I tell you again that you can trust my information and go with it, and by the time you need the backup, I'll make sure you have it. But I don't want to ruin my cover for nothing either. So I'll have to contact you, and I won't tell you here on which line I will call. I have all your numbers, fax number and both cell phones. Be cautious, but get some publicity, because they don't plan to stop here if they aren't stopped by publicity. Ence is as crazy as a loon and could be dangerous. It is a sure thing that investigators will show up to look around and Ence has told them that you people have tons of wheat and beans stored. He says it is bunker stuff to keep you during a hole up in your bunkers where you keep some of the stash of weapons.

The rest are stored under things at the farm. Mrs. Ecker, I suggest that you get some seeds stored inside the basement of your house for safe keeping of seeds for planting out of the reach of vermin. And I can warn you now, they are not going to let you grow any crops this year so you could save your work and money and equipment by just holding up. And that gives you even more reason to be storing seeds away from vermin. If you inform Turner of every move, it can get talked up and documented. I am not here to scare you more, just help you out a bit. If some of us don't do something, we aren't going to make it because these bastards will use and destroy anybody, not just you nice people. Doris, thank you. I think. Please let me deal with this, and yes, I sure do thank you. But never mind, I'll be back in touch and can only depend on you to keep your bargain as I can promise you that I will keep mine, even if you can't realize it yet. I think this is enough for this sitting, for I don't really want to be on this phone any longer anyway.

Sure, I understand that, and no, I won't try to track, and will ask that no one else interfere. I can't just sit on this, though. I'll have to share. That's okay. You folks really do have a lot more friends than you know, and if we all play our cards right, you can get rid of a whole bunch of deadbeats at one swing. God bless. Thank you and goodbye. Bye now. End of conversation. Comment from Doris. I hope this man is for real. After a while it sounded like everybody and nobody we knew. Slightly familiar but not enough to even guess as I guessed the only one I suspected. Please E.J. this is what was said and I just don't want a bunch of questions from anyone. I am so tired of this.

Rick I think that you ought to make a notation of the ones that you thought of this morning. You see there's some interesting things already coming down. Would anyone like to speculate as to the new sign on Jason Brent's window that says for rent? On his window or the one next door? On his window. Could he have moved over to the other side? Oh sure, but these offices are so small already that you can't fit more than four people in a room. So if they were doing a good legal practice, they would certainly not need an entire building.

Now this Mr. Buddy Clark moved in there with him and already there are some riffs in there, you know, the shark bit didn't fly and a lot of these things didn't fly and you will find that Jason Brent was responsible for the interrogation of the Sierra National Bank and the information flow that went into San Juan and they were this with both feet and when Audrey canceled her bank account there, she told him why. And then she got a threatening letter from the bank president. Sorry about that. Phone call. So there have been so many things going on and Jason Brent said, he said to Zeta Morris, Rick's mother, several years ago, Zeta and Ed Cleary from time to time would go down to the racetrack in Bakersfield and this man approached Zeta as she was leaving, said, well, I don't know, I'm not with anybody, but I, well, do you know who we're talking about?

Well, I guess so. And he said right then that, well, you can tell the Eckers that they're going to be run out of town. Brent was going to see to it. And that's got to be, what, five years ago? So this war has been raging, and when they found something that they could get enough attention from the tabloid press and enough pull with someone who knew someone, this is the result. And I'm telling you, and you heed me well, this is your break. You can go to the moon with this one if you utilize it properly. You aren't ever going to be able to accomplish the things that need to be accomplished for a nation without some publicity.

You have good projects. Projects were already in the planning stage before George Green ever showed up or any other book other than Sipapu Odyssey was written. So let's go back and remember how it was and how it is. Why we have never wanted any more than just anybody who would like to come in here like this afternoon. This is not a church. Nobody has any right to be here. You can either come invited or you can come knock on the door and just like at home, we would open the door and say, hey, come on in. For goodness sakes, if we'd had money, we would have paid these people to go away, I'm going to be absolutely so angry that I am going to zap some people on their little toadies if you don't use this.

