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Dennis Erlich

Former high-ranking scientologist, left after 15 years.

"Basically, I was the quality-control officer of the brainwashing factory." – Dennis Erlich, in "Scientology snags a dissident", L.A. Weekly, February 17, 1995.
 

BBC 2 (May 1995): "The Net"
Scientology is child abuse
Another of my children, who once had a wonderful sense of humor, claims she lost her ability to laugh when she did the communication course as a six year old. The bullbaiting in the training drills tampered with her spontaneity and caused her to arrest her natural urge to react to things. As a result she now tends to be placid, self-conscious, detached and objective. Once that spontaneity was disturbed by the unnatural, hypnotic discipline of TRs, she tended to be un-reacting. I have known many adults in my cult career who displayed this fixed, robotic, un-reacting countenance, but in the case of my child, it produced a severe, dramatic, destructive change in her personality which has not been reversed. Like her sister, she had a difficult time trying to adapt in "wog" schools, to the children and the need to catch up academically. After several years of constant effort, she managed to come up to speed with those she had previously considered her inferiors -- the "wogs."

Affidavit of Dennis Erlich (16 November 1995)

8. Using a 250 megabyte backup tape, the RTC officials began to copy many of the files from the hard drive of my second computer. They then proceeded to erase the files that they copied from my hard drive. All of this occurred without my permission or consent. From what I can tell, the RTC officials erased files dealing with numerous topics -- including Internet messages, my financial records, my own independent research into Scientology, and other miscellaneous files having nothing to do with Scientology or L. Ron Hubbard. Unfortunately, I cannot know for sure exactly what, or how much, was downloaded or erased because the RTC officials would not permit me to make an inventory of the files.
The Church of Scientology vs. Dennis Erlich, Tom Klemesrud and Netcom
On February 8, 1995, two Church of Scientology corporations filed a lawsuit and a request for a restraining order against Dennis Erlich of Glendale, California, alleging that he was posting the Church's "copyrighted trade secrets". They also sued the bulletin board he was using, Tom Klemesrud's support.com, and the bulletin board's Internet service provider, Netcom. Two days later, they received a temporary restraining order against the three defendants, as well as a writ of seizure allowing them to search Erlich's home and seize computer files.

Erlich did not know about any of this until 7:30 in the morning of Monday, February 13, 1995, when Church attorney Thomas Small and seven other people demanded entry to his home. According to Erlich, they spent over six hours copying and deleting files from his computer system. A Glendale police officer was present at the beginning and end of the raid, but not at any other time.

Greetings from a Survivor / End of the Q.

Meantime, "The Friendliest Place on Earth" was also proving to be something less than that.  For me it was more like basic training in concentration camp management.  New staff and students were packed like sardines, twelve to a tiny hotel room, in bunk beds four high with barely enough room to squeeze between them.  Any time the income fell below half a million dollars a week everyone was assigned to "Rice and Beans."  On these numerous occasions, all we were fed was spanish rice and boiled beans.  This was all part of showing the new recruit what he was worth.  The spiritual pecking order was energetically applied and strictly enforced.  Anyone new to Flag began as low man on the scrotum pole.

St. Petersburg Times (Nov. 1991): "I still have nightmares" by Curtis Kruger

"I don't know if anyone can comprehend the remorse I feel for subjecting my children to this alienating, warped, repressive environment.  I pray our story serves as a warning: SCIENTOLOGY IS DANGEROUS TO THE HEALTH AND SANITY OF YOUR CHILDREN!!"

"He's very remorseful," Beth said.  "He's always saying how sorry he is."

Now 24, Beth is married and lives in California.  She said she recently graduated from college with honors in graphic design.

When she left Clearwater in 1983, she realized quickly she was never going back to Scientology.  But some of the doctrines are hard to shake.  Scientologists abhor psychiatry, for example, and it took Beth until this summer to seek therapy, to deal with the pain of her unusual childhood.

Wired (1995): "alt.scientology.war"

On February 13, Erlich's residence was raided. Erlich claims his constitutional rights were violated by the raid, in which, he says, floppies, books, and papers were seized, files deleted from his hard drive, and his house comprehensively searched and photographed. Afterward, two of his computers would not boot properly, and he was left with no backups from which to restore his system; he was not given an inventory of the materials taken.

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