attorneys each make a motion to dismiss the charges against their respective clients: Rizza’s attorney argued that he merely conducted classes and was not part of any scheme. The tactic here was to argue that Rizza was in no way part of any financial crimes as alleged. All he did was to collect sign-in sheets from students and these were turned over to the ghost writers by others. Rizza’s attorney then suggested he was merely being loyal to his mother. This “good son” argument was advanced with the implication that Rizza was the victim of his Machiavellian mother. I personally look for this to be part of the strategy when Rizza goes to trial.

Hanan’s attorney argued that the State did not challenge the quality of services delivered by AHEC. He reasoned that although the classes may not have been a full three hours as required by the Medi-Cal billing code, the classes were nevertheless conducted. The implication seemed to be that AHEC actually performed services for which it billed the State and the only real issue was that the classes didn’t go for the specified duration. He acted as if this was a rather trivial matter and the charges should be dismissed. As for the income tax charges, he argued that Hanan thought filing an LLC return eliminated the need to file a personal return. It was a simple oversight on the part of a person who had no training in tax preparation. The Judge noted that the court did not know if this assertion was accurate. No evidence had been entered either way as to Hanan’s skill, or lack thereof, in tax preparation.

Nimat’s attorney argued she was a low-ranking staffer and not part of any scheme. The implication is that she had no knowledge of anything substantial. Nimat’s attorney followed in the same vein as Rizza’s attorney: Nimat was a victim of Hanan, her mother.

Zakiyyah’s attorney argued that she too was a victim of Hanan.

Hanan sat expressionless as the other defense attorneys essentially characterized her as callously using her children for her own personal financial gain. Hanan’s taking virtually all the profits of the scheme certainly reinforces this perception and I can see how this argument would play out in front of a jury.

The Prosecutor rebutted by stating that AHEC operated as a fraud scheme and that none of the beneficiaries, i.e. the high school students, received any benefits from what AHEC presented. Bonotto emphasized that Rizza conducted 45-55-minute classes and AHEC billed for three hours and that this was a serious matter that cost the taxpayers millions. Bonotto also pointed out that none of the high school students needed or wanted AHEC’s services. Rather, the students were compelled to attend AHEC classes by the principals and educators who were part of the fraud scheme.

Prosecutor Bonotto showed how all defendants were part of the scheme and had knowledge of the scheme. For example, Nimat had threatened WLC employees with being fired if they did not sign up for Medi-Cal and take the AHEC classes. He pointed out that Zakiyyah worked with time sheets and the ghost writers. She also knowingly submitted fraudulent billings.

Prosecutor Bonotto argued that Hanan was part of three separate frauds. First, she met with educators and agreed to pay them money in exchange for access to students. Second, Hanan managed the ghost writers. Third, Hanan hired WLC tutors and ordered them to sign up for Medi-Cal and take the AHEC program. In addition to this, Hanan engaged in income tax fraud.

The Judge asked Prosecutor Bonotto to rank the culpability of the defendants in a hierarchy beginning with who had the most culpability. This is Bonotto’s ranking:

1. Hanan Islam
2. Zakiyyah Islam
3. Ronnie “Rizza” Islam
4. Nimat Islam

The question of the bail status was next raised. Since being charged in 2015, the defendants have been free on their own recognizance.

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Before ruling on bail, Judge Pastor ruled that the People had met their burden to establish probable cause for the defendants to be bound over for trial on all counts. After four years of delaying tactics, the defendants will stand trial.

Judge Pastor cited the “dramatically changed circumstances” based upon the evidence presented at the prelimimary criminal trial. He allowed Nimat and Zakiyyah to remain free on their own recognizance as they have always appeared as ordered and have no prior convictions. Judge Pastor then turned his attention to Hanan Islam and said the evidence showed she had engaged in “an extremely aggravated fraud scheme” that involved educators and “innocent high school students.”

The Judge further stated that Hanan had played games with the court and engaged in nonsense. Here, he was clearly referring to Hanan’s time-wasting and contemptuous sovereign citizen defense that had gotten her five days in jail and a $1,000 fine. He further characterized her actions at AHEC as a “sophisticated fraud” in which she was “ripping off the taxpayers.” Accordingly, he set her bail at $250,000 and revoked her release on her own recognizance.

Judge Pastor set Rizza’s bail at $100,000 and revoked his release on his own recognizance. Judge Pastor upheld all special allegations made by the State.

Arraignment was set for October 22, 2019 at 8:30 in Department 100. According to California law calling for the right of defendants to a speedy trial, trial is to commence within 60 calendar days of arraignment. This means trial around Christmas time.

Rizza and Hanan were led away in handcuffs. Zakiyyah and Nimat left the courtroom.

Court was adjourned at 10:55 AM.

The pressure is now on the defendants to cut a deal before trial. In my view, the evidence presented was so thorough as to be insurmountable at trial. Further, the witnesses at trial will include the ghost writers, former WLC employees, and the educators who have already been convicted.

Thank you for being there for us, Jeffrey.

Ghost writers testifying at trial? Ah, this is going to something.

 
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Bonus items from our tipsters

Meanwhile, in Canada…

 
——————–

Source Code

“These memory recordings aren’t passed along from cell to cell. They could be, but they are not stored as electrical energy. You start examining this any way you want to and you will find that there isn’t an energy in the physical universe — at least which we know about — which has a small enough wavelength to store memory recordings. Oddly enough, this was a discovery I made in 1932 when I was in atomic and molecular physics at George Washington University. I made an exhaustive study of the matter. There aren’t wavelengths small enough; physical scientists would know that. The boys fooling around in medicine would not know it because they don’t know the laws of energy, and as a consequence they have postulated, as the best postulates which they can offer, that memories are stored in punched protein molecules. That is cute!” — L. Ron Hubbard, October 8, 1951

 
——————–

Overheard in the FreeZone

“Who thinks LRH is Donald Trump? I think Trump has come in and is derailing the new world order program, the program to ‘make happy slaves of us all’ that is mentioned in the truth revealed breifing. He said he would come back as a misunderstood politician to save the day. Trump is a big thetan like LRH was.”

 
——————–

Random Howdy

“Not all of us are rich enough to afford cable and some of us think it’s a wasteland.”

 
——————–

Scientology’s celebrities, ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and more!

We’ve been building landing pages about David Miscavige’s favorite playthings, including celebrities and ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and we’re hoping you’ll join in and help us gather as much information as we can about them. Head on over and help us with links and photos and comments.

Scientology’s celebrities, from A to Z! Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!

Scientology’s ‘Ideal Orgs,’ from one end of the planet to the other! Help us build up pages about each these worldwide locations!

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 our weekly series. How many have you read?

