TST’s own court filings show it is not interested in any structural reform or protections for people in the org, only protecting the Temple’s owners

The Satanic Temple has been suing Newsweek since February 2022 over a critical article the magazine published in October 2021 that focused on TST’s SLAPP action against the four of us that also quoted a few other former members who all independently echoed some of the same complaints.

The last issue to be resolved in the case against Newsweek’s is whether The Satanic Temple is a public figure (it definitionally is) and whether “accounts of sexual abuse being covered up that were more than anecdotal” was defamatory to quote someone about; again, pretty definitionally, no, that’s just part of reporting, especially given all that has been revealed in discovery so far.

This most recent round of filings ahead of a potential trial involved TST revealing that it had spent more than $43,000 on “crisis management” firms, including at least $25,000 on the same guy who helped the Catholic Church deal with its child sexual abuse scandal.

How The Satanic Temple is just like the Catholic Church

However, The Satanic Temple subsequently released even more damning evidence about itself, seemingly without any ability to recognize what it was doing. We’ve long said that when TST sycophants tell you to “report things the right way” or “go through the proper channels”, it’s because TST controls those channels and can stonewall or ignore you.

But we didn’t think they would go out and just put it into the federal court record on their own.

Now, these are public court records and the name being used by the person making the report seems to be a pseudonym. That said, we’re going to not include it or their emails here just as a matter of courtesy to someone who should never have gotten dragged into this suit, certainly not by the party they tried to notify about inappropriate and unwanted sexual behavior in their local TST chapter in San Jose, Calif., back in 2017. We’ll do the same thing for all of the non-leadership figures mentioned as well.

We’re going to start with the emails from the person making the complaint and then include the responses from TSTers after to try to keep it chronological. Also, while a lot of the people at the thighest levels of TST saying these awful things within the Temple are no longer members, it’s notable that none of them seem to have been kicked out for any of this awful stuff, just being insufficiently loyal about something else down the road or leaving for reasons completely unrelated to conscience. When you read accounts of their ousters, do not spare any sympathy for these ghouls who were willing to put up with so much except, perhaps, a direct insult at their own person.

Anyway, the first email:

Date: Mon, Dec 11, 2017 at 10:40 PM
Subject: I need help regarding abuse going on in San Jose California TST chapter

To whom it may concern,
Hello. My name is [Redacted] and I am a former member of The Satanic Temple of San Jose.(Although at this point in time I would ask that you keep my identity anonymous.)

l would like to lodge a formal complaint against The San Jose CA TST chapter and its leadership. I haven’t been part of this institution for very long (since July 2017): however, in the short time I have been a member, I have witnessed several infractions including cronyism, public shaming that resembles hazing, inappropriate behavior and unwanted sexual advances. I have attempted to go through the chapter head Duncan Cook regarding these grievances but have gotten nothing back from him but threats and gas-lighting.

My first encounter with the TST was at a potluck picnic in Santa Cruz during the summer of this year. One of the leadership, Miles Teg (Gus Hernandez) pulled me aside during the picnic and mentioned that he had seen me online and thought I was “beautiful”. While this was going on, he was caressing my arm which made me very uncomfortable. I politely declined because I was with my date and excused myself to go back to my seat. At this point. he followed me to my table where I was seated with my date and proceeded to talk about the piercing on his penis, even going as far as looking for objects that were comparable in shape to his genitals. I didn’t speak up to Duncan at time because I knew that he was part of the leadership. and I was afraid of losing membership. Looking back, this should have been a blaring red flag.

A few weeks later, I attended a Facebook event that Duncan created and held at his house called “Game Night”. Everything was going well until Duncan sat next to my date and started to rub his shoulders. We realized he was at this point obviously inebriated and “euphoric”. He leans into my date and says, ” Sorry, I just feel so good right now I needed to touch someone”. My date handled Duncan graciously, but told me that he didn’t like people randomly touching him. He was upset with Duncan’s lack of boundaries and confided that he had been sexually abused as a child. (Would this have been ok if Duncan had done this to a woman?)

