Emily: Hey guys, welcome back to the first episode of Certified Chismosas. I’m your host Emily.

Kassandra: And I’m your co-host Kassandra.

Abigail: And I’m the producer Abigail.

Emily: Hell Yeah. And for the first episode, where probably not going to do much, we’re just going to be talking about some juicy news that we heard allegedly. An alleged cult. But…

Kassandra: On campus

Emily: On campus. And on other campuses as well. Not just ours (Cerritos college). It’s global at this point. But anyways, for campus news, this Friday, November 7, we’re going to have the transfer conference from 9 a.m. to 11:30 at the Fine Arts Building. And then we also have the Día de los Muertos celebration on Friday, November 7 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. near the Liberal Arts building at the lawn. So, if you guys want to see us, we’ll probably be there at either or events. So we’ll catch you there if you guys want to come say hi. That’s pretty much it for campus news, not a lot of stuff. We’re just chillin. Slow week, slow week.

Abigail: Very Tiring.

Emily: Yeah, and Halloween just passed. It’s a good celebration, I had fun. Did you guys have fun for Halloween.

Kassandra: I didn’t really do anything. I’m surprised because it’s like the first time in a while that Halloween has been on a weekend and I haven’t done anything. But yeah.

Emily. I didn’t do anything cause my mom’s birthday falls on Halloween, so we just celebrated that rather than Halloween so. But yeah.

Abigail: I went trick r’ treating with my little sister, and my mom almost fell.

Kassandra and Emily: Oh… (both hysterically laughing)

Emily: Is she okay or? So, like, did she trip over something?

Abigail: The concrete was like, risen.

Emily and Kassandra: Oh.

Abigail: So, she tripped over it.

Kassandra: So uneven concrete, got it.

Emily: Where did you guys go?

Abigail: Umm, just around the neighborhood in Paramount.

Emily: Oh, that’s cool. I heard they give out good candy over there.

Abigail: No.

Kassandra: (small laugh)

Emily: Sucks to Suck. Anyways, so did you guys see the people walking around campus. The CARE Project.

Kassandra: Yes.

Emily: Have you producer?

Abigail: I have. Not just on campus, I also got approached near Lakewood mall, so it’s not just on campus, they’re on off-campus site as well.

Kassandra: And our communities.

Emily: Yeah, well supposably, I don’t know if it’s true so don’t sue me if it’s not, but allegedly, they’re a cult.

Kassandra: And it’s a pyramid scheme.

Emily: Yeah, it’s a whole pyramid scheme. All the donations and all that, the workers don’t see a single cent. But yeah, we have our source. We’re not going to name any names, not going to name any people, this is all allegedly, so if they were making it up to cause some drama. But we also have some other sources online that have also, you know, agreed with the statements that our source has made. We’re not going to point any fingers, we’re not gonna hopefully not get sued because that’s probably going to be a problem for the law department. But yeah, according to our source, they said that they were contacted through social media and they also found her on campus and that’s where they picked her up. They asked her if she was interested in joining…

Kassandra: Their Church.

Emily: Yeah, so the recruitment for their church called…

Abigail: The Fellowship Church and the CARE Project.

Emily: Yeah, well supposably, the Fellowship Church you know, has these recruiters that go around campuses and go through social media and they just recruit, initiate to join their Church, I guess. And they pretty much just like encourage them to change live and help others in need. Under religious pretense.

Abigail: They go around campus and ask for donations and if they see someone that they want to approach, they might offer them a position in their church.

Emily: Yeah

Abigail: And that’s when they get scammed and get approached by the cult. Alleged cult.

Kassandra: They also tell them that joining them would help them strengthen their relationship with God.

Emily: Yeah, it’s like very… religious psychosis.

Kassandra: Yeah.

Emily: Yeah, they’re like hey, are you interested in donations for a good cause. They try to explain that it’s the CARE project, but they leave it pretty vague.