 
——————–

THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] With Scientology TV premiering a new ‘season’ tonight, David Miscavige is having a moment
[TWO years ago] Guelph quest: Scientology sets up temporary shop in Canadian town and faces stiff opposition
[THREE years ago] Atack: The forgotten history of disproving Scientology’s status as a “religion”
[FOUR years ago] For some reason, news sites are keeping quiet about who found Cat White’s body. So here he is.
[FIVE years ago] EXCLUSIVE: Scientology didn’t want you to see this letter it sent to the San Francisco Chronicle
[SIX years ago] William S. Burroughs and Scientology: Setting the Record Straight
[SEVEN years ago] Your Thoughts on The Master: Who Was Freddie Quell?
[EIGHT years ago] Scientology Symposium: Commenters of the Week!
[ELEVEN years ago] Daniel Montalvo, 19, Leaves Scientology, Which Convinces LA Sheriff to Jail Him For It

 
——————–

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on October 8, 2019 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, 1995-2018 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2018), 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, 14 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

Today, testimony is scheduled to resume in the preliminary hearing of a Medi-Cal insurance fraud prosecution at the Los Angeles Superior Court that we’ve been following for several days, the latest development in a wild scam involving Scientology, its drug rehab network Narconon, the Nation of [...]]]>

Today, testimony is scheduled to resume in the preliminary hearing of a Medi-Cal insurance fraud prosecution at the Los Angeles Superior Court that we’ve been following for several days, the latest development in a wild scam involving Scientology, its drug rehab network Narconon, the Nation of Islam, and recently, even “sovereign citizen” conspiracy theories.

It’s a crazy case we’ve been following for nearly four years, when we broke the news that Hanan Islam, 60, and three of her children, including Ronnie “Rizza” Islam, 29, and others were arrested and charged, including three corrupt high school educators, who lost their jobs.

Last week, the prosecution entered testimony that the Islams had worked out a deal with the high school officials (two principals and a football coach) to supply unwitting high school students that they knew from their records were eligible for Medi-Cal coverage. The students were sent to the Scientology Narconon rehab, American Health and Education Clinics, that Hanan Islam had founded with her then partner, Alfreddie Johnson, at his facility, the World Literacy Crusade, a notorious Scientology front organization in Compton. At the clinic, the students were shown films by instructors like Rizza Islam, but the clinic’s “ghost writers” then created bogus folders for each of the students, inventing narratives about drug treatments so Medi-Cal could be billed for nonexistent procedures.

Over three years, from 2010 to 2013, Medi-Cal paid the clinic $3.8 million in the bogus treatments, the state testified.

Today, the court is scheduled to hear more from the state’s Tax Franchise Board. But we wanted to fill in a little more about Hanan Islam’s past, and we have a new document and additional information that has not come to light before.

For example, the state, in its prosecution, is focusing tightly on the issue of Medi-Cal fraud and the paperwork at AHEC and WLC. So far, they have not provided testimony about the connection of these organizations to the Church of Scientology. Also, some observers have questioned the connection between Hanan and Scientology, and we wanted to address that.

Yes, Hanan Islam was a very dedicated Scientologist while she helped Alfreddie Johnson run WLC and AHEC. (And Alfreddie himself has long been a very visible figure in the church, although he was not arrested or charged in the insurance fraud case.)

In 2005, a year after the founding of AHEC, the Narconon clinic was visited by a county commission concerned that children from a group home were being sent there for classes. The children had to endure a 3.5-hour round trip of travel time to get to the clinic, and what the commissioners found there appalled them. “One of the class brochures describes a drug and alcohol rehabilitation and detoxification program, but none of the resident children have those problems…Commissioners attended class with the residents and discovered that not only was the program not drug/alcohol related, but all the books, study materials and wall posters were pertaining to L. Ron Hubbard’s Scientology.” After that visit, the group home was told to stop sending children to the clinic.

“We use the Narconon program developed by L. Ron Hubbard,” World Literacy Crusade’s website stated on a now-defunct page that is preserved on the Internet Archive.

In 2007, Alfreddie Johnson was tossed out of a seat on the Lynwood City Council when more than 70 percent of voters chose to recall him (along with the mayor and two other council members) after the council had pushed a plan to level part of the town for a 70,000-seat NFL stadium. Hanan Islam had run Johnson’s election campaign.

In 2008, the Los Angeles Times reported that the World Literacy Crusade facility was the scene of a near riot as it turned out that the $1,500 vouchers it was selling for Section 8 housing turned out to be fakes.

That Los Angeles Times article didn’t mention the connection between WLC and Scientology. But the publicity over that incident was so bad, Hanan Islam found herself in hot water with the church.

That’s according to someone who was there at the time, and from them we have obtained the “Doubt Formula” that Hanan Islam wrote up as part of her Scientology punishment.

15 April, 2008

DOUBT ANNOUNCEMENT

To my friends, colleagues, staff and family,

I have been reasonable and careless with regard to my post at WLC and to life in general. I have taken suggestion and direction from individuals who have not had the intention to bring about the greatest amount of good for the greatest number involved. This has caused harm to me personally, to my family, to those I work with at WLC and to the public I am supposed to serve.

This is not the first time this has happened, as a matter of fact; I realize this has been a pattern for years. I realize that the reason I have been able to follow out-ethic immoral, destructive suggestions and directions is that I have not fully grasped and applied the greatest level of ethics and morality to my own life. I have not applied KSW to my life and to my post as the Executive Director of the World Literacy Crusade.

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I now openly announce to Scientologists who consciously operate per KSW and to all the moral, ethical, just and descent people I know who are working diligently to improve the conditions of mankind that I join this group and denounce the group of careless individuals, not applying standard LRH Tech and those seeking to destroy forward movement for mankind.

I am actively working up the conditions and am here to service and to participate fully as a Scientologist. Please let me know if there is anything you need or want from me.

Thank you,

Dr. Hanan Islam

“She mentions moving up the conditions,” says Sunny Pereira, a former Sea Org member and a Scientology technical expert. Sunny says that Hanan’s public announcement would have been a requirement as she was moving up a number of “conditions” after being punished. “Treason is lower than Doubt. It’s very common to start at Treason. So she may have started at Treason, done the ‘Enemy’ condition, then Doubt. Enemy condition does not have any public announcement, but at Doubt she has to decide which group she wants to be part of. At Doubt she has to announce the fact publicly to both sides: which group she has chosen. In her case she has chosen ‘ethical’ Scientologists.”

