FR is investigating what happened to Eva. She fell into the hands of J. Michael Shoemaker, AKA Swami Chetananda.
Eva was living at the Movement Center of Portland. Paramedics carried her out on a stretcher at three in the morning.
Swami Chetanananda had been training her.
Jessica Becker saw Eva carried out of the center.
Jessica Becker said she saw Dr. Jen Wilhelm come flying down the steps to follow Eva, who left in an ambulance.
Wilhelm is a chiropractor and one of the Swami’s followers.
After the accident, Eva returned. There were various stories. One was Eva slipped on a treadmill in the gym. Another was, she had fallen in the park. And one that seemed the official ashram story. She was insane. It was mental illness. Nothing physical happened.
Jayne Lyons is Eva’s mother. She visited Eva at the ashram after her accident. She tried, but could not get her daughter out. When Jayne tried too hard, the Swami’s henchwoman, Sharon Ward, threw Jayne out of the ashram. Eva did not go with her mother.
A source from the ashram spoke to me on condition I do not reveal her name. She said, “After her accident Eva was peeing on towels in her room and disheveled. Of course trauma head injury is related. Clearly she did not want to leave her room to use the rest room. She was taken for a VD screening. There was a false Positive HIV screening.”
She went for a VD test. It seems probable that the Swami sexually and physically abused Eva. Add to that the horror of getting a false positive on an HIV test. A woman already in a traumatized condition, beaten on the head, strangled, now thinking she will be facing HIV.
Later, Eva left. She sued and won a settlement. She signed an NDA, preventing her from disclosing what happened. Her mother did not sign an NDA.
She wants to prevent Swami Chetanananda, AKA J. Michael Shoemaker from harming others.
Jayne told part of her story in: Mother of Choking Victim Names Inner Circle of the Strangler Swami Chetanananda
Here is more information on what happened to Eva.
By Jayne Lyons
I spent about two weeks caring for my daughter after her “accident” at The Movement Center. I arrived late at night, since my plane had been delayed.
The Movement Center gates were locked. I had no phone, so I had to jump the fence and scurry across the lawn in the dark, hoping Sharon Ward’s dogs were not out roaming the grounds.
I had visited my daughter at the Center before and learned about Ward’s dogs, the strange deaths of Liz Bazzani and other residents of the Center, ‘open eyes’ meditation, and the shrine to “Rudi”, but I had no idea about the depth of abuses that were being carried out inside the Movement Center until Frank exposed them in his articles.
Soon after I arrived, I found my daughter and took her by ambulance to the hospital. She was given a diagnosis and a follow-up plan that included bed rest. We returned to the Movement Center, where a room had been arranged for the two of us.
The Movement Center in Portland where the Swami and his disciples lived until recently.
The Movement Center was the most bizarre place. A creepy old mansion with lots of nooks and crannies, beautiful gardens, and furnishings.
There were Buddhist paintings of demons, gods, and goddesses in uncomfortable situations, bloodily eating headless victims or twisted into sexual unions, all over the walls. There was quiet, no shoes, no music, no radio, and almost no people. Everyone was hidden.
It had a “Rosemary’s Baby” vibe to it.
Totally different from all the Facebook photos of happy people eating delicious meals, participating in rituals, or working together for the good of humanity.
swami_chetanananda
Janet, Gretchen and Steve had Birthdays this weekend… Theresa and Salman created the celebration…
Instead, the residents were glassy-eyed with hollow stares. Few people would talk to me. Most would leave if Sharon Ward or Howard Boster were around when I tried to speak to them.
I never saw J. Michael Shoemaker. I learned later that he referred to me as a “dark force in the universe” and “full of demons.”
Swami and Sharon Ward
No wonder it seemed that people were mostly terrified to encounter me.
I was warned not to talk to certain people because they would be too high to make sense. No one could or would tell me what had happened to my daughter. Nothing was adding up.
I tried to talk to the leadership of the Center, Shoemaker, Ward, and Boster, but none of them would speak to me. They hid or ran away.
With Prakashananda [Boster] and Vivina…🙏🏻💕
When I saw her in the hall, I tried to talk to Jen Wilhelm, and she brushed me off, saying she had to go to work and that my daughter was “delusional.” That is what Lilianna Lopez told me as well.
Jen Wilhelm and Swami
Why would two people say the same thing, “delusional,” about an accident? Ward told me, passing in the hall, that the Movement Center was not “liable” for any harm that had come to my daughter.
Several people spoke to me outside the center or behind a closed door. Jessica Becker gave me a handwritten note and then told me to destroy it, because she was fearful it could fall into the wrong hands. Something strange was going on.
I kept asking questions, trying to understand what had happened to my daughter. The pieces of the puzzle would not fit together, that my daughter had either fallen in the park, got shaken on an exercise machine, or was “delusional.”
This is what Shoemaker looks like. He is so proud of his muscles. My daughter weighed under 115 pounds when he was “training” her.
Finally, Sharon Ward told me I had to leave the Center because I was “spreading rumors”. I got kicked out and could not take my daughter with me.
After leaving the Center, I enlisted the help of various cult specialists, Dr. Steven Hassan, Kent Burtner, Dr. Ken Garrett, and Dr. Margaret Eichler. All of whom, except Kent Burtner, were cult survivors themselves.
Steven Hassan is an author, speaker, and consultant on “the protection, rescue and recovery from destructive cults.”
Kent Burtner
Kent Burtner had provided exit counseling to former members of Shoemaker’s group in the past. Together, a plan was put together based on Dr. Steve Hassan’s approach to help my daughter leave the coercive control of J. Michael Shoemaker.
***
Moni O’Neil and Swami
After I left the ashram, the Swami became concerned that I might cause problems. Shoemaker texted Eva. I have many screens between Eva and Shoemaker. I sent the ones that showed Shoemaker trying to control Eva or influence her to protect him. Maybe these will help you to understand how Shoemaker harms and controls others.
It took time, but she was able to free herself and start her recovery from her time in a dangerous and damaging, high control group.
Eva has been slowly recovering from her trauma of being a resident of The Movement Center. I am sad that my daughter could not explain how she was abused. I am sad that she was so indoctrinated at the time she spoke to law enforcement that she did not understand what had been done to her.
Jessica Becker alerted me to the abuses at The Movement Center. She tried to help me. When the “inner circle” knew what she was doing, they attacked her.
At one point, Eva admitted she was taken advantage of to Jessica.
Heather Gail George tried to get Eva to drop her lawsuit. George stood up for Shoemaker. Another woman, Faith Shepard, also sent messages to Eva, about the legal approach.
Law enforcement has been informed of what I saw and heard. But, they say they cannot intervene until a “victim” comes forward.
They tell me over and over, “no victim, no crime”. My testimony is only hearsay and not “evidence”. Shoemaker and his criminal group have everyone terrified or silenced.
I understand the fear, the flying monkeys, Shoemaker’s loyal devotees have come after those who speak out. Until a credible victim speaks out to a law enforcement officer who understands cult mind control, nothing will be done to stop Shoemaker. He and his group have been harming people for over 50 years. It is time for this to stop.
I thank Frank Parlato for believing me and for publishing the testimonies of abuse and harm. I believe together we can stop Shoemaker and his group.
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