Consolidated Lawsuit Updates

Editors note: Over the past 2 years, I have published a series of "Lawsuit Updates" to keep those who are interested in the subject up to date on pertinent developments. This page consolidates those reports into one section.

All About the Lawsuit Filed against Craig Portwood by James Lloyd AND Susan Lenox Doing Business as the Christian Media Network®

On September 17, 2004, Mr. Lloyd Published the following statement which implies that I have been dishonest in my publication of his past misdeeds.

"Craig has gone to the County Recorder here in Southern Oregon and dug up a record of a citation I received many years ago for driving under the influence.

In that episode from over 13 years ago, I was emotionally distraught at the time and was admittedly driving erratically – and the officer that wrote the citation thought I was intoxicated. After demanding a blood test, the driving under the influence citation was dismissed and the charge was subsequently dropped. There is no mention of my exoneration of the charge in Portwood’s account, as he’s already done his damage with the accusation."

The only reason I publish such information is that Mr. Lloyd continues to throw stones in his "Glass house."

His hypocrisy is not justified by his mudslinging.

Below are two thumbnail pictures which show how he continues to control the "spin" with false statements.

Click on the thumbnails to see the actual documents.

Notice that this case was not "dismissed" after Mr. Lloyd took a blood test, but was scheduled for trial after an arraignment (which is unusual after an "exoneration"), and he hired a LAWYER named "Engle", who fought to suppress evidence in that trial. Passing a blood test after being arrested for drunk driving (as Mr. Lloyd claims had occurred) usually doesn't require a lawyer or a trial.

The lawyer replied, "My client has an extra $10,000, and I just found out about it!"

Although James Lloyd and Susie Lenox (Doing business as CHRISTIAN MEDIA NETWORK) have claimed that I have lied about them in my expose "Prophecy For $ale", they have been forced to drop a number of claims in their lawsuits against me and Linda Kristich.

It is interesting that someone who makes statements to his listeners such as "Turn the dial..." and calls his listeners "Morons" and refers to people who disagree with him as "Slimy Sleazebags", could sue me for "Intentional Interference with Economic Relations".

It is notable that the issue is not "Righteousness" but Money which drives their actions.

Last year, I filed a document known as a "REQUEST FOR PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS AND THINGS AND ENTRY UPON LAND FOR INSPECTION AND OTHER PURPOSES" which made known my intention to inspect their 88+ acre ranch in Jacksonville (along with the County Building Inspector).

This was done to prove that my claim that they have built their structures without proper permits.

To avoid admitting my claim was true, they tried to get a Court Order for "Protection" (they do seek protection from the government whom they call "The Beast" and not from "God" as they claim on radio) to stop my inspection.

They won their bid for Court "Protection", only after they dropped two claims relating to the property. Their Motion for Attorney fees (which was obviously an attempt to keep me from fighting them by frightening me with the prospect of having to pay them MONEY) failed.

At that hearing, the issue as to whether they would be allowed to interrogate my Landlord was also heard. I filed a Motion for Court protection for her (as she had nothing to do with the case and had been dragged into the case by Lloyd and Lenox in what I believe was an attempt to harass me by harassing her) and the Court did limit the scope of the questioning because of that Motion.

Linda Kristich (who has also been sued by these "Fine Christians") likewise notified them of her intent to do the same and guess what? They likewise dropped four claims against her, as her inspection would prove that they are (and have been all along) lying. I expect to see many more of their claims dropped before this case goes to trial. If not, they risk appearing to be very foolish before the Jury which shall decide their worldly fates.

It appears as though Plaintiffs Lloyd and Lenox's claims against me (and Linda Kristich as well) were not made because what I published was not true, but that they didn't believe I could prove them. Each time I get close to producing proof as to the truth of my publication on any particular point, they drop the claim at issue.

In another recent development, Susan Lenox's sister, Kristin, dropped all claims she was pursuing against me, after I began to investigate her claims. I had filed a Notice of my intent to "Depose" her, and apparently, she decided that it was not a good idea to let me ask her any questions under oath.

This of course is a serious blow to James Lloyd and Susan Lenox's claims that I lied about Kristin in an article I published more than two years ago. In regard to that issue, I lost a Court hearing because of legal wrangling in a procedure known as a Summary Judgment Hearing, and James and Susan (Doing Business as CHRISTIAN MEDIA NETWORK) published the false statement that "...Craig admitted that he lied about Kristin..."

I have learned a great deal about the sleazy practice of Law over the last two years. Live and learn.

