Connecticut
Family sues 4 teachers on death cult allegations
AVON, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut couple is suing their local school system and four staff members for allegedly indoctrinating their three daughters into a religious cult.
The couple filed the lawsuit in federal court Monday against the Avon school district, three teachers and a guidance counselor at Avon High School and Wellesley College in Massachusetts. The parents are known only in court documents as Jane and John Doe.
The couple says the teachers and counselor indoctrinated their daughters into a cult that promotes martyrdom and celebrates death. They say the indoctrination by the teachers continued when two of the girls went to Wellesley.
The couple says their daughters have become secretive, have lost their humor and empathy and are speaking a bizarre language.
Avon and Wellesley officials say they’re looking into the allegations.
North Dakota
Appearance on Dr. Phil lands SD woman in prison
RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — An appearance on the Dr. Phil television show has cost a South Dakota woman her freedom.
Thirty-eight-year-old Mandi Jackson was on probation for forging checks from a Rapid City cosmetology school and defrauding an insurance company when she went to California to film two segments of the show. Pennington County prosecutor Tracey Decker said Jackson violated a court order by leaving the jurisdiction.
The Rapid City Journal reports Judge Robert Mandel told Jackson her conduct was “absolutely intolerable” and sentenced her to a year in prison.
Jackson said she appeared on the show to try to save her family, after her 17-year-old daughter claimed her stepfather had molested her. During the shows that aired April 30 and May 1, psychologist Phil McGraw’s questioning revealed the claim was not true.
