Word: dederich
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DIED. CHARLES DEDERICH, 83, power-mad founder of the drug-rehabilitation program Synanon; in Visalia, California. Synanon, which combined spartan communal living and aggressive group therapy, was widely acclaimed in the 1960s but eventually disbanded in the wake of increasingly bizarre behavior by Dederich, who proclaimed his organization a religion and was convicted of conspiring to commit murder by placing a rattlesnake in an opponent's mailbox...
...Dederich pleads no contest
Arrested were Charles (Chuck) Dederich, 67, founder of the Synanon Foundation, and two of his "Imperial Marines," Lance Kenton, 22 (son of Bandleader Stan Kenton), and Joseph Musico, 30. Three weeks before the snake attack, Morantz had won a $300,000 judgment against the controversial drug rehabilitation organization on behalf of a married couple who claimed the wife had been held captive by Synanon members...
...part of the settlement reached with the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, Dederich agreed not to serve as an officer or director of Synanon, and the prosecution agreed not to seek a prison term. Dederich will probably be placed on probation, if a court-appointed doctor confirms that he is indeed suffering from heart trouble, diabetes and other ailments...
...Whether Dederich will have to face trial in California may be decided at an extradition hearing scheduled for Jan. 2. He faces charges of solicitation to commit murder and conspiracy to commit murder and assault with a deadly weapon. Although free on $100,000 bail, Dederich remains hospitalized. His attorney, Thomas Thinnes, argued that Dederich was "in no condition to return to California because he needs medical attention." Thinnes says that he has been told by doctors that the Synanon founder has a drinking problem, suffers from a heart ailment and obesity and is in a deep depression. Last week...