Investigation, cont.:
Both the Chief and the City
Attorney were surprised and upset. The
CA told the Chief that she was not to participate in the
searches but she was to have officers watch the investigators as they executed
the search warrants.
This was the end of those
morning meetings.
Each day, about 1600 hours, the
Lieutenant would hold a news conference on the status of the investigation.
I was there one day. Afterwards a young man came up and asked if I
would be willing to live at the commune – I am not sure just what he was trying
to get out of me.
I told him no, it was too far
away from the office, where I had to be each day. He kept asking questions, I kept pointing out
the same problem.
I kept my eye on him as he left
me and went back into the crowd. I could
see him talking to the editor of the Rajneesh Times, shaking his head as he did
so – she looked up and saw me watching them and turned away. (I liked her, by the way, she while she
maintained the party line, she also seemed to try and listen to what we said and
asked good questions.)
It was interesting, to me, that
instead of asking for herself (she had never been bashful about that in the
past) she sent someone else to ask.
My comments were valid, but I
had learned a long time ago that we could not always trust what we were asked or
what we heard from the Rajneesh – so I didn’t elaborate. I have no idea how my remarks were going to
be interpreted, or if there had been an attempt of a trap, but I heard no more
from them.
Tons of evidence was seized,
there were Dozens of boxes used to carry the evidence off the ranch and into The
Dalles.
Evidence included the same
salmonella strain that was used in the attack to poison citizens of The Dalles
back in 1984.
Bugs were found in the phones,
of both the Ranch’s internal lines AND the pay phones for people to call out
on. Bugs were inserted in the hotel
rooms so well that it took the FBI a long time before they could find some of
them. Both the equipment and tapes were
seized by them and charges filed Federal Courts.
A house across the street from
the County Courthouse was vacant and became the processing point for all the
information; it also housed the offices for those two AG Attorneys for over a
year.
Interviews were conducted. As the rank and file realized the extent of
Sheila’s betrayal to the commune, more Rajneesh came forward. The enormity of the crimes committed in the
name of the Rajneesh was shocking to them.
They wanted the perpetrators punished.
The vast majority of the
Rajneesh had come to the commune in search of an answer to their spiritual
needs; they contributed their savings and their labor so that the ranch would be
successful. They envisioned the rest of
their life being spent with Rajneesh.
These leaders had destroyed that
dream; and tarnished not only their name, but that of Rajneesh. So many cooperated with the investigation
anyway they could.
The investigators wanted to
interview Rajneesh himself. His
attorneys tried to look like they were cooperating, but they weren’t getting him
in front of the investigators.
Rajneesh had allergies. The attorneys started laying down the rules
the investigators must follow to see him, among them taking showers to make sure
all cologne was gone, wearing the robes of the followers so their clothes
wouldn’t affect him.
Basically, Rajneesh’s attorney
wanted the investigators to treat him as a deity – The investigators said it
wasn’t worth it and refused to comply with their requests.
If the investigators really
needed his testimony they could subpoena him – and they had another ace in the
hole concerning him.
They weren’t concerned about the
obstructive actions; they had enough from his original statements and the
statements of Rajneesh followers to obtain warrants.
A lot of things were going on
behind the scenes, much of which I wasn’t privileged to, but it did cause some
turmoil for the lead investigators of the Federal and State agencies.
One of the frustrations of a
local official is that State and Federal authorities often are working on the
same things we are working on, but are not sharing their information or
plans.
There are reasons, of course,
but it can be exasperating none-the-less.
As time went on, I found out that there were things that had been going
on for some time to monitor the Rajneesh’s activity by state officials;
monitoring that was not shared with us.
The Attorney General was the
most forthcoming State Official, but even he had things he had not shared with
us.
And, as often happens, one
Federal agency didn’t always know what another Federal Agency was doing – and in
some things the state was also left out of the loop.
All of us like to protect our
turf and information; but it is amazing when you have something as big as this
investigation, that they wouldn’t share with each other.
While it would have been nice to
have known – and we could have shared more with them from our own experiences
long before the investigation began – in the end it didn’t matter.
On October 28th, 2015
the Rajneesh and some of his closest confidants fled the ranch, leaving the rest
of the followers behind.
Now, the following narrative has
some basis in fact which is verifiable.
However, much of it is speculation on my part, some based on unconfirmed
information and some from watching the systems play out.
Fact: INS had been investigating the Rajneesh and
his followers for several years because of immigration fraud.
Fact: He was bringing in people from other
countries, mainly India, and marrying them off to Americans so they could remain
in the states. The marriages were
shams.
The following is speculation and
hearsay, based on information I heard during and soon after the investigation; I
don’t recall from whom I obtained it – 30 years ago.
1 Chronicles 4:9-10
And
Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name
Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with
sorrow.
10 And Jabez called on the
God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my
coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from
evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he
requested.
As I was reading through the
genealogies in this chapter these verses stood out; Jabez recognized his need
for God, one of the very few who did – so few that he stood out.
This cry for help is echoed
throughout the Old Testament the need for God to help us overcome satan in our
lives.
Sometimes we feel invincible in
God, that we can handle anything that comes against us – and then we are
reminded that we cannot.
Psalm 18:6 In my
distress I called upon the Lord, and
cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before
him, even into his ears.
David was being pursued by Saul
and God protected Him, this is a song of thanksgiving and praise to God by
David.
Another cry for help, from
physical danger, recorded in the Old Testament that was answered by God.
What a wonderful history the
Jewish people have; they can look back over the many verses that proclaim God’s
love and deliverance from evil.
They can see, in writing, what
God has accomplished to preserve them.
It tells them of the dangers of rejecting Him, but also shows His
willingness to forgive and bring them back to Him when they are truly
repentant.
For thousands of years only the
Jewish people had this kind of access to God.
They are God’s chosen people and, when they allowed Him, He would bless
and keep them from danger.
When they cried out, He heard
and came to them.
Romans 10:11-13 For the scripture
saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed.
12 For there is no
difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich
unto all that call upon him.
13 For whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Thankfully we have that same
assurance. The History of the Jewish
Nations up until the coming of Christ is also our history. Christ, as a man, is a Jew.
His teachings on earth were
directed at the Jews.
But His truths are
universal. There no longer is a
difference between the Jew who accepts Him and the rest of us.
We can cry out to Him as the
prophets, Kings, leaders and ordinary people did for thousands of years before
Christ; and have done for thousands of years after His death and
resurrection.
We know that as He heard the
Jewish people who cried out to Him, so He will hear us today.
This morning that is extremely
important to me. For the past few days I
have been deeply troubled – things in my past have come back to give me anger,
hurt; have been attempting to block my access to God as I deal with these
injuries.
Even as I write I have to call
out to God to help me through this time; I know He will as I know that He has
done so for millions of others in the past and present.
It has nothing to do with the
physical things I have been going through, but everything with emotions and
disappointment.
I was surprised at the depths
those emotions have gone within me.
But God is listening to my cry,
I stand on His Word that He is there for me, even if I cannot, right now, feel
or see the results of His care.
I am so thankful that we have
the Old Testament, telling us of men and women who have gone through the tests
of time and came out on the other side victorious because they came to Him.
And I am thankful that the God
who spared them, is the God I have access to now.
Malachi
3:6 For I am the Lord, I
change not
Later, Art :-)
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