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Their suit seeks to stop the website‘s commentary on ESP and $9.7 million in compensatory
and punitive damages. Ross‘s defense is based on constitutional free speech guarantees.
(Dennis Yusko, Times Union, Internet, 9/9/03)
One Love Family
Nigerian Group in Britain
The Lagos, Nigeria-based One Love Family of Satguru Maharajji, a 55-year-old Nigerian
who has adopted the look of an Indian holy man, is being investigated after a follower said
the group practices child sacrifice. Joyce Osagiede, who says that she and her husband had
established British branches of the group, contends the headless torso found recently in the
Thames was one such victim, and that her husband has committed a number of ―black
magic killings of followers‘ children. She has since denied the black magic charges, saying
she made them up to gain asylum in Britain. Sam Osagiede is now in a Dubin jail contesting
extradition to Germany on charges of ―human trafficking.‖
A former devotee says that Maharajji, acquitted in 2000 of murdering a Ghanaian who had
accused him of holding his sister against her will, said five people have died in One Love
Family initiation rites. Generally, he said, the heart, liver, and kidneys are removed from the
dead and made into a drink taken during initiations. Ritual killings to ensure good fortune
are said to be common in parts of Nigeria, and the body found in the river is allegedly the
product of the human traffickers‘ wish for luck in their endeavors.
An Elder from Benin City, Nigeria, the One Love Family headquarters, said: ―Ritual killings
have nothing to do with our religion or beliefs. They are about greed and power.‖ (The
Telegraph, London, Internet, 8/31/03)
Pana Wave Laboratory
Raid Over Beating Death Tax Investigation
Police raided the Pana Wave Laboratory headquarters in Fukui, Japan, after finding
bruises on the back of a recently deceased member. They suspect that Satoshi Chigusa, 40,
an assistant professor of education at Fukuoka University, died during a group ritual that
involves beating one another with sticks in order to protect leader Yuko Chino, and
themselves, from electromagnetic waves. (Kyodo News in Japan Today, Internet, 8/10/03)
Police have asked the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau to investigate the suspicion that
Pana Wave has failed to report income from member donations to an affiliate. (Yomiuri
Shimbun, Internet, 8/12/03)
Polygamy
Convicted for Sex with Underage Wife
Rodney Holm, a police officer in the bordering polygamous towns of Holldale, UT and
Colorado City, AZ, has been convicted of having sex with then 16-year-old ―spiritual wife‖
Ruth Stubbs, and now faces a potentially long prison term.
Holm has 21 children with three wives. Most of the people in the two communities he serves
are members of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. (Debbie Hummel, AP, Internet, 8/15/03)
States Plan "Justice Courts" for Polygamous Towns
Arizona and Utah, as part of a campaign against abuses in polygamous communities, plan
to set up a justice court where sheriff‘s officers from both states would hear complaints of
welfare fraud, forced marriages, and child and sexual abuse. The anti-polygamy

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organization Tapestry Against Polygamy believes, however, that the planned Colorado City,
AZ, facility is located where residents will not be able to access it anonymously.
Tapestry lawyer Douglas White says, moreover, that polygamist law enforcement officers in
both Arizona City and the adjacent town of Hilldale, UT, should be fired. ―People don‘t think
of them as law enforcement. They think of them as bodyguards for the prophet‖ [of the
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.] (AP in Casper Star
Tribune, Internet, 9/15/03)
Women Say Polygamy Can Be Good
Polygamous Utah women recently gave the attorneys-general of Arizona and Utah a tour of
Centennial Park, AZ, schools and a Power Point presentation to suggest that group
marriages can be good for both the wives and the children and do not necessarily involve
child brides and child abuse. The tour was in response to a recent meeting of law
enforcement authorities from both states that discussed how to prevent child abuse and
welfare fraud among certain polygamous communities.
Polygamy proponent Mary Batchelor said Centennial Park residents need a ―social safety
net,‖ or somewhere they can go for services without additional scrutiny, which they suffer
now because they practice polygamy. She said the government ought to prosecute abuse
rather than question plural marriage. Batchelor says Centennial Park residents want
polygamy decriminalized. (AP in Casper Star Tribune, Internet, 9/27/03)
Polygamous Policeman Loses Certification
The Peace Officer Standards and Training Council of Utah has revoked the certification of
former Hildale, UT policeman Rodney Holm, recently convicted of bigamy and unlawful sex
with a minor. Promising to revoke the certification of other polygamous officers, the Council
said police, especially in Hildale and the neighboring town of Colorado City, AZ, were
hampering investigations into underage marriages. Most of the two towns‘ residents are
members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. (AP in
Rocky Mountain News, Internet, 10/18/03)
Prophet Hut
Sect Members Removed
Police in November took into custody 300 members of the Prophet Hut, a Pentecostal
Christian sect, who were crammed into a house in West Java waiting for the end of the
world. Authorities also detained Hut followers in Bandung, East Nusa, and Papua.
Police have held Hut leader Rev. Magapin Sibuea since late October on the charge that he
might disrupt the Christian community (Reuters, Internet, 11/10/03 Jakarta Post,
11/12/03)
Some 164 of those taken into custody are undergoing ―psychological therapy‖ at a Bandung
mental health institute. A Christian social worker said: ―Some of them are suffering from
deep depression because their belief that doomsday would occur on November 10 was
disproved.‖ (Antara Indonesian News Agency, Internet, 11/17/03)
Rebirthing Therapy
Supporters Upset
Supporters of Rebirthing, which has been implicated in several deaths in the U.S., are
upset about a North Carolina law banning the controversial therapy that was set to take
effect on Dec. 1. Rebirthing therapist Raymond Knight says the techniques used in a
Colorado case that led to the death of a Rebirthing patient there were not ―legitimate.‖ ―We