Like Alfreddie Johnson, Hanan Islam was a dedicated Scientologist running multiple Scientology front organizations. Also, we have an eyewitness account from Eric Tenorio, who worked as an executive at Scientology’s flagship Narconon rehab in Oklahoma, Narconon Arrowhead. Here’s what Eric told us in 2015…

Tenorio tells us that in 2004, a woman (not Hanan Islam) was sent from the World Literacy Crusade to Narconon Arrowhead to receive instruction.

“She was there to train as a course supervisor,” he says.

About six months later, Tenorio was in Los Angeles and he was sent to visit the woman and check up on the program.

“It was a dump. It was in an industrial area. The sauna was in a garage — the room it was in had a garage door. The rest of it was just run down course rooms,” Tenorio remembers.

We asked if he saw any patients using the facility.

“There was one person in the sauna, and maybe two people on course,” he says.

It was obvious to Tenorio that the clinic at World Literacy Crusade was an official Narconon enterprise. Narconon centers can’t operate unless they’re licensed by Scientology’s umbrella groups — Narconon International and the Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE).

“They wouldn’t be able to operate and send people to Arrowhead to train if they weren’t at least licensed by ABLE or Narconon International and in good standing,” Tenorio says.

Despite the hiccup with the Section 8 vouchers and having to go through “Doubt,” Hanan and AHEC forged ahead as a Scientology enterprise, and began using high school students for the Medi-Cal scheme at least by 2010. (The 2005 county commission report, however, suggests that the scam had started much earlier.)

In 2012, Hanan Islam and Alfreddie Johnson were featured in a series of stories in the Tampa Bay Times which described how they flew to Florida and took over a struggling charter school, imposed Scientology teaching methods over the objections of parents and some teachers (who were fired), diverted large amounts of the school’s state money to the World Literacy Crusade, and left town after riding the charter school into the ground.

“Calling herself ‘Dr. Hanan,’ Islam…said she was a naturopathic physician with two doctorates and a master’s degree from Rochville University and the Eden Institute. Rochville is an online school the Washington Post called ‘a diploma mill.’ No university named ‘Eden Institute’ could be found by the Times,” wrote Tampa Bay Times reporter Drew Harwell.

Then, in 2013, California drug rehabs were rocked by an in-depth investigation by CNN and the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) that found widespread abuse of the Medi-Cal system. In the wake of that investigation, California regulators shut off funds to dozens of rehab networks while taking a closer look at them. One of the clinics affected was Hanan’s AHEC.

CIR reported that the hiatus gave state regulators time to look into rehab operators, some of whom had criminal pasts. One of them was Hanan. “Throughout her decadelong tenure at American Health and Education Clinics, authorities seemed to take no note of her criminal history. In the mid-’90s, she had pleaded guilty to a federal charge of providing a fake name on a passport application. She also had been convicted of grand theft for forging a $29,000 check,” CIR’s Christina Jewett and Will Evans reported.

Prior felonies. Almost $4 million in fraudulent payments from the state. The use of unwitting high school students and corrupt educators. And now, in a preliminary hearing, Hanan and her son Rizza were so disruptive with their bizarre “sovereign citizen” arguments, claiming that the court had no jurisdiction over them, both were arrested and taken to jail for contempt of court.

And yet, there’s another twist to this story that no one — maybe not even the prosecutors hoping to bring Hanan and her children to trial — seems aware of.

And that’s this strange detail: Hanan Islam could provide key eyewitness testimony in the criminal prosecution of Scientology actor Danny Masterson, as well as the civil litigation filed against him by four women who say he violently raped them between 2001 and 2004.

In March 2017, we broke the news of the LAPD investigation of Masterson, and then detailed the allegations of one of his victims, whom we refer to as “Victim B.” In our story about what Victim B went through, we described a meeting she was asked by the Church of Scientology to attend with Masterson so he could “confront” her account of being raped…

On a spring day in 2004, Victim B arrived at a room at the WLC in Compton where she was greeted by Rev. Johnson, a friend of Masterson’s named Luke Watson, and Kirsten Caetano, a powerful official in Scientology’s intelligence wing, the Office of Special Affairs.

Masterson was then brought in, our source says. She explains that Victim B had been told that the Scientology executives believed that Masterson needed to hear directly from Victim B what had happened so he could “confront” it properly. He was instructed to listen quietly as Victim B recounted the incident.

She got to the point of describing when Masterson was on top of her, and she remembered reaching for a lamp, hoping to use it to hit him and knock him off. He had responded by choking her to keep her from reaching it.

And at that point in the meeting, our source says, Masterson couldn’t keep quiet.

“I loved that lamp. I didn’t want you to break it,” he joked.

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“The other people in the room really reacted angrily at Danny for joking, and they pulled him out of the room,” our source says, relating what she heard from Victim B. “But then they brought him back in and tried to keep going with it. But then he told another joke, and then Alfreddie said it was over.”

Now, our source with familiarity of the World Literacy Crusade at that time says that although Alfreddie was in the room during the meeting, Hanan Islam had assisted him in setting up the facility for it.

“She had access to everything. All of the emails with the church, showing they knew all about the allegations against Danny, and that the church took them seriously enough to make the meeting happen,” our source says.

Hanan Islam could testify that in 2004, the Church of Scientology knew that Danny Masterson had raped Victim B, and that Masterson had tried to “handle” it and keep Victim B from going to the police by insisting on meeting her and listening to her account.

We understand that the state’s prosecutors are focused on the fraud that Hanan Islam, a multiple felon, is alleged to have committed between 2010 and 2013, but it is frustrating that so far we don’t see agencies like the state group investigating Medi-Cal fraud and the county district attorney’s office investigating Masterson working together to see how interwoven the lines are between Hanan Islam, Alfreddie Johnson, and the Church of Scientology.

Hanan seems recklessly headed for a maximum punishment as she unwisely disrupts court with sovereign citizen arguments, and perhaps there’s no way of derailing her self-destructive path. But has any county, state, or federal agency approached her about what she could testify to as far as criminality at a much higher level in the Church of Scientology?

UPDATE: First tidbit from court today: Hanan and Rizza Islam were transferred from county jail by bus to a holding cell at the courthouse this morning. As the judge said last week, Hanan is being given another opportunity to behave properly in court today.

UPDATE: The bailiff ordered the court cleared. Defendant Bayon Beverly Washington, who didn’t show for the hearing last week, did show up for today’s session and is being taken into custody. Also, local ABC 7 news has arrived with a sketch artist, and an on-air person.

UPDATE: ALL DEFENDANTS BOUND OVER FOR TRIAL ON ALL CHARGES. Hanan Islam taken to jail on $250,000 bail amount. Rizza Islam taken to jail on $100,000 bail amount. Arraignment scheduled for October 22, jury trial to take place within 60 days of that date. More tomorrow from Jeffrey Augustine on the evidence presented in court today, and Judge Pastor’s harsh words for the defendants.