A month or so later I attended [L.N.]’s (her Facebook name) birthday party. She is currently being groomed to be a co-chapter head. I have to say the following about her however. She is a self proclaimed, self diagnosed narcissist who has mentioned that she enjoys manipulating people to get what she wants. In fact she has confessed to responding to a geriatric racist female protester with violence when she was in AntiFa last year (she said she curb stomped her). She has called herself an “ELITE HACKER” who ruins peoples’ reputations online. This person has absolutely no personal boundaries or shame and during her birthday party farted on my face in front of other people including Michelle Eris and Duncan, both of whom were very drunk and apparently amused by this. I was mortified and humiliated by such a disgusting and abusive act she claimed it was initiation to the TST. She then spent the rest of the party pan-handling by mentioning her bleak bank account. (Something she has done at every event I’ve seen her in.) Of course, after people feel bad (embarrassed?) and give her some cash, she then proceeds to loudly declare her anticipation to treat herself to some Birthday Cocaine.

Around the same time as [L.N.]’s birthday (about one day prior). [D.D.] who is Duncan’s best friend posted a RAPE MEME which upset a lot of the members. What followed can only be described as a cluster-fuck. Members who were critical of [D.D.]’s meme were met with backlash. The fear that some people had about leadership abusing their powers were now proven to be real. Members were kicked out for their opinion and of course Duncan was right behind [D.D.] during this whole shit show. A concerned member, [G.S.] spoke out against [D.D.] retaining his status in the Temple after everything he did, which included a weak and insincere apology. Duncan retorted to this by telling him to “tread lightly”, because he was “new”. an obvious threat to new members. At this time, [G.S.] has been unceremoniously removed from the Temple for speaking out against [D.D.] and Duncan.

I will send a copy of the meme because you need to understand the context of this whole thing. You need to see how offensive this meme is, not only to feminists, but to anyone who has lived through sexual abuse/assault.

The reason why I mentioned these people specifically is because they are all part of Duncan’s circle of friends, even before they became part of the leadership. The order of which matters a lot. He gave his friends positions of power regardless of how undeserving and unqualified they were.

The Temple itself is not the problem. Many of its members genuinely want to affect the community in a good way. They want to prove that morality and atheism/satanism are not mutually exclusive. I joined TST because I saw this institution as an institution for change. And so many of the members including myself want to affect this change through charitable events, activism, and community outreach. Unfortunately, Duncan and his friends (AKA Horned Order) don’t really care to do all that or any off it. Their priority seems to be more geared towards when the next “Satanic” party is to fill their social media with or what to drink or snort next. I’m all for having fun, but this organization is becoming more like a club than an activist group. There’s a reason why I didn’t join the Church of Satan. It looks and sounds useless. I thought TST would be different.

I apologize for the wall of text, but thank your for you time. Please advice.

Sincerely.

[Redacted]

Original complaint (Dec 11, 2017)

So, notice a few things here. This is someone who is trying to make a professional complaint but doesn’t know exactly where to turn to given that supreme power is invested locally in the same people who are the subject of the complaint. Regardless of what terms they have ever described it, TST has always been shaped like a pyramid, and if there is a problem above you, it’s nearly impossible to know where to turn since anybody who could do something about it won’t know you and probably will know the person you’re complaining about who has all of the local power. That original email was actually sent to the general address “info@thesatanictemple.com” in the hopes it would reach someone who might care about the purported mission and culture of The Satanic Temple and try to do something to uphold it.

But that’s not what happened.

Forwarded Conversation
Subject: TST NC: San Jose Chapter Complaint
Thu, Jun 8, 2023 at 1:24 PM
From: Greg Stevens
Date: Tue, Dec 12, 2017 at 6:08 AM
To: National Council, Sarah Ponto Rivera

Sarah.

