Guardian
The Cosmic Force
Laura, I'm sending you screenshots of the original, signed by jacobs...it's 8 pages. You should have already gotten the other Declaration.
DECLARATION OF JENNIFER JACOBS
I, Jennifer Jacobs, declare,
THE DEPROGRAMMING
1. One evening in Octover 1987, after a seemingly friendly
dinner in an elegant Seattle restaurant, my father and I were
walking through a deserted parking lot to get to his car. As we
approached the car, three burly men suddenly surrounded me, picked
me up into the air, and forced me into a van. I thought they were
planning to rape me. As I struggled and screamed for help, my
father, who was in good athletic shape, did nothing to free me.
Once I was lodged inside the van, I heard a voice say from behind
me, "It's OK, Jenmnifer, we're here to HELP you." It was my
mother.
2. The three men, who smelled of sweat and alcohol, drove
the van in zigzags, communicating in walkie talkies with another
car about eluding the police. They took me in the van to a sleazy
motel where all the windows had been nailed shut, the blinds were
drawn, and the phones removed. They kept me imprisoned in a tiny,
dirty space for over eleven days.
3. My captors consisted of two "deprogrammers" - Joe
Szimhart and Mark Blocksom (a former heroin dealer and convicted
felon); three "security guards" acting under Blocksom's direction;
Lisa ("Mercedes") Hughes, an acquaintance of mine from college;
Steve Putnam, my former boyfriend; and my parents, Walter and
Julie Jacobs. To my knowledge, none of these people had any
professional training in counseling or psychotherapy.
4. When I asked why I had been kidnapped, I was told that my
father, Walter Jacobs, had contacted the Cult Awareness Network at
the advice of Stephen Putnam and Mercedes Hughes. The Cult
Awareness Network had advised my parents that kidnapping or
institutionalization was the only possible solution for my
"condition."
5. "Deprogramming" as I have experienced it, is an intensive
session of interrogation and psychological abuse. The
deprogramming is designed to make its subject renounce his or her
moral or religious beliefs and to adopt a new set of beliefs, and
only those beliefs, which are acceptable to the deprogrammers.
6. My captors did not let me out of the motel room at any
time. At least one man watched me 24 hours a day, including when
I was using the bathroom or showering. They allowed me only a few
hours of sleep each night. When I became ill with the flu on the
fourth day, they refused to let me see a doctor or to give me any
medication, and my flu continued to get worse.
7. Throughout the time of my captivity, Blocksom and the
other security guards used cocaine heavily. The cocaine made
Blocksom become enraged and violent. More than once, the other
men had to physically restrain him to keep him from beating me up.
Szimhart saw them using cocaine but did not appear to object.
8. On many occasions, Blocksom would place a chair right in
front of me. Stradding the chair, he put his face about three
inches away from mine and began screaming at me abusively, calling
me such names as "stupid," "worthless," and "miserable." He
derided every aspect of my mental and physical being. The only
way I was able to withstand this was that when I was a child, my
father used to do the same thing. My father used to travel and
lot and come home on weekends. In my family, we would consider it
a good weekend if my father, who himself had been abused as a
child, had only one violent outburst of temper a day. When I was
growing up, my father hit me very hard at least once a week, so
when Blocksom was becoming physically violent, I was not
unprepared for the consequences.
9. The "deprogrammers" used many brainwashing techniques
similar to the techniques used in the Korean War on American POWs.
10. One technique was repetition. Szimhart forced me to
watch Charles Manson videos over and over again. He lectured me
constantly about cults, mind control and religion in terms that
showed very little understanding or education. He told me that
his qualifications to deliver the lectures were that he himself
had been a victim of "mind control" as a member of Elizabeth Clare
Prophet's "cult." He stated that since this experience, he had
come to realize that almost all new age and non-traditional
religions were cults.
11. Another brainwashing technique was a sense of
dependence. All my clothes and possessions were taken away from
me and I was forced to wear prison-color baggy sweatsuits. I was
not allowed to choose what or when to eat, to go to the bathroom
myself (in case I became violent) or even sleep in a room by
myself. At all times, there was at least one person watching me,
letting me know that I was incapable of making my own decisions.
12. Another POW-style technique was the threat of continued
incarceration, combined with the promise of release if I
cooperated. Szimhart and my father threatened to send me to an
insane asylum if I did not renounce my belief in Buddhism.
