Operation Clambake
http://www.xenu.net/

Critical Information about Scientology
http://www.lisamcpherson.org/cos/index.htm

State prosecutors have been studying evidence in an effort to determine whether to file charges against Scientology for McPherson's death. In December 1997 investigators recommended to State Attorney Bernie McCabe to prosecute Scientology on criminal charges. On November 13, 1998, McCabe indicted Scientology in McPherson's death, charging the organization with abuse or neglect of a disabled adult and practicing medicine without a license, both felonies. Scientology has pleaded not guilty.

Felony Information, by Bernie McCabe http://www.factnet.org/Scientology/mccabefelony.htm

Scientology charged in member's death, St. Petersburg Times, November 14, 1998 

Church of Scientology charged in member's death, CNN, November 13, 1998   http://www.cnn.com/US/9811/13/scientology.death/

Amway. Financial independence, personal power, and a life of luxury – all alluring parts of the touted American dream, craved by many but attained by few. It's the kind of life that Amway Corporation promises its distributors. However, as those who have been involved in the company all too often discover, that promise doesn't come with a money-back guarantee. "They love people who are broke because they're weak," says Lori Mauldin, according to FW Wire [July 13, 1998]. Mauldin had a brief but memorable experience with Amway. "They really prey on the desire of materialism. They constantly show the material gain and say, 'You can have this, too.' When you're recruiting people, they tell you to ask people what their dreams are. They love to find the people who want the Mercedes, the boats, the big houses. That's exactly what they're looking for." Despite its success, Amway's track record is one with a high dropout rate, low average incomes, and lawsuits from competitors, regulators, and its own distributors. Amway is often referred to as a cult and considered a pyramid scheme (despite a 1979 ruling by the Federal Trade Commission to the contrary). "Amway is a cult. There's no getting away from that," Brock Akers, a Houston attorney representing 29 distributors in a $200 million suit against the company, told FW Wire. "My clients, who are very high up in the Amway system, just now are realizing some of these things. They're getting deprogrammed. And they can't believe some of the things they have done. I think the Internet may ultimately cause the demise of Amway. Anyone who is thinking about getting into Amway, who has a computer and has a clue can check it out. And they're going to find a lot of unhappy people out there." Amway’s detractors are many and yet it remains a fascinating mystery of the business realm. Indeed, the superhighway is strewn with tales of money, dreams and friendships lost in the treacherous waters surrounding Amway. Most are in the process of rebuilding their lives; some are attempting to mend broken marriages. All are bitter and more than a little bit angry with themselves for being duped.

Apostolic United Brethren (AUB). A seven-page complaint authored by a former member of the Apostolic United Brethren reads: "This open letter calls for a Montana Governor's full-scale investigation of a Polygamous Cult Leader's lawlessness, which includes fraudulently stealing homes, businesses, securities and exchange fraud, property tax evasion, welfare fraud, fixed voting and election practices and just a general disregard for all man made or God given law and order." The document is authored by Ronald Bierer, a former member of AUB and follower of leader Owen Allred. Montana officials are investigating the allegations in Bierer's complaint. Allred responded by waging a publicity campaign, holding press conferences, and allowing an unprecedented visit to his Bluffdale compound by crime and domestic abuse experts from the Attorney General's Office. The visit was intended to counter the credibility of Bierers' allegations, which paints a picture of a rogue community under the direction of lawless leaders. Allred and top-ranking AUB officials own approximately 1,000 acres and control government and community operations in similar fashion to another polygamy operation in Hilldale, Utah.

