The State - News from Aug. 1, 1989

Five present or former members of Synanon have pleaded guilty in Fresno federal court to destroying tape-recordings on which violence was mentioned. Each defendant could receive a maximum of one year in jail and be fined $20,000. The defendants originally faced a 22-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Washington in connection with an Internal Revenue Service audit aimed at determining whether Synanon was entitled to tax-exempt status as a church. But each defendant pleaded guilty to one count of contempt of court and admitted destroying or altering tape recordings “to keep them out of hands of opposing litigants because they were deemed adverse to Synanon,” according to the indictment.