For the record, I am NOT one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, nor have I ever been. I am NOT baptized, I am NOT a Christian. I am NOT an apostate. I am NOT interested in bashing the Watchtower Society, so therefore any information I provide here are NOT the ravings of someone with an axe to grind. I am a party working with the legal team helping John Cobb Sr. and Arlen St. Clair. My name is Xander Crews and I am one of the researchers, whose job it is, to find case law.
This website has been set up to provide you, the reader, with accurate information as to an ongoing situation. I don’t deal in rumor, innuendo, gossip, speculation or BS. I will provide FACTUAL information so that you can decide for yourselves what your opinions on this situation will be. Updates will be regular on this site. I will tell you as much as I can but of course there will be things pertinent to the case that I won’t be able to divulge.
That being said, we need to get a few things straight. The typical rumor floating around among Jehovah’s Witnesses is that John Cobb Sr. and Arlen St. Clair are suing the Watchtower Society….. that is totally FALSE. They are NOT suing the Society, however they are suing certain parties who work at the Society's headquarters, namely Allan Shuster, Richard Ash and a few others within the Service Desk and this is mainly for their part in allegedly covering up the truth.
This would be the equivalent to someone suing an employee of Wal-Mart, just because one may sue the employee does NOT mean they are suing Wal-Mart itself.
To be honest, John Cobb Sr. and Arlen St. Clair took great pains to keep the Watchtower people clear of any legal proceedings by NOT listing them. In fact when the original lawsuit was written up, both of the two, made it very expressly clear that the words, "Society" or "Watchtower" were NOT to be used if possible, because they did not want to even imply they were taking any legal action against the society.
So if anyone tells you that they are suing the society, they are either lying outright to cause problems or they are highly misinformed.
Another point of misinformation is the common notion that they are suing over the actual Kingdom Hall building or about their positions, and this is also categorically FALSE.
The suit, although written in such a way that it gives the impression this is about the Kingdom Hall or about their positions as elders, is not about that at all.
What this is about in a nutshell is simply this............Paul Koehler, a traveling overseer, sought to have the Cobbs’, namely John Cobb Sr. and Jason Cobb removed from their positions for what appears to be out of revenge and other negative motives (racial), and to not make it appear as something personal, Mr. Koehler had all of the elders removed.
He wanted it done in such a way so as to embarrass the Menlo Park elders and he wanted them removed by any means necessary and imply that they were being removed for some type of wrongdoing.
Evidence of motives surfaced during a conversation that Ernest Brede had with George Harper where he is quoted as saying, "We came to Menlo Park for the express purpose of removing the elders".
To make this takeover happen, the incoming elders (Brede, Showers and company) had a letter that basically gave them carte blanche to take over. Later, when inquiries were made to the Jehovah’s Witness headquarters in New York, it was discovered that no one knew anything about this letter, merger of congregations or anything else.
It was also discovered that this alleged letter that gave all of this authority seemed to be forged. Yes you read that correctly, the letter was fake. It was allegedly generated by Allan Shuster who was in cahoots with Paul Koehler in wanting to get the then elders removed from Menlo Park. Paul Koehler then wanted to put his cousin, Ernest Brede, in control of Menlo Park.
In collecting documents for their case, both John Cobb Sr. and Arlen St. Clair then stumbled upon something so incredible, that the Watchtower Society has looked for any ways to shut them up. What did they stumble upon? It appears as if there is a great deal of fraud going on behind the scenes with congregation accounts.
Our legal team fully expects the society to try to disfellowship them, (a type of excommunication) not for anything they have DONE, but because of what they KNOW and can prove.
The fact is the two were nothing more than whistle-blowers, trying to report a wrong, they made several attempts to contact the society but met with roadblocks at every turn. Apparently the society that preaches about truth is not interested in knowing the truth, when that truth is a bit unpleasant.
When the defendants as well as the parties within the Society realized that the two discovered the alleged fraud, it was Ernest Brede who then openly accused the two of stealing $20,000 dollars in congregation funds, in an effort to explain why there was missing money in the congregation accounts and to divert attention from themselves.
One thing I have discovered long ago about the law is that when you accuse an innocent man of something he will do anything to clear his name and this is what is at the crux of the this situation.
Two men trying to clear their names.....
To this end the two had used the power of the subpoena in an effort to trace the missing money and clear their names. What I found personally interesting about this, is the fact that these so called brothers, Ernest Brede, Donald showers and the rest have refused to cooperate in turning over the records,
The logical conclusion is...........obviously these men have something to hide by refusing to give up the records, even under a subpoena.
What is most surprising, is the amount of threats by parties within the Society and how they seem to rule with fear. This was something we did not figure into the equation when we all took on this case but it seems to be the rule of thumb; you either go along with what we say and do what we tell you or else.............kind of sad that a religion that is supposedly based upon truth and love resorts to those kinds of tactics and this has been most perplexing for the court as it has caused several problems and delays in the court case.
The feeling some Jehovah’s Witnesses involved in this case seem to have is that courts and court rules and procedures don’t apply to them so therefore they don’t have to cooperate but nobody is above the law.
Also, for the record, both Arlen St. Clair and John Cobb Sr., have NOT in any way been frequenting any apostate websites, they have NOT talked to any apostate parties, they have NOT associated with any apostate persons in any way. This is a rumor that persons within the Society started in an effort to scare people away from finding out more about this situation but I feel you have a right to know what’s really going on.
One final thought, the two are NOT suing for money. They have not asked for any type of monetary gain or compensation in ANY way, they're merely suing to request an open investigation by a state or federal agency into what they have discovered.
We advised them early on that this was kind of a moot point and that it was best to place a dollar value on the case but they both ardently refused to do so, apparently for them this is about principle and not compensation. Go figure.
Personally, I think they are both a bit naive and idealistic but I can’t help it, I like these two guys alot and that’s why I joined the legal team to help them out, that and I think it would make a good book at some point.
Now to answer some basic questions;
Yes, the district attorney's office is now involved and we fully expect a criminal investigation to start soon.
This will possibly result in people going to jail because of what the two discovered.
The society appears to not be interested in fixing the problem thus far but only in trying to cover it up or explain it away as the ravings of apostates, but this is FALSE. It’s just smoke and mirrors.
Yes, this situation is being investigated by parties within the media who plan on writing a series of articles.
No, the two have NOT talked to anyone from the media, although they have received several phone calls and requests for interviews. However, parties within the legal team have talked to the media in an effort to dispel any misinformation and rumors due to the defendants being bent on slandering the two.
Yes, the two have been threatened by certain parties from the Society as well as other persons.
Stay Tuned.............................