Aum Shin Rikyo. By law, teenagers should be in school, but Rika Matsumoto, 15 years old and the third daughter of cult leader Shoko Asaharais, is rumored to have taken charge of the Aum Shin Rikyo cult while her father is on trial facing 17 charges which include murder. Aum, a Japanese cult, was brought into the public spotlight when they masterminded the deadly gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995. That same year, the Tokyo district court deprived Aum of its legal religious status and liquidated their assets, but the Japanese government decided last year that the group posed no "immediate or obvious threat" to Japanese society, rejecting a request from officials to outlaw the sect. In addition to Rika's recent stewardship of her father’s empire, other alarming signs of the group's resurgence abound. Among them, say Tokyo police, is Trisal, a cult-owned store that customizes computer systems at discount prices. The tiny shop in a small Tokyo building is staffed by very young salesmen and is often jammed with bargain hunters. Japanese officials note the group's allure to young scientists, engineers, and other well-educated people capable of reassembling an arms arsenal. Officials’ greater concern involves Aum's continuous acquisitions of real estate. Since February, they have purchased at least five substantial properties. One of these, a former factory building in the rural town of Sanwa, some 40 km (25 miles) north of Tokyo, is nearly as large as some buildings at Aum's former compound near Mount Fuji, where the cult carried out experiments and made sarin, which was eventually utilized in the subway attacks and was the tool used in the deaths of other Aum victims. The group has grown to approximately 5,000 followers, 500 of which are "ordained monks" who live communally. Aum operates approximately 28 installations at 18 branches throughout the country and despite the ban against them in Russia, the group remains active there, as well as in Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. At its height in 1995, Aum had approximately 10,000 followers in Japan and up to 40,000 in other countries, with most of them in Russia. Aum also maintains encrypted Web sites and chat rooms in Japanese, English, and Russian, and controls a network of electronic, computer and other stores. These holdings jointly generated about $30 million in revenue last year. Aum's publishing company, currently its second-largest source of income, re-opened in April and issues at least one book or pamphlet per month.

Bible Readers Fellowship. From birth to death, Harrison Johnson's life was shaped by his parents' fervent adherence to a small Bible-based group as the only authority in their lives. Police in Brevard County, Florida charged his parents, Wylie and Kelly Johnson, with failing to report his birth. Now Hillsborough County sheriff's officials are investigating his tragic death. Harrison died after a swarm of yellow jackets stung him 432 times. The Johnsons did not call 911 until seven hours after the attack. Florida law defines neglect as depriving a child of "necessary food, clothing, shelter or medical treatment," including care to ease "immediate pain." But the law adds that a parent "legitimately practicing religious beliefs in accordance with a recognized church or religious organization who thereby does not provide specific medical treatment for a child shall not, for that reason alone, be considered a negligent parent." The exemption does not address emergency care. The Johnsons, who belong to a small group known as the Bible Readers Fellowship, have refused to talk to Hillsborough detectives. But in 1996 they told Palm Bay police their faith allows no room for doctors, and a fellow group member equated medicine with sorcery.

Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT). The Church Universal and Triumphant has been in the news of late for various reasons. The group’s spiritual leader, 58-year-old Elizabeth Clare Prophet, announced that she has Alzheimer's disease. Prophet assured her followers that she will continue her mission insofar as she is able. The group also announced recently that it will sell a portion of its 13,000-acre property, which borders Yellowstone National Park, to the US Forest Service. Park rangers and environmentalists applaud the decision; the group’s use of its land adjacent to the park had been in question. At one point, fuel tanks on CUT property were leaking into the soil. At another, CUT planned to use energy from natural hot springs, which could have impacted the park’s geysers, including Old Faithful. And recently, CUT slaughtered hundreds of buffalo that wandered from park limits onto its property in search of food; CUT claimed the animals were a danger to its livestock because they can carry a disease transmittable to cattle. CUT plans to use the $13 million revenue from the land sale to recruit new members into its ranks.