 
——————–

Bonus items from our tipsters

Meanwhile, in Canada…

 
——————–

Source Code

“How do you run a grief charge? Take him to the beginning of the moment when the incident first occurred….This goes way back on the track to a thing called, evidently, the Weeper — salt water. And for about half a million years man was having a hell of a time trying to rush into the waves long enough to get some food and rush back to get some air. And he didn’t have anything with which to rush. And it was, and it was very frustrating. So frustration winds up in spilling salt water. He had a couple of little tubes and he pushed these out of the shell and he’d pump like mad trying to pump out all the salt water. You run a preclear on this and it’s just fabulous.” — L. Ron Hubbard, October 7, 1953

 
——————–

Overheard in the FreeZone

“At OT 34-40 (Games Master) = Games, one of the abilities is to get out of MEST Universe and appear at another time and space of MEST Universe at will.”

 
——————–

Random Howdy

“I had a dream I was L. Ron Hubbard and I was wearing a cape, sitting on a throne, with a bevy of teenage beauties sitting at my feet.”

 
——————–

Scientology’s celebrities, ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and more!

We’ve been building landing pages about David Miscavige’s favorite playthings, including celebrities and ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and we’re hoping you’ll join in and help us gather as much information as we can about them. Head on over and help us with links and photos and comments.

Scientology’s celebrities, from A to Z! Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!

Scientology’s ‘Ideal Orgs,’ from one end of the planet to the other! Help us build up pages about each these worldwide locations!

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 our weekly series. How many have you read?

 
——————–

THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] Exploiting Tony Bourdain’s suicide or giving out weird massages, Scientology never rests
[TWO years ago] Scientology is hacked off that Luis Garcia and attorney will appear on ‘Leah Remini’
[THREE years ago] What’s the worst that can happen when you sue Scientology? Here’s one frightening example.
[FOUR years ago] A secret Scientology wake, a ‘Snow White’ link, & more odd twists emerge in the Cat White story
[FIVE years ago] Comedy gold: Mark Ebner catches Scientology cheating with Sarah Silverman
[SIX years ago] U.S. SUPREME COURT DENIES SCIENTOLOGY IN FORCED-ABORTION LAWSUIT
[SEVEN years ago] How You Can Help Raise Money for Narconon’s Legal Defense!

 
——————–

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on October 7, 2019 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, 1995-2018 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2018), 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, 14 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

It was another strange day at Los Angeles Superior Court yesterday as a long-delayed preliminary hearing went into its second day, and our correspondent Jeffrey Augustine was on the scene.

Defendants Hanan Islam and her son Ronnie “Rizza” Islam had spent the night in county jail after their antics the previous day. When [...]]]>

It was another strange day at Los Angeles Superior Court yesterday as a long-delayed preliminary hearing went into its second day, and our correspondent Jeffrey Augustine was on the scene.

Defendants Hanan Islam and her son Ronnie “Rizza” Islam had spent the night in county jail after their antics the previous day. When the courtroom opened at 1:30 pm, Augustine tells us, Rizza was brought in from a holding cell in jail blues and was handcuffed to a chair. His mother was also brought in, but besides the dark blue clothes with “LA County Jail” in white letters, she also had on a paper mask. Augustine says she was belligerent, complaining loudly about the way she had been treated.

Judge Michael Pastor was told by sheriff’s deputies that Hanan had refused to submit to a TB test when she was taken to jail, and so she had to be held in isolation. She had also refused a chest X-ray out of concerns about radiation, saying she had cured herself of cancer.

She also complained that her medical situation was private, and she didn’t like that it was being discussed in an open courtroom in front of “a bigoted reporter,” and she stared at Augustine, who has been skillfully giving us detailed and unbiased reporting from the scene. (Hanan’s attorney had waived her HIPAA rights in a previous public court session.)

Hanan also returned to the themes of sovereign citizen conspiracy theories, angrily denying that the court had any jurisdiction over her. In the morning, she had refused to leave her cell to come to the courthouse, and Judge Pastor had to issue an extraction order, which resulted in deputies forcibly removing her from her cell, which she loudly complained about to the judge.

Judge Pastor had heard enough. He ordered Hanan excluded from court, and she was taken back to jail. “Defendant Hanan Islam insists on being the center of attention,” the judge said wearily. The hearing then continued without her present. (Her son Rizza, it should be pointed out, comported himself respectfully during the proceeding.)

Some highlights of the second day of testimony by state prosecutors: Investigator Sam Richardson said that the World Literacy Crusade (Alfreddie Johnson’s infamous Scientology front operation in Compton) and American Health and Education Clinics (the Scientology Narconon rehab Johnson and Islam opened at the WLC facility) were essentially indistinguishable. They shared the facility, they shared literature, they shared personnel.

(“We use the Narconon program developed by L. Ron Hubbard,” World Literacy Crusade’s website stated on a now-defunct page that is preserved on the Internet Archive.)

Between September 2010 and June 2013, the county paid Hanan Islam’s clinic $3.8 million in reimbursements, which prosecutors now say were applied for fraudulently.

Defense attorneys had an opportunity to respond, and Augustine says that each of them began to carve out different approaches for their clients.

Rizza Islam’s attorney questioned the lack of Medi-Cal codes on sign-in sheets that listed the names of high school students who were taught by Rizza. But the state had already explained how the sign-in sheets were used by the scam’s “ghost writers” to produce lengthy (and bogus) progress reports for the students so Medi-Cal could be fraudulently billed. It felt like a fairly inconsequential attack on the state’s case, Augustine says.

The defense for Rizza’s older sister, Nimat Islam, took the line that Nimat was a low-level, inconsequential employee who was never in Suite F with the ghost writers, was not a signatory on bank accounts, and didn’t sign tax returns.

On rebuttal, the prosecution said that Nimat had threatened to fire an employee if they didn’t apply for Medi-Cal, suggesting she too was part of the overall scam.

Hanan’s attorney focused on her daughter Zakiyyah being in charge of billing, and also that Hanan did not teach or counsel any of the high school students, and that she wasn’t seen on any of the high school campuses.

On rebuttal, the prosecution said that Hanan didn’t go to the campuses because she dealt directly with the corrupt educators (two principals and a football coach) who supplied the students for the scheme.

At the end of day’s testimony, Rizza Islam was led away in handcuffs to return to jail to continue to serve his five-day penalty for contempt. Judge Pastor said that his mother Hanan could reappear in court if she abides by the rules. But she’ll be cooling her heels in the county jail until Monday morning, when the hearing resumes with more testimony from the prosecution, this time a witness from the state Franchise Tax Board.

