Elected through Terror

Untitled Part 34

Sometime in the Spring of 1985 a former member of the Rajneesh called us and said there was child abuse and neglect on an epic scale at the ranch. Among the accusations were:

The children were shuffled off to a building to languish with little care; with nothing to give them stimulation or teachings.

The parents were working twelve hour days and rarely saw their children.

The children were just in the way of the Rajneesh and this accuser was concerned about their welfare.

The accuser had left the commune over a year prior to the phone call. I was told (can't remember by who) that it was not unusual for a former member of a suppressive society, such as the Rajneesh's isolationism, to take a while to overcome their apprehensions and to speak out.

Child abuse or neglect is a serious accusation and one we took seriously. We investigated those complaints, all of them.

One of our investigators and a Children Services Department (CSD) investigator drove down to the ranch to investigate the charges.

This would be the first time the CSD investigator went to the ranch and she was apprehensive. As they were driving down the road into the ranch she was voicing that apprehension and the deputy assured her she would be fine and said, 'just don't drink the Kool aid.'

That comment was in reference to the massive murder/suicide of the Jimmy Jones cult a few years earlier.

Within a day or two of the initial investigation I received a letter from the Chief – the tone was how dare we investigate anything on their ranch sense they had a peace department that should have done it. They are a crime free city, and no child neglect was going on. AND she was upset by the reference to the Kool aide.

My response was: as Sheriff, I or any of my deputies may investigate any alleged crime within the county whether inside a city limits or not. I didn't mention, figure why add fuel to the fire, that since the State's Attorney General had advised the Police Academy not to accept Rajneesh' 'Peace Officers' into the academy and to not certify them since this was a city being run by an religion – that her 'Peace Department' had no credibility.

Then I asked who said anything about hearing the deputy say anything about Kool aid and where did they hear it?

There was no answer to the question.

It was possible the deputy may have said something at lunch in the restaurant – he couldn't remember – but if done it wasn't where anyone could (or should have) hear it.

We had long suspected that we were being monitored by the Rajneesh. We were careful about what we said around them.

It is doubtful they could have heard anything while the deputy was in the car, (although the super microphones being used by major networks that can pick up conversations from as far away as 500 feet may have been available) but, as we later learned, it was quite possible the Rajneesh had bugged the area in which they had lunch.

Among the things we discovered in our investigation later that year was that outsiders (particularly officials) were always placed at certain tables in the restaurant. These tables were indeed bugged and conversations recorded – illegally of course.

Within a few days of the investigation I received a phone call from a man who purported to be an attorney for the Rajneesh. He demanded copies of the reports on the investigation.

One of the first things you learn as a police officer is that no one gets reports about an on-going investigation except those agencies – in this case it would be the District Attorney and CSD – involved in the investigation.

I told him it was a case under investigation and I would not give him a report. He ranted and raved and advised me that I had 'better talk to your attorney' about that and threatened a law suit. I said, you are free to talk to the DA about the reports.

He slammed down the phone.

I did advise the DA that the Rajneesh were trying to get copies of our reports on the investigation.

He laughed and said there was a way to squelch this harassment and he went to the presiding judge – who ordered a 'gag order' which prevented us from talking to anyone about the investigation.

A few days later this same 'attorney' called back and asked if the reports were ready to be picked up.

I once again told him that it was an ongoing investigation and we would not be releasing anything.

I listened to his ranting and threats and then said that was fine, he could do what he wanted – and "Oh, by the way," the judge had a gag order on this and that it just added emphasis to the fact he wasn't going to get anything at this time.

He slammed down the phone and we never again had a conversation.

The investigation didn't come up with any viable victims but we left the case open in case we got more proof of a crime(s) later.

Frankly, I was enjoying my give and take with the Rajneesh, thus far it had been our win on every situation.