Betty Tootin came when she was not even supposed to. She came to a board of directors meeting. She wanted her money back and she wanted every bit of it right now. And so there's discussion about this. Well, how much cash would you have right now? I mean, everybody keeps a couple of million dollars around in cash, you know. And she was going to go, and I think there was some talk about, well, if you need it for travel or something, we could probably get together $2,000 right now. In other words, for travel. Now we're talking something like $400,000, and when could she have that? She wanted it right now.

And well, how much could you, after much talk, much talk, how much could you give me? And E.J. thought a while about how much shifting could be done and how much gold transfer and selling would have to take place. And he said, well, maybe two, meaning $200,000. And then this would be done in like two segments, which would absolutely buy her out. And whether she misunderstood or no matter what, she absolutely refused. She wanted every cent of it right now. Well, here we are, all this time later, and she has literally been responsible for personally going into an agent's office and taking three corporations. And say, well that's Sherry Yont and blah, blah, blah. Sherry Yont never owned the corporations, never wanted to own the corporations. In her own idea of this, she was leasing the corporations and when she decided that with Betty Tootin not to meet her call on gold, which was why she had some bank accounts, leaving absolutely the IRS and everyone to come back to the Eckers and down on their heads.

And, of course, the bank account balances did come back and Cathy opened them and said, what in the world is this? Somebody has stripped these bank accounts. Well, it was, it was Sherry. And when confronted about this, she didn't want any more to do ever again with those corporations. Now this leaves your officers totally responsible for now empty bank accounts for which they had been structured any call on gold that might arise. And then refused to answer any phone calls, any mail, any anything. And then some very erroneous letters with her signature on there misspelling her own name. thing right along the line, completely and positively written up in corporate structure that will hold in any court.

Nobody knew what to do, so everybody was writing as fast as they can to cover everything. So they had transferred those three corporations to an agent without notifying anybody, phonying papers, fraudulently entering papers, took those corporate structures and moved them to Reno, up there, you know, with George Abbott, Green, and that bunch. Betty Tootin went into the agency and took the three corporate books. Now that wasn't enough. When this was caught and stopped and everything reclaimed and turned over to the state and the police reports were made, Guess what? Get to court last, when was it, November? And David Horton's in there with his gleeful face until E.J. and Gene and Cort and everybody that went up there from here was in that courtroom. He about passed out. The man went pale and everybody would have thought he was going to die on the spot.

Well, what he had done was that week they had changed out those three corporations again. Betty Tootin had moved to Las Vegas and now she's shown as the agent. Once again, having stolen the corporations and moved now under her name as agent. That's deliberate. George Green wants Sherry Yance investment. You see, this is why they wanted to put the Phoenix Institute into receivership so they could pull down anything left in the Institute. They wanted the gold, now they wanted Sherry Yonk's assets. Sherry Yonk is smarter than that. She'd never ask for her anything out of here formally. And she knows that until she does it absolutely correctly, it's sitting there safe. Now, I'm going to be real aggravated if there aren't some show of documents to back this up when that press gets here tomorrow.

It does not mean that we will use everything, but we are going to rebut it sentence by sentence tomorrow. And I want backup documents so that they can look at it, and then they can come back and we'll just interview until they're sick of it. But we're going to knock some teeth out tomorrow. somebody plug this in so we can do that. Eric joined the search and rescue not too long after we arrived in Tehachapi. And they knew that he had had a lung injury. And also, there's no physical criterion for joining Search and Rescue. If you've got a bum knee or something, you can always sit at a radio in the camp when they're on the search. was doing a lot of PR and helping with the wishing wells. You know, you put your quarter in and it goes around and around.

He was moving them around and he always wore his uniform when he did that, so that the store owners wouldn't wonder who it was with the wishing well. the court a lot for John. He would put on his uniform and go to court and then afterward he would go around, you know, down in the Kern County moving the wishing well and talking to people. And he noticed Donald Goodens giving him a hard stare one time in the court and shortly After that, he heard on the scanner someone say, does Eric Peterson work for the sheriff? And it wasn't long after that that the head of search and rescue got a letter from the sheriff saying that Eric was to be dismissed from search and rescue.