Joseph & Evangeline Combs. A former pastor and his wife allegedly kidnapped a 4-month-old baby girl from a children's home in Indiana, then raised her to believe God wanted her to be their family's servant. For nearly 20 years, the girl served the couple and their four children while enduring physical and sexual abuse by the couple, according to an indictment. The abuse was detected when the woman, now 20, was hospitalized after a suicide attempt last year. Joseph Combs, 50, was charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault, perjury, and seven counts of rape. He was pastor of the now-defunct Emmanuel Baptist Church. His wife, Evangeline Combs, 49, is charged with kidnapping, aggravated and misdemeanor assault, and child abuse. The Combses were jailed in lieu of $250,000 bail each. According to police, the couple did not mistreat their three biological children or an adopted daughter. The young woman, however, was allegedly beaten with a rope, brooms, sticks, a metal whip, a baseball bat, and a wooden shoe. Authorities state the couple kept the girl in seclusion, so that her existence was known only to family members and a few church members. She was home-schooled but is unable to read or write. The woman has been reunited with her birth parents and is receiving dental work and other much needed attention.

Concerned Christians. The sudden mysterious departure this fall of a Denver religious group, Concerned Christians, has families and authorities fearing a mass murder-suicide. The doomsday cults' leader, Monte Kim Miller, stated his intention to die in the streets of Jerusalem in December 1999, after which he prophesies he will rise again in three days. Cult watchers who have been monitoring the group agree that Miller is capable of leading his followers to mass murder-suicide. Ten members of the missing Colorado doomsday cult have recently resurfaced in Israel, but according to Jerusalem police, at this time they are not posing a threat to themselves or others. Israeli police have established a special task force to prepare for the arrival of such groups as the millennium approaches.

Damanhur. A new age sect that produces gourmet Italian food and luxury fabrics for European fashion houses is being investigated for allegedly exploiting its members. Founded in 1976 by Oberto "The Falcon" Airaudi, a former insurance salesman, the Damanhur sect has become a multi-million-dollar business empire based in an underground Alpine temple that looks like a Bond film set. The Italian interior ministry claimed life at Damanhur was "regulated by rigid dispositions that limit the personal freedom of its members." The group is also under investigation by the public prosecutor for arson and aggravated fraud. Two former members said they were forced to work 15 hours a day building the temple deep under the Alps.

Gatekeepers. Christopher James Turgeon, 35, identified as the leader of a group called Gatekeepers, and Blaine Alan Applin, 28, were charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Daniel Jess, 40, a part-time tree cutter, on March 29^th. Days before his death, according to court papers, Jess told Turgeon by telephone he knew the cult leader had been writing bad checks. Turgeon and Applin are facing charges in San Diego that include attempting to kill a police officer and armed robbery, which occurred during a holdup, high-speed chase, and shootout on July 13. On July 20, a SWAT team served a search warrant on the group's five-acre compound in the sparsely populated area of Pala, 60 miles north of San Diego, recovering guns and spoils of previous robberies. Turgeon, who reportedly claimed to be the prophet Elijah, originally called his group Ahabah Asah Prophetic Ministries, but changed the name to Gatekeepers in March 1995. He preached that women were inferior to men and that a man must not submit to a woman. After being based in Edmonds, Lynnwood, Everett, and Lake Stevens, Gatekeepers moved to Southern California in September 1997 after a series of questionable financial transactions. Turgeon and Applin had been sued by several individuals and businesses accusing them of fraud.