I suppose Kristin should be praised for her decision to do the right thing (albeit at the point of a "legal bayonet") and I have believed all along that she would not have joined the lawsuit without being manipulated into it by her sister and brother in law. I believe that she had been used as a "tool" to further James and Susan's agenda, and perhaps she saw this also.

In other related issues, James and Susan have consistently refused to cooperate with the process known as "Discovery". This is the portion of a lawsuit where an opposing litigant is allowed to request documentation from their opponent to use as evidence in a trial.

At almost every turn, James and Susan have fought against presenting their "evidence" and I have been forced to file Motions to Compel (which ask the Court to force them to do "the right thing") because of their attempts to hide the truth from me.

Further, what they have sent me is garbage which they should be embarrassed to even submit. Some examples of the 3,600 plus pages which purport to be "evidence" are:

This is in addition to a number of audio files which I did not request and which are of such poor quality as to make them useless.

And to think that they were trying to get me to pay them over $400.00 before presenting me with such damning evidence!

All totaled the paper work in the combined cases will probably exceed 12,000 pages of "evidence" , legal filings and hundreds of hours of audio files. Just imagine being on the jury as the case may take weeks. It has been a full time job for the last two years just to keep up with my half. Economic might does have its advantages.

I understand that Linda has discovered a number of laws here in Jackson County, as well as Oregon State laws, regulating the packaging of food (such as CHRISTIAN MEDIA'S APPLEGATE RANCH BEEF JERKY and other food products. In addition, there are a number of building codes for such operations and laws relating to permits which have been put in place to prevent food contamination.

If Lloyd and Lenox do not produce such evidences of compliance with such requests, their claim that they have not packaged any moldy beef jerky will most likely be difficult to prove in Court.

When the evidence is considered, I cannot see what they expected to accomplish with their frivolous lawsuit except to preemptively intimidate anyone who might expose them for the frauds that they are.

It is still amazing to me that they have been willing to go through the long drawn out (and expensive) legal process to avoid saying two simple words: "I apologize".

Of course, they do seem to have a lot of MONEY at CHRISTIAN MEDIA NETWORK, and I have noticed that they have of late, increased their commercial viability by accepting Credit Card payments for their merchandise via PayPal. In the past, they have made statements to the effect that Credit Cards are a "bad thing" and that "buying and selling with numbers" is akin to using the Mark of the Beast'

This of course could "bite them in the backside" unless they process orders quickly. PayPal will freeze any Commercial account which is the source of numerous complaints. There is also I believe, a requirement that the Vendor provide refunds to unhappy customers. Time will tell.

Linda and I were both scheduled to inspect the property on April 3, 2006, but that has changed.

The scheduled deposition of Susan Lenox has been moved April 26, 2006. It will be interesting to see what happens after she is presented with documentation which runs counter to the public statements of her husband. I am looking forward to her testimony.

Transcripts of this Deposition will in all likelihood, be published after it is used as evidence in open Court.

Judge Orf has been "Disqualified" as the result of a Motion filed by Linda Kristich.

You may remember that I last reported that the "Honorable" Rebecca Gordon Orf has troubles of her own. It seems as though while she and her Lawyer husband were living it up in Mexico on vacation last year, her son Drew was enjoying "Party Time" with his friends, without proper adult supervision.

The party it seem was timed to coincide with Drew’s completion of juvenile probation for delivering a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school, as indicated by Josephine County Circuit Court records.

In common language, Judge Orf's Juvenile son is a convicted drug dealer.

The case was transferred from Jackson County, presumably to avoid any appearance of impropriety that Judge Orf might exert undue influence over the outcome of that case.

It is reported that a Young man by the name of Kevan Thatcher-Stevens had visited Orf's home several times that week, including the night of February 11, 2005.

According to the Orfs’ Portland attorney Bradley Tellam, neither Orf nor his wife, Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Rebecca Orf, ever told Ashland High School students not to speak with police about events leading up to the Feb. 11, 2005, crash, . David Orf did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Tellam stated in his letter to the bar that David Orf never represented anyone police interviewed in the case. However, he provided no account of Orf’s conversations with the housekeeper, Lisa Groover, who was hired to stay with Drew, because she believed she was speaking to Orf "in the context of a privileged communication."

Police contend that Orf claimed to represent Groover when he testified before a grand jury in April last year. The Orfs initially would not give police Groover’s name, Schoen said. And when investigators uncovered her identity two months later, she said she had wanted to talk to police but that David Orf told her she should have an attorney, the deputy chief wrote.

