Local News in Brief : Scientology Leader Sent to Jail in Spain
A judge in Spain ordered the head of the Church of Scientology International jailed Wednesday pending possible indictment on charges of fraud, criminal association and tax evasion.
Judge Jose Maria Vazquez Honrubia said it will be at least a week before Heber Jentzsch of Los Angeles sees a second judge about setting bail. He said Jentzsch was being sent to a prison outside Madrid.
The judge said authorities had frozen $1.76 million in bank accounts belonging to officials of the U.S.-based Church of Scientology and the church’s drug rehabilitation program, Narconon.
Edith Buchele, who said she is the chief officer in the church’s office of special affairs, said the organization will sue the judge “because his orders are illegal.”
Police raided an international meeting in Madrid on Sunday of members of the organization, after a nine-month investigation into complaints by Spaniards that they had been bilked.
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