13. One night I tried to escape. I kept myself awake by
digging my fingernails into my palms while pretending to be
asleep. Finally, at about 4:00 A.M., when the guard went into the
bathroom, I jumped out of bed and ran out the door toward the
street lights, screaming for help. The guard came chasing after
me, yelling, "You bitch, you -flicking-g bitch! Nobody runs away from
me!" He caught up with me, tackled me to the ground, threw me over
his shoulder and carried me kicking and screaming, back to the
motel. They were very afraid that someone might have heard me and
telephoned the police. Szimhart was very angry and after that
began to treat me with increasing cruelty.
14. Another brainwashing technique was a forced confession.
Szimhart tried relentlessly to get me to "confess" to "facts" that
were completely untrue and often utterly bizarre. For example, he
tried to get me to say that Dr. Lenz had forced me to take LSD,
that I believed in black magic and that I believed I was a witch
with magical powers! These statements were ludicrous. Szimhart
said they would let me go only if I cooperated with them and
started "telling them the truth," meaning confessing to the
"facts" listed above.
15. The only technique that would satisfy my captors was
total submission. I was released from captivity only after I
pretended to have a spasmodic "nervous breakdown." After seeing
numerous videos of "successful" deprogrammings in which victims
had screamed, twitched violently and burst into helpless prolonged
sobbing, I decided to simulate these physical symnptoms and
pretend to renounce my belief in Buddhism. I did this on the
tenth day of my captivity, and suddenly, Szimhart, Blocksom and
Mercedes Hughes appeared in my room smiling, congratulating me on
my conversion and realization of the truth. I then had to tell
Szimhart and Blocksom many of the lies they wanted to hear in
order to make them believe that their brainwashing attempts had
been successful.
16. I was forced to go to a "halfway house" in Iowa to
continue my "reprogramming." My father and Blocksom served as
security guards who accompanied me to the airport. The furtive
nature of their actions and their anxiety about being caught by
the police reminded me of something my mother had told me -- that
my father had been thrown out of Princeton University for
cheating. I felt that this weakness had attracted him to the
whole deprogramming process.
17. During my two-week captivity at the halfway house, I was
forced to watch video tapes made by Nancy Knupfer, who stated that
Dr. Lenz had hired an airline stewardess to poison her coffee. I
laughed aloud when I heard this, but fortunately, Blocksom, who
was in the room, was fast asleep. I was informed that Nancy
lectured regularly at the Los Angeles Cult Clinic, an affiliate of
the Cult Awareness Network. C.A.N literature was on every coffee
table in the halfway house.
THE INVOLVEMENT OF LISA ("MERCEDES") HUGHES, STEVE PUTNAM AND
ANNIE EASTWOOD.
18. I first met Lisa ("Mercedes") Hughes in the summer of
1984. She was introduced to me by our mutual friend, Steve
Putnam, whom she was dating at the time. Stephen had been my
boyfriend in high school.
19. When I met Mercedes she had come up to Northern
California to visit Steve and to attend a seminar which Dr. Lenz
was holding in San Francisco. After the seminar, Mercedes said
that she was very impressed with Dr. Lenz and his programs. On
the few occasions that we spoke after that she said that she
really enjoyed and benefitted from the seminars she attended.
20. As a participant in all eleven days of my deprogramming,
Mercedes spoke to me frequently. She told me that she and Steve
had been deprogrammed by Szimhart and Blocksom only three weeks
before I was kidnapped. She told me that during her
deprogramming, Szimhart had urged her and Steve to call my
parents.
21. At Szimhart's suggestion, Steve and Mercedes told my
parents that I was a member of the "Rama Cult" and that the "Cult"
had forced me to take illegal drugs, gotten me hooked on acid and
forced me to have sexual relations with other group members.
These were utter falsehoods, but since my parents knew Steve as my
boyfriend throughout my high school and college years, together
Lisa/Mercedes and Steve managed to convince them that I, too
needed deprogramming and that they should pay Szimhart and others
$25,000 for the "service". Mercedes said that she and Steve had
"waived their commission" in my case for setting up the
deprogramming for Szimhart and Blocksom.