 
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Introducing ‘The Lowdown’

Late last night, the cats threw the switch on some changes to the website. We’ve added a new blog, The Lowdown, and touched up the home page. On some of our browsers, the update worked immediately. But on Chrome, the changes were taking longer to propagate. So bear with us if things look a bit janky for you this morning.

Several months ago, we wanted to add more subjects to the Bunker, where we’ve been covering Scientology as a daily news beat since 2012. We added new blogs about Jehovah’s Witnesses and Nxivm, and we were fortunate to have Dianne Lipson provide killer eyewitness coverage for the Nxivm trial.

But we realized that it was very difficult to add blogs with such narrow focuses on top of the major Scientology site we were already operating. So we’ve retooled. We’ve emphasized our Scientology coverage on the home page, and we’ve added The Lowdown, a blog that will allow us to dip into as many different topics as we want to — sure, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Nxivm, but also culture, science, and even some politics: We’re thrilled that attorney Scott Pilutik will be featured regularly at The Lowdown. His lawyerly observations about national news have been extremely helpful to keep us calm as everything seems to be burning down around us.

Writing about Scientology every day is a full time job, and we don’t plan to attenuate our coverage. So items on The Lowdown are often just attempts at conversation starters and may not be much more than a link to a controversial new press article and a comment by us to get the discussion going. We hope you’ll give these items a look and help us grow the Bunker into entertaining new areas of conversation. — The Proprietor

 
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Source Code

“The Roman Catholic Church, somewhere along the line, through watching the dramatizations of people, picked up some little fragments of R6, and they make it look like it’s continued forward into present time. But the truth of the matter is that the loyal officers were not all killed. Xenu missed. And they were not all killed. Not by a long way…Somebody, somewhere on this planet, back about 600 BC, found some piece of R6. And I don t know how they found it, either by watching mad men or something, but since that time they have used it and it became what is known as Christianity. The man on the cross. There was no Christ, but the man on the cross is shown as every man so of course each person seeing a crucified man has an immediate feeling of sympathy for this man. Therefore you get many PCs who say they are Christ.” — L. Ron Hubbard, October 3, 1968

 
——————–

Overheard in the FreeZone

“‘Love and Freedom’ is the tool the 1.1s use to win (our own wrong-headed) support, as like, as our government that promotes and talks about freedom and service to all, while taking away freedoms and taking away our prosperity. Homosexuality and related acts are not freedom, theta, or logical in this universe, at least in the part that I live in — instead they are just another extension of the alien deep-state cabal push-and-pull and complete trap to hold us in the lower tones so we can be controlled and eliminated.”

 
——————–

Scientology’s celebrities, ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and more!

We’ve been building landing pages about David Miscavige’s favorite playthings, including celebrities and ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and we’re hoping you’ll join in and help us gather as much information as we can about them. Head on over and help us with links and photos and comments.

Scientology’s celebrities, from A to Z! Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!

Scientology’s ‘Ideal Orgs,’ from one end of the planet to the other! Help us build up pages about each these worldwide locations!

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 our weekly series. How many have you read?

 
——————–

THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] Jesse Prince talks about the grieving after L. Ron Hubbard’s death — and the partying
[TWO years ago] Rerun Tuesday: ‘Leah Remini’ participants tell us what the series has meant to them
[THREE years ago] L. Ron Hubbard in exile: When Scientology’s leader ran things while on the lam
[FOUR years ago] ‘Going Clear’ Q&A: Mike Rinder and Sara Goldberg take heat from Scientologists
[FIVE years ago] What VICE magazine got wrong about Scientology in the UK
[SIX years ago] LIVE FROM TAMPA: The Garcia v. Scientology Federal Fraud Lawsuit Mini-Trial!
[SEVEN years ago] Scientology’s Meltdown: A Story Told in Pictures

 
——————–

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on October 3, 2019 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, 1995-2018 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2018), 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, 14 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

 At the conclusion of the first day in their preliminary hearing yesterday afternoon at Los Angeles Superior Court, Scientologists Hanan Islam, 60, and her son Ronnie “Rizza” Islam, 29, were led away in handcuffs to spend the night in jail.

Their hearing will continue this afternoon with more testimony from state investigators that the Islams [...]]]>

 
At the conclusion of the first day in their preliminary hearing yesterday afternoon at Los Angeles Superior Court, Scientologists Hanan Islam, 60, and her son Ronnie “Rizza” Islam, 29, were led away in handcuffs to spend the night in jail.

Their hearing will continue this afternoon with more testimony from state investigators that the Islams ran a Scientology Narconon rehab in Compton using unwitting high school students supplied by corrupt educators to defraud the state’s Medi-Cal insurance program of about $3 million.

The Underground Bunker was fortunate to have correspondent Jeffrey Augustine on the scene for the dramatic day in court yesterday when Hanan and Rizza continued their “sovereign citizen” arguments and attempted to serve papers on the court “firing” Judge Michael Pastor from the case. When she refused to stop talking over the judge, Hanan was taken into custody in the courtroom and charged with contempt of court. Later, Rizza was also arrested and charged with contempt.

But Augustine tells us that beyond the bizarre actions by the Islams, the arrests, and other attempts to delay matters, the real story to come out of yesterday’s hearing was the devastating evidence spelled out by the state in its attempt to convince Judge Pastor that Hanan and Rizza, as well as Hanan’s daughters Zakiyyah (37) and Nimat (43), and another defendant, Bayon Beverly Washington (46), should stand trial for their alleged crimes.

Almost four years ago we broke the story here at the Underground Bunker of this strange criminal case which grew out of a notorious Scientology front operation, the World Literacy Crusade, operated by Hanan’s partner at the time, prominent African-American Scientologist Alfreddie Johnson. They had opened the rehab, American Health and Education Clinics (AHEC) at the WLC facility, and the Islams allegedly operated the scam from 2010 to 2013. (After Hanan’s 2015 arrest, AHEC and WLC shut down.)

Alfreddie Johnson was not arrested and has faced no charges, but yesterday’s testimony offered some explanation of that: Financial accounts at AHEC were in Hanan’s name or one of her daughters, Zakiyyah.

Augustine said that the state’s testimony offered much more detail about how the scam operated. AHEC had recruited corrupt educators in the Compton Unified School District (two high school principals and a football coach) who had access to records that indicated which of their students qualified for Medi-Cal coverage. (AHEC paid the educators for their part in the scheme, with one of the principals getting $60,000. All three lost their jobs after being arrested in 2014. They later pleaded guilty to misdemeanors.)

“AHEC employees, typically Rizza Islam, is alleged to have conducted 35- to 55-minute sessions, sometimes longer, to groups of as many as 50 students,” Augustine says. “The names of the students, gathered on sign-in sheets, would then be passed on to AHEC’s ‘ghost writers.'”

