Church Files Suit Against Buena Park After Police Raid Fund-Raising Event

The Vineyard of Enlightenment Church of Metaphysics Inc. has sued the City of Buena Park after police raided a “religious fund-raising event” and cited participants for telling fortunes without a city permit.

In two lawsuits filed Thursday in Orange County Superior Court, the church and its members contend that the city violated the group’s constitutional rights to freedom of religion and speech when uniformed and plain-clothes police raided a “Convention and Exhibition on Psychic Awareness and Metaphysics” at the Holiday Inn last June 21.

Police confiscated literature, money and other items, including an astrological chart, B. Scott Vaughan, an attorney for the Anaheim-based church, said in an interview Monday. Church representatives protested, but police threatened to “handcuff and arrest them,” he said.

“The whole thing was rather ridiculous,” Vaughan said.

Police ordered the exhibition shut down and cited the church’s representatives for violating a local ordinance mandating permits for fortune telling. But the district attorney’s office later dismissed the citations because a clause in the local ordinance exempts churches from filing for permits.

Vaughan said the city knew the church was exempt from having to file for a permit but raided the event “just to harass.”

Andrew Arczynski, a private attorney representing Buena Park, declined to comment on the lawsuits, saying that he had not studied them. The lawsuits name the city and Police Chief Robert T. Reber among the defendants.

The suits seek an undisclosed amount of damages for violation of civil rights, defamation and causing emotional distress, among other allegations.

The raid held church members “up to public ridicule,” damaged their reputation, lowered the church’s attendance, caused spiritual leaders to refuse to participate in future events and caused prospective members and clients to question the legal status of the church, the lawsuits state.

The church held similar events last year between January and May, once a month, without any problems, according to the suits.

For each event, the group took out a $20 city event permit--”despite the fact that Buena Park City Ordinance Section 16-23 specifically exempts religious organizations from” paying license fees--and paid the city $1 per person attending, the suits state.

The fund-raisers include spiritual readings, the sale of metaphysical material and accepting tax-deductible donations. Each fund-raiser nets the group between $7,000 and $10,000 in contributions, Vaughan said. The church was incorporated in 1981 and has held the fund-raisers only in Buena Park, including one earlier this month, he said.

Vaughan called the case “cut and dried” and said, “I can predict it and I have no psychic ability: There is no question we will win this lawsuit. The question is how much. There is no question that they violated their constitutional rights.”