A recent report out of Tennessee by the Cannon Courier, detailing the rescue of a man who had been "locked inside" a cabin with "no way to remove himself" for nine months, resulting in three men being charged with felonies, two on counts of false imprisonment and one charged with two felony counts of facilitation to kidnapping, goes from shocking to downright chilling when we delve into the details.
According to the Courier report, a series of "rehabilitation facilities" have been closed after Cannon County law enforcement officials received a 911 emergency call and upon responding found the man that had called locked inside of a cabin they described as "The cabin is bare there is a small pile of sheets in the corner, there are no obvious amenity for life."
"It is a small room with a single bed in it, the bed is bare except for a one sheet that he covers up with, his bathroom is the only room with a light."
After transporting the man to a hospital and notifying his mother, law enforcement officials began their investigation, notifying appropriate agencies such as Adult Protective Services, the Sheriff, and the District Attorney General, where they obtained a search warrant. When officials returned with the search warrant they found personnel in the process of "packing up and moving out," as well as discovering another female patient who was transported to the hospital and relatives notified.
Previously Vallieres' facilities had been flagged by the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse for 21 deficiencies, which had supposedly been addressed, yet the descriptions are eerily similar to the descriptions by Cannon County officials about the conditions they recently discovered at the Tennessee facilities, including having "flagged the center for having no couches, chairs, television, radio, tables, lamps, etc. in a cabin."
Now for the chilling part - The man who originally called, claiming he was "mistreated and falsely imprisoned," said he was at the facility "to have rehab and get cleansed though Scientology."
The Sheriff's office statement also speaks of Scientology, saying "The Cannon County Sheriff's Department would like to make the general public of this county aware that the Scientology facilities are closed and not operating in Cannon County."
The attorney representing some of those charged claims the facilities were not operated by the Church of Scientology, but in researching those charged, we note that one of the men arrested and charged with two counts of felony facilitation to kidnapping, Marc Vallieres, is a well known member of the Church of Scientology, and his "therapy" for patients is based on previous documented theories of Scientology founder.
The similarities do not end with the same conditions noted in the recent case to the deficiencies found previously, but the denial by the attorney associated with this latest case, are also analogous to controversies surrounding other "rehabilitation" projects directly involving the Church of Scientology, such as the "Rehabilitation Project Force," which is the Church of Scientology's program for members of its Sea Organization, and has compared by critics of Scientology, including former Scientologists, to "the gulag system of the Soviet Union."
Another rehab project associated with Scientology, is Narconon, which provides drug education and rehabilitation, which "promotes the theories of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard regarding substance abuse treatment and addiction," with both Narconon and the Church of Scientology claiming it was independent of Scientology, it is the parent company of the Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE), which is owned and controlled by the Church of Scientology. (Source)
Despite assertions to the contrary by the Church of Scientology, government reports and former patients that claim Narconon was Church of Scientology front group, which was confirmed when theFBI raided Scientology offices on 8 July 1977, and found papers that instructed members to refer to Narconon and other "front groups" using code names.
Marshall, John (24 January 1980). "The Scientology Papers / Hubbard still gave orders, records show". The Globe and Mail. A document with FBI number 7822, dated Nov. 5, 1976, and signed by Judy Taussig, a U. S. national official of Scientology, defined the correct use of the codes. They were to be used, the court learned, for groups or actions that we don't want connected to LRH or MSH. This is handled by coding their names. Also coding the group or action if it falls into categories #1-#8. That list included incriminating activities, unpunished crimes, and things like lobbying where this is prohibited in non-profit corporations, or money deals that might provoke government tax offices. The document also said the codes should be used for words of actions that could tend to dispute the fact that the C of S motives are humanitarian, i.e., harass, eradicate, attack, destroy, annihilate ... spreading a rumor, entrapment, stir up opposition. And codes should be used for the names of front groups that we do not want connected with the C of S and for anything that gives specific and actual evidence that the C of S is in legal control of B6 groups. These are groups that are separate legal entities to the C of S. An attachment to the document, listed in the prosecution inventory as item 104 in Box C16, said B6 groups include Narconon, a drug treatment organization staffed by Scientologists and using Mr. Hubbard's mental health techniques.
