The Foundation of Knowledge Expansion was a cult led by licensed genetic therapist Dr. Garret Lang. Their crimes range from murder, assault, child abuse, conspiracy, and embezzlement.
Background[]
The Foundation of Knowledge Expansion was founded by Lang alongside the Lang-Foy Clinic, where he practiced and used as a