22. Steve Putnam was present for three days of my
deprogramming. He admitted that he had been deprogrammed three
weeks earlier by Joe Szimhart. Steve basked in the reality that I
was controlled by my deprogrammers. He was on an ego trip that
two of his ex-girlfriends, me and Mercedes, were both trying to
win his approval. In my case, I was hoping desperately that he
would help me gain my release. But he seemed to enjoy the role of
accuser and jailer.
23. During my deprogramming, my kidnappers repeatedly urged
me to call Annie Eastwood. Szimhart was particularly insistent
that I should speak with Annie, with whom he appeared to have a
close friendship.
MEDIA CAMPAIGN
24. Mercedes tried to get me to join her in the anti-Rama
media crusade which Joe Szimhart was orchestrating. She told me
that she was very excited about going to the media and she thought
that maybe she would become famous. She said that she already
made one video to smash Dr. Lenz during her post-deprogramming
stay at a "cult rehabilitation" center in Iowa.
25. I told her that I still felt too unstable from the
kidnapping and the imprisonment, but that maybe I would join them
later. On the day I left Seattle, she and Szimhart were flying
off to meet with a NEWSWEEK reporter.
26. After releasing me from captivity, Szimhart and Mercedes
continued to contact me and ask me to lie to the media about Dr.
Lenz. Specifically, Szimhart asked me to tell a reporter from
NEWSWEEK magazine that Dr. Lenz had "brainwashed" me, to tell
other reporters that I had been Dr. Lenz's lover and that he had
forced me to take drugs, and to repeat these lies in a video tape
which the Cult Awareness Network would distribute to the media.
He also asked me to submit a legal document to Cult Awareness
Network attorneys which would describe the "bad" experiences Dr.
Lenz had subjected me to, and to file a lawsuit against Dr. Lenz
and the Rama Seminars organization.
27. I did in fact join in the media campaign later, but not
as Mercedes or Joe Szimhart had anticipated. Instead, I spoke out
against the process of deprogramming, the Cult Awareness Network
and the false claims that were being made by Mercedes, Steve and
the other participants in my deprogramming.
POSSIBLE SUBSEQUENT ABORTED KIDNAPPING ATTEMPT
28. In June 1989, my roommate whom I will call "Judy", told
me that a man called twice looking for me. The man claimed that
he wanted to let me know that Dr. Lenz was holding a meditation
seminar at an isolated spot in the country. He left his first
name and a telephone number, but when I tried to return the call I
found that the number was false. I later learned that Dr. Lenz
had not held any such seminar.
29. Several similar incidents involving strange phone calls
took place at my job and again at my home.
30. I believed that all of these calls had come from persons
affiliated with the Cult Awareness Network, and that they were
tracking me in order to kidnap me again.
31. After the weekend, when I found out about the calls, I
felt so nervous at the prospect of being kidnapped again that for
2 days I was physically ill and could not go to work.
32. I finally decided that I could not just sit around and
wait to be kidnapped, but that I must go on the offensive. I knew
that if the Cult Awareness Network was after me then my parents
must be involved.
33. I had not spoken to my parents since my kidnapping in
1987, but I called them and confronted them. They were shocked to
hear from me. They told me that they were still members of the
Cult Awareness Network and still had many friends in the
organization. However, they denied that they had any association
with the man or the woman who had been calling about me.
34. I let them know that if they or anyone else associated
with the Cult Awareness Network tried to kidnap me again or
interfere with my life in any way, I would prosecute them to the
full extent of the law.
35. After I spoke with my parents, the probing phone calls
stopped.
AFTER EFFECTS OF DEPROGRAMMING
36. At the time of my deprogramming my parents and the other
kidnappers threatened that they would kidnap me again if the
deprogramming did not work. Since then, I have lived in almost
continuous fear of a second kidnapping.
37. To prevent a second kidnapping I make it a practice to
change my address and phone number every three or four months and
I am very careful to maintain my privacy. I also cut off all
contacts with my parents. Despite all of my efforts my parent's
letters always arrive at the correct address soon after I move
even when my other mail does not.
38. In all of the letters that my parents have sent to me,
they have never once apologized or expressed any regret for the
brutal kidnapping which left me physically and emotionally
devastated and which has caused my total estrangement from them.
I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the
State of California and the United States that the foregoing is
true and correct, and this declaration was executed on August 24,
1991.
JENNIFER JACOBS
DECLARATION OF JENNIFER JACOBS
I, Jennifer Jacobs, declare,
THE DEPROGRAMMING
1. One evening in Octover 1987, after a seemingly friendly
dinner in an elegant Seattle restaurant, my father and I were
walking through a deserted parking lot to get to his car. As we
approached the car, three burly men suddenly surrounded me, picked
me up into the air, and forced me into a van. I thought they were
planning to rape me. As I struggled and screamed for help, my
father, who was in good athletic shape, did nothing to free me.
Once I was lodged inside the van, I heard a voice say from behind
me, "It's OK, Jenmnifer, we're here to HELP you." It was my
mother.
2. The three men, who smelled of sweat and alcohol, drove
the van in zigzags, communicating in walkie talkies with another
car about eluding the police. They took me in the van to a sleazy
motel where all the windows had been nailed shut, the blinds were
drawn, and the phones removed. They kept me imprisoned in a tiny,
dirty space for over eleven days.
3. My captors consisted of two "deprogrammers" - Joe
Szimhart and Mark Blocksom (a former heroin dealer and convicted
felon); three "security guards" acting under Blocksom's direction;
Lisa ("Mercedes") Hughes, an acquaintance of mine from college;
Steve Putnam, my former boyfriend; and my parents, Walter and
Julie Jacobs. To my knowledge, none of these people had any
professional training in counseling or psychotherapy.
4. When I asked why I had been kidnapped, I was told that my
father, Walter Jacobs, had contacted the Cult Awareness Network at
the advice of Stephen Putnam and Mercedes Hughes. The Cult
Awareness Network had advised my parents that kidnapping or
institutionalization was the only possible solution for my
"condition."
5. "Deprogramming" as I have experienced it, is an intensive
session of interrogation and psychological abuse. The
deprogramming is designed to make its subject renounce his or her
moral or religious beliefs and to adopt a new set of beliefs, and
only those beliefs, which are acceptable to the deprogrammers.
6. My captors did not let me out of the motel room at any
time. At least one man watched me 24 hours a day, including when
I was using the bathroom or showering. They allowed me only a few
hours of sleep each night. When I became ill with the flu on the
fourth day, they refused to let me see a doctor or to give me any
medication, and my flu continued to get worse.
7. Throughout the time of my captivity, Blocksom and the
other security guards used cocaine heavily. The cocaine made
Blocksom become enraged and violent. More than once, the other
men had to physically restrain him to keep him from beating me up.
Szimhart saw them using cocaine but did not appear to object.
8. On many occasions, Blocksom would place a chair right in
front of me. Stradding the chair, he put his face about three
inches away from mine and began screaming at me abusively, calling
me such names as "stupid," "worthless," and "miserable." He
derided every aspect of my mental and physical being. The only
way I was able to withstand this was that when I was a child, my
father used to do the same thing. My father used to travel and
lot and come home on weekends. In my family, we would consider it
a good weekend if my father, who himself had been abused as a
child, had only one violent outburst of temper a day. When I was
growing up, my father hit me very hard at least once a week, so
when Blocksom was becoming physically violent, I was not
unprepared for the consequences.
9. The "deprogrammers" used many brainwashing techniques
similar to the techniques used in the Korean War on American POWs.
10. One technique was repetition. Szimhart forced me to
watch Charles Manson videos over and over again. He lectured me
constantly about cults, mind control and religion in terms that
showed very little understanding or education. He told me that
his qualifications to deliver the lectures were that he himself
had been a victim of "mind control" as a member of Elizabeth Clare
Prophet's "cult." He stated that since this experience, he had
come to realize that almost all new age and non-traditional
religions were cults.
11. Another brainwashing technique was a sense of
dependence. All my clothes and possessions were taken away from
me and I was forced to wear prison-color baggy sweatsuits. I was
not allowed to choose what or when to eat, to go to the bathroom
myself (in case I became violent) or even sleep in a room by
myself. At all times, there was at least one person watching me,
letting me know that I was incapable of making my own decisions.
12. Another POW-style technique was the threat of continued
incarceration, combined with the promise of release if I
cooperated. Szimhart and my father threatened to send me to an
insane asylum if I did not renounce my belief in Buddhism.
