Scientology Critical Information Directory

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Robert and Dodie Geary

Dentist, was brought, along with his wife, into Scientology through the front organization Sterling Management Systems.


Declaration of Robert Geary (5 September 1993)

My wife was back in Ohio within 48 hours and when I met her at the airport I received checks in the amount of $113,000.00. In order to obtain these checks, I had to sign a release. I was still out of pocket somewhere between $50,000 to $100,000 for Scientology services, airline fares, living expenses, etc. In all, I estimate that between May and October of 1988 my wife and I spent somewhere in the area of approximately $180,000 for Scientology services. This was money we could obviously not afford to spend and without extreme undue influence there is absolutely no way we would have ever spent such sums. I have read a considerable amount about mind control and now realize that my wife and I were under mind control.

It has now been approximately five years from this experience. The first year was the worst for my wife and myself, but every year has gotten better. During the first year there were constant flashbacks to the experiences my wife and I suffered at the hands of the Church of Scientology.

There is absolutely no question in my mind that the Church of Scientology constitutes a destructive cult. I have personal knowledge and experience with them. Sterling Management Systems of Glendale, California is a branch of Scientology that is disguised as a secular management company and used to recruit new members into Scientology.

Affidavit of Stacy Brooks Young (9 March 1994)

128. A woman named Dorothy Geary was driven into a psychotic episode under circumstances very similar to Steven Fishman's in that she and her husband were coerced into giving Scientology a tremendous amount of money for services they would never receive. Her husband Robert, a dentist in Ohio, attended a seminar given by Sterling Management Systems, which he later discovered was a front for Scientology. Robert and Dorothy were both coerced into buying Scientology training and processing after a Scientology "chaplain" orchestrated a breach between them which threatened their marriage. Dorothy was then coerced into going to San Francisco for processing, while her husband flew back to Ohio to continue his dental practice.

129. While Dorothy was in San Francisco she was induced to buy nearly $100,000 worth of Scientology materials and services. She was so overwhelmed from the processing she received and the "hard sell" she experienced at the hands of Scientology salesmen that after approximately one month she had a psychotic break. She did not know where she was and was completely out of her mind. Her husband helped her to get home, but then two Scientologists came to live at the Gears' house to try to bring Dorothy out of the psychotic episode. However, the only "treatment" they provided consisted of taking Dorothy for long walks.

130. Finally they convinced Robert that Dorothy needed to fly back to San Francisco. Upon arriving in San Francisco, Dorothy was taken to a "mountain retreat," where no one else would see what was taking place. Dorothy was kept there for two weeks, while her husband had no idea where she was. Scientologists were trying to induce Robert to buy more auditing while Dorothy was held in San Francisco.

131. Dorothy had been induced to buy boxes and boxes of Scientology books and materials, all of which had been shipped to their home in Ohio after she paid for them with credit cards. When Robert opened the boxes and read some of the more advanced Scientology materials, he realized what his wife had been subjected to and called his family doctor for advice. His doctor gave a probable diagnosis of an acute psychotic episode caused by trauma.

132. By the time the Gears' attorney helped them both to disentangle themselves, they had given Scientology close to $180,000. As Robert Geary described it, "This was money we obviously could not afford to spend and without extreme undue influence there is absolutely no way we would have ever spent such sums. I have read a considerable amount about mind control and now realize that my wife and I were under mind control." A copy of the declaration of Robert Geary D.D.S. executed September 5, 1993 is attached hereto as Exhibit 31.

Time (1991): "Scientology: The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power" by Richard Behar

Many dentists who have unwittingly been drawn into the cult are filing or threatening lawsuits as well. Dentist Robert Geary of Medina, Ohio, who entered a Sterling seminar in 1988, endured "the most extreme high-pressure sales tactics I have ever faced." Sterling officials told Geary, 45, that their firm was not linked to Scientology, he says. but Geary claims they eventually convinced him that he and his wife Dorothy had personal problems that required auditing. Over five months, the Gearys say, they spent $130,000 for services, plus $50,000 for "gold-embossed, investment-grade" books signed by Hubbard. Geary contends that Scientologists not only called his bank to increase his credit card limit but also forged his signature on a $20,000 loan application. "It was insane," he recalls. "I couldn't even get an accounting from them of what I was paying for." At one point, the Gearys claim, Scientologists held Dorothy hostage for two weeks in a mountain cabin, after which she was hospitalized for a nervous breakdown.

Chronicle Telegram: "Medina couple recalls ordeal with religious group"

Within weeks of their involvement, the Gearys said they were unable to resist signing checks, arranging for loans and borrowing from the dental practice to pay Scientology for more seminars. The paper said the couple showed a reporter canceled checks to Scientology totaling more than $180,000.

Akron Beacon Journal (Jan. 1990): "A tale of capture and brainwashing" by Richard Weizel

During a five-month period in 1988, Bob and Dorothy Geary paid $200,000 to the Church of Scientology to gain spiritual perfection.

Instead, they say, they nearly lost their minds. A Medina dentist, Geary said he also nearly lost his 5-year-old practice, and his wife wound up requiring hospitalization after allegedly being held captive for more than two weeks by Scientologists in California.

'Our story is so bizarre that when you hear the whole thing it sounds like something that would only be made in Hollywood,' said Geary. 'I wouldn't have believed it myself if it didn't happen to me.'

Dorothy Geary says that at the conclusion of her five-month involvement she remained in a dazed state for months until being deprogrammed by a former Scientologist in Canada.

The Gearys say that they have recovered about half the money paid to the Scientologists. But, they said, they rejected a $44,000 cash settlement offered last month by the church, because it would have required them to remain silent.

St. Petersburg Times (1999): "Store selling Scientology vitamin regimen raises concerns" by Geoff Dougherty

Robert E. Geary, an Ohio dentist and former Scientologist, underwent the treatment with his wife.

"She was in okay shape, but she wasn't an athlete. She was losing sleep and having hallucinations, and they were saying, "Oh, that's good,' " Geary said in a telephone interview.

Geary said his wife eventually suffered a nervous breakdown and was hospitalized.

When an organization linked to Scientology sought approval from Oklahoma regulators to offer a drug-treatment program that relied heavily on purification rundown, Geary wrote to state officials.

"As a health care practitioner that has participated in their so-called purification rundown . . . I would say it is bunk," Geary wrote. "I consider their treatment unscientific and dangerous."

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