Holyland. Four children believed to be under age 4 died in a fire that destroyed a dormitory at a rural religious compound called Holyland. Martin Crawford, a Holyland officer, said the cause may have been an electrical short but they really don’t know what happened. Holyland, a 54-acre compound, is part of a multimillion-dollar operation called Reach. Last year when 71-year-old founder LukeEdwards and his group were profiled by the Associated Press, it was discovered that Edwards was beleaguered with litigation battles including $1.3 million in court judgments, child-labor fines (a state probe found 129 child-labor violations, with children as young as 14 doing construction work and slaughtering cattle), and claims by Edwards' estranged daughter and some former members of sexual improprieties. Holyland owns three motels, four restaurants, a small slaughterhouse, three stores, a cattle feedlot, a hog farm, a four-seat airplane, 2,800 acres of land, several limousines, and two garages. The Holyland's businesses are not its only forms of revenue. There is also a panhandling system, known as "The Route.'' Vanloads of adults and children are sent on the road for weeks at a time asking for money outside stores nationwide. A former resident recalls soliciting in distant states at age 13 from dawn until after dark. Holyland residents receive only room and board for their work. Edwards denies the group is a cult, despite former resident reports to the contrary, including a lawsuit settlement award of $650,000 to a former resident who accused Edwards of using mind control and trying to seduce her. Similar allegations arose from members of Edwards' own family. Edwards’ daughter Brenda Garris claims he added to his flock by fathering dozens of children by Holyland women. Edwards acknowledged 18 children, but denied having any out of wedlock.

Iskcon (Hare Krishnas). The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon) is experiencing internal upheaval over a series of sex scandals involving its gurus. Leading the upheaval is long-time devotee Vineet Narain, founder of the newly established Iskcon Reform Group (IRG) with branches in Australia, France, Germany, the UK, and Canada. Narain stated that former disciples are rejecting guru Loknath Swami after discovering the swami was responsible for molesting a teenaged girl in the US. Recently, several other self-proclaimed gurus fell from grace due to serious charges of child abuse and homosexuality. One leader is currently serving a term in a US prison; another, Anand Swami, recently ran away with the daughter of an Indian diplomat; while another, Hansduta Swami, married his own disciple. Iskcon Chairman Harikeshaswami recently ran away with a sex-worker, leaving thousands of his disciples in a state of emotional shock. Iskcon, with assets worth billions of dollars in over 500 centers around the world, is administrated by senior disciples and devotees following the path of spirituality. According to Adridharan Das, president of the Iskcon in Calcutta, the self-proclaimed guru system slipped into place despite the wishes of its late founder, Prabhupada, who initiated some of his disciples to function as priests. He was careful to insist on the distinction between priesthood as opposed to that of guru, because in Hinduism, gurus have spiritual power over the life and death of their followers.

International Church of Christ (ICC). Church leaders at Queen's University voiced alarm over a cult group they claim is targeting students on campus. The International Church of Christ today confirmed they have "planted" a six-strong group in Belfast but deny targeting under-graduates. Chaplains at Queen's, who are issuing warnings about the group, have called in an expert on cults and religious groups. The ICC is infamous for targeting college students. Currently, the University of Cincinnati in the US is considering whether to ban recruiting by the ICC’s local branch, the Cincinnati Church of Christ, on its campus.

Kabbalah Learning Center (KLC). The cultish leanings of the celebrity-friendly Kabbalah Learning Center have some observers likening it to Scientology. According to Debbie Pine, former director of the Maynard Bernstein Resource Center on Cults in Los Angeles, KLC is little more than an endless series of classes and tapes to buy, and it further meets the criteria for cult status in many ways. In an expose in Self magazine, Rabbi Michael Skobac, director of education for Jews for Judaism who has been monitoring the KLC, expresses concern, pointing to an inordinate number of KLC member divorces he feels are the result of the Center’s influence. Rabbi Philip Berg, the KLC's founder, is apparently no stranger to marital difficulties, having left behind a wife and seven children in Israel when he came to the US. Newspaper reports have cited other incidences of KLC misdeeds. A Los Angeles man suffering from depression was told to stop his medication and instead to purchase the Zohar, a set of ancient texts at $345 each, for divine protection. An elderly Florida couple was encouraged to hand over a chunk of their life savings to avert personal tragedy. According to the Task Force on Missionaries & Cults, in 1992 the KLC obtained a record of Jewish employees at a New York City government agency on a pretext. The workers were then contacted and told that Rabbi Berg had located them in a vision, and they were to buy their Zohar books from KLC. The KLC denies knowledge of these cases. Finally, the KLC's letterhead reads, "Established 1922. Jerusalem," but in fact, the KLC was founded in 1969 and there is no branch in Israel, calling their credibility further into question.

