Scientology lawsuits allege child abuse, trafficking, and forced labor

A spate of lawsuits against the Church of Scientology has piled up in recent months, each accusing the mysterious organization of a dizzying array of abuses, including human trafficking, forced labor, and child sexual assault and exploitation.

On Thursday, another shoe dropped when a 25-year-old woman identified only as Jane Doe filed the third lawsuit against the church since June.

The lawsuits follow several years of renewed public scrutiny over the secretive church and its inner workings, which largely remain an enigma to outsiders. Part of the attention came in 2016, when the actress and former Scientologist Leah Remini developed an Emmy-winning documentary series detailing the experiences of the church’s former members.

Read more: The most shocking Scientology revelations, according to the season finale of Leah Remini’s show

The church, which science-fiction author L. Ron Hubbard founded in the 1950s, has never faced criminal charges. Instead, its alleged victims appear to be seeking justice through civil lawsuits filed in localities across the country.

The church has steadfastly denied all allegations against it and has called its accusers liars and attention-seekers.

‘Jane Doe’ says she was abused in church care as a kindergartener, and has endured hard labor, surveillance, and harassment ever since

In Thursday’s civil complaint, filed in a Miami-Dade court and first reported by The Tampa Bay Times, Doe detailed a series of disturbing sexual abuse allegations that dated back to her early childhood.

Doe alleged that she was sexually abused in the church’s care while she attended kindergarten, where she said an employee forced Doe and other young girls to perform sexual acts on one another. She also alleged that the employee masturbated in front of her, ejaculated on her, and forced his penis into her mouth at least once.

Despite telling adults at the school, Doe alleged that the church took no actions to fire the employee or stop his abuse.

Doe also alleged that the church shipped her off to Venezuela at age 11, where a church member who was the son of a prominent Scientologist sexually assaulted her. She also alleged that when she reported the abuse, she was blamed for inviting the abuse and “sentenced” to months of hard labor.

To top it off, Doe alleged that when she finally escaped the church last year, Scientology operatives launched an aggressive surveillance and harassment campaign against her. She said they cut her car’s brake lines, vandalized her property, tailed her, and spammed her phone with hundreds of calls.

Read more: The shocking truth about how Scientology really works, according to one former insider

Attorneys for the church have denied Doe’s allegations, telling Insider they’re “anti-religious falsehoods,” and accused her without evidence of having previously filed a false police report. The Tampa Bay Times, which reported that it was aware of Doe’s identity, said it was unable to find any public records of a false police report prosecution.

“This false, vile complaint reaches a new low,” William Forman, litigation counsel for the Church of Scientology International, told Insider in a statement. “Her complaint viciously and baselessly trashes the reputations of innocent persons. This complaint is just the latest example of anti-religious falsehoods wielded to destroy lives. The Church will expose this complaint for the disgusting sham and bigotry that it is.”

A number of women have alleged trafficking, stalking, intimidation, and obstruction of justice

In June, another Jane Doe sued the Church of Scientology in a Los Angeles court, alleging she was the victim of human trafficking.

The woman said the organization appointed her as a steward to church leader David Miscavige at age 15, a position she remained in for roughly 12 years.

At its conclusion, she said she was placed in an isolation program known as “the Hole,” effectively a prison camp run by the church. The lawsuit alleged that she was sent there only because her position as Miscavige’s steward meant that she knew too much about his marital problems.

The woman said in the lawsuit that she was raised a Scientology member and was only able to escape the church in 2016 when she hid in the trunk of an actor’s car.

Read more: How Scientology leader David Miscavige rose to power, according to insiders

Another lawsuit filed in a Los Angeles court in August, first reported by HuffPost, came from four women who have also accused the actor and Scientologist Danny Masterson of rape.

The women alleged in the lawsuit that the church sought to silence their accusations against Masterson by intimidating and harassing them, stalking them, and mounting a conspiracy to obstruct justice. They allege the church’s efforts were meant to cover up or discourage their allegations, which Masterson has denied.x

The church has defended itself against the June and August lawsuits, calling the allegations “ludicrous and a sham.”