Deprogramming - People and Places

People and Places

In the 1974 case of Kathy Crampton, whose abduction and deprogramming were televised nationally, she went back to the Love Family group several days after the apparently successful deprogramming. Patrick was charged for kidnapping, but he was acquitted with the reasoning: :"here parents are, as here, of the reasonable and intelligent belief that they were not physically capable of recapturing their daughter from existing, imminent danger, then the defense of necessity transfers or transposes to the constituted agent, the person who acts upon their belief under such conditions. Here that agent is the Defendant (District Court of the United States 1974: 79; New York Times 1974).

In 1980 Susan Wirth, a 35 year old teacher living in San Francisco, was abducted by her parents to be deprogramed from her leftist political views and activities. Patrick was paid $27,000 to carry out the deprogramming, which involved handcuffing her to a bed for two weeks and denying her food. She was later released and after returning to San Francisco spoke out against deprograming but declined to press legal charges against her parents.

In 1980, Patrick was convicted of conspiracy, kidnapping, and false imprisonment. These charges were related to the abduction and attempted deprogramming of Roberta McElfish, a 26-year-old Tucson waitress. Patrick was sentenced to one year in prison and fined five thousand dollars.

In 1981, Stephanie Riethmiller, who lived in Ohio, was kidnapped by deprogrammers who were hired by her parents to remove her from a lesbian relationship. She was held against her will and repeatedly raped. After her release she filed civil charges against her parents and the deprogrammers, which were dismissed in a trial that generated some controversy in the media.

In 1990, Patrick attempted to deprogram Elma Miller, an Amish woman who had joined a liberal sect. He was hired by her husband to return her to him and the Amish church. Criminal charges of conspiracy were filed against Miller's husband, brother, and two others; but were later dropped on her request to the prosecuting attorney.

During the 1990s, Rick Ross, a noted cult intervention advocate who took part in a number of deprogramming sessions, was sued by Jason Scott, a former member of a Pentecostalist group called the Life Tabernacle Church (part of United Pentecostal Church International), after an unsuccessful forcible deprogramming. The jury awarded Scott $875,000 in compensatory damages and $1,000,000 in punitive damages against the Cult Awareness Network (CAN), and $2,500,000 against Ross (later settled for $5,000 and 200 hours of services "as an expert consultant and intervention specialist").