According to the state investigators, these ghost writers had been hired after being given creative writing tests, and they operated out of “Suite F” at the World Literacy Crusade. Their job was to invent progress reports, at five dollars a page, for the high school students.

The students might be shown an anti-drug film, for example, but it was the job of the ghost writers to create lengthy and bogus progress reports for each of the students, pretending that they had actually been through a whole series of drug treatments and not just sitting around watching a video. If the state ever audited the program, the Islams could show the fraudulent progress reports written by the ghost writers.

“The investigator gave the names of several AHEC ghost writers whom he had interviewed,” Augustine said. “Investigator Sam Richardson went into detail about how all the defendants were involved in the fraud. Hanan Islam as the president of AHEC. Zakiyyah was a counselor and did billing. Rizza and Nimat Islam and co-defendant Bayon Beverly Washington served in various capacities as counselors and signed off on billing documents. AHEC wrote checks to the education officials involved in the conspiracy. These checks and all other supporting documents were entered as exhibits.”

World Literacy Crusade staff were also pressured to sign up as Medi-Cal recipients or be fired from their jobs. The state presented evidence, for example, that two staffers who had taken no courses were used to bill Medi-Cal $14,500 and $5,000 as if they had been through drug treatment.

“Rizza Islam was shaking his head no during parts of the testimony by Investigator Richardson,” Augustine says.

The testimony also gave some idea of how the scam was found out: AHEC excessively billed a particular Medi-Cal code for “intensive outpatient treatment” for people with substance abuse problems. That brought the operation to the attention of Medi-Cal’s fraud investigation unit, and ultimately to a raid of the Compton facility.

“The sovereign citizen arguments and the mass attempt by the defendants to fire their attorneys were just delaying tactics, and none of them worked,” Augustine says. “It didn’t stop the staggering weight of evidence from being presented and made public in open court.”

The day’s session ended at 4:15 pm, and Hanan and Rizza Islam were taken away in handcuffs to spend the night in jail. The preliminary hearing will resume today at 1:30 pm.

 
——————–

Wise Beard Man wants to dine with you

Mark Bunker needs signatures to get on the ballot for city council in Clearwater, Scientology’s spiritual mecca. Oh, and there’s Mexican food.

 
——————–

Source Code

“‘Be three feet back of your head.’ Please tell me why nobody ever said this in the last ump-thousand years. This is fantastic. Because 50 percent, at least, of the people who come in and sit down, I don’t care what their age is — something like this — you say, ‘Be three feet back of your head.’ Sometimes you get the reaction, ‘Why?’ ‘Well, it might be more comfortable outside.’ ‘Might be more comfortable outside! You mean people are inside their heads!’ You would be just amazed how often one gets that reaction. One girl I know was given 125 electric shocks because the psychiatrist found she was outside of her head. Too sane for him.” — L. Ron Hubbard, October 2, 1953

 
——————–

Overheard in the FreeZone

“I aligned myself with LRH directly after I read, Scientology: A New Slant on Life. It made such sense. But why it made such sense is explained in that I am a part of a vanguard group of beings who knew that Earth is a very sick planet that will likely spread its contagious illness elsewhere if not stopped here.”

 
——————–

Scientology’s celebrities, ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and more!

We’ve been building landing pages about David Miscavige’s favorite playthings, including celebrities and ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and we’re hoping you’ll join in and help us gather as much information as we can about them. Head on over and help us with links and photos and comments.

Scientology’s celebrities, from A to Z! Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!

Scientology’s ‘Ideal Orgs,’ from one end of the planet to the other! Help us build up pages about each these worldwide locations!

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 our weekly series. How many have you read?

 
——————–

THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] Clear body, wiped mind: Another woman comes forward about forced abortion in Scientology
[TWO years ago] Another Scientologist becomes instant star with Trump supporters, this time in Puerto Rico
[THREE years ago] How Scientology plans to take over the world: By boring us to death, apparently
[FOUR years ago] An email that demonstrates how much Scientology loves going after the ‘evil psychs’
[FIVE years ago] Q&A with Mike Rinder: Understanding the sudden changes at Scientology’s LA complex
[SIX years ago] FORMER SCIENTOLOGY SPOKESMAN TOMMY DAVIS SUBPOENAED BY MONIQUE RATHBUN
[SEVEN years ago] Scientology’s Georgia Drug Rehab Hit with Double-Barreled Media Onslaught

 
——————–

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on October 2, 2019 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, 1995-2018 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2018), 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, 14 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

 We could not have broken the big story of felony charges against Scientologists operating a Scientology drug rehab clinic in Compton without the help of our sources. We’ve had invaluable help here in New York with the Underground Bunker’s man [...]]]>

 
We could not have broken the big story of felony charges against Scientologists operating a Scientology drug rehab clinic in Compton without the help of our sources. We’ve had invaluable help here in New York with the Underground Bunker’s man on the scene, Jeffrey Augustine, who lives in Los Angeles.

This week, he volunteered to get some looks at the venues we’ve been talking about. The story we revealed on Thursday was that several Scientologists are accused of running a Narconon clinic out of the World Literacy Crusade, a longtime Scientology front in Compton. Arrangements were made with three prominent local educators (since fired) to provide high school kids to the “clinic,” where they were put through Scientology exercises, and the clinic then billed Medi-Cal as if the students had been treated for drug addictions. According to court documents, this scam was running at least from 2010 to 2013 (but we found evidence that it had been using foster children as early as 2005). The clinic was raided by a state law enforcement agency in March 2014. But what’s happened to the clinic, and the World Literacy Crusade, since then? Jeffrey Augustine is our man on the scene.

 
With the news of Dr. Hanan Islam being criminally charged for Medi-Cal fraud, I decided to drive over to Compton to visit the two Scientology-related entities where she worked, with Rev. Alfreddie Johnson Jr. (who has not been arrested or charged with a crime): World Literacy Crusade (3209 N. Alameda St, Suite B) and American Health and Education Clinics (3209 N. Alameda St, Suite B, sometimes listed as Suite C).

3209 N. Alameda Street is located in a well-maintained, single-story industrial park. Designed for light manufacturing, industrial distribution, or service and repair companies, this is not a location one would associate with a rehab clinic, church, or literacy crusade. I mention this point because, as a sales engineer, I called on manufactures and distributors for 30 years and had many small clients in these sorts of industrial parks in Los Angeles. The choice of location seemed odd to me. It is what Scientologists would call an “out point.” Adding to this out point is the fact that Rev. Johnson’s “True Faith Christian Center” is also, according to online records, located in Suite B. However, in 2013 the Reverend Johnson announced on Facebook that he had moved his church to the Hubbard Dianetics Community Center attached to the new Scientology “Ideal Org” in Inglewood:

 
Despite being listed at the N. Alameda address in Internet searches, Rev. Johnson’s World Literacy Crusade is also no longer located at the Compton address. The California Secretary of State website shows World Literacy Crusade to be a suspended entity:

A search of IRS 990 forms shows that the World Literacy Crusade today is a “doing business as” (dba) of Scientologist Holly Haggerty’s nonprofit Community Learning Center Inc. located in Clearwater, Florida (EIN 59-3521809).

