Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2003, Page 52
according to the report cited here. The defense appeal asked the judge to reverse the
conviction for the sake of free religious expression. The decision comes during a harsh
government campaign against Mulsim extremism. (Bagila Bukharbayeva, AP, 2/7/03)
―Disfellowshipped‖ for Convictions
The Deer Lodge, MT, Jehovah’s Witnesses church has ―disfellowshipped‖
[excommunicated] two former elders recently convicted of defrauding a woman of her $6.5
million life savings. They were not only expelled form the church but are now ostracized by
other church members. (Great Falls Tribune, 5/26/03)
New Life Ministries/Ariel Ben Sherman
Follower Indicted
A Loudon County (KY) grand jury has indicted Jacqueline Crank on misdemeanor child abuse
and misdemeanor child neglect charges in connection with her refusal to seek medical care
for her daughter, who died of cancer in 2002. Also indicted was Ariel Ben Sherman, leader
of the small religious group to which Crank belonged. (WATE TV News, Internet, 4/16/03)
Our Savior’s Church
$26 Million Award for Abduction and Indoctrination
The Rev. Gordon Winrod’s Our Savior’s Church and his Ozarks farm will be sold in
March to pay a $26 million jury award as punishment for abducting his grandchildren and
indoctrinating them in his anti-Semitic beliefs. A civil suit accused Winrod, his son and
daughter, and the church itself (located near Gainesville, MO), of using mind-altering
techniques on the children, including isolation and whipping to impress his attitudes on
them.
Winrod, who preached hatred of Jews and government for decades, is now serving a 30-
year prison sentence for kidnapping. The award money will be used to pay nearly $300,000
in doctor and hospital bills incurred by the children, who spent months in psychiatric
treatment. (AP, St. Louis Post Dispatch, Internet, 2/28/03)
Panawave Laboratory
About the Guru
Yuka Chino, 69, guru of the Panawave Laboratory group that is predicting the imminent
end of the world due to a Communist conspiracy and harmful electro-magnetic waves, quit
her office job in the late 1970s and started a cram school for high school students. She in
fact recruited them for the group that eventually became Panawave, which had about 1,000
followers, a publishing company, and a health supplement/water purifier business. The
number of followers has dwindled to an estimated several hundred today, and the group
seems to be showing ―terminal symptoms,‖ according to attorney Taro Takimoto, the
secretary General of the ―Japan De-cult Council.‖ (Shane Green, The Age, Australia,
Internet, 5/10/03)
People who knew Chino as a younger person say she was odd. She allegedly kept 20 cats at
home and ran naked through town when ―streaking‖ was trendy in the U.S. In a book she
wrote, she tells of an attempted suicide when she lost the man she coveted to another, and
thereafter she seems to have become a man-hater. She is today a recluse, even among her
followers, as they seek a place safe from the electro-magnetic waves that will hasten her
death from the cancer she reportedly suffers. (Mainichi Shimbun, 5/8/03)
Fuki Prefecture has urged the Panawave convoy traveling around central Japan not to enter
its territory. (Kyodo News, Internet, 5/9/03)
according to the report cited here. The defense appeal asked the judge to reverse the
conviction for the sake of free religious expression. The decision comes during a harsh
government campaign against Mulsim extremism. (Bagila Bukharbayeva, AP, 2/7/03)
―Disfellowshipped‖ for Convictions
The Deer Lodge, MT, Jehovah’s Witnesses church has ―disfellowshipped‖
[excommunicated] two former elders recently convicted of defrauding a woman of her $6.5
million life savings. They were not only expelled form the church but are now ostracized by
other church members. (Great Falls Tribune, 5/26/03)
New Life Ministries/Ariel Ben Sherman
Follower Indicted
A Loudon County (KY) grand jury has indicted Jacqueline Crank on misdemeanor child abuse
and misdemeanor child neglect charges in connection with her refusal to seek medical care
for her daughter, who died of cancer in 2002. Also indicted was Ariel Ben Sherman, leader
of the small religious group to which Crank belonged. (WATE TV News, Internet, 4/16/03)
Our Savior’s Church
$26 Million Award for Abduction and Indoctrination
The Rev. Gordon Winrod’s Our Savior’s Church and his Ozarks farm will be sold in
March to pay a $26 million jury award as punishment for abducting his grandchildren and
indoctrinating them in his anti-Semitic beliefs. A civil suit accused Winrod, his son and
daughter, and the church itself (located near Gainesville, MO), of using mind-altering
techniques on the children, including isolation and whipping to impress his attitudes on
them.
Winrod, who preached hatred of Jews and government for decades, is now serving a 30-
year prison sentence for kidnapping. The award money will be used to pay nearly $300,000
in doctor and hospital bills incurred by the children, who spent months in psychiatric
treatment. (AP, St. Louis Post Dispatch, Internet, 2/28/03)
Panawave Laboratory
About the Guru
Yuka Chino, 69, guru of the Panawave Laboratory group that is predicting the imminent
end of the world due to a Communist conspiracy and harmful electro-magnetic waves, quit
her office job in the late 1970s and started a cram school for high school students. She in
fact recruited them for the group that eventually became Panawave, which had about 1,000
followers, a publishing company, and a health supplement/water purifier business. The
number of followers has dwindled to an estimated several hundred today, and the group
seems to be showing ―terminal symptoms,‖ according to attorney Taro Takimoto, the
secretary General of the ―Japan De-cult Council.‖ (Shane Green, The Age, Australia,
Internet, 5/10/03)
People who knew Chino as a younger person say she was odd. She allegedly kept 20 cats at
home and ran naked through town when ―streaking‖ was trendy in the U.S. In a book she
wrote, she tells of an attempted suicide when she lost the man she coveted to another, and
thereafter she seems to have become a man-hater. She is today a recluse, even among her
followers, as they seek a place safe from the electro-magnetic waves that will hasten her
death from the cancer she reportedly suffers. (Mainichi Shimbun, 5/8/03)
Fuki Prefecture has urged the Panawave convoy traveling around central Japan not to enter
its territory. (Kyodo News, Internet, 5/9/03)