Kassandra: I feel like they don’t even know what…

Emily: Yeah, that’s what our source said you know. She thought it was legit at first until you know, she ran into complications. And she didn’t get paid at all. And like her legal documents and passport and stuff were kept by the handlers, because they were all traveling as group. So it was easier for one person to have it all so that they could buy the ticket easier and all that, and they could all ready go. And the only reason why our source managed to “quote on quote” escape was because they were going to move on to like a different state. And she took her passport and just took off on a different flight. Where? I don’t know, she didn’t mention where she was from. Didn’t mention where she was going. We met her because of campus.

Abigail: On Cerritos College.

Emily: Yeah, at Cerritos. We bumped into her and I was like, oh that’s cool, I could write a story. And then that story turned into this.

Abigail: Turned into a podcast. Episode 1.

Kassandra: Episode 1, yeah.

Emily: It’s juicy gossip, you know, and we should bring awareness to who these people are.Kassandra: Yeah, and using especially their relationship with God against people who, they believe in that and they try and make it seem like they’re doing it for a good cause.

Emily: Well, yeah, it’s like, especially if they’re going through a tough time and they want to turn to God or something. People like this come up to them and it’s not hard to imagine why they get so sucked in. Which sucks because it might not be so legit and it’s just a pyramid scheme and a cult.

Kassandra: And with some that are in those situations, they convince them to leave everything behind and umm, drop out of school, leave their families and things like that.

Emily: Yeah, they’re told that, they have to leave everything behind.

Kassandra: And just focus on the church and what they’re presenting to other people…

Emily: Yeah, what they’re preaching.

Kassandra: Yeah, exactly.

Emily: It’s crazy, like I cannot imagine leaving my parents.

Kassandra: Yeah, especially with someone you just meet, you know. Like if we’re walking on campus and we meet someone and their like telling us this and then they’re telling you, oh, you also have to leave your families or to appoint like even drop out of school. But you shouldn’t have to do that. If you’re still doing something that’s good, you shouldn’t have to do that I guess, do those things. Because you can still believe in God and still go to school and stay with your family.

Emily, Yeah, it’s just crazy, I don’t know. I think it’s cause I’m not religious, so I wouldn’t give up anything for like you know, religion, so. But I could I understand what other people are going through and why they might be so inclined to join this church and this whole scheme, I guess. But yeah.

Abigail: But even then, the Church doesn’t seem very knowledgeable in religion. We have a person who said that they wanted to go to one of the meetings, and when she showed up, nobody was there.

Kassandra: They told her that it was a bible study and when she got there, they told her that it had just ended, but they were still encouraging her to stay. She event wanted to test out, because she knows her stuff, like…

Emily: Oh, this was your friend?

Kassandra: Yeah. And so, she knew her stuff and so she wanted to know if they knew theirs. And she was like, they’re not reliable in what they know. I guess it was like fake.

Emily: Like a pretense?

Kassandra: Yeah, because she’s met people on campus right, that believe in God and talk about those things. But when she went in there, because she wanted to actually know if it was legit. And when she went there, they couldn’t meet her on the same level of knowing things about God and the Bible and stuff like that.

Emily: So, there might be some legitness to this being a pyramid scheme.

Abigail: Yeah, so… I mean mostly on school campuses; the CARE Project is what you get approached by. And when they do, they ask for donations about whatever they’re focusing on at the moment. So sometimes it’s homelessness or drug addiction rehab and things like that. and other times, they’ll try and get you into the Fellowship Church and try to get you into their alleged cult.

Kassandra: Alleged.

Emily: Alleged.

Abigail: And they’ll send you off to like other states. You don’t know anybody, you don’t know the area, you don’t know what to do. They just kind of leave you.

Kassandra: They’ll just drop you off and tell you, you have to do this and then we will pick you up.

Emily: Preach this, this., and that.

Kassandra: Yeah, and especially those people that feel like they don’t have anyone and anything to believe in. So, it’s not hard to like…

Abigail: They’re an easy target.

Kassandra: Yeah, for them. And they’re telling them all this stuff like for them to believe in this and things will get better. And things like that. Umm, it’s easier for people to join the Church or the alleged cult.

Emily: Right.

