Narconon’s cancer spreads: New lawsuits and a court order for Scientology’s rehab network

Narconon Arrowhead

Yesterday, we brought you news of an explosive new lawsuit which alleges that Oklahoma state mental health officials covered up wrongdoing at Scientology’s flagship drug rehab facility in Oklahoma, Narconon Arrowhead. That news came out against the backdrop that a grand jury is considering claims of insurance fraud at the facility, leaked documents suggest the center is suffering badly with few patients, and there’s also news that Arrowhead has applied for a new certification as a “halfway house” as it gives up its status as a major treatment center.

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LAWSUIT: OKLAHOMA OFFICIALS HID WRONGDOING AT SCIENTOLOGY DRUG REHAB

Kim Poff

An explosive lawsuit has been filed by a former Oklahoma state inspector general who says she was fired because, in part, she found evidence of illegal wrongdoing at Scientology’s drug rehab that her bosses then told her to hide.

Kimberly Poff was Inspector General at Oklahoma’s Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services and had worked for the agency for more than 5 years and the state for more than 22 years when she and her employee Michael DeLong were asked to investigate recent deaths at Scientology’s flagship facility of its Narconon drug rehab network, Narconon Arrowhead. [UPDATE: DeLong is also suing, and we have his petition, below.]

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Scenes from the Scientology underground

We love our tipsters. They are constantly alerting us to interesting stuff about Scientology. Some of it is just strange, like this rabbit hole we went down yesterday. Is it important? Probably not. But we thought readers might find it amusing. So here we go.

On Sunday, a couple of pages appeared online from a recent issue of The Comm Line, a newsletter that’s printed for Scientologists and can be picked up in some shops in Clearwater, Florida.

One of the pages contained a curious ad…

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Scientology graduation videos from Copenhagen? Yes, please!

Solid evidence presented here and at the blog of Scientology’s former spokesman, Mike Rinder, leave no doubt that Scientology is shrinking, and fast. Even loyal, longtime church members are becoming more reluctant to take part in David Miscavige’s desperate scheme to open new empty churches to give the impression that Scientology is expanding.

But you have to wonder, who’s left? Who’s still hanging in there as the collapse seems inexorably to be drawing near?

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Scientology Sunday Funnies: The apocalypse is here, and it is ideal

It’s that time of the week again, when we show you the best items that have been forwarded to us by our great tipsters.

We have some fun items for you this week, and most of it has to do with dragging Scientologists to events to get them to donate, for the umpteenth time, to their local Ideal Org program.

The Ideal Org push began more than a decade ago, in 2003, and frankly, we’re getting pretty tired of David Miscavige’s emphasis on renovating buildings so they can sit empty. And if we’re feeling fatigue, imagine what Scientologists are feeling after they’ve been pushed to donate so much money, time and time again.

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After a year’s delay, Mary Sue Hubbard’s house is on the market for $2.5 million

We want to thank LA Curbed for so generously crediting the Underground Bunker with our scoop last year about Mary Sue Hubbard’s Los Feliz house. After a year’s delay, it’s on the market for the price we said it would be listed at, a cool 2.5 million clams!

Continue reading After a year’s delay, Mary Sue Hubbard’s house is on the market for $2.5 million

Ryan Hamilton files 19th lawsuit against Scientology’s drug rehab network

Las Vegas attorney Ryan Hamilton has filed another federal lawsuit against Scientology’s drug rehab network, Narconon. This time, he’s representing two San Bernardino County residents, Sherri Brown and her daughter Emily, who are suing Scientology’s rehab center in San Diego County, Sunshine Summit Fresh Start in Warner Springs.

This brings to 19 the number of lawsuits that Hamilton has brought since January, and all but one in federal court. Each time, he’s sued a local facility in California, Nevada, or Colorado, as well as Narconon International and its umbrella organization, the Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE). As we reported earlier, in seven of the lawsuits, International and ABLE have settled with the plaintiffs.

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Kate Bornstein kicks cancer’s ass

Our readers know that we are huge fans of A Queer and Pleasant Danger, Kate Bornstein’s remarkable memoir about her experience in Scientology’s “Sea Org” and her later transformation into a nationally-celebrated trans performance artist.

Kate’s book Gender Outlaw is considered a classic in the field, and she’s constantly in demand for speaking engagements at universities. But her many fans were stunned when she announced last year that she had been diagnosed with lung cancer. She raised more than $100,000 in less than a week after breaking the news, an indication of just how much she means to people.

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Denise Brennan, 1952-2014: A former insider who exposed Scientology’s corporate shell game

Denise Brennan, a former Scientology executive in the 1970s and 1980s who became a vocal whistle blower about the organization’s structure and finances, died of a heart attack in New Hampshire yesterday morning at about 8 am.

Brennan, 62, had told numerous friends that she had been writing so much about Scientology in recent years in part because she didn’t expect to be around much longer.

“In the past four and a half years I have had three emergency lifesaving surgeries,” she wrote in 2012, as she announced publicly that she was a transgendered woman and wanted to be known as Denise, after having spent most of her life as Larry Brennan.

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Mark Bunker: Clearwater is being pressured to knuckle under to Scientology (again)

The Underground Bunker is thrilled to debut a short film made by Mark Bunker that should shake up some people in Clearwater, Florida.

We’d read the reports by the Tampa Bay Times that the city had recently paid consultants at the Urban Land Institute $125,000 to help Clearwater plot a new course of redevelopment, and that the ensuing study had recommended a closer relationship between the city and the Church of Scientology.

Continue reading Mark Bunker: Clearwater is being pressured to knuckle under to Scientology (again)

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