This project included a series of infiltrations into and thefts from 136 government agencies, foreign embassies and consulates, as well as private organizations critical of Scientology, carried out by Church members in more than 30 countries. It was one of the largest infiltrations of the United States government in history, with up to 5,000 covert agents. This operation also exposed the Scientology plot 'Operation Freakout', because Operation Snow White was the case that initiated the US government investigation of the Church.
The plan, undertaken in 1976 following years of church-initiated lawsuits and covert harassment, was meant to eliminate the perceived threat that Cooper posed to the church and obtain revenge for her publication in 1971 of a highly critical book, The Scandal of Scientology. The Federal Bureau of Investigation discovered documentary evidence of the plot and the preceding campaign of harassment during an investigation into the Church of Scientology in 1977, eventually leading to the church compensating Cooper in an out-of-court settlement.
CHURCH OR CULT?
I'll admit that other than rumblings from former members of the Church of Scientology, I never did in-depth research of the group and it was barely a blip on my radar until the high profile "breakup" when well known actress Leah Remini, from King of Queens, started publicly describing the cult-like mentality and make up of the group.
Recently I have heard her A&E 8 part series, where former members describe beatings, being forced to shun family, punished for questioning certain activities, mind-control and brainwashing, forced abortions, and more, is a real eye opener, but until researching this article, I did not realize the amount of information available publicly, such as the decades of highly disturbing controversies and illegal activities.
There is a long list of controversies associated with the Church of Scientology, some of which begs the question of whether this group is a religion or better fits the definition of a cult.
For example, their policy referred to as "disconnection," where members are required to "shun" family or friends that Scientology higher ups consider "antagonistic," to the Church.
A site called Underground Bunker has a partial list of those "disconnections" described by family members, families torn apart, as well as situations where some families have left the the Scientology group, with others that remained behind.
Scientology disconnections:
Bernie Headley has not seen his daughter Stephanie in 4,741 days. Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 1,844 days. Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 2,338 days. Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 1,378 days. Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy in 1,090 days. Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 616 days. Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 4,705 days. Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 1,845 days. Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 2,165 days. Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 2,140 days. Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 496 days. Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin in 4,798 days. Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 905 days. Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis for 1,307 days. Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 1,180 days. Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 761 days. Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike in 1,266 days. Mary Jane Sterne has not seen her daughter Samantha in 1,510 days. Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 12,619 days.
Other controversies include, but are not limited to; Organized harassment of people perceived as enemies of the Church; The death of a Scientologist Lisa McPherson while in the care of the church. (Robert Minton sponsored the multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Scientology for the death of McPherson. In May 2004, McPherson's estate and the Church of Scientology reached a confidential settlement.); Attempts to legally force search engines censor information critical of the Church; Allegations the Church leader David Miscavige beats and demoralizes staff, and that physical violence by superiors towards staff working for them is a common occurrence in the church; and coerced abortions.
One of the most recent revelations was of an FBI report showing the "Church" of Scientology has been under investigation for human trafficking, which on page 3 of the PDF published by Radar Online on May 5, 2017, from a 2011 report, states "Based on interviews of former Sea Org members (hereinafter Complaints), the Church of Scientology tricks young Scientologists into joining Sea org, promising good salaries, regular work hours, vacation time and family visits. However, once Sea org embers begin their service, they are housed and held at secure locations where they work 15 hour days in various positions for Scientology-based companies. Sea Org members are given no days off and are permitted only limited and monitored contact with anyone outside of the camps where they live and work. All incoming and outgoing mail is opened, read......."
In a question and answer session as part of the Scientology and the Aftermath A & E series, Leah Remini highlights another disturbing issue, where she is talking about how she personally cannot help individual families, saying she cannot walk into Scientology and grab their underage kids for them, saying "you need to do it, if they are underage you have every right to ring the bell, wherever they are and say 'I want my family member, I want to speak to them alone, I want to speak to them outside these gates without a representative of the Church'. You have every right to do it and you should do it."
That statement comes at around the 5:11 minute mark, and brings home the point that it is not only adults, that have the right to follow any beliefs they want, but there are children being controlled, used and brainwashed as well.
A short message from Remini to the Church of Scientology:
