- Oct 17, 2011
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After Church of Scientology officials learned in 1991 that a 16-year-old religious worker claimed to have been sexually assaulted, they failed to report the allegations to police and instead arranged for the girl to marry her abuser, according to a lawsuit unsealed last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
The complaint against Scientology leader David Miscavige, recruiter Gavin Potter and three church entities alleges that the organization created a culture where sexual abuse was enabled by policies written by founder L. Ron Hubbard.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a woman identified as Jane Doe, who said Scientology officials facilitated Potter’s sexual abuse after he convinced her as a teenager to remain in Scientology’s full-time workforce called the Sea Org. She is now in her late 40s.
Due to policies regarding sexual contact between Sea Org members, the lawsuit alleges that Doe and Potter were given the choice to go to a prisonlike work camp for five years or be married. Because a judge in California would have had to sign off on the marriage of a minor, the lawsuit alleges that Doe’s “port captain” arranged for Doe and Potter to travel to Las Vegas to be married.
The plaintiff in the unsealed lawsuit is one of the women who sued Scientology and Miscavige in 2019 on claims that church officials stalked and harassed them after reporting to Los Angeles police that they had been raped by actor and Scientology parishioner Danny Masterson. That lawsuit is ongoing. Last month, Masterson was convicted of two counts of rape in the related criminal case and is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 4.
The complaint against Scientology leader David Miscavige, recruiter Gavin Potter and three church entities alleges that the organization created a culture where sexual abuse was enabled by policies written by founder L. Ron Hubbard.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a woman identified as Jane Doe, who said Scientology officials facilitated Potter’s sexual abuse after he convinced her as a teenager to remain in Scientology’s full-time workforce called the Sea Org. She is now in her late 40s.
Due to policies regarding sexual contact between Sea Org members, the lawsuit alleges that Doe and Potter were given the choice to go to a prisonlike work camp for five years or be married. Because a judge in California would have had to sign off on the marriage of a minor, the lawsuit alleges that Doe’s “port captain” arranged for Doe and Potter to travel to Las Vegas to be married.
The plaintiff in the unsealed lawsuit is one of the women who sued Scientology and Miscavige in 2019 on claims that church officials stalked and harassed them after reporting to Los Angeles police that they had been raped by actor and Scientology parishioner Danny Masterson. That lawsuit is ongoing. Last month, Masterson was convicted of two counts of rape in the related criminal case and is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 4.
