There are numerous resemblances to the Church of Scientology in this criminal case:
Federal authorities arrested the alleged leaders of a multi-state human trafficking ring that they say lured in trafficking victims under false pretenses and had them solicit donations under the guise that they were working for a religious ministry, prosecutors said.
David Taylor, 53, and Michelle Brannon, 56, were arrested on Thursday, Aug. 27, after a federal grand jury indicted them on 10 counts, including conspiracy to commit forced labor and money laundering conspiracy, according to a Justice Department news release. Taylor was apprehended in Durham, North Carolina, and Brannon in Tampa, Florida. The case is being prosecuted in the Eastern District of Michigan….
Defendants David Taylor, 53, and Michelle Bannon, 56.
From the US DoJ Indictment (emphasis ours):
The indictment alleges that Taylor and Brannon are the leaders of Kingdom of God Global Church (KOGGC), formerly Joshua Media Ministries International (JMMI). Taylor refers to himself as “Apostle” and to Brannon as his Executive Director. Their organization ran a call center that solicited donations for KOGGC/JMMI every day. Taylor established his first call center in Taylor, Michigan, and then operated call centers in other locations in the United States including in Florida, Texas, and Missouri.
Taylor and Brannon, according to the indictment, compelled their victims to work at their call centers and to work for Taylor as his “armor bearers.” Armor bearers were Taylors’s personal servants who fulfilled Taylor’s demands around the clock. Taylor and Brannon controlled every aspect of the daily living of their victims. Victims slept in the call center facility or in a “ministry” house, and Taylor and Brannon did not permit them to leave without permission. Taylor demanded that his Armor Bearers transport women from ministry houses, airports, and other locations to Taylor’s location and ensured the women transported to Taylor took Plan B emergency contraceptives.
In addition, according to the indictment, Taylor and Brannon required victims to work in the call centers long hours without pay or perform other services for Taylor. Taylor set unobtainable daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly monetary donation goals for victims working in the call centers and required victims to follow the orders he created without question. If victims disobeyed an order or failed to reach his monetary goals, Taylor and Brannon punished the victims with public humiliation, additional work, food and shelter restrictions, psychological abuse, forced repentance, sleep deprivation, physical assaults, and threats of divine judgment in the form of sickness, accidents, and eternal damnation.
Defendant David Taylor will appear on the indictment today in Durham, North Carolina. Defendant Michelle Brannon will appear today on the indictment in Tampa, Florida.
Upon conviction, the alleged crimes carry the following penalties:
Conspiracy to Commit Forced Labor: up to 20 years’ imprisonment and a fine up to $250,000.
Forced Labor: up to 20 years’ imprisonment and a fine up to $250,000.
Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering: up to 20 years’ imprisonment and a fine up to $500,000 or twice the value of the properties involved in the money laundering transactions.
This case was investigated by the FBI and IRS-CI. It will be prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Resnick Cohen for the Eastern District of Michigan and Trial Attorney Christina Randall-James of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.
Anyone who has information about human trafficking should report that information to the National Human Trafficking Hotline toll free at 1-888-373-7888, which operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Further information is available at www.humantraffickinghotline.org. Information on the Justice Department’s efforts to combat human trafficking can be found at www.justice.gov/humantrafficking.
The defendants made court appearances today:
The US DoJ Press Release:
Categories: Uncategorized
Thanks for staying up on cases like this. Later, when this all ends, I hope there are lessons applicable to Scientology’s demise. Like some helpful angles which future abused Scientologists can report to FBI when future prosecuting Scientology.
Longer range, Scientology’s behavior will catch up, so long as Scientology’s pressures continue to drive their Scientology staffs to similar law violations.
Getting the word over to those Scientology staffs, letting them know they can and should go to police and to FBI when warranted, in the future, on what exact similar situations which the Scientology staffs experience, is vital.
That’s be vital info (inside joke) to get into the minds of the future and current abused Scientologist staffs.
Here’s a TIP line:
“…..You can submit an FBI tip by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) or visiting the official website at tips.fbi.gov to submit information about a federal crime or threat. For urgent emergencies where there’s an immediate threat to life, you should call 911 or your local police first. ……..”
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In all my wasted decades as “Sea Org” staff, I should have called 911 at several distinct times.
a) When I learned of two separate instances of staff locked in “cages” (food storage partitioned rooms) at the Fort Harrison. All who saw this, ought to have called 911 immediately.
b) When I saw, as others also saw, a senior “Sea Org officer” striking a subordinate well respected woman Sea Org officer, I ought to have called 911.
c) When I myself was threatened with being physically detained, also threatened of being beaten.
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YOU KNOW YOU ARE IN A CULT WHEN:
You have direct evidence of being in a cult when you don’t even think of calling 911, or it you do know that calling 911 is morally the right thing to do, but you talk yourself out of calling 911 with reasoning that is protective of your cult.