Montana Freemen. A federal jury in Montana found nine members of the Montana Freemen organization guilty of robbery and fraud. Bradford Metcalf, 47, faces 30 years in prison for conspiracy and weapons charges. He and other members of the North American Militia were also accused of plotting to destroy the federal building in Battle Creek, Montana. Among them are Rodney Skurdal, accused of writing millions of dollars in checks on a fraudulent bank account, and Daniel Petersen Jr., who together with his wife, Cherlyn, has been convicted of depositing bogus checks. Federal prosecutors alleged the Freemen, driven by hatred for the government, deceived banks on a massive scale. The Freemen were also charged with armed robbery of ABC and NBC television news crews.

Neo-Nazism. A North Carolina appellate court denied a new trial to James Burmeister, the former Fort Bragg paratrooper and neo-Nazi who killed two black people in 1995 as part of a skinhead initiation rite. Last year, a Cumberland County jury found Burmeister guilty of murdering Michael James, 36, and Jackie Burden, 27, as they walked along a Fayetteville street. The judge sentenced Burmeister to two life sentences for first-degree murder and 16 to 20 years for conspiracy to commit murder. Burmeister declared his conviction was based on legal "smoke and mirrors." He asked the North Carolina Court of Appeals to overturn his sentence because the lower court didn't move his trial and allowed jurors to hear testimony about his racist past, among other reasons. But the three judges who considered his appeal said his trial was fair. Testimony showed that on Dec. 7, 1995, Burmeister followed Burden and James and shot them to death because he wanted to earn a spider web tattoo, a sign to Fort Bragg skinheads that the wearer has killed a black person.

Order of St. Charbel. The Catholic Church will investigate a cult claiming heaven has sent a message warning that civilization will end next year. Members of the cult, called the Order of St. Charbel, believe their leader, William Kamm, known as Little Pebble, will be nominated by Pope John Paul II as his successor. Kamm forecast a comet would hit the Earth this year. When the prediction failed, members agreed he simply had the wrong year. The cult now expects civilization to be destroyed by the end of next year, and that 144,000 people will be spared to begin "the new era". The number of members is unknown, but the cult has bases in four states.

Snake-handlers. John Wayne "Punkin" Brown Jr., 34, was bitten on the hand while handling a 3-foot-long yellow timber rattler at a church in northeastern Alabama. He was preaching at the Rocky House Holiness Church in rural Jackson County when the snake bit him. Brown continued preaching, but minutes after receiving the bite, he stepped away from the pulpit, fell, and died. There were 50 to 100 people at the service. Someone called 911 about the snakebite just after 10 p.m., but the bite may have happened up to an hour earlier. Brown's wife, Melinda, 28, died August 8, 1995, two days after she, too, was bitten on the arm by a large rattlesnake during a church service. She refused medical attention, as people who handle snakes in church often do, relying instead on prayer and faith for healing. The Browns had five children.

Solar Temple. On December 23, 1995, 16 members of the Swiss-based Order of the Solar Temple, including three children, were found shot in the head and sprawled in the snow in a forest clearing in Saint-Pierre-des-Charennes, 18 miles southeast of Grenoble. In a recent meeting with a judge investigating the doomsday cult deaths, after viewing pictures, videos, and sketches, the victims’ families did not get the answers they were seeking. Jacques Barillin, a lawyer for three of the victims' families, said they were hoping to learn more about the identity of the killers and their accomplices. Two of the victims were police officers, both cult members. One theory is that at least one shot the others in the head before burning them and committing suicide. The investigation will continue, possibly for several more months. A total of 72 members and two senior members of the Order of the Solar Temple have died since 1994 in massacres in Canada, Switzerland, and France.

