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Man alleges assault, unwanted pills at Narconon facility

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Monday March 16, 2009

Lawsuit from Florida resident seeks $29,000 refund from company

NEWPORT BEACH — A Florida man is suing Narconon Southern California, saying a brief stint in its Newport Beach drug rehab house subjected him to sexual assault, unwanted medication and demeaning work.
Consumer Alert: Scientology Quackery
Narconon Exposed
A critical analysis of the ‘Purification Rundown’
Stop-Narconon.org: Protecting the Vulnerable from Narconon/Scientology
The fantasies and lies of L. Ron Hubbard
Medical claims within Scientology’s secret teachings
Scientology verses Medicine
The healing claims of Scientology
Scientology is evil; its techniques are evil; its practice is a serious threat to the community, medically, morally, and socially; and its adherents are sadly deluded and often mentally ill… (Scientology is) the world’s largest organization of unqualified persons engaged in the practice of dangerous techniques which masquerade as mental therapy.

- Justice Anderson, Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia, quoted at What judges have to say about Scientology
Research resources on Scientology and on Narconon
Comments & resources by ReligionNewsBlog.com
Pablo Mendoza checked into the company’s Balboa Peninsula triplex in September seeking help for cocaine addiction and found the oceanfront house to be “filthy” and filled with an “unbearable odor,” according to the lawsuit filed against Narconon Southern California on March 6 in Miami-Dade County Court.
“He immediately wanted to leave and go back home to Miami, but the facility representatives refused his request to call his family to complain and request that he come back home,” the lawsuit says. “He was prohibited from using the telephone.”.
Soon after, Mendoza says he was given pills that resulted in nausea and diarrhea. “He asked not to take the pills anymore,” the lawsuit says. “The facility said he was obligated to ingest these pills, (four) times per day.”.
Over the next three days, Mendoza says he suffered an array of “horrendous and outlandish mistreatment,” such as a male masseuse rubbing his crotch, and being the only client forced to clean the kitchen, a duty Mendoza attributes to his race.
Later, after a fellow client targeted him with a vulgar sexual comment, Mendoza “told the student he would throw him off the balcony” because he is a “proud Hispanic Cuban and this violated his cultural norms,” according to the lawsuit.
In the suit, Mendoza also complains about Scientology being practiced at Narconon. “It was never revealed that Narconon is a Scientology facility. Pablo Mendoza is a Catholic,” the lawsuit says.
[...]
Several hours after being asked for comment Friday, a Narconon official e-mailed a reporter asking about the inquiry. A link to an online story about the lawsuit was sent back, and five minutes later, Mendoza’s attorney – Frank L. Hollander – phoned the reporter, saying he’d received a call from Narconon offering a $29,000 refund to his client and admitting no wrongdoing.
[...]