At some point, Rev. Johnson’s World Literacy Crusade was subsumed into the Community Learning Center Inc. But in that organization’s latest tax return, for 2014, there is no mention of Rev. Johnson or the Crusade.

World Literacy Crusade has essentially vanished legally. Despite this, the official Church of Scientology website makes this claim for Johnson’s group:

Today, World Literacy Crusade operates programs in schools, community tutoring centers and juvenile detention facilities. It has grown into an international movement, with volunteers from lands as far-flung as Australia, Greece and Africa providing individuals with the basic tools to become literate, responsible, self-sufficient and employable. After completing the literacy program, 87 percent of teens involved in gangs and drug use made the decision to relinquish their former lifestyle and embark on a productive and ethical path.

While Scientology makes that confident claim about Rev. Johnson’s Crusade, the reverend himself has apparently moved on to a new enterprise — doing business in the United Arab Emirates:

 
While World Literacy Crusade has vanished from Compton, I also found, on my visit, that Hanan Islam’s American Health and Education Clinics is no longer located at the N. Alameda facility. I spoke to the gentleman who today rents Suite B. He is an industrial distributor who moved in about six months ago and told me Suite B was unoccupied when he moved in. I have blurred the name of his company in this photo of Suite B:

 
Suite C, which also was listed as an address for American Health and Education Clinics, is empty and the signage has been removed.

 
A peek inside the window at the former location of American Health and Education Clinics reveals nothing more than a lonely wall socket:

 
As with most things Scientology, the seedy reality belies the PR: Behold the former global headquarters of the World Literacy Crusade and American Health and Education Clinics:

 
And here’s what it looked like in better times, from a WLC video…

 
American Health and Education Clinics’ website has also been taken down, and the California Secretary of State website shows American Health and Education Clinics LLC to be a Delaware corporation whose California status is, apparently, forfeited:

The California data reveals American Health and Education Clinics LLC to be a Delaware corporation with a very impressive address in prestigious Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. This Chadds Ford address is also that of The Brandywine Companies, a real estate brokerage and financial services company. Brandywine’s “People” webpage shows the founder, chairman, and the CEO of Brandywine to be Scientologist Bruce E. Moore; Moore’s Scientology service completions are extensive. Moore and his Brandywine Company are listed as members of Scientology’s business front, WISE, in 2001 and 2004.

 
What is Bruce Moore’s tie to Hanan Islam? It’s not clear. One thing is certain when dealing with the Church of Scientology: Things are never as they seem.

— Jeffrey Augustine.

 
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Bonus photos from our tipsters

Oh joy! A new Ideal Narconon drug rehab in Eslov, Sweden opened last week…

 
Handing out Youth for Human Rights pamphlets in Clearwater. Thanks, Legoland.

 
Celebrity clams Denice Duff, Nancy Cartwright, and Jim Meskimen do the selfie thing.

 
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BOOK NOTES

We didn’t get a chance to include photos in our book, so we’ve posted them at a dedicated page. Reader Sookie put together a complete index and we’re hosting it here on the website. Copies of the paperback version of ‘The Unbreakable Miss Lovely’ are on sale at Amazon. The Kindle edition is also available, and shipping instantly.

Our book tour is concluded for now. (But you can re-experience it through this nifty interactive map!) We’ll let you know about future appearances. Previous events: Santa Barbara (5/16), Hollywood (5/17), Orange County (5/17), San Diego (5/20), San Francisco (5/22), New York (6/11), Chicago (6/20), Toronto (6/22), Clearwater (6/28), Washington DC (7/12), Hartford (7/14), Denver (7/17), Dallas (7/20), Houston (7/22), San Antonio (7/24), Austin (7/25), Paris (7/29), London (8/4), Boston (8/24), Phoenix (9/15), Cleveland (9/23), Minneapolis (9/24), Portland (9/27), Seattle (9/28), Vancouver BC (9/29), Sydney (10/23), Melbourne (10/25), Adelaide (10/28), Perth (10/30)

 
——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on December 19, 2015 at 07:15

E-mail your tips and story ideas to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes updates at our Facebook author page. Here at the Bunker we try to have a post up every morning at 7 AM Eastern (Noon GMT), and on some days we post an afternoon story at around 2 PM. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.

Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…

BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of LA attorney and former church member Vance Woodward

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

PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | Scientology’s Private Dancer
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

Our Guide to Alex Gibney’s film ‘Going Clear,’ and our pages about its principal figures…
Jason Beghe | Tom DeVocht | Sara Goldberg | Paul Haggis | Mark “Marty” Rathbun | Mike Rinder | Spanky Taylor | Hana Whitfield

Yesterday, we told you that Eric Tenorio, a former official with Scientology’s drug rehab network, Narconon, had an eyewitness account that confirmed that the rehab facility being run out [...]]]>

Yesterday, we told you that Eric Tenorio, a former official with Scientology’s drug rehab network, Narconon, had an eyewitness account that confirmed that the rehab facility being run out of the World Literacy Crusade in Compton, California was an official and licensed enterprise of the Church of Scientology itself.

On Thursday, we revealed that at least six of the counselors at the Compton rehab facility, including its co-founder, Hanan Islam, are facing felony Medi-Cal fraud charges after a yearlong investigation by the state’s Bureau of Medi-Cal and Elder Abuse, an investigation that also ousted three prominent educators in the Compton Unified School District for supplying students to Islam’s clinic as part of the scam.

Since we broke that story, we’ve been talking to sources about the Church of Scientology’s involvement with the rehab facility. We do not know if the state agency is going to investigate or pursue charges against anyone at the church itself. And we want to emphasize that the founder of World Literacy Crusade himself, Rev. Alfreddie Johnson Jr., has not been arrested or charged with a crime.

But Tenorio’s eyewitness testimony — that WLC’s rehab, American Health and Educations Clinics, sent a course supervisor to Scientology’s flagship rehab center, Narconon Arrowhead, where he worked — made him certain that the clinic was licensed by Scientology’s front groups Narconon International or the Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE).

