Email from NarConon Survivor

E-Mail about "Huntington Beach" NarCONon
From: (Rev. Fredric L. Rice)
Date: Tue, 30 Jul 2002 04:51:30 GMT
Organization: The Skeptic Tank

Yesterday I received E-Mail from someone claiming to have unwittedly subjected themselves to Scientology's "NarCONon" fraud out of their business office in "Huntington Beach" (though the actual place was likely Balboa and one of the major street names is Huntington, it looks like. I didn't ask for a better description of which NarCONon office it allegedly was.)

Some times I posted redacted copies of such e-mail however I've asked the woman to file a criminal complaint as well as a report with the California state licening board which has the authority to shut the criminal enterprise's "NarCONon" facilities down. So I won't post it here, even redacted. But I will mention three things that appear to be common allegations from victims of NarCONon. Whether they're true or not, I'll have to ask you to be the judge based upon what's known about Scientology.

First, it was claimed that the criminal enterprise demands that its victims hand over their driving license and any other ID when they "check in" for the dubious quack medical "treatment." It seems likely that the alleged crooks do this to try to keep the victims who twig to the fraud from escaping in the middle of the night (and there-in lies another story I can't forward.) There should be no reason for any _real_ "drug treatment" facility to demand that its customers / clients hand over all of their ID -- and certainly not their driving licenses.

Second, when the woman attempted to leave, she claimes that Scientology wouldn't let her and tried to keep her ID. She had to inform them that it was against the law to hold her against her will before the criminals allowed her to leave. The first thing I would expect Scientology to do is to make photocopies of all driving licenses and other ID when it's handed over and that doubtlessly goes into the victim's folder for later abuse.

Finally it was said that when she tried to leave and was surrounded by people who wouldn't let her, they kept telling her that she wouldn't be able to make it out in the real world and that if she did leave she would be a drug addict all her life and that she'll probably die if she left.

It had been my understanding that the State licencing agency was going to pull these crook's license and shut them down in California yet with this E-mail I see that they have yet to do so. While I encouraged the woman to file complaints, passing along the contact information for the licensing authority, I'm worried that she won't.