And that ballot broke his heart. Hey, get out of the cake. Anything but the cake. Yeah. Anyway, I just wanted to throw that in. I think it's quite obvious that our friends had something to do with Eric's being thrown out of Search and Rescue, too. And the sheriff lost about $75,000 worth of equipment to use on searches when he did that. Well, it's time to begin to clean it up. $750,000. I always have trouble with discipline.

There's a difference. You got a stip? Yeah, I'll just... I just need to look at it. TVAK TV. The Southern is news later. Live from Bakersfield and throughout the Southern Valley, this is I Do This News at Five with Don Clark, Jackie Parks, Clinton Shue, Greg Girt, Jackie Parks, Winston Shue, Frank Durst, Miles Mulehill, and the entire Eyewitness News team.

Anytime you take somebody's money and sue them because you asked for it back, and anytime anyone questioned them, they became an evil person. A former Tehachapi sect member talks about losing his money and about the activities that he was involved in. Good evening, everyone. I'm John Parks. Topping the news tonight, a surprising new twist in the fourth resignation of Bakersfield College President Richard Wright. That's right, and Channel 29's Conjie Anthony has the story. In the West... We will go ahead and fast forward to get to the next part. First on a spaceship.

Tonight two former members are speaking out about a spiritual sect based up in Tehachapi. They say this sect called the Phoenix Institute has taken thousands of dollars from investors and not returned it as promised. Tehachapi resident Leon Fort says he loaned the Institute $120,000 and they refused to return it. His friend M. Dean explains that the group believes in a leader on a spacecraft called Atan. He guaranteed you a place that you won't go under if the planet were to destroy itself. They were going to buy gold and it would be. Forbes and Veeam say they are speaking out now to warn others about the Phoenix Institute. Eyewitness News today tried to contact the leaders of the Phoenix Institute, but they have not returned calls from our reporters. As many as 10,000 people may have been exposed to hepatitis C from eating tainted fruit cups and lunch. They later labeled me...

Yeah. Exclusive Extra skates out there. Now, only on Extra. Inside the mysterious group holed up inside this California compound, they think they'll be saved by an eight-foot tall alien. And former members say the leaders who took all their money are armed for war. Watch what happens when we approach a guy from the inside. I didn't invite you, and I don't have any comment, so let's close the door. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom.

I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom.

I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to go to the bathroom. from the inside. Plus you've heard all about Foe but not a peep about Peep until now.

Exclusive, the daughter of Bonnie Lou Nevels on her mom, on Marshall, on the monk who rocked her world. Plus the mystic who joined the cult and paid the price for getting out. They later labeled me the Judas. And the professor who infiltrated Heaven's Gate and left with the deepest secrets of cult madness. Stop it! Would you let your child go to school with a convicted child molester living across the street? Florida parents fighting to kick this 81-year-old man out of their town. It's all right now on Extra. Hi everybody and welcome to Extra's coverage of cult madness. I'm Brad Good in Rancho Santa Fe. I'm overlooking this exclusive San Diego suburb that's been rocked by the mass suicide of Heaven's Gate cult members. The investigation is wrapping up here today and San Diego County plans to auction off items found in the mansion. And while what happened here is still hard to believe for some, Extras uncovered another group that shares Heaven's Gate's mysterious beliefs in the extraterrestrial.

And now, frightened former members are coming forward, saying they've been ripped off and the group is also stockpiling weapons. Rick Schwartz reports. High in the hills of Southern California, where green pastures meet ominous mountains, there's a small town with something to hide. A shadowy group called the Phoenix Institute for Research and Education has settled into Hatcherfield. You get the feeling that you're on top, that you have the information the rest of the world doesn't have, and you're one of the chosen few. Betty Tootin was on the inside, now she's out. She says the Phoenix Institute is a cult that's ruining her life.

