Scientology Facilities Closed After Patients Held Against Their Will

Scientology facilities in Cannon County, Tennessee have been shut down after police rescued two patients being held and medicated against their will.

“The Cannon County Sheriff’s Department would like to make the general public of this county aware that the Scientology facilities are closed and not operating in Cannon County,” a statement from the Sheriff’s office said.

The manager Marc Vallieres and two of his employees have now been charged with kidnapping and false imprisonment after a man called 911 in February saying he had been locked in a cabin at a facility in Woodbury.

Deputies with the Cannon County Sheriff’s Office say they responded to the call at the Sunshine Lane facility, primarily made up of cabins and a double-wide trailer. They said that a man was found locked in a cabin, with insufficient food or water. The man told deputies he has requested to leave the cabin, but was kept imprisoned by his caretaker.

During the search of the facility, a female patient was discovered who also who made the same claims.

Business Insider reports:

The man there who made the call told officers he was being held against his will and given unknown medications, according to the Courier. He told officers he was there for rehab and to “get cleansed through Scientology,” the Courier reported.

The man told officers he’d been there for nine months.

Officers described the man’s bedroom as “a small room with a single bed in it.” They said the bed was “bare except for one sheet that he covers up with” and that “his bathroom is the only room with a light.”

The man and a woman whom officers found while searching the facilities were taken to a local hospital.

Three suspects have been charged and are in custody. The Courier reports that two of them entered guilty pleas on two counts of false imprisonment. An attorney said the Church of Scientology didn’t operate the facilities.