Some extremely alarming information came to light when Danny Masterson stood trial for rape accusations.
Three women who alleged that the actor and Scientology practitioner raped them revealed the tactics that Church of Scientology officials used to try to prevent them from reporting their assaults to authorities, the Los Angeles Times reports.
One alleged victim testified that a church lawyer came to her family’s home and said she would be expelled from the church if she told law enforcement that Masterson purportedly raped her in 2003 at his house in Los Angeles. “We’re going to work out how you can not lose your daughter,” the lawyer told the accuser’s father, according to court documents.
Another accuser said church officials demanded she writes that she would “take responsibility” for Masterson allegedly raping her when she was unconscious in 2001.
The third alleged victim said when she told church officials about the actor raping her, they told her to read a part of the Introduction to Scientology Ethics, which dissuaded her from reporting her abuse to authorities. A church official also told her she shouldn’t use the “R-word” and that accusing Masterson of that is considered a “high crime” by the church. This incident also took place in 2003.
Masterson has pleaded not guilty. In a statement to the Times, the church denied that it discouraged these women from going to the police, adding that it believes their allegations are a “money shakedown.” Church spokesperson Karin Pouw told the publication, “Church policy explicitly demands Scientologists abide by all laws of the land, including the reporting of crimes. This is blatantly clear in the documents we understand were put before the Court—and many others,”