I want this stuff stopped. I want other people to know what a sham this is. She's taking on the enigmatic leaders of the Phoenix Institute, Doris Eckert. Extra-obtain these rare photographs of the couple from another former conference. When you hear the Eckert story, you'll understand why their camera shot. Doris Eckert claims she receives HATAN, Head of the Host of God, Intergalactic Commission, here to help people through the earth changes. She says that she receives this through electrical impulses in her head. You heard right. The Eckers who live in this large compound in Tehachapi claim there is an all-knowing 8-foot-tall alien hovering above the earth in the mothership Sephleham and Doris can channel him.

The Atmospheric aliens, if you will, that would be stationed in Mount Shasta for instance, were rotated on a basis of every six months in the beginning especially because the atmosphere begins to trap you and memories go and you would find the alien beings that were not regularly rotated were very often lost to command. The space theme is reminiscent of the teachings of Marshal Applewhite, who led the Heaven's Gate cult into mass suicide last week. We are returning to life from a visitation with death. While Applewhite claimed his followers would have sent a spaceship trailing the Hellbot comet, the Eckers claim there is a two and a half mile long crystal buried in the mountain behind their house that allows them to receive the alien Hutton's prophecies. When the earth changes come and the earth is supposed to be so devastated, he would beam up everybody into his spaceship that were true believers.

And their families. So you would be saved by beaming up. Oddly, it wasn't the bizarre stories that spoiled Betty Tootin's fate. It was a financial battle with the Echors that began in Las Vegas. Betty claims the Echors convinced her to take advantage of Nevada's loose financial laws and open her own personal corporation. She showed us a table full of documents claiming the Echors got her to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in the Phoenix Institute. And she claims they refused to pay her back. This is white collar crime and it's done through mind control. Our sources tell us that this mini mall here in Tehachapi is the nerve center for the Phoenix Institute.

Now inside this unmarked building, workers produce a variety of so-called health products and this newspaper called Contact, in which Commander Hatan allegedly delivers his message to followers. The paper is published weekly and sent to thousands of followers nationwide. It features counterculture articles like this one alleging Henry Kissinger ordered the creation of the Ebola and AIDS viruses. Bingo. Although the rooms in this complex appear closed and abandoned, our sources recognized several cars and assured us Institute members were inside working on the paper. No one would come out to talk to us until this man appeared. Tell us how the Eckers pay all their money. He refused to identify himself, but our sources later confirmed that he is the key to the secret.

You should know that this is one coming tomorrow. I think your questions are impertinent and none of your business and I don't have any comments, so bye. Dude, we're not doing anything wrong and we don't like having our privacy invaded by people on the attack. But former Institute members say it's Doris and EJ Ecker who are on the attack against them. I became very adamant and out against them publicly. I believe that there are fanatics amongst them that could take a weapon and come and kill. This man is a former member of the Institute who asked us to conceal his identity, during repercussions from the Eckers.

He says he has reason to believe the Eckers have stockpiled weapons either on their property or in their son-in-law's home, which is said to have a two-story underground bunker. After I got out of the group, I became acquainted with an individual that was there, and he saw their stash of weapons, automatic weapons and the total accumulation of weaponry. And so I believe that they could be very vicious. Now the FBI tells Extra that it's investigating the Phoenix Institute for Research and Education, but they cannot comment on our story.

Now a little more about what the investigation has turned up here. County officials say cult members led a very structured life. All television viewing had to be pre-approved and their seats were all assigned. Now my co-host Libby Weaver joins us from the Extra Studios with more on the mother of this bizarre cult. Brad, members of Heaven's Gate called her teeth. What a segue. Yeah, put it over to Heaven's Gate. Put it together. They only put it in the word here. Yeah, that people can remember that he's not actually a drug addict.

Nobody told them that Betty Tootin signed our seats. Right. Do you see this? Yeah. This is my place. Because Betty Tootin gave it to me. My tooth. Who's controlling us? Break. Break.

Broke. Broke. Break.