Several Ashland High School students also said they should not talk to police upon the advice of an attorney, believed to be Orf, Schoen’s letter states. Tellam wrote that Orf was returning a phone call to Jamin Burchard when the teen was about to begin an interview with Ashland police detective Brent Jensen. After taking the call, Burchard refused to give Jensen a statement.

Police reports released in July indicate that Judge Orf who dispenses "Juvenile Justice" to other peoples children (while seeming to avoid accountability for her own) and her husband, David Orf resisted working with police attempting to determine the whereabouts of Thatcher-Stephens on February 11, 2005, before his Jeep Cherokee collided in Medford with a Chevrolet Blazer driven by Charles Ashley Bench of Shady Cove. Both Thatcher-Stephens, 17, and Bench, 26, were killed.

Medford police have filed formal complaints against the couple with the Oregon State Bar and the Commission on Judicial Fitness and Disability.

It has been reported that David Orf advised at least one teenager who was being questioned as a witness to possible events leading up to the death of an innocent man, not to talk with Police who were investigating the crime.

David Orf has denied all allegations that he behaved unethically during the police investigation of the year’s fatal crash.

The Oregon State Bar could investigate Orf’s conduct based on a complaint lodged with the association in February by Medford Deputy Police Chief Randy Schoen. No decision had been made in the case since Orf filed his response and Schoen sent a supplementary letter to the bar last week, said Scott Morrill, assistant general counsel.

Morrill said, in the absence of requesting more information from Orf and Schoen, he could conduct his own investigation, dismiss the complaint or send it to the bar’s disciplinary counsel. If guilty of violations, Orf could face a public reprimand, license suspension or disbarment.

Schoen also lodged a complaint against Judge Orf with the state’s Commission on Judicial Fitness and Disability. The commission has requested information on David Orf from the bar, said spokeswoman Kateri Walsh. But unlike David Orf’s, the complaint is not public information.

In any case, it seems that both Judge Orf and her husband (who is best known for his unsuccessful defense of a local Axe Murderer) are in hot water over their apparent uncooperative behavior.

Such is the moral character of the Judge which James Lloyd has claimed to be just as she has consistently ruled in Lloyd's favor.

In the near future there will be a short bio of Judge Mark Schiveley to whom has this case has been assigned.

Unfortunately, for the moment, this issue of the lawsuit must take precedent over publishing and broadcasting on the website, but I expect to make up for it after the trial is concluded.

Also, the report "Guerilla Law" should be published in book form in September of 2007 (after the trial), with data CDs containing a number of "Fill in the Blanks" legal forms (in Microsoft Word Format), as well as a number of "Lawyer Tricks" which you can expect to see in any such harassment lawsuit.

To bring everyone up to date on the lawsuit filed against two of the Christian faithful by James Lloyd and Susan Lenox who own a mail order company in Jacksonville Oregon and who are doing business under the fictitious names "CHRISTIAN MEDIA, CHRISTIAN MEDIA NETWORK, SOUND BODY, THE APOCALYPSE CHRONICLES, APPLEGATE RANCH, THE JAMES LLOYD GROUP etc., I have decided upon presenting a recap of all the events which have transpired between what are now known as "the parties".

In the summer of 2000, and at their request, I gave my services free to James Lloyd and Susan Lenox doing business as CHRISTIAN MEDIA NETWORK as a "donation". This was in the form of work performed operating an audio mixing board for the pair.

In October of that year and after repeated urging from James Lloyd, I quit my job and began to work for them as an on site audio board tech. I was required to live in a shack near the studio (pictured to the left). Like all "ministry help", I was paid under the table. This on site requirement of the job necessitated that I subordinate my needs to theirs. This I did (as did and do so many others) for the good of "the ministry".

After working for six weeks (and receiving no pay), I left. So did another six hosts shortly afterward. After an on air plea to have me call him, I called James, I told him that I would return (for pay) and he agreed. I returned in February of 2001.

Over the course of the next year, I became very ill under the burden of feeding and caring of the livestock, producing programs, commercials and working 15 hour days, five days a week in the studio. I left again in May of 2002, promising to return to Oregon and telling the owners that I could no longer live at the Christian Media compound.