Abigail: And it’s not just something that has been happening recently. Because online, although there isn’t much about them, on reddit, people post about how the leaders are Matthew Wirgler and Kevin Prasad, and they try and manipulate college students in the name of God to raise money, but that money just seems to be going to them. Because like you said..

Emily: They don’t get paid.

Abigail: They don’t get paid. I’m pretty sure they are not even helping what they say they want to do. So, it just goes to them.

Emily: And we don’t know where the money goes, supposably.

Kassandra: Exactly.

Abigail: I read somewhere that they also had at one point an FBI case on them for misusing money and stuff like that.

Kassandra: Fraud and things like that.

Abigail: But…

Emily: Can’t emphasize the alleged enough.

Kassandra: (chuckles) Yeah.

Emily: We don’t know how true any of this is.

Kassandra: Exactly, and then those leaders, you know, they say that they say that, allegedly again, they say that they live in these mansions and things like that. And the ones that are getting recruited, there’s ones that are living on the streets because they left their homes and they’re not living that same life, you know. While the leaders are living comfortably.

Abigail: Yeah, it says right here on reddit that over 50 college students devoted themselves to the church and they dropped out and they are not getting paid enough. It says that their living conditions are horrible, they are struggling to pay bills. They’re not living in homes; they are living in broken RVs with no water and electricity on streets illegally while the leaders Matthew and Kevin live in mansions comfortably.

Emily: So, they just seem to be targeting the youth, right? Just like college students mostly.

Abigail: Yeah.

Kassandra: I guess because we’re like more of the open-minded people that they could get in.

Emily: Also, the most desperate.

Kassandra: Exactly.

Emily: You know, college student loans built up, you just need an outlet.

Kassandra: Because if they’re telling you, oh we can help you with this and things like that, it’s easy to get you.

Emily: Yeah, and it’s like if we’re traveling, you know, out of state and supposably getting paid. It’s all the more reason to join. And then in the end, at least for our source, she said that she didn’t get paid. And she gave like 3 weeks of work and didn’t see a single dime. And that was when all the red flags were going off, so she just ran, I guess. I could not, I’m just not going to be able to look at them the same. But we are not encouraging you to confront the workers and that stuff because we don’t know if there is any truth to this.

Abigail: And also, just watch your back. This is something that we heard from multiple people, and we just want to spread the word and make sure that everybody is safe.

Emily: Yeah.

Kassandra: But also like, if you’re that person that wants to know what’s going on, just because we are saying this, doesn’t mean you should shy away, I guess. But…

Emily: Yeah, but in the end, this is certified chismosas, and we just like the chisme. So, the truth to these claims, we have not confirmed, and we are not going to deny either. We are just here to spread the chisme.

Kassandra: Yeah.

Abigail: In a positive way.

Emily: Yeah, in a positive way, because if this is true, we at least want to spread awareness.

Kassandra: Yeah, just inform people of what’s going on around campus and around our communities.

Emily: Yeah, but that’s it. We don’t really want you to like confront the workers if you see them on campus. We don’t want you to like, ask them if they are in danger or something like that because we don’t know if this is just like the situation or if it’s a person-by-person case. So, if you see them, just say no. Just be like, no thank you. Not interested. And then walk away, let them do their own thing. There’s nothing much you can do if it’s deeper. But yeah. We have a google form for certified chismosas which we’ll probably have linked I the description.

Kassandra: And then if you want us to share some chisme that you heard, or you want to share something of your own or something specific. Or share your clubs and events, just fill out that form and then. We will be able to talk about it.

Emily: Our website is also, talonmarks.com, is also going to have everything linked with the google form and everything. So, if you want to fill that out. Spread the chisme if you will, so that we can share it. But feel free to fill it out.

Kassandra: Then you can also see our stories on Talon Marks because we are also part of the Journalism program here at Cerritos.

Emily: Right, so we’ve hit our time mark. We got to get going, we each have our own things to do. So, this was Emily your host signing off.

Kassandra: This is your co-host Kassandra signing off.

Abigail: And this is your producer signing off.

All together: Bye.

Bloopers start.

Edited and Transcribed by Abigail Luna