Cultic Studies Journal, Volume 17, 2000, Page 50
The person who received this well documented beating was Sam Hendricks, who at the time
was thirteen years old. The person who inflicted it, according to our sources, was a Family
leader (for whom we use the pseudonym, Mickey), who currently contributes to the group‘s
public relations efforts towards scholars and the United States Congress (Bainbridge, 1997:
228).
Hendricks had been an irritant to leaders for some time. Consequently, in the period prior to
the beating, Hendricks recounted that Mickey sent him and some other boys into a three
day isolation program that involved fasting and reading Berg‘s writings all day. When the
others returned to the main program, leaders prohibited Hendricks from returning with
them, keeping him isolated from the others for about a month and a half of additional study
and alleged frequent beatings with a belt (Kent Interview with Hendricks, 1995: 20). Still
not satisfied with his progress or his attitude, leaders held a two-hour prayer session and
exorcism over him (Kent Interview with Hendricks, 1995: 22). Afterwards he returned to
the regular teen program, but soon got into trouble for using someone else‘s earplugs while
swimming. Leadership allegedly sent him back to solitary confinement for three months,
during which time the leaders had him read a considerable amount of organizational
literature and for one week restricted his food to bread, soup, and water (see Ward, 1995:
191 for similar procedures in Rugby, England). Every night he wrote a report about his
supposed ―victories‖ that resulted from his readings, but apparently leaders did not believe
him. The spankings continued (Kent Interview with Hendricks, 1995: 23).
Eventually Mickey brought Sam into an assembly consisting of all of the other teens–
possibly a hundred or so peers–wearing a cloth mask over his mouth and a sign around his
neck about being on silence restriction (see Ward, 1995: 189, for similar signs around
teens‘ necks in Rugby, England). Mickey publicly criticized him, then told him to pull down
his pants and bend over. Mickey then pulled out a paddle that had holes drilled in it to
lessen air resistance (see also Kent Interview with Stephanie 1997: 2, for a similar board in
Japan). In Sam‘s own words:
and I bent over and he smacked me with this thing in the butt, and I
remember it was like my entire body just absolutely exploded with, like, fire.
[It] just felt like so intense pressure and like heat and everything, you know,
it‘s just unbelievable. And the second time, it wasn‘t hot any more, it just
hurt so badly and it knocked me forward, like, three feet. I remember, like,
falling forward. He told me to stand still. And I bent over, and this went on
for probably five minutes, maybe, maybe longer. He hit me more than
twenty, twenty-five times easily with the breadboard, weighing probably five
pounds, and this time ...I‘d just turned thirteen.... And so he‘s sitting there
and he‘s spanking the crap out of me.... He spanked me so hard that I had
bruises on my butt and legs that were so hard they started to thicken up ...
and it bruised and it thickened. It was like really thick and hard, and I
remember I‘d have to sleep on my stomach ...and any time I‘d touch my
butt to anything it stung. I couldn‘t sit down during the day ‗cause it hurt so
bad. I could barely move my left leg, because, like, the bruises were so tight
it, like, hurt. I felt like I was gonna rip my skin or something. And I went
back to solitary confinement ...(Kent Interview with Hendricks, 1995: 24-
25).
Soon afterward he was sent back to the United States.
Other people spoke about this beating. Ernest Donovan, for example, was in the audience,
and he remembered Mickey‘s talk about Sam‘s ―problems, his foolishness, and talking back,
and disobedience‖ (Kent Interview with Donovan, 1995: 15). Although he only remembered
Sam being hit about four times, the beating was vivid for him because ―I was inadvertently

Cultic Studies Journal, Volume 17, 2000, Page 51
hit on the back-stroke ...[and] it left a bump on my head, you know‖ (Kent Interview with
Donovan, 1995: 16). He described what he remembered happening during the beating
itself:
I believe after the first two [hits, Sam] was begging for mercy, in front of a
group ...which must have been totally embarrassing to him. He was begging
for mercy. ―Please don‘t hit me again,‖ to which [Mickey] callously said,
―Bend over, and take another one.‖ And then [he] hit him again (Kent
Interview with Donovan, 1995: 16).
Cheryl, who also was in the audience, also remembered that Sam was hit only four or five
times (Kent Interview with Cheryl, 1996: 93), but did say that ―Sam was beaten quite hard
with this paddle‖ (Kent Interview with Cheryl, 1996: 94).
Cheryl‘s description of the beating itself is consistent with the other accounts. Sam had to:
hold a chair and put his hands on a chair, turn around, and was beaten. And
he tried to hold out a bit, and he eventually just broke down and started
crying and begging for mercy. ―No, please stop!‖ And he just–[Mickey] just
kept beating away. And I was really shocked (Kent Interview with Cheryl,
1995: 95).
A statement that I obtained from Amalia Priebe, who was working in the Jumbo at the time,
reinforces the essential accuracy of the beating:
[A]s I was walking down the hallway (in a round-shaped building on the
Jumbo complex) I heard some ‗whacking‘ sounds off to my left and
[Mickey‘s] voice. I looked into an open room and this is what I witnessed:
[Mickey] had made Sam turn around and bend over. [Mickey] was there with
two adult cult members ...[who] had come all the way from Brazil to learn
the proper way to ―deal with‖ the teens, and this was a learning session.
Another male cult member (whose name I don‘t recall) was there. A teen
shepherdess, an American woman ...(with glasses and curly hair) was also
present.
As [Mickey] was beating Sam, he was telling him words to this effect, ―This
will straighten you out, so you‘ll learn to obey. And I‘m showing this to your
room shepherds so they‘ll know how to deal with you when you‘re stubborn,
and you don‘t submit and obey....‖ These kind of beatings were common (A.
Priebe, 1995: 5).
In summary, details differ about the number of people in the audience and how many times
Mickey beat Hendricks. Moreover, only Amalia Priebe reported that Brazilian Family leaders
were present at this supposed ―learning session.‖ No doubt exists, however, that Mickey
beat a thirteen year old severely in a public event. It goes without saying that this incident
is a dramatic example of physical maltreatment in the context of large re-indoctrination
program involving incarceration and intense ideological study.
Similar beatings also happened elsewhere. Lord Justice Ward reported, for example, that, in
a Victor program in Rugby, England, Family leader Mary Malaysia ―beat [MS] so hard with
the stick cut by DM that MS‘s buttocks were cut and her knickers covered with blood‖
(Ward, 1995: 191). Another young woman reported being beaten so severely with a belt by
the Rotten Apples program leader in Japan that she was bruised from her waist to her knees
(Kent Interview with Ester, 1998: 27-28).