Plymouth (cult) Intergroup – fraud allegations

Allegations have been made that an officer of Plymouth Intergroup (mostly controlled by the Road to Recovery cult group, which have featured extensively in our blog over the last few years) has been systematically embezzling funds over a five year period (2011 to 2015) amounting to approximately £14,000. The person in question apparently suffers from a gambling addiction, which may go some way to explain their conduct but doesn't excuse it. However astonishingly (or not when you consider we're talking about the Road to Recovery here!) the Intergroup decided during the course of an extraordinary meeting convened to discuss the issue (which was attended by only two GSRs – there are 27 groups in the Plymouth Intergroup area) NOT to inform the police of the fraud NOR the General Service Office in York NOR even other local groups. Instead they opted for a cover up. The money, it is claimed, has been replaced although it is not entirely clear how. South West Region (which includes Plymouth Intergroup) have only recently become aware of these murky goings on.

We informed the General Service Office on Thursday 11^th June by email (to which, so far, we have received no reply - see below) of the above and proposed that they immediately inform the police so that a full and proper investigation may be carried out. Embezzlement is a criminal offence. We have also pointed out that failure to notify the police may itself result in criminal charges being brought ie. an accessory after the fact:

 “Re: Alleged fraud Plymouth Intergroup Attn: GSO with cc to Trustees

aa cultwatch
Jun 11 at 7:09 AM

To gso@alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk

To whom it may concern,

We assume that you have already been informed of the above matter. If not:

We have received information (…............) that an alleged fraud has been committed by the Treasurer of Plymouth Intergroup (…..... - home group Road to Recovery Plymouth) amounting to some £14,000, the monies being embezzled over a five year period from 2011 to 2015. We have also been notified that when the Plymouth Intergroup became aware of the theft they decided not to inform the police nor other groups in the area (Plymouth Intergroup is apparently virtually run by the Road to Recovery group) nor yourselves. The money has been replaced (although by whom it is not clear) but the fraud remains. As you may be aware failure to inform the police may itself constitute grounds for arrest as an accessory. These matters were disclosed at South West Region meeting on Sunday night. We understand members in the area are currently deliberating the question. In our view GSO should itself take immediate action and notify the police so that a thorough investigation may be conducted. In order to ensure that no further attempts are made to sweep this under the carpet we will be putting the salient facts up on our blog this Saturday. Moreover we are quite prepared to notify the police ourselves of the allegation should the fellowship fail to act. In light of this we would request that you confirm whether you propose to take any action or not? And if so what?

The Fellas”

(edited to preserve anonymity)

Accessory after the fact:

 

Updates to follow

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

Wessex (cult) Intergroup Update and other sundry matters

Well it would seem that south west region are less than enthused by the new all-singing, all-dancing cult intergroup's bid to join the AA fold. The chairman of this new 'creation' was recently invited to put his case to region as to why this novel body (composed of two groups: Bournemouth Road to Recovery – part of the Visions/Road to Recovery cult franchise and Poole St Ann's Hospital, Thursday) should be allowed to participate in the AA service structure. Apparently his oratorical skills (up to this point mostly devoted to pointing out to the rest of us how wrong we all are – remember the cult mantra – We are ALWAYS RIGHT and you are ALWAYS WRONG!) failed him at this critical juncture, region were duly unimpressed and the vote went against Wessex; it would not receive the support of region. For those of you who are not fully up to date with this apparently unending saga the new 'intergroup' was formed (unilaterally of course) as a result of the repeated attempts by the Bournemouth cult group to join either Bournemouth IG or Poole IG. Both of these service bodies being fully aware of the cult's performance down in Plymouth ie. Plymouth Road to Recovery (the local branch of the same franchise), declined their advances pointing out to this rogue group their already established history of “controversial” conduct ie. bullying, abusive sponsorship, interference in medical matters etc. So what do you do when no intergroup wants you? Well you starts your own! It's obvious really when you think about it... Doh!!! Still we don't think a minor setback of being given the cold shoulder by south west region will make much of a difference here. Going by past performance the whole thing is something of a red herring anyway. Cult groups by and large only pay lip service to the notion of AA unity (something which they use as a way of manipulating AA members and groups and thereby diverting criticism). We fully expect them to continue in their efforts (no doubt whilst playing the martyr role to the hilt!) to undermine the fellowship by competing with the existing AA IGs in the area, and by the repeated promotion of their own perversions of the recovery programme (sponsorship idolatry, personalities before principles etc). Now talking of perversions we come to …....

