Date: 26 Jan 2000 23:53:49 GMT
Mark at this hour (late afternoon) is at a Chicago Police station trying to
retrieve his camera. He was arrested last night while standing on a public
sidewalk out side of the Church of Scientology in chicago at 3011 No. Lincoln
ave. He was charged with criminal tresspassing...an outrageous violation of his
civil rights.
Two Chicago dentists, husband and wife, have been trying to get their money
back from the Chicago Church of Scientology. They claim that they were
swindled out of a lot of money. The Chicago Church of Scientology has been
stalling them and giving them a run around. This couple has gone to the Org
several times and each time getting more stories and run arounds. Mark Bunker,
a television journalist in florida heard about this and decided to interview
them.
This couple has filed a lawsuit against the Marcus Group. The Marcus Group is
one of scientology's management front groups and this couple claims that they
were lured into scientology via Marcus. The wife was conned into buying and
taking the Purification rundown and recently discovered that she has liver
damage from this and is now unable to get health insurance. Also, she is now
unable to work. They have a son in a private school and the cult tried to use
their son to recruit other students.
In the middle of this and out of the blue came some good news. One of the
husbands patients, as it turns out, is one of Chicago's major malpractice
attorneys. He heard about this and has told them that they have a 10 million
dollar lawsuit and he may get involved.
The couple had an appointment last night at the Chicago Org to discuss the
refund. This appt. was set last week. Mark Bunker was to come to their office
in the morning to interview them. Out of the blue yesterday morning, a woman,
pam Vilinsky, from New York shows up in their office with a check which she
tries to get them to accept. Mark Bunker walks in and the woman takes off.
Then they got a call from a chicago attorney who said that he had a check for
them and he wanted them to come to his office.
The last time this couple went to the Chicago Org, the Org bouncer shut them
out and they were locked out. As it happened there were several police officers
accross the street who came over and subsequently offered to help them should
they return.
Mark bunker decided to accompany them to their appointment to film any
possible harassment. The three of them parked outside of the Chicago Org and
were approaching the front door. Mark was standing in back of them near the
curb on the public sidewalk. Suddenly, out of nowhere, two guys dressed in
black rushed at Mark and grabbed him. They knocked his cell phone out of his
hand, grabbed his camera and put him in handcuffs. The wife demanded to know
who they were. They claimed that they were police and were arresting him for
ciminal tresspass. the wife said," I don't believe that you are police, show
me your badge." She said he pulled out a badge with a fuzzy picture on it and
she was still highly suspicious. The two guys said that they were taking Mark
to the station. The wife (she is feisty...we can all learn from her) said that
she would not let him go until she saw an actual squad car. She was then
threatened with arrest. So, apparently, a squad car was called and eventually
there were 4 cars there. The cops started to get a bit nervous and one was
heard to say, we don't want any more cars here.
Mark was taken to the station, his camera confiscated and he wasn't released
until around midnight. It was bitter cold last night and the wife is now sick
with a cold. After Mark was taken Away, scientologists tried to lure the
couple into the Org. Sylvia Stanard had shown up from the DC Org.
Perhaps Mark at some point will fill in more details. His civil rights were
certainly violated. It's clear that scientology hired two off duty cops to
harass and arrest Mark. As someone pointed out, the cult probably wants to have
it on record that Mark was arrested. In my opinion, Mark, himself, has a
major lawsuit against the Chicago Org and against the Chicago Police.
It seems clear that the Chicago Org is PTS and is pulling in major trouble on
themselves. Mark is a courageous and hardworking, dedicated guy. The couple
involved in this are very courageous and feisty in standing up for themselves.
They refuse to be abused and trampled on by the scientology cult.
There is much more to this story and maybe more of it will come out before
long.
JImDBB
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JimDBB jimdbb@aol.com
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