A short time later, a smear campaign against me was begun by representatives of Christian Media. This campaign (in which the owners of Christian Media participated and which they sanctioned) included the circulation of vicious, false and defamatory statements about me and Linda Kristich in an email "prophecy" publication, the publication of an expanded version of the same article published on Lloyd and Lenox’s "news daily" website and their so called "research" site, the publication of a second, even more defamatory article, the circulation of defamatory posters stapled to telephone poles, ad boards and other places along a 25 mile section of highway where I lived, with photos of myself and Linda Kristich.

The reasons all became clear after Christian Media published their first smear piece. The article spoke critically of supposed "…broadcast aspirations…" held by Linda Kristich. The entire statement (like most others made in that article) made no sense…until it was compared with a viciously made false statement by James Lloyd on the radio. In that statement he said:

None of this was actually true but paranoia depends more upon fear than fact. The fact is that James Lloyd believed that Linda Kristich was going to "wrangle" her way into a large amount of money to compete with CHRISTIAN MEDIA NETWORK and he was doubtless scared to death. Thus, it was most likely a pre-emptive strike to protect the almighty network.

I made many attempts to bring about a peaceful end to the attacks but without success.

Since that time, James Lloyd and Susan Lenox doing business as CHRISTIAN MEDIA NETWORK hired a private investigator to stalk me and placed my home under surveillance. And although they deny it, I believe that it is only reasonable to conclude that James Lloyd and Susan Lenox were behind the episode where someone entered my landlord’s home without permission, holding a copy of a photo of me which was published on James Lloyd and Susan Lenox’s website, the intruder telling the landlord "I want to talk to you about Craig Portwood". The trespasser was ejected.

Not long after this the landlord received an anonymous letter accompanied by the same photo, which made several baseless allegations against me, of the kind published by James Lloyd and Susan Lenox doing business as CHRISTIAN MEDIA NETWORK.

After months of abuse on the internet, shortwave radio and the circulation of edited photos of myself on defamatory posters placed in my own neighborhood, I decided that I needed to bear witness to clear my previously good name.

At that point, I began this website in February 2003. Rather than make emotionally based, personal attacks which attempt to vilify the subject, as James Lloyd and Susan Lenox doing business as CHRISTIAN MEDIA NETWORK have done in their publications, I chose to simply examine the practices and doctrines of the group, to see how one could go one day from loyal servant of the "ministry" to "an enemy of the gospel, a slanderer, and a completely reprobate deceiver" the next.

Although James Lloyd has accused me of adultery, the record shows that while in a drunken rage, he tried to rape his live in lover Susan Lenox, injuring her in the process. This occurred just before he began writing his "foundational" book "Beyond Babylon" which Lloyd would have us all believe was inspired by God. Why God would bless their sinful union with the "Spirit of Prophecy" is beyond me, but if you are a follower of the cult you will no doubt dismiss this all as unimportant.

And so it seemed to be the right thing to do, to place the stories side by side on the internet. Let the people judge for themselves the truth of the matter. Of course, in the mean time, James continued to "predict" (He loves to make them!) the destruction of America by nuclear attack, first by June, then July of 2003 and then again in July of 2004 and finally some unspecified time during what Lloyd described as a "window period" between May and November of 2004. This he did in the same fashion in 1998.

He also lost another "prophecy" and his "King of the South" when Saddam Hussein was captured. Things only got worse when Pope John Paul II, whom Lloyd (in total hypocrisy) loudly proclaimed would be the individual described in the book of Revelation as "the False Prophet" openly and brazenly died, in a calculated attempt to make James Lloyd look like either a completely self deceived idiot, or to make him appear to be a total fraud.

After the truth was allowed to stand on the internet for 16 months, James Lloyd doing business as CHRISTIAN MEDIA NETWORK and Susan Lenox filed a lawsuit against me. After it became clear that I would not crumble as predicted, James Lloyd doing business as CHRISTIAN MEDIA NETWORK and Susan Lenox filed a lawsuit against Linda Kristich.

This is akin to Saddam Hussein lobbing Scud missiles into Israel because the United States is at war with him. It was and is a very gutless move, even for them.

The so called ministry (Christian Media) has sued (among other things) for loss of "…profits…" . And after all, if their god has not produced "profits" (nor prophets), why not submit the matter to that evil entity Lloyd and Lenox call "The Beast" (the State). It is a logical step for the pair.

Verse 16 of chapter 6 of the book of Romans asks the question: "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?"

James Lloyd and Susan Lenox doing business as CHRISTIAN MEDIA NETWORK have yielded themselves to the government and in effect have said: "We have an issue within the church. We want the State to decide these issues of faith and interpret scripture. We trust the government more that our god to settle this matter".