…....the Plymouth Road to Recovery group. This troublesome little gang headed up by Wayne P (or that is until recently when his trousers fell down! Wayne incidentally is one of Clancy I's sponsees (Pacific Group) – a grouping many of whom seem to have similar problems with keeping their kegs in place!) together with his two cohorts Alexis K and Jon F (see Incident at Conference) is still busily breaking as many AA traditions as it can discover. The diary dates section of their prettily designed website contains adverts for the latest crop of celebrity circuit speakers to hit the UK. These include two operating under the banner of “Step N ahead into “emotional sobriety””. Step 'N Ahead operates under the auspices of yet another “Foundation” (a US based enterprise) which represents itself as having “non-profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status from the IRS effective 29 July 2009”. This must be a substantial loss to the US Treasury since this organisation charges a pretty penny indeed for the privilege of attending one of its “workshops”, “conventions” etc together with all the associated paraphernalia of “workbooks”, “CDs” etc, that constitute the usual 'stock in trade' of the professional recovery 'broker'. Moreover the Foundation's website clearly states in a disclaimer that:

“Step'n Ahead into Emotional Sobriety®
Step'n Ahead at The Last Mile® and
Friends of Step'n Ahead®

...cooperate with but are not affiliated with AA or any alcoholism treatment program/process.

The mention of AA herein is not meant to imply or suggest affiliation with, endorsement by nor approval from AA regarding the posting or content of this site, and/or the presentation of the workshop itself. AA neither endorses nor opposes any causes.

The opinions expressed herein are those of the workshop leaders. They do not wish to imply nor suggest they speak as experts for or representatives of medicine, psychology, psychiatry, religion or talk therapy.”

Now we are distinctly impressed by this nifty side-stepping of the non-affiliation tradition, something that might even be contrived by a lawyer, and which brings us on rather neatly to one of the speakers at this heavily promoted event:

“S. D. Washington, D.C.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"This young and sober legal-eagle found himself spiritually defenseless and broken in sobriety as he attempted to argue and defend his own case of troubled emotions v. the world -- and lost; but he emerged victorious when he finally surrendered his case to the 'highest court' and plead for mercy."

together with yet another Wayne (but not our own “trouserless one”), Wayne B, who hails from St Petersburg Florida (also due to “headline” shortly in Terra Haute, Wabash Valley Intergroup, Indiana (US).

Anyways we'll leave it to you to hunt down this gang (we've given you quite enough clues after all!) Of more interest from our point of view (and in respect of non-affiliation) is the fact that the Derbyshire Intergroup have had their entire website link with the main AA (GB) website removed on the grounds that the IG site carried a link to Google maps (see Stop Press: 16/09/11 “Derbyshire AA Intergroup?”) Now the Plymouth Road to Recovery website (which has an indirect link posted on the same AA website) has been carrying promotional material for non-affiliated organisations for some time now (quite apart from advertising various “personalities” eg. the “Venerable” C (otherwise known as Clancy I) yet their website retains advertising space on the GB website. We pointed out this apparent anomaly to the General Service Office (York). It will be interesting to see what happens (or not as the case may be)!

Business as usual we guess!

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

(our thanks to our local reporters for the info)

Wessex (cult) intergroup – update!

Consultation letter from GSO (York) to South West Region and local intergroups. See below.

This should be interesting!

Cheerio

(usual thanks extended to our contributor)

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)