Since you are the point of contact for San Jose, there are a couple of things I’d like to know before we even begin
discussion of this:

• In the Hive, I have James Cook as the signed chapter head with contact information, but l have absolutely no name or email for a co-chapterhead nor do I have signed forms for anyone other than James. Can you tell me who the co-chapterhead there is, and whether you have any signed forms for that person?
• Is this the first you are hearing of any of these allegations?

Thanks!.

From: Greg T Stevens
Date: Tue, Dec 12, 2017 at 6:43 AM
To: Sarah Ponto Rivera
Cc: National Council
In the absence of paperwork, Duncan is the only leadership in that chapter and by policy they need a second leader, and that person needs to sign paperwork. This is critical for our protection.

But another question: how long has Michelle been acting as leadership in the chapter? We generally have “grandfathered in” existing leadership when it comes to new processes but if Michelle has no signed paperwork I wonder if we need to go through the full process (interviews, background check)?
Greg

From: Sarah Ponto Rivera
Date: Tue, Dec 12, 2017 at 6:18 AM
To: Greg Stevens
Cc: National Council

Yes. James Cook is Duncan.

I have a meeting with Duncan tonight to discuss changing Michelle’s title to co-chapter head from Media liaison. Which in the past Duncan had expressed concerns about but I’m not recollecting all the details of that. I can inquire about these allegations

I have heard of the meme incident and talked with Duncan at length about the details of this and how he handled it which was removing Devon from the “horned order” and revoking any internal assignments he had. I felt this was appropriate.

From: Sarah Ponto Rivera
Date: Tue, Dec 12, 2017 at 9:31 AM
To: Greg T Stevens
Cc: National Council
Michelle has been interviewed and completed a BG check. As for the oversight for signing the agreement I believed I had completed but after going through my communications with michelle I see is not. I’m getting that done now.

For help deciphering this, “Sarah Ponto Rivera” is a former public relations head for The Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction, the group that continues Doug Misicko’s longtime hobbyhorse against Satanic Panic therapists but also against Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD). But at this point, along with Greg Stevens, Rivera would also have been on the “National Council”, the small leadership level just below the two-person “Executive Ministry” of Misicko and co-owner Cevin Soling a.k.a. “Malcolm Jarry”. That “Michelle” or “Michelle Eris” is more commonly known as “Sadie Satanas” and previously was a leader of TST Santa Cruz as well as a future member of the National Council. Chalice Blythe, who forwarded all of this to Greg Stevens again in June 2023 for the court case, was a lot of things for TST prior to quitting in May 2024 when her own red line got crossed.

So the people discussing all this really are the highest level of oversight you could want.

And maybe you spotted it yourself, but it sure seems like none of them are especially concerned with whether there actually is a culture that facilitates sexual harassment or worse, right? The concern is “paperwork” and “our protection”.

But if you think that’s unfair, the internal email exchanges a month later in January 2018, again forwarded by Blythe to Stevens for the litigation, show exactly how fucked up TST’s priorities are.

We don’t get to see what the whistleblower is responding to except for a few clues. Apparently TST legal rep and former TST Arizona Chapterhead Stu de Haan told the person “your behavior is a legal matter now”, compared them to Christian opponents of TST who send “death threats”, and took issue with their tone. It’s not clear whether the bolded section was such in the original or if it was something de Haan was trying to highlight.

Regardless, other members of the National Council would jump on the excuse to discredit the person rather than give any amount of concern to the claims themselves.

On Jan 4, 2018, at 12:40 PM. Stuart de Haan, Esq. wrote:
Response from [Redacted]. This went as well as expected…..

——

I don’t want money, or five minutes of fame on a shitty segment over something humiliating like this, so while you may see me as a threat, I’m not. These are actions of a desperate person; not a greedy or attention seeking idiot.

I hate being left in the dark, especially when I feel like I was ignored after opening up about something I haven’t even told my best friends about. I get it now, I’m not privy to a lot of things that go on there (I’m actually not privy to anything), but because I literally have 0 idea what’s going on, I naturally assume all of you are just friends laughing it off.