Today we have another eyewitness account, from someone who worked at Narconon International. Kathy Nather Thomas was Narconon International’s senior case supervisor, which made her the top technical person for every Narconon center in the world. It was her job to make sure that every facility licensed by Narconon International provided the Narconon program — which was drawn from the Scientology teachings of founder L. Ron Hubbard — with precision and accuracy. Narconon International in turn answered to ABLE, which was staffed only with Sea Org workers, and which oversees all of Scientology’s “social betterment” front groups. Thomas left the Church of Scientology at the end of 2012.

She tells us she remembers that around the year 2009, about five years after Hanan Islam and Alfreddie Johnson founded American Health and Education Clinics at the World Literacy Crusade, a man from ABLE came to see her at Narconon International, bringing with him an African-American man (not Rev. Johnson).

Kathy remembers the man from ABLE — Paul Nolan — was an active fundraiser for Criminon, the ABLE front group that gets Scientology into the country’s prisons.

She says that the duo came to Narconon International asking for guidance about starting up a withdrawal service in the Inglewood area.

“Mr. Nolan showed up with the guy that they wanted us to help. So immediately I knew it was an ABLE thing, because he’s an ABLE guy,” Kathy tells us. “But it wasn’t an ABLE project. He said it was an ‘outside’ thing, an outside project of ABLE. That was OK. But then he said he wanted us to train this guy to do withdrawal.”

Kathy explains why that was a stunning request. Narconon is a non-medication approach to drug addiction. It’s not really set up to handle someone in the throes of heavy drug withdrawal. For years, Narconon centers would send withdrawing addicts to local hospitals to dry out before beginning the program. In more recent years, Narconons have opened their own medical detox units to handle that withdrawal period. But that wasn’t what was being suggested here.

“What are you talking about? I thought. I could just imagine this guy trying to help someone in withdrawal. What if he ODs?” Kathy says.

Kathy tells us this story because she says it points out how Narconon activity in that area of Los Angeles was being done through ABLE and not through her group, Narconon International. She concludes that the clinic at World Literacy Crusade must also have been a special ABLE project, or she would have been involved in monitoring it — and she wasn’t.

Kathy also pointed out something to us after she saw yesterday’s story about Eric Tenorio’s experience with Narconon Arrowhead — that World Literacy Crusade sent a case supervisor for training to Arrowhead, and that Tenorio himself was sent to inspect the facility in Compton. Kathy says that’s very significant, because, she says, Narconon Arrowhead, as the massive flagship facility in the network (at least then, today it’s on fumes), had “special lines” that had nothing to do with Narconon International or ABLE.

“This could have been a Gold project,” she says. “For this heavy of an Arrowhead connection, it could have come directly from Gold. It didn’t necessarily have to go through ABLE.”

By “Gold,” Kathy is referring to the International Base, Scientology’s secretive world management headquarters at a 500-acre compound near Hemet, California. It’s also known as “Gold Base” or “Gold” to Scientologists because it houses the studios for Golden Era Productions, which puts out Scientology’s many audiovisual products. It’s also a place where Scientology leader David Miscavige lives and works.

Former Gold employee Marc Headley was at the base around this time — he didn’t escape until 2005. We asked him if he knew anything about David Miscavige being involved in ordering a drug rehab center being developed for Alfreddie Johnson’s World Literacy Crusade. (Five years earlier, in 1999, Miscavige had given Johnson a “Freedom Medal” for his work at World Literacy Crusade, which at that time was disseminating L. Ron Hubbard’s “study technology” to inner-city youth.)

Headley doesn’t remember hearing about the clinic. (If you were at Gold at the time and did hear about it, we’d like to talk to you.) But he does point out how important Rev. Alfreddie Johnson was to Miscavige.

“We were always filming that guy. And he was at every event at the Celebrity Centre. Alfreddie is David Miscavige’s line to the African-American community,” Headley says.

In the mid-1990s, Johnson had recruited singer Isaac Hayes to Scientology. Jason Beghe, an actor and former Scientologist who was featured in Alex Gibney’s documentary Going Clear, has told us that Hayes pressed Miscavige: Why aren’t there more black people in Scientology? (Beghe said he told Miscavige the same thing.)

“Alfreddie was the guy who was going to bring the African-American community into the church,” Headley says. So he got unusual access to Miscavige, and special treatment.

Can Miscavige be directly tied to Alfreddie Johnson and Hanan Islam founding American Health and Education Clinics? If you have information that would tie them together, we want to hear from you.

 
UPDATE: An earlier version of this story dated the incident Kathy Thomas witnessed too early. In fact, it took place after 2008, and involved a withdrawal service in the Inglewood area. That incident convinces Thomas that the World Literacy Crusade clinic was an ABLE project, not that she was approached by ABLE about the World Literacy Crusade clinic itself — Ed.

 
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Karen de la Carrier on Fair Game

Karen concludes her series on Scientology’s retaliation schemes.

 
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Bonus photos from our tipsters

There are still a few days in 2015 for you to send us all your money! Note the Youth for Human Rights pamphlet in this woman’s hands. Thanks, Legoland.

 
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BOOK NOTES

We didn’t get a chance to include photos in our book, so we’ve posted them at a dedicated page. Reader Sookie put together a complete index and we’re hosting it here on the website. Copies of the paperback version of ‘The Unbreakable Miss Lovely’ are on sale at Amazon. The Kindle edition is also available, and shipping instantly.

Our book tour is concluded for now. (But you can re-experience it through this nifty interactive map!) We’ll let you know about future appearances. Previous events: Santa Barbara (5/16), Hollywood (5/17), Orange County (5/17), San Diego (5/20), San Francisco (5/22), New York (6/11), Chicago (6/20), Toronto (6/22), Clearwater (6/28), Washington DC (7/12), Hartford (7/14), Denver (7/17), Dallas (7/20), Houston (7/22), San Antonio (7/24), Austin (7/25), Paris (7/29), London (8/4), Boston (8/24), Phoenix (9/15), Cleveland (9/23), Minneapolis (9/24), Portland (9/27), Seattle (9/28), Vancouver BC (9/29), Sydney (10/23), Melbourne (10/25), Adelaide (10/28), Perth (10/30)

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on December 19, 2015 at 07:15

E-mail your tips and story ideas to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes updates at our Facebook author page. Here at the Bunker we try to have a post up every morning at 7 AM Eastern (Noon GMT), and on some days we post an afternoon story at around 2 PM. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.

Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…

BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of LA attorney and former church member Vance Woodward

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

PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | Scientology’s Private Dancer
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

Our Guide to Alex Gibney’s film ‘Going Clear,’ and our pages about its principal figures…
Jason Beghe | Tom DeVocht | Sara Goldberg | Paul Haggis | Mark “Marty” Rathbun | Mike Rinder | Spanky Taylor | Hana Whitfield