Who Wrote "The Omega Code"?
We will soon learn. The Honorable Judge Lourdes Baird in the United States District Court, Los Angeles, California, ruled on October 30, 2000, denying defendants Trinity Broadcasting Network and it's associates Motion for Summary Judgment; declaring that they substantially plagiarized Sylvia Fleener's book entitled The Omega Syndrome.
Dottie Snow, a long-term friend of Fleener, former associate of TBN and daughter-in-law of the late Hank Snow, personally took a copy of the manuscript to Jan Crouch in 1996. Other TBN employees were also given copies of the manuscript.
Fleener, a terminally ill patient suffering from crest Scleroderma, is a patient of Doctor Donna Scudder in Nashville, Tennessee.
Fleener hired private investigators, who found in August of 2000, one
Kelly Whitmore, a former personal assistant to Jan Crouch. Ms. Whitmore
testifies that in 1996, she was told to "get familiar with Fleener's manuscript
as it would be their next project" following a series of plays produced
at Hendersonville. She packed and unpacked and carried the manuscript around
for about a year, up until she resigned in April of 1997 after finding
her now ex-husband Kent Whitmore in an uncompromising circumstance with
Jan Crouch. Several other former TBN employees have now come forward who
saw the manuscript at Trinity Music City in Hendersonville.
During the 1999 TBN pre-release promotion of The Omega Code movie, Fleener saw significant similarities to her work, The Omega Syndrome. She and her friends familiar with her work knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that certain elements and aspects were taken from her work.
Fleener contacted TBN on November 1, 1999 and received a letter response stating no one within the organization had ever seen or heard of her book. Another call by Fleener was followed by another letter response in January of 2000, again denying any infringement.
Fleener filed a $40 million Copyright and Trademark Infrigment lawsuit against TBN and it's associates on July 11, 2000, in the United States District Court in Los Angeles, California. When asked why, considering her health, would she file such a lawsuit, she responded with "I know it sounds like David and Goliath, but it is our moral obligation to stand against anyone who has willfully perpetrated a crime. The Ten Commandments are not multiple choice." All Christians should read Revelation 18:4. We are not to be partakers of wrong doing. We are to stand on the Gospel. My prayer is that the truth prevail and darkness be brought to the light. Now we wait for the Court to decide WHO wrote The Omega Code.
Preliminary promotions by TBN of their production of the sequel to The Omega Code, The Meggido, indicate that it may well be the rest of The Omega Syndrome.
For more information contact:
HOPE MANOR PUBLISHING, INC.
http://www.omegasyndrome.com