Family Is Charged With Kidnaping Woman Who Joined Religious Group

The parents and sister of a 23-year-old Carlsbad woman were among five people charged Friday with kidnaping the woman, who they believed was in the grip of a religious cult.

The woman, Ginger Brown, was allegedly beaten by the group before she was released four days later from a home in a rural neighborhood north of Escondido. Brown remains an avid member of the religious organization, called Great Among the Nations, whose followers live together in an apartment complex in Carlsbad.

Brown’s parents, Earle and Dorothy Rae Brown, both 57, and her sister, Holly Rae Brown, 24, pleaded not guilty to the charges Friday afternoon at their arraignment before Vista Municipal Judge Victor Ramirez. The three live in Santa Cruz in Northern California.

Arraignment Continued

Also pleading not guilty was Hank Erler, 22, of Escondido, whose home in the 9900 block of Lilac Road was allegedly used for the deprogramming attempt. Erler was described in court by his attorney as a lifelong resident of the city, where he works as a car salesman.

The fifth defendant, Clifford Owen Daniels, 34, of Los Angeles--characterized by prosecutors as a professional deprogrammer--had his arraignment continued until next month so he could arrange for an attorney.

Prosecutors said they are not sure how the Browns, Erler and Daniels connected with one another to carry out the alleged crime.

Daniels said outside the courtroom that he did not know he was going to be charged with kidnaping, and that he appeared in court Friday only because he received a telephone call the night before from a detective asking that he do so.

Daniels acknowledged that he had been involved in deprogramming efforts “a couple hundred times,” and boasted a 98% “success rate.” But he said he would not acknowledge that he was involved with the Ginger Brown incident.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Gary Rempel said the question of whether Great Among the Nations is a religious cult was not an issue in deciding to charge the five with kidnaping, conspiracy to commit kidnaping, false imprisonment, conspiracy to commit false imprisonment and battery.

Concerned About Rights

“We don’t dispute that the Browns may well be very nice people,” Rempel said. “We are concerned, however, about the rights of their 23-year-old adult daughter, who was gainfully employed, working for a real estate company. Certainly, if someone was kidnaped off the street by complete strangers, our decision would have been easier.”

Saul Wright, who represented three of the defendants Friday, said he had hoped prosecutors would not pursue the case because the Browns were simply acting out of concern for their daughter.

“Mr. Brown was concerned that Ginger was indeed in jeopardy, imminent danger--mentally, emotionally and physically--and, because he’s a good father, he chose to do something about it,” Wright said.

The three Brown defendants generally deflected questions to their attorney, but Earle Brown at one point broke into tears and said: “If she only knew how much we love her, cared for her. If she only knew.”

Wright said he and prosecutors had discussed the possibility that the Browns might testify against the deprogrammer in exchange for immunity or a plea bargain. “We are still going to consider that possibility,” Wright said.

Ginger Brown did not appear in court, but said later in a telephone interview that she is now working full time for Great Among the Nations, directing its fledgling television ministry, which the group hopes to develop for general broadcast, and distributing videocasettes.

‘Wonderful to See’

“I have a wonderful job. It is so wonderful to see a ministry be formed, and to see all its workings,” Brown said. “It’s going to be really something.”

Brown said she has not contacted her parents, at the advice of the district attorney’s office, and she would not discuss details of the case, but added:

“One thing I do want to see is the truth of this whole matter. A lot of people have misrepresented what we do and how we look, and it even caught my parents in this mess. It’s unfortunate they got involved.”

Brown was reportedly abducted May 12 as she was leaving her office in Encinitas, where she worked as a computer analyst for a real estate firm. According to the charges, Earle Brown and two other men, identified in court documents only as “Vic” and “Steve Bronc,” forced Brown into a van that had been parked beside her vehicle. Earle Brown and Bronc “held (the) victim and struck (the) victim” while the van was driven by the third man to another van, to which they transferred her, and then drove to the “safe house” in Escondido.

The two other suspects are still being sought by prosecutors.

Prosecutors allege that all five defendants were present at the Escondido house.

‘Physically Mutilating Me’

In an interview last year, Brown said her father twisted her thumbs backward during the car ride and “threatened to break my legs.”

She said she spent four days at the Escondido house, where she was beaten and knocked about. “They said they were trying to deprogram me, but all they were doing was physically mutilating me,” she said last year. “There was constant pain to my body.” During the interview, she showed cuts, scrapes and bruises on her legs, arms, hip and head that she said were caused during those four days.

She said she was driven back to the Encinitas area and released after it became apparent to her abductors that she was resisting their efforts.

The incident drew attention to the group, which claims about 16 members, as well as allegations from former members that the group’s leader, Benjamin Altschul, is a cult leader who has coerced members to turn over their money and belongings to the organization in order to finance his Bible study group and television ministry.

Altschul said Friday that he hopes a trial will shed more light on the motives and inner workings of Great Among the Nations. “We are dedicated people. We are Christians,” he said.

He said that nine members of the group have been “kidnaped” during its four-year history in San Diego County and that three of those--including Brown--returned to the group.

“I am not pleased or happy, and no one among us is pleased or happy, that anyone might go to jail or is hurt,” he said of the charges against the five defendants. “Our cause is not to make people feel shameful. We were willing to give the other cheek. But we have been exposed by these people in such an unfair way. They accused us of being a group of cultist vegetables. I deny we are vegetables. We are a functioning Christian group with honest motivation.”

He noted that the organization has leased a room at the San Diego Convention and Performing Arts Center in downtown San Diego on 23 occasions for services, and has now accumulated $100,000 in television equipment.