Scientology agents stalked Danny Masterson's alleged rape victims, silenced them through 'intimidation' tactics
Danny Masterson was charged on multiple counts of rape against three women after former members of the Church of Scientology, to which the actor is said to be devoted, came forward with accusations against the 'That ’70s Show' star.
Four female accusers who filed a civil suit against the 44-year-old actor also accused the church of harassing them for having reported the alleged assaults to authorities. The actor has also been charged with criminal charges by three of the women. “It is alleged [in the suit] that our clients reported the sexual assaults to Scientology at the times that they happened. It is alleged in the suit that Scientology attempted to cover up the sexual assaults," one of the attorneys for the civil suit, Stewart Ryan, said.
Chrissie Carnell Bixler, who dated Masterson from 1996 until 2001, was the sole victim identified by name in the criminal filing. She claimed to be drugged and raped multiple times by the actor in his Hollywood Hills home. “On more than one occasion Plaintiff Bixler awoke in bed to find Masterson sexually assaulting her. In one specific instance, Masterson drugged . . . Bixler’s wine at dinner and anally assaulted her. The following morning, Masterson admitted that he had anal sex with her while she was unconscious," the civil lawsuit said, New York Post reported.
While the church denied all claims against it from the civil suit, Masterson has insisted that he is innocent of both the civil and criminal charges. The actor was reportedly "in complete shock” over “nearly 20-year-old allegations.”
Former Scientologists said that the biggest reason behind the delay in charging Masterson was the fact that while the alleged victims remained affiliated with the church, it would have been challenging for authorities to gain cooperation from the women. Ex-Scientologist Geoff Levin claimed that if the church came to know about the allegations beforehand, their protocol would be to handle the accusations in-house and by taking the women through “security checks.”
“Maybe you’d be directed into finding that, 10 million years ago, you enslaved a whole city and allowed your soldiers to rape all the women,” Levin added. “[And] that is the reason why this is happening to you now. It is brainwashing to the Nth degree,” he told NY Post.
Even the lawsuit filed by Bixler claimed that she was stalked by church members and filmed. In addition, "an agent of [Scientology]” spit on her after the member was caught red-handed trying to hack her phone. She also received threats to leak nude photos of an underage Bixler. She also believed that Scientology reps were involved in the deaths of two of her family’s pets.
Ryan told The Post that it “is accurate” that intimidation tactics were also used by the church against other female accusers. “It was part of the pressure campaign to force them into silence," the lawyer said. Tony Ortega, editor of The Underground Bunker, a Scientology-investigating website, said: “[Founder] L. Ron Hubbard called [such procedures] noisy investigations. Not only do they surveil you, but they want you to know it via very creepy encounters. They want to convince you to stop exposing Scientology because it causes too many emotional issues in your life.”