Ex-Cultist, County Fight Over Heaven’s Gate Firm

A former Heaven’s Gate member and the county are disputing ownership of the suicide cult’s World Wide Web design business, which may be worth $1 million despite all its employees being dead.

The county plans to auction off the cult’s belongings and give the proceeds to surviving family members, said Susan Jamme, the county’s deputy public administrator in charge of the case.

But Richard Ford, a former member who discovered the cultists’ 39 bodies in a rented Rancho Santa Fe mansion on March 26, said members wanted him to assume ownership of the business known as Higher Source.

“If they want to start some ugly, post-death battle, then we may have to pursue legal action,” said Ford’s attorney, Robert Zakari. “The county is interested in making money under the ruse of protecting the families.”

Cult members committed suicide last month by swallowing vodka and drug-laced pudding or applesauce. They believed that their souls would be taken to heaven on a spaceship trailing the Hale-Bopp comet.

Higher Source designed Web pages for several businesses, including the San Diego Polo Club. Cult members designed graphics and wrote the programming code for the sites.

Zakari said Ford, who also goes by the name Rio DiAngelo, received a diskette detailing plans for the business on March 25, the same day that two farewell videos and three letters arrived.

Zakari refused to release the instructions, but he said they show that Ford and his company, Interact Entertainment, are supposed to take over the business, which they believe is worth more than $1 million.

But Ford severed all ties to the cult in February, when he left to work for the entertainment and computer company, Jamme said. The cult’s financial ledger shows that Ford received $1,012.50 when he left.

The auction of the cult’s belongings has been set for June 7.