Editing The Circle of Friends (section)

== Deprogrammer activities ==
[[Galen Kelly]] worked as a deprogrammer against the group starting in 1978, by offering "voluntary interventions" during which he would approach a member as they entered or left work and offer them the opportunity to see and talk to a trusted family member.<ref name="grayWCP16dec1994">{{Cite web|last=Gray|first=Lisa|date=December 16, 1994|title=Closing the Circle|url=https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/289901/closing-the-circle/|access-date=October 16, 2020|website=Washington City Paper|language=en-US}}</ref> In November 1978 the group filed a suit against Galen, asking for a court order forbidding "kidnappings such as the alleged abduction" of a member.<ref name="DRnov71978">{{Cite news|date=November 7, 1978|title=Cult Members Seeking Court Protection|pages=5|work=[[Daily Record (Morristown)|Daily Record]]|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30632350/1978-11-07-cult-members-seek-court/|access-date=October 16, 2020}}</ref> In 1990 he was convicted of kidnapping a member of Washington D.C. cell, Debra Dobkowski, and spent 16 months in prison before his conviction was overturned on appeal.<ref name="grayWCP16dec1994" /> Galen claimed Dobkowski and the cult had set him up by having Dobkowski switch guard shifts with her roommate, Beth Bruckert, the actual target of the intervention, that he had offered a voluntary intervention, and that Dobkowski had accompanied him willingly.<ref name="grayWCP16dec1994" /><ref>U.S. Seeks to Fire Prosecutor in Va. For Alleged Misconduct in Cult Kidnapping Case, Washington Post, October 4, 1994</ref><ref>[http://www.postgazette.com/win/day3_1a.asp Discovery violations have made evidence-gathering a shell game] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080518034042/http://www.postgazette.com/win/day3_1a.asp|date=May 18, 2008}}, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 24, 1998</ref> Dobkowski later pleaded guilty for [[money laundering]] crimes associated with her membership in the group and served a 21-month prison sentence.<ref>Gray, Lisa (September 23, 1994) "Return of the Cult Snatcher", Washington City Paper</ref>