The fact that God did not bless their ministry is inherent though not stated in their "legal claims" against Craig Portwood and Linda Kristich and since James Lloyd and Susan Lenox doing business as CHRISTIAN MEDIA NETWORK could not silence the truth despite their might, the truth can only be silenced by the government through the crafty use of "rules of evidence" by an expensive lawyer. James Lloyd and Susan Lenox doing business as CHRISTIAN MEDIA NETWORK pay their corporate lawyer and champion Jason Brouhard, $140.00 and hour of "the Lord’s money" for his skills at legal wrangling in an effort to silence this ministry.

The 8 day trial alone will cost them (actually the the listeners, clients, customers, hosts, financial supporters, and associates of Christian Media Network and who give donation or provide financial assistance or sponsorship not the Plaintiffs) at least $15,000.00 to $20,000.00. Add to this the cost of all the legal wrangling they have initiated since they filed the first lawsuit more than 2 years ago. Consider the fact that they initiated a separate but nearly identical lawsuit against Linda Kristich more than a year ago and you get the picture of the kind of cash James Lloyd and Susan Lenox doing business as CHRISTIAN MEDIA NETWORK must have spent so far to get essentially nowhere.

It is estimated that it costs about $100,000.00 to prosecute a case for defamation. James Lloyd and Susan Lenox doing business as CHRISTIAN MEDIA NETWORK have two such lawsuits. So where has all this money come from? It comes from the many people who consider Christian Media their church and their tithes which makes this lawsuit possible. There is no question that Christian Media has financial supporters who make this lawsuit against Christians possible. A supposed injury to the economic relationship they have with their followers is the stated reason for this lawsuit. Its all about the love of money! They have "prayed to the Court" for $400,000.00 in "relief".

1^st Timothy - 6 :10 "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."

The Apostle Paul asks the question in 1^st Corinthians: "Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?" He says further in 1^st Corinthians 6:5-6 "I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers."

James Lloyd has found a simple way around this pesky doctrine: Simply declare that your opponent is not your "brother". And so, much like a Roman Catholic Pope, James Lloyd has "excommunicated" me by declaring that I am not a Christian. Of course, this doctrine is transparently self serving and fools only those possessing the dullest intellect, but there seems to be no shortage of those in professing Christendom.

James Lloyd has since published the following statements concerning the lawsuit:

"Now that I have initiated litigation against Craig Portwood and legally accused him of libel and defamation of character (essentially calling him a liar and challenging him to prove his statements are true), he is in a position to present his "evidence."..."

"I believe that Mr. Portwood will first posture for a while, but then he will refuse to present his "evidence" in a court of law. He will claim that `God is his witness’ and that he can’t win in the corrupt system of judicial recompense. He will claim he can’t afford to fight for the "truth." ".

It would seem as though James Lloyd believes God to be a poor witness. We shall see where James Lloyd and Susan Lenox go for their witness on Judgment Day.

In the mean time, it seems as though James and Susan lived in sin for several years according to Susan Lenox. When asked under oath about her wedding day, she couldn't remember where or when she was married, describing her marriage to James as "unimportant" (Susan Lenox Deposition; April 26, 2006).

She did later give a couple of years during which she might have married, but they were well far into the live in lover relationship by that time. It is not difficult to conclude that she lied about this as her story kept changing along with the date and location of their supposed "union". I now understand why she calls herself "Miss Lenox" and not Mrs. Lloyd.

In justifying their decision, they blame God, arguing that he told them to submit to the evil, corrupt system they vilify as "The Beast". They have said in effect: "God told us to go to the Devil".

James Lloyd and his paramour Susan Lenox enjoyed the Jackson County Fair on opening day. Below is a photo of the thirsty pair leaving the Jackson County Fair "Beer Tent" . For more photos of Mr. Lloyd and Miss Lenox, follow this link.

It is not known whether they visited the Pavilion where Linda Kristich's daughter Nicole

won First Prize, Champion and Reserve Grand Champion ribbons for her period dress seen below.

Late addition: Lloyd and Lenox lost their lawsuit. Not only that but they have admitted in court through council that they have been abusing drugs at Christian Media for ten years. This means that all those stupid so-called "prophecies" Lloyd has uttered where most likely made under the influence of drugs. We also learned that they were "living in sin" while running the "ministry. Hypocrisy is the Devils defense and Lloyd has practiced this device for many years.