- Ross was under criminal investigation in Washington state for a failed 1991 deprogramming attempt.
- Criminal charges filed.
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Rick Ross |
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| Guardian of the Truth or Garner of Attention?
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1963 - 64 | Psychiatric problems start at ages 10 - 11. |
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1967 | Aged 14 psychiatric problems escalate to counseling and prescribed psychiatric medication. |
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1969 | Attended Camden Military Academy, Camden, South Carolina |
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1970 | Graduated from Phoenix Union High School, Phoenix Arizona. |
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1974 | Charged with "Conspiracy, Open End": Concerning illegal trespass (December 22, 1974) with the intent to commit a crime, (stealing of furniture and appliances from model homes) they (Ross and an accomplice) were caught in the act by the Phoenix Police and arrested. Ross was 22 years old and employed as a bill collector for a credit bureau. He pled guilty to Conspiracy and was sentenced to 10 days in jail and put on probation for one year. In Mr. Ross' own words "It might have been designated a "felony," but it was not. Judge Derickson of Maricopa County Superior Court in Arizona made this clear in a signed document dated May 3, 1983, which was entered into the public record". |
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1975 | Felony Conviction: Grand theft and Second Degree Conspiracy - On July 23, 1975, before his probation period expired, Ross was once again arrested. A diamond robbery involving 306 items valued at $100,000. Ross spent 6 weeks in Maricopa County Jail after his arrest and was later given a suspended sentence of 4 years, fined $1,100 and placed on probation. A subsequent psychiatric evaluation reduced what might have or should have been a prison sentence to a probation sentence. For other related court documentation - click here. |
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1976 - 1982 | Secular work, including - Auto Salvage. |
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1979 | Probation completed. |
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1982 | Mr. Ross became interested in radical groups in 1982 when his grandmother, then an 83-year-old resident in a Jewish nursing home, was approached by an ardent recruiter. A group had infiltrated the facility specifically to target the Jewish elderly. Ross brought the problem to the attention of the facility's director and working together, they put an end to the group's proselytizing within the nursing home. Ross joined two national committees for the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, commonly called the Reform Movement of Judaism. One committee was concerned with the study of cults and another focused on inter-religious affairs. |
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1983 | Ross also found (claimed to) "serious problems caused by cults and radical groups within the prisons and jails of Arizona". In response he founded a state wide Jewish prisoner program and left his business (Auto Salvage) to join the professional staff of Phoenix Jewish Family and Children's Service in 1983. |
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1986 | Ross left the staff of Jewish Family Service to become a full time private consultant, lecturer and intervention specialist concerning destructive cults and radical groups. |
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1987 | Mr. Ross began to regard "destructive cults, radical, controversial and potentially unsafe groups." |
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1990 | Rick Ross falsely imprisoned Jason Scott - "involuntary intervention." |
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1991 |
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1993 | Throughout the Waco crisis, Ross “advised” the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the FBI. He appeared on numerous television shows to claim that the Davidians would probably not come out willingly and that measures would have to be taken to force them out even though there was nothing to support this speculation. According to eminent religious scholar Dr. Nancy T. Ammerman of Princeton University, Ross had a “direct ideological (and financial) interest in arousing suspicion and antagonism” against what he called ‘cults’. And noted that while Ross calls himself an expert he is certainly not recognized as such by the academic community and in fact, “deprogramming tactics have been increasingly found to fall outside the law.” In an article for “The Nation”, Alexander Cockburn quoted Balenda Ganem, the mother of Davidian survivor David Thibodeau: “I’d been in touch with Rick Ross, who was acting as an independent cult ‘deprogrammer’ and informant to the ATF and FBI. When I got to know him in Waco, I understood that he was instigating the most negative aspect of the situation because he wished violence toward David Koresh. He never said he wanted him to be helped out. He wanted him wiped out.” |
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1994 | Rick Ross went on trial in Montesano for felony unlawful imprisonment. On January 18 1994, after a week-long trial, the jury took two hours to acquit him, while his accomplices in the kidnapping pled guilty to lesser charges. A civil suit was filed in Seattle's US District Court on behalf of Jason Scott. Named in a suit as violators of Jason's civil rights are Ross, the three kidnappers. |
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1995 | A jury awards Jason Scott $5 million, ruling that his civil rights had been violated during an involuntary "deprogramming" by Rick Ross, a Phoenix resident and well-known cult expert. That judgment eventually forced Ross into bankruptcy court. The court appointed trustees determining that he has no assets to pay the nearly $4 million portion of the damages he currently owes. In order to get out from under the debt that Ross now had as a result of his criminal behavior in the Jason Scott case, Ross filed bankruptcy. As a side note, but important in showing Ross’ self-serving and manipulative character, as part of his bankruptcy, Ross disposed of a $17,500 debt to his own elderly mother |
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1996 | Scott and Ross reached a settlement that requires the deprogrammer to pay Scott not the nearly $4 million--his share of the judgment--but a mere $5,000. As part of the agreement, Ross will also give Scott 200 hours of professional services, free of charge. |
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2001 | Rick Ross relocates to Jersey City, N.J., where he runs and maintains his two web sites: www.rickross.com & www.culteducation.com ("The Ross Institute" - Cult Education & Recovery). The Ross Institute is Ross’ latest income producing scam. The "Institute" is actually a mail drop just across the street from Ross’ apartment in Jersey City, which he shares with a Haryonto Soedarpo. Though Ross and Soedarp same apartment since at least 1998 in New Jersey and earlier in Phoenix, his role in the Ross Institute is unknown at this time. Soedarpo has no degree in religious studies or counseling. While Ross promotes the "Institute" as a tax-exempt, non-profit organization and requests donations from the public, however, the group is clearly acting as a front and promotional arm for Ross’ deprogramming business. |
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2001 | Rick Ross sued. The Rev. Judy Hammond said she was shocked to find her Pure Bride Ministries Inc. on deprogrammer Rick Ross' site and called his description "false and scandalous" in her suit. She maintained that it amounted to libel, slander and interference with a business and requested an injunction that would silence Ross. Hammond also demanded $15 million, money she claimed her ministry - now based in St. Lucie County - lost during the past two years because of Ross' statements. |
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2002 | Circuit Judge Cynthia Angelos signed an order last week (Feb 2002) dismissing the case in civil court. The Rev. Judy Hammond, head of Pure Bride Ministries Inc., said in her suit that Rick Ross had libeled her group with a "false and scandalous" description on his Web site. (it would appear that all reference to Pure Bride Ministries Inc. has been removed from www.rickross.com since the initial suit). Update June 2002: It would appear, since viewing this site and the above statement, that Rick Ross has included a preamble & two reprinted newspaper articles on his site with the disclaimer that if anyone wants any information regarding the Rev. Judy Hammond or Pure Bride Ministries Inc. he has it in his possession and it must be negotiated and paid for - It is my prediction that this is the way of the future for Mr. Ross' site (it is already happening in the UK with so called "cult busting" sites) that any new information (other than newspaper articles) on individuals and or groups will incur a negotiated fee! |
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2003 | August 2003 - Rick Ross is being sued for $9.7 Million by a profit-making betterment group in New York. - Click here for more details |