Notice I didn’t “coerce” you into doing something specific. Maybe my tone should have been lighter. but considering all that’s happened, my etiquette is wore off. I don’t have to be polite to an organization that has wronged me simply for wanting to be a part of something greater. Have you been sexually harassed with what you perceive to be a safe place? Have you been told to take it? It’s not a big deal? Have you had someone that’s above you fart in your fucking face and again tells you to take it? I imagine that’s a silent “no”. Congratulations then.

And please, putting me in a category with nutty Christians that send death threats (and truly wish death upon you), while I myself only mentioned contacting the local news (because one of your chapters has gotten out of control, and I assumed wrongly that the investigation was done), is absolutely ridiculous considering you shouldn’t be silencing any victim.

I already knew I’d never be let back into any chapter the moment I contacted you, so while my response may have irritated you. all of you can get back to me when someone farts in your faces and tells you to take it.

And regarding me going to the local news, it’s not off the table. because like your organization, I won’t be coerced into being silent. l won’t be contacting them anytime soon since you guaranteed the investigation was still ongoing (and will apparently take a while). And you know what’s sad? That’s all l wanted to know. I wasn’t given a time frame in the original response, like: “[Redacted] this may take a few months. please be patient with us”. That in itself would have spared us this unsavory email exchange

By the way, prodding me with “my behavior is a legal matter now” still won’t or scare me, It was a legal matter the moment l was sexually harassed by senior members in the SJChapter, why don’t you think in those terms instead? So please, don’t antagonize me, I may be a beaner, but I’m far from stupid or ignorant.

I didn’t sue you people, nor did I go running to any news source that was going to sensationalize this matter the second I had a chance. I haven’t mentioned a single thing about SJTST on ANY social media platform I use. At least my actions speak louder than any rude email I may have sent you, or any retort you had for me.

I don’t need a response to the above. I get it, shut the fuck and “behave” [Redacted]. Like I haven’t been doing that since the summer of 2017.

You might think the self-identified slur was in appropriate, and they do sound a bit irritated. But notice how much up-front apologism they’re already engaging in. Notice what they’re actually looking for here but also clearly never going to get.

If you have ever wondered how The Satanic Temple talks about its people at the highest levels, including when they bring legitimate complaints about the way people are being treated in the organization, look no further than David Moses, otherwise known as “Kym LaRoux”, who was part of the Atlanta group and all-in on their work until being expelled himself in 2022.

TST has done worse things, but please read this for yourself.

On Fri, Jan 5, 2018 at 3:55 PM David Moses wrote:
Well, she’s clearly unstable.

The option she completely misses is that she could have just asked what had been done instead of opening with a threat.

At least she gave us what we would need to show how unstable she is if she does decide to go to the press.

Her instability doesn’t negate the concerns raised about the chapter leadership.

Kym

“At least she gave us what we would need to show how unstable she is if she does decide to go to the press.”

If we were to tell Satanic Temple sycophants that this is the way TST treats sexual harassment claims coming to them, they’d call it defamation. But no, this is just what TST puts into the public court record about itself on its own.

Rivera closes out the conversation by refocusing on the real business, of course, whether local leadership fucked up so bad it’s worth starting over with new people. Not addressing any structural problems, mind you, just nuking all the institutional knowledge and doing it all over again.

From: Sarah Ponto Rivera
Date: Sat, Jan 6, 2018 at 12:10 PM
Subject: Re: [Redacted]-Formal Complaint SJ
To: David Moses
Cc: National Council, Stuart de Haan, Esq.

Though I don’t agree with dismantling the chapter and feel it is a bit of a dramatic step if we have a quorum on the matter

I will write the letter.

---

6/7/24: Previous version of was not specific about year David “Kym LaRoux” Moses was pushed out of TST; it also misstated the timeline of Michelle Eris joining the National Council, which took place in September 2018, after this email exchange.