13. One night I tried to escape. I kept myself awake by
digging my fingernails into my palms while pretending to be
asleep. Finally, at about 4:00 A.M., when the guard went into the
bathroom, I jumped out of bed and ran out the door toward the
street lights, screaming for help. The guard came chasing after
me, yelling, "You bitch, you -flicking-g bitch! Nobody runs away from
me!" He caught up with me, tackled me to the ground, threw me over
his shoulder and carried me kicking and screaming, back to the
motel. They were very afraid that someone might have heard me and
telephoned the police. Szimhart was very angry and after that
began to treat me with increasing cruelty.
14. Another brainwashing technique was a forced confession.
Szimhart tried relentlessly to get me to "confess" to "facts" that
were completely untrue and often utterly bizarre. For example, he
tried to get me to say that Dr. Lenz had forced me to take LSD,
that I believed in black magic and that I believed I was a witch
with magical powers! These statements were ludicrous. Szimhart
said they would let me go only if I cooperated with them and
started "telling them the truth," meaning confessing to the
"facts" listed above.
15. The only technique that would satisfy my captors was
total submission. I was released from captivity only after I
pretended to have a spasmodic "nervous breakdown." After seeing
numerous videos of "successful" deprogrammings in which victims
had screamed, twitched violently and burst into helpless prolonged
sobbing, I decided to simulate these physical symnptoms and
pretend to renounce my belief in Buddhism. I did this on the
tenth day of my captivity, and suddenly, Szimhart, Blocksom and
Mercedes Hughes appeared in my room smiling, congratulating me on
my conversion and realization of the truth. I then had to tell
Szimhart and Blocksom many of the lies they wanted to hear in
order to make them believe that their brainwashing attempts had
been successful.
16. I was forced to go to a "halfway house" in Iowa to
continue my "reprogramming." My father and Blocksom served as
security guards who accompanied me to the airport. The furtive
nature of their actions and their anxiety about being caught by
the police reminded me of something my mother had told me -- that
my father had been thrown out of Princeton University for
cheating. I felt that this weakness had attracted him to the
whole deprogramming process.
17. During my two-week captivity at the halfway house, I was
forced to watch video tapes made by Nancy Knupfer, who stated that
Dr. Lenz had hired an airline stewardess to poison her coffee. I
laughed aloud when I heard this, but fortunately, Blocksom, who
was in the room, was fast asleep. I was informed that Nancy
lectured regularly at the Los Angeles Cult Clinic, an affiliate of
the Cult Awareness Network. C.A.N literature was on every coffee
table in the halfway house.
THE INVOLVEMENT OF LISA ("MERCEDES") HUGHES, STEVE PUTNAM AND
ANNIE EASTWOOD.
18. I first met Lisa ("Mercedes") Hughes in the summer of
1984. She was introduced to me by our mutual friend, Steve
Putnam, whom she was dating at the time. Stephen had been my
boyfriend in high school.
19. When I met Mercedes she had come up to Northern
California to visit Steve and to attend a seminar which Dr. Lenz
was holding in San Francisco. After the seminar, Mercedes said
that she was very impressed with Dr. Lenz and his programs. On
the few occasions that we spoke after that she said that she
really enjoyed and benefitted from the seminars she attended.
20. As a participant in all eleven days of my deprogramming,
Mercedes spoke to me frequently. She told me that she and Steve
had been deprogrammed by Szimhart and Blocksom only three weeks
before I was kidnapped. She told me that during her
deprogramming, Szimhart had urged her and Steve to call my
parents.
21. At Szimhart's suggestion, Steve and Mercedes told my
parents that I was a member of the "Rama Cult" and that the "Cult"
had forced me to take illegal drugs, gotten me hooked on acid and
forced me to have sexual relations with other group members.
These were utter falsehoods, but since my parents knew Steve as my
boyfriend throughout my high school and college years, together
Lisa/Mercedes and Steve managed to convince them that I, too
needed deprogramming and that they should pay Szimhart and others
$25,000 for the "service". Mercedes said that she and Steve had
"waived their commission" in my case for setting up the
deprogramming for Szimhart and Blocksom.
22. Steve Putnam was present for three days of my
deprogramming. He admitted that he had been deprogrammed three
weeks earlier by Joe Szimhart. Steve basked in the reality that I
was controlled by my deprogrammers. He was on an ego trip that
two of his ex-girlfriends, me and Mercedes, were both trying to
win his approval. In my case, I was hoping desperately that he
would help me gain my release. But he seemed to enjoy the role of
accuser and jailer.
23. During my deprogramming, my kidnappers repeatedly urged
me to call Annie Eastwood. Szimhart was particularly insistent
that I should speak with Annie, with whom he appeared to have a
close friendship.
MEDIA CAMPAIGN
24. Mercedes tried to get me to join her in the anti-Rama
media crusade which Joe Szimhart was orchestrating. She told me
that she was very excited about going to the media and she thought
that maybe she would become famous. She said that she already
made one video to smash Dr. Lenz during her post-deprogramming
stay at a "cult rehabilitation" center in Iowa.
25. I told her that I still felt too unstable from the
kidnapping and the imprisonment, but that maybe I would join them
later. On the day I left Seattle, she and Szimhart were flying
off to meet with a NEWSWEEK reporter.
26. After releasing me from captivity, Szimhart and Mercedes
continued to contact me and ask me to lie to the media about Dr.
Lenz. Specifically, Szimhart asked me to tell a reporter from
NEWSWEEK magazine that Dr. Lenz had "brainwashed" me, to tell
other reporters that I had been Dr. Lenz's lover and that he had
forced me to take drugs, and to repeat these lies in a video tape
which the Cult Awareness Network would distribute to the media.
He also asked me to submit a legal document to Cult Awareness
Network attorneys which would describe the "bad" experiences Dr.
Lenz had subjected me to, and to file a lawsuit against Dr. Lenz
and the Rama Seminars organization.
27. I did in fact join in the media campaign later, but not
as Mercedes or Joe Szimhart had anticipated. Instead, I spoke out
against the process of deprogramming, the Cult Awareness Network
and the false claims that were being made by Mercedes, Steve and
the other participants in my deprogramming.
POSSIBLE SUBSEQUENT ABORTED KIDNAPPING ATTEMPT
28. In June 1989, my roommate whom I will call "Judy", told
me that a man called twice looking for me. The man claimed that
he wanted to let me know that Dr. Lenz was holding a meditation
seminar at an isolated spot in the country. He left his first
name and a telephone number, but when I tried to return the call I
found that the number was false. I later learned that Dr. Lenz
had not held any such seminar.
29. Several similar incidents involving strange phone calls
took place at my job and again at my home.
30. I believed that all of these calls had come from persons
affiliated with the Cult Awareness Network, and that they were
tracking me in order to kidnap me again.
31. After the weekend, when I found out about the calls, I
felt so nervous at the prospect of being kidnapped again that for
2 days I was physically ill and could not go to work.
32. I finally decided that I could not just sit around and
wait to be kidnapped, but that I must go on the offensive. I knew
that if the Cult Awareness Network was after me then my parents
must be involved.
33. I had not spoken to my parents since my kidnapping in
1987, but I called them and confronted them. They were shocked to
hear from me. They told me that they were still members of the
Cult Awareness Network and still had many friends in the
organization. However, they denied that they had any association
with the man or the woman who had been calling about me.
34. I let them know that if they or anyone else associated
with the Cult Awareness Network tried to kidnap me again or
interfere with my life in any way, I would prosecute them to the
full extent of the law.
35. After I spoke with my parents, the probing phone calls
stopped.
AFTER EFFECTS OF DEPROGRAMMING
36. At the time of my deprogramming my parents and the other
kidnappers threatened that they would kidnap me again if the
deprogramming did not work. Since then, I have lived in almost
continuous fear of a second kidnapping.
37. To prevent a second kidnapping I make it a practice to
change my address and phone number every three or four months and
I am very careful to maintain my privacy. I also cut off all
contacts with my parents. Despite all of my efforts my parent's
letters always arrive at the correct address soon after I move
even when my other mail does not.
38. In all of the letters that my parents have sent to me,
they have never once apologized or expressed any regret for the
brutal kidnapping which left me physically and emotionally
devastated and which has caused my total estrangement from them.
I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the
State of California and the United States that the foregoing is
true and correct, and this declaration was executed on August 24,
1991.
JENNIFER JACOBS
:O 