Teen Help/Worldwide Association of Specialty Programs. Two teenagers and their parents are seeking legal action against an international chain of rehabilitation programs under the umbrella of Worldwide Association of Specialty Programs. The families claim the teens, a girl of 16 and a young man of 18, were abused through beatings, brainwashing, and "unjust punishment to break their captives' will" at "secret cult centers" in Utah and Western Samoa. "There are other ways to handle children other than being coercive, demeaning, and demented," said Pleasanton attorney Thomas Burton, who is representing the teen and their parents. "These programs get paid $3,000 a month per child to treat these kids worse than prisoners." In addition to abuse claims, the lawsuits include a racketeering charge against Worldwide and affiliated companies Teen Help and Resource Realizations, claiming they operated a fraudulent outreach program. One of the defendants' mothers learned about the Samoan camp, Paradise Cove, from a teacher earning a "secret commission" from Teen Help. Karr Farnsworth, president of Worldwide Associations, insists that their intention is not to abuse children and denies the fact that this was not the first, but the second legal action brought against Worldwide in the past week. The first action involved complaints from several children inmates of Worldwide's newest camp, the Morava Academy in the Czech Republic, which shut that operation down.

Unification Church. What does a woman do if she is a member of a religious group, married to the founder's son, beaten, raped and humiliated? She runs. That's what Nansook Hong says she had to do. She was married to the son of Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification Church. According to Hong, her ex-husband, Moon's son Hyo Jin Moon, is a heavy user of alcohol and a cocaine, a wife-beater, and crazily out of control. And, she says, her parents-in-law, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han Moon, made no attempt to stop the beatings, rapes, or his use of drugs and alcohol. Hong's ordeal was so terrible that she wrote a book, In the Shadow of the Moons (Little, Brown, $23) as a kind of therapy. It is now in the bookstores and selling well. As Moon ages, Hong says, he is concentrating on big conferences and on South America, where he buys hotels and newspapers. Apparently all the early talk about world dominance is gone, even though the 78-year-old Moon has crowned himself king of the universe. Now, three years after leaving a 14-year nightmare, the Barnard College graduate says she wants to work in the field of battered women. "I wish I had awakened earlier, but I didn't," Hong says, according to St Paul Pioneer Press [October 4, 1998]. "I still feel like an idiot for being there so long."

Unification Church. The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the 78-year-old multimillionaire and founder of the Unification Church has decided the impoverished area of Mato Grosso do Sul in South America, a sparsely populated frontier area bordering Paraguay and Bolivia, is the ideal place to build a new "Kingdom of Heaven on Earth." Officially, the project is known as the New Hope Ranch. But Moon, who thinks of himself as a latter-day messiah, likes to call it his Garden of Eden. Moon's utopian plan is to turn this province into a flourishing community the size of a small country. The church has spent some $25-million buying 200,000 acres of farmland, promising to create jobs by building hotels, roads and even an airport. When the project is complete in eight years, the New Hope Ranch will be a world model for the development of education, agriculture and tourism, Moon's followers say. But experts who have closely followed Moon's career view New Hope more as one of the last, bizarre ventures in a long series of spiritual and financial enterprises by the aging leader of a shrinking group. For all the money Moon spends here, New Hope may never get off the ground. Employees admit the greenhouses have yet to yield much produce. The farms' only cattle were slaughtered to feed visiting workshop students.

Cult members responsible for Hamaguchi slaying [November 13, 1998]
www.factnet.org/cults/aum_shin_rikyo/hamaguchi.html

Australia getting tough on cults
[November 12, 1998] www.factnet.org/cults/anti-cult_activities/australia_001.html

Paris court to rule in Scientology case
[November 11, 1998] www.factnet.org/Scientology/paris_court_to_rule.html

Earth Liberation Front sets fire in Vail, Colorado www.factnet.org/cults/earth_liberation_front/vail_fire.html

Inside the world's most dangerous cult: Jesse Prince interviews [October 28, 1998]
www.factnet.org/Scientology/jesse_tapes.html