Posts were made regularly at the previous Desteni forum by people who admitted they are under 18, but that forum was deleted without explanation in July this year.

Current members aged around 20 first got into it when they were under 18. Many of them first got involved aged around 18-23. Desteni started in 2007.

Ryan Paul Franklin was making Desteni promo videos when he was about 15...

[manageapply.blogspot.com]

He's deleted his YouTube channel for some reason.

New recruit Marcus Duffy has said he is 15:

[www.youtube.com]
[marcusduffy.blogspot.com]

So when did he start? Age 12?

Another recruit Jessica N Smith gives her age as 18:

[www.youtube.com]
[exposingmyselfthroughequality.blogspot.com]

Poolman set the precedent when he hired Sunette Spies to front the group. She was said to be about 22-23 in the original videos but I would say looks about 15-18. Either way, if she was going to have an appeal it would only be for a younger audience or for those interested in young people, and that would be a deliberate tactic on the part of Poolman.

At the time, many people commented on her young age, some saying she was about 12. Notably, some of the old videos of Sunette Spies currently being re-uploaded to YouTube have only the audio track and her image removed.

Although Poolman gives his age as 49-50 I'd say he looks and sounds more like 55-65.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/19/2011 06:55PM by Sandman.

Just like anything else, if a concerned citizen has evidence that illegal activities involving minors is occurring in a group, a complaint can be filed with the police, and followed up on.

for example, the 'Holy Man' spiritual leader Warren Jeffs was charged, convicted and jailed for life for sex offenses with minors.
[en.wikipedia.org]

Yes, but uh, the police are not going to accept Warren Jeffs as evidence against Desteni.

Obviously the general point is that if some sect or group is engaging in illegal activities like the use of illegal drugs with minors, or illegal sexual activity involving minors, then in fact the police can investigate that based on the evidence.

So who would be best placed to file a complaint, and get the SA police investigating? would it have to be based on having had more contact than just having read their forum?

To file a complaint with the police in Pietermaritzburg, I don't think it would necessarily have to mean having had direct contact with the Desteni group, but it would have to be based on facts to make it worth their while in terms of being able to identify criminal activities.

The Desteni scam is at least to some extent successfully being deterred by a number of individuals online as they are providing factual information and reasonable ideas about it, not setting off false alarms. Unless somebody is keeping it secret, there is no evidence that Poolman or anyone else in Desteni are sexually abusing minors. There is not even evidence that people under 18 are visiting or live on the Desteni farm. Poolman's aggressive stance against the world could be such that he is in possession of illegal arms, but again that is mere speculation.

As freespeech4tw pointed out, there's something very adolescent about Desteni media, and that's the case whatever the age of those involved.

There are now a great deal of videos released by Desteni which are supposed to convey the idea that parents are "evil". They are deliberately aiming to recruit young people with problems with their parents.

The age of the ex-Desteni member who ran this currently inactive YT channel:
[www.youtube.com]
and contributed to this forum is given as 22, so he was only 17-18 when he got into Desteni and paid out for their Structural Resonance Alignment Training.

It could be that parents' money is being used without knowledge of what it's being used for. It could also be that Desteni websites and courses ought to be bound by law to have an adults only policy. In which case, their web host or some other internet authority could be informed.

Thanks Sandman, great points. We have all read on this RR, the posts by an ex member.
I can only speculate as to why his youtube account has not been written on within the last
few months. Hopefully any ex members will come here, read the info, get help if necessary
and start their new 'desteni cult free' lives. Also, if they feel the desire to contact any of us,
I'm sure that I speak for all, we would be more than happy to help.

As a mother of a member, I have lived this nightmare. This group of people are no where
closer to their ems than then is a man on the moon! I do, however, feel that many of the
members truly believe in the theory, and I feel badly saying that to them. If they would
just ask themselves the important questions, and answer honestly. Talk with a sibling,
a friend, see what they think of the new 'desteni cult' you. Your parents love you and
only wants what's going to make your life a healthy, happy and sucessful one.
PLEASE JUST TRY THIS, share yourself with them and ask them to listen, and in turn
you listen back. Then, try to match it with bernard and sunette's version of family. Do you
really believe these two strangers (until the last few years!) over your flesh and blood.
I am telling you, it's just not right. No group, company, friendship, team, etc would ask
you to give up your family and tell you that 'love' is not real. We (your parents) LOVE YOU!!

Just a general point, which of course most people are aware of, but some people might not be.

If a citizen sees or suspects some type of illegal activity where minors are being exploited, then of course they can contact the authorities and report it.
If a person really cares about it, they can submit the complaint in writing, and then follow up on it as it goes through the system.

Or if a former member of a group has a report of illegal activities with minors, then they could report that as well.

But of course making a complaint to the authorities is serious business.

But its like anything else.
If a person hears a neighbor doing what sounds like the serious abuse of a minor, for example, without seeing it, can they report that? Yes they can, and hopefully, it will be investigated.

Also, different areas have different laws for the age of consent, and how that applies to adults.

[en.wikipedia.org]

Lastly, if some sect is using illegal drugs like Ecstasy-MDMA [www.drugaware.co.za] with minors, or with anyone, one assumes that would be investigated.

Or if the sect has some registered, unregistered or illegal guns, certainly the local police would like to be aware of that.


OSHO-Rajneesh was the cult leader who really promoted the use of MDMA, and would slip it to groups of people without their knowledge.

Osho / Rajneesh MDMA Ecstasy [forum.culteducation.com]
OSHO Rajneesh was one of the worst. Brainwashing, sexual abuses, mass druggings, poisonings...
Followers of Rajneesh to this day still don't seem to realize that they were probably DRUGGED by the Osho/Rajneesh goonsquad, in those all night ecstatic meditation sessions. To this day there are people posting about it...they can't seem to realize that they were most likely DRUGGED by those Osho maniacs. They would regularly poison people, never mind "merely" drug them.