SCIENTOLOGY COVER-UP?

DANNY MASTERSON HEADS TO TRIAL ON RAPE CHARGES AMID ALLEGATIONS THAT HIS CHURCH HARASSED HIS ACCUSERS.

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THE testimony was chilling. In a pretrial hearing, three women detailed harrowing accusations of rape against Danny Masterson. At times weeping, the alleged victims claimed that the former That 70’s Show star violently assaulted them — often while they were unconscious — between 2001 and 2003. Sometimes, they said, he’d even brag about it. The evidence was so damning that on May 21, L.A. judge Charlaine Olmedo ordered Danny, who pleaded not guilty, to return to court for arraignment June 7. As the judge spoke, the masked actor, 45, seemed to have no reaction.

No wonder. A Star insider claims that Danny — a devoted Scientologist — has been protected by the controversial yet powerful church for decades. Indeed, a civil lawsuit accused Danny and the organization of harassing his accusers — even harming their pets — to intimidate them into silence. None of which seems to have perturbed the dad-of-one. “Danny is confident the church will continue to stand by him,” says the insider, “and nothing has happened to suggest otherwise.”

DEEP COVER