Rick Ross is one of the best-known deprogrammers in the United States and a major proponent of the "mind control" theory of "cult" involvement. His involvement as a "cult expert" in the Waco standoff was controversial.
After he deprogrammed hundreds of American and Canadians, a jury ordered him to pay over two million dollars for kidnapping deprogramming target Jason Scott.
Ross refers to himself as a "cult expert" and "intervention specialist". He has created a standard of ethics for "exit counseling".
Background
Ross' resume discusses lecturing at Rutgers University, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Chicago and Arizona State University, and that he has been a paid consultant for the television networks CBS, CBC and Nippon of Japan and retained as a technical consultant by Miramax/Disney. The resume also asserts that he assisted national law enforcement agencies (in reference to the FBI investigation of the Branch Davidians, although the FBI denies it.[1]. Justice Department outside expert Nancy Ammerman sharply criticized the FBI's association with Ross. [2].)
A jury in a civil suit in 1995 found him guilty of abducting Jason Scott, an American teenager, and depriving him of his civil rights. Ross claims that he was never charged with "kidnapping," but instead "unlawful" or "false imprisonment."
Ross has attracted a share of controversy from NRM scholars and minority religions, in part due to his lack of credentials (his highest completed educational program was high school), as well as his criminal record (two non-violent crimes committed in 1974 and 1975) and public conflicts with other anti-cult figures such as Steven Hassan. His website claims that he has however, been qualified and accepted as an expert witness in court cases in eight states.
Jason Scott case
In 1990, Ross and associates abducted Jason Scott, an 18-year-old, from the Life Tabernacle Church , affiliated with the United Pentecostal Church International. Scott's mother, Katherine Tonkin, had been a member of the church, but had left due to concerns about the means the church used to keep members in line, their focus on material donation to the church, and a relationship between an elder church member and one of her two minor sons, Jason's younger brothers. After leaving the church herself, and on the suggestion of the Cult Awareness Network (CAN), whom she called, she asked Ross to assist her in the "deprogramming" of her two minor sons. After speaking with Ross, the two minors chose to leave the church.
Tonkin then made an attempt, again with the help of Ross, to provide a similar intervention for Jason. This attempt was unsuccessful, and criminal charges were brought against Ross and two others for "unlawful imprisonment" of Jason during the deprogramming, charges that were filed, dropped, and then re-filed two years later. The trial ended in acquittal for Ross in 1994, but a civil suit was filed in 1995, with long-time counsel for the Church of Scientology Kendrick Moxon representing Jason Scott. This suit ended in Ross and the Cult Awareness Network being ordered to pay large settlement amounts:
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The jury awarded Jason Scott $875,000 in compensatory damages and punitive damages in the amount of $1,000,000 against CAN, $2,500,000 against deprogrammer Rick Ross, and $250,000 each against Ross’ two accomplices. [3]
The suit pushed Ross into bankruptcy, from which he later emerged, and along with over 50 similar suits (most of them brought by Moxon) pushed CAN into bankruptcy, where its name, its logo and its files were considered assets, assets then purchased by the Church of Scientology.
In December 1996, Scott reconciled with his mother and settled with Ross for $5,000, and for 200 hours of Ross's services "as an expert consultant and intervention specialist". Moxon was fired the next day, Scott retaining long-time Church of Scientology opponent Graham Berry as his lawyer instead. Moxon, who had argued in the case that Ross and associates had hindered a competent adult's freedom to make his own religious decisions, immediately filed court papers seeking to appoint a guardian for Scott, whom he called "incapacitated", and rescind the settlement.
Current activities
Ross, like much of the anti-cult community after the controversy and court cases against deprogramming, no longer advocates involuntary interventions for adults, preferring voluntary "exit counseling". His website is a widely used storehouse of anti-cult resources, and though critics accuse him of being hostile to new religious movements, his site's FAQ takes care to clarify that he does not believe all new religious movements are cults (nor all cults religious), nor all cults necessarily unsafe and/or destructive.
Criticism
Some critics blame Ross for precipitating the massive loss of life at Waco. They say he goaded the FBI and ATF into negotiating in poor faith, by feeding them false and misleading information.
Nancy Ammerman wrote:
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In late March, Ross recommended that agents attempt to humiliate Koresh, hoping to drive a wedge between him and his followers. While Ross's suggestions may not have been followed to the letter, FBI agents apparently believed that their attempts to embarrass Koresh (talking about his inconsistencies, lack of education, failures as a prophet, and the like) would produce the kind of internal dissension Ross pre dicted. Because Ross had been successful in using such tactics on isolated and beleaguered members during deprogramming, he must have assumed that they would work en masse. Any student of group psychology could have dispelled that misapprehension. But the FBI was evidently listening more closely to these deprogramming-related strategies than to the counsel of scholars who might have explained the dynamics of a group under siege. [4]
Carol Moore, author of Davidian Massacre: Disturbing Questions About Waco Which Must Be Answered 1995 Legacy ISBN 1880692228, has written:
- Ross told the Houston Chronicle that Koresh is "your stock cult leader. They're all the same. Meet one and you've met them all. They're deeply disturbed, have a borderline personality and lack any type of conscience. . .No one willingly enters into a relationship like this. So you're talking about deception and manipulation (by the leader), people being coached in ever so slight increments, pulled in deeper and deeper without knowing where it's going or seeing the total picture." The Massacre Of The Branch Davidians A Study Of Government Violations Of Rights, Excessive Force And Cover Up 1994
The FBI interview transcripts on the Waco tragedy includes the note that "[Ross] has a personal hatred for all religious cults" aid law enforcement in an attempt to "destroy a cult."
Critics point to the fact that although Rick Ross promotes himself as a professional “cult expert”, his educational background shows he has no religious educational credentials. His only formal education is a high school diploma. Critics assert that hubris and personal financial reward are Ross' primary motive for his attacks on Christians (who he calls "Bibble bangers") and members of emerging religions 1.
Critics say that a review of Ross' activities will support the conclusion that he systematically engaged in anti-social and often illegal activity and disguises this in the name of “helping others.” “Deprogramming,” which appears to have been his main source of income, was such an activity.
Further criticism includes assertions that Ross specializes in garnering media attention to create fear, uncertainty and doubt in family members of individuals in minority religious groups, then proceeds systematically to exploit these fears to get families to pay him thousands of dollars in fees to coerce people out of their chosen religious affiliation. Other claims affirm that his activities have left broken families and dehumanized individuals who were coerced, lied to, brainwashed and degraded into renouncing their religious beliefs.
External links
References
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Shupe, Anson and Darnel, Susan E. - (2003) The Attempted Transformation of a Deviant Occupation into a Therapy: Deprogramming Seeks a New Identity. A paper presented at the 2003 annual meeting of the SSSR/RRA, Norfolk, VA, October 2003. Available online
- US Department of Justice, Report to the Deputy Attorney General on the Events at Waco, Texas: Part IV, The Role of Experts During the Standoff, February 28 to April 19, 1993. Available online
