Affidavit of Katherine L. Tonkin

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT, December 12, 1994
The Honorable John C. Coughenour

The Honorable John C. Coughenour

December 12, 1994

Jason Scott, No.C94-0079

Plaintiff,

v.

Affidavit of Katherine L. Tonkin in Support of motion

Rick Ross, a/k/a Rickey Allen for Summary Judgment

Ross, Mark Workman, Charles

Simpson, Clark Rotroff, Cult Awareness

Network, a California Non-profit

corporation; and John Doe 1 -

John Doe 20,

Defendants.

State of Washington

ss.

County of King

Katherine L. Tonkin, being first duly sworn on oath, deposes and states:

1. I am Jason Scott's mother.

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2. I became a member of the Life Tabernacle Church in 1989, after being recruited by my former husband. The Life Tabernacle Church is a small Pentecostal group [member of the United Pentecostal Church International] which meets in Bellevue, Washington. I joined in an attempt to save my marriage and to find some healing for my alcoholic husband. I brought seven children into the church with me.
3. I was uneasy about some of the teachings of the church from the time I joined. About eight months later, my concerns reached the point of considering leaving the church. Many of the church regulations bothered me. The church teaches that women cannot wear pants, makeup, jewelry, or short-sleeved shirts. We could not cut or perm our hair. Members were forbidden to watch t.v. or go to the movies.
4. The church used fear indoctrination to keep the members in line. The leaders told us we would "lose our salvation" if we disobeyed the rules. We were told never to miss a church service or question authority. Services were held three times a week, for up to three hours at a time. They told us stories about members who left the church. We were told that former members felt God's wrath, through misfortunes such as car accidents or houses burning down. I heard of one occasion where a child was chastised and severely spanked in front of the entire congregation for his disobedience. Church services were often frenzied, with members "running the aisles" and sometimes experiencing altered mind states.
5. The pastor, Harold Kearn, usurped my authority with my children. They looked to him as the ultimate authority figure, seeking permission from him for things that ordinarily would be the province of the parents.
6. Pastor Kearn, and the church leaders seemed unduly concerned with money and material possessions. I felt increasing pressure to recruit other members of my family into the church. I personally tithed about $8000 to the church over the course of a year. After I left the church, I heard Kearn respond to a question about what was done with the money the church received, and whether there was any oversight on spending. Kearn replied that he was accountable only to God.
7. The main reason I left the church was because of a very unhealthy relationship between my son, Thysen, and "Brother" Rethmeyer, a member of the church and a business associate of mine, At the direction of Pastor Kearn, I had entered into an informal partnership with Rethmeyer. Rethmeyer, about 28 at that time, began calling Thysen, who was fourteen or fifteen at the time, constantly. He often bought Thysen clothing, and let him drive his car. At some point he began spending almost every night at out house, in the same bed as Thysen. They often came home after I was already in bed, so it was some time before I was aware of the situation. I asked Pastor Kearn to help, but nothing was done.
8. I was also concerned about the education my children were receiving. After joining the church, I started getting pressure from church leadership to enroll my children in the church-affiliated school. In fact, they told me they had been "praying for boys" to join the school, as there were very few boys enrolled. They put pressure on the boys as well, and the boys became very excited to join the school. They begged me to let them enroll. We discussed this decision at length. The boys convinced me that it was what they wanted . I gave in to the combined pressures from the church and the boys, and let them enroll. I was originally told that the school had applied for accreditation. It was just a glorified home school, with teachers that were not certified.
9. Eventually, I concluded the best thing I could do for my family was leave the church. This was not an easy decision, but it was one I came to on my own, without any outside influences. I had never heard of the Cult Awareness Network.

    

   [Note: WARNING! The Cult Awareness Network (CAN) was recently bankrupted and bought up by Scientology. We strongly recommend you do not contact them for assistance.]

    

10. I asked my family to leave the church when I did. However, my sons Jason, Thysen and Matthew refused to do so. Thysen and Matthew moved out of the house the day I quit going to Life Tabernacle Church. Kearn told them that if they left the church with me, they would lose their salvation and be "out of the truth." Kearn called me a back-slider reprobate. Jason move out a few weeks later.
11. I became very depressed and despondent, and was fearful about what would happen to my children. My sister-in-law gave me a Community Service number to call for help. I thought it was a "cult hotline." When I called the number, Shirley Landa answered. She did not identify herself as being affiliated with any organization. She listened to my story, and said that it sounded like I had been involved with a cult.
12. I asked Shirley about my options concerning my sons. She told me that one option was to do nothing. Another option was to try and reach them myself and persuade them to leave. Still another option would be to hire a deprogrammer. I asked what deprogrammers did. She explained that deprogrammers had extensive knowledge of cults and cult-like groups, and could help victims understand how cults operate. Deprogrammers can help show how cults practice mind-control, and how they manipulate the Scriptures. Deprogrammers also try to help cult victims look at the Scriptures from a more balanced, objective view, that is more in line with traditional Christianity. Shirley gave me the names of two deprogrammers she knew of - David Clark and Rick Ross.
13. I became aware that David Clark was too busy to help me. I then contacted Rick Ross, who lives in Arizona. Mr. Ross has worked as an independent cult consultant. I learned that he has helped reunite many families whose children have fallen prey to cults.
14. I hired Mr. Ross to act as an exit-counselor for Thysen and Matthew, to reveal information he had on cults and destructive Bible-based groups. At that time, I did not to deprogram Jason, who was then 18.
15. The deprogramming session for Thysen and Matthew was held at the home of the boys' grandmother in Kirkland. It lasted for four days. Thysen and Matthew were resistant at first, screaming "Satan", "backslider" and other terrible names at me when I came into the room. After talking with Mr. Ross, they eventually came to see the way the church had been controlling them and warping their views about religion in general, and their relationship with me. They left the church and came back to live with me.
16. During the time of the deprogramming, I had to obtain an anti-harassment order against Life Tabernacle Church. Susan Landa, Shirley's daughter, a Seattle attorney, helped me obtain it. Members of the church were continuously harassing us; coming on to the property, shouting at us, and calling the house constantly in an effort to "hold on" to Thysen and Matthew. They even went so far as to go to my house while I was gone and loosen the lugnuts on my nanny's boyfriend's truck. The Kirkland Police had to come to the house where the deprogramming was taking place in order to enforce the anti-harassment order.
17. After the success with Thysen and Matthew, I remained heartbroken over Jason. I had heard rumors that the church was going to take Jason out of the country, and that he was being rushed into a marriage with a member of the church. I felt increasingly fearful that I was going to lose my son forever. I also thought about how Jason would feel, thinking I would not go as far for him as for Thysen and Matthew. I didn't want him to feel rejected, or to think that I loved him any less than his brothers. I wanted my family back.
18. So I asked Mr. Ross to help me deprogram Jason. I told him I needed to try and get my son back. He agreed to help me.
19. My only knowledge of the Cult Awareness Network (CAN) was that it provides information to the public about cults. I became aware of CAN either through Shirley Landa or Mr. Ross (I can't remember which). My only contact with CAN was to telephone the Chicago office for some literature on cults. The material never arrived and I haven't talked to anyone at CAN since then. CAN had nothing to do with my efforts to help my children escape the Life Tabernacle Church.