LA Daily News: LA County settles with two harassed by cultists - Santeria
22 Mar 2001
LA Daily News
The Los Angeles County Claims Board approved an $85,000 settlement
Monday for two county employees who complained fellow employees hung
a bloody cow's tongue from a tree outside the Lancaster welfare
office as part of a Santeria death threat.
Department of Public Social Services eligibility workers Julie Scheuer
of Lancaster and Kathryn Sierra of Palmdale alleged in a lawsuit they
were victims of religious harassment after the cow's tongue was found
hanging by a wire from a tree outside the entrance to the office on
July 28, 1997.
Officials recommended settling the case because if it went to trial
and the county lost, it could cost as much as $500,000 although the
identity of those responsible was never determined, and no one was
disciplined.
The settlement agreement, which includes a confidentiality clause,
is final. Because it is less than $100,000, it does not require
approval of the Board of Supervisors.
"We believe that a jury may conclude that Julie Scheuer and
Kathryn Sierra were each subjected to harassment, discrimination and
retaliation because they made complaints about their supervisor
giving preferential treatment to members of the Santeria religious
group before the hanging of the cow's tongue," wrote Deputy
County Counsel Ruben Baeza Jr., in a report to the Claims Board.
Scheuer and Sierra, and the supervisor could not be reached for comment
Monday. A confidentiality agreement clamped on the case prevents the
lawyers from talking about the details.
Scheuer and Sierra claimed the act was a ritual of the Santeria religion
and was intended as a death threat.
Santeria is a syncretic Afro-Caribbean religion that melds Catholic
practices with non-Christian beliefs about spirits, hexes and
blessings, and practices such as animal sacrifice.
Scraps of paper bearing the names of Scheuer, Sierra and 12 other
workers were pinned to the yellow-painted tongue outside the office
on East Avenue K.
Some of the notes contained maiden and middle names, information that
could only be obtained from confidential personnel files, they said.
They claimed the tongue was hung from the tree by their supervisor
and fellow employees because they were not members of the religion
and had spoken out against the supervisor as a result of the
"perceived favoritism that was extended to members of this
religion," Maeza wrote in his report to the panel.
In their lawsuit, they alleged their supervisor and various employees
became members of Santeria in the early 1990s and one employee was
"a high priestess."
A sheriff's investigation found the tongue represented a Santeria
ritual but was not a death threat.
The investigation found two or more department employees carried out
the ritual in an attempt to prevent employees from gossiping or
speaking negatively about the supervisor. But there was insufficient
evidence to determine who carried out the acts, investigators said.
No charges were ever filed.
Sheriff's Sgt. Richard Valdemar, an expert on ritual sacrifice and
the occult, said the incident is not the first time county employees
have been the target of animal sacrifice rituals.
"There have been other cases, even cases involving prominent people
in county government as the victims," Valdemar said. "These
rituals are a lot more widespread than most people think."
Brian Lew, spokesman for the Department of Public Social Services, said
the department and the former supervisor at the Lancaster office had no
comment on the case.
"We continue to enforce the county's existing policies on
discrimination," Lew said.
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March 20, 2001
Tuesday, March 20, 2001
County to pay duo $85,000 over harassment
By Troy Anderson
Staff Writer
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