LOS ANGELES -- Charles Dederich, the founder of the Synanon drug rehabilitation group, was told he cannot resume his activities with the group and must remain on probation for placing a rattlesnake in a lawyer's mailbox.
Dederich's attorney complained that his 70-year-old client's health was suffering because he was prohibited by the court from being involved in any of the organization's activities, including group discussions known as the Synanon Game.
Prosecutor John Watson, however, argued Monday it was Dederich's role in such discussions that led to the October 1978 attack on Paul Morantz, an attorney who had filed a lawsuit against the group and was bitten on the hand by a rattlesnake when he reached inside his mailbox.
'In the past Mr. Dederich's participation in some of the Synanon activites have led to attacks on people,' Watson said. 'I'd be very reluctant to have him go back to the same kinds of activities.'
Superior Court Judge William Hogoboom said he did not think Dederich posed a threat to society, but said he still did not want to see him participate 'in the so-called Synanon Game.'
Hogoboom did, however, agree to ease the residency requirements of Dederich's probation, ruling he can travel anywhere in the world for up to 90 days without prior approval by his probation officer.
Dederich was given five years' probation and fined $10,000 after pleading no contest in 1980 to charges of conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation to commit kidnapping and assault in connection with the attack on Morantz.
Two young Synanon members, Joseph Musico and Lance Kenton, son of the late bandleader Stan Kenton, also pleaded no contest to the charges and were sentenced to short terms in county jail.
