Bradlee Dean, the sideshow “heavy metal evangelist” who sued Rachel Maddow for quoting him verbatim and has yet to pay her legal fees for his sham lawsuit, and who sneaks his fundamentalist, anti-gay sideshow into public high schools under the guise of an anti-drug presentation, is under fire again, this time from a former employee, Jake Dagel, who claims that the ministry is little more than a cult and that Dean is little more than a common crook:
In a press release, Dagel alleges Dean’s ministry took all his money, barred him from reading the news, and ultimately kicked him out of a vehicle he and other ministry members were riding through Tennessee at 3 a.m. after he couldn’t pay for gas.
Nice. Here is that press release:
FORMER EMPLOYEE OF BRADLEE DEAN’S MINISTRY SAYS MINISTRY IS A CULT
***Former employee of You Can Run But Can Not Hide International says ministry is a cult and donations are being abused***
Jake Dagel, a former employee of Bradlee Dean’s Minnesota based ministry, You Can Run But Can Not Hide International, is publicly coming forward today to share his experiences while working with the ministry. Dagel believes the ministry is a cult who manipulates and controls the minds of its employees. Dagel has also found through investigation that the ministry has abused donation money.
Dagel, a 20 year old student from Iowa first came into contact with Dean’s ministry when he invited him to speak at his community college in Iowa. Two weeks after the presentation Dagel became an employee of the ministry and joined the street evangelism team. While on the team Dagel traveled the country with the ministry to share the gospel in public locations.
Dagel reports that while working with the street evangelism team he was belittled and told he knew little about how Christianity worked, there was little for him back at home, was forced to tithe to the ministry, and that not talking to his family was normal. Dagel was also not allowed to watch television and was told to not pay attention to any media.
While traveling back from Florida on Saturday, June 29th the evangelism team made a stop around 3:00 AM in Pulawski, Tennessee to get gas. Dagel was told it was his turn to pay for gas but did not have the money to do so. Dagel was then instructed to either pay for gas or grab his belonging and get out of the vehicle. Because Dagel was without money to pay for the gas he got out of the vehicle while members of the ministry drove off to their destination.
Upon further investigation Dagel has found that according to You Can Run International’s 2011 IRS Form 990, President Bradlee Dean was paid $80,261 in compensation and $41,860 in housing allowance in 2011 for a total of $122,121. This is an increase of a $24,931 from the 2009 IRS Form 990. Secretary Jacob MacAulay was paid $55,604 in compensation and $25,678 in housing allowance for a total of $81,282 in 2011. This is an increase of $14,385 from the 2009 IRS Form 990.
“This so called ministry is clearly a cult due to the way it manipulates and controls its employees,” said Dagel. “It is also clear that the ministry abuses donation money by its administrators taking large housing allowances when many of its employees struggle to pay their own bills. I am making this information public in hopes that others will reconsider being employed by the ministry and giving them any money in donation.”
All bolding is mine. Dagel discusses the issues further in a story update that sheds more light on what it was like to work for Dean:
Dagel says “things started off pretty soft,” but there was an ominous incident in Minot, North Dakota, during his first You Can Run road trip. After one of his typical 12-plus hour days fundraising, Dagel was back in his hotel room watching Pawn Stars when Schomburg entered.
“He told me, ‘We don’t watch this stuff — if you want to watch TV, get your own room,'” Dagel said. In another instance, Dagel was reading the Fox News website on his phone when Schomburg told him to put it away because “you don’t need to know about that stuff.”
“I asked him, ‘Isn’t it important to know what your enemies are doing?’ and [Schomburg] told me that wasn’t a Christian teaching,” Dagel said. “He told me sharing the truth of Christ is all that matters and that’s what’s going to save the country. I’m a Christian and I follow Christ but I don’t believe in being ignorant.”
After the incident in Tennessee when Dagel was kicked out of the van and had to use his own money and his family’s assistance to get back to Iowa, he claims that he hasn’t spoken to Dean or Dean’s sidekick Jake Macaulay, but claims that Schomburg is still texting him to pay for that tank of gas.
While he’s encouraging young conservatives to stay away from You Can Run But You Can’t Hide, Dagel still holds admiration for his former boss:
Despite it all, Dagel still praised Dean for being a remarkable speaker and said he thinks Dean has a lot of important things to say about how Christian perspectives are being marginalized in today’s America. In fact, he said his ordeal with You Can Run hasn’t altered his Christian conservative viewpoints whatsoever.
“It’s impossible to change my political views,” Dagel said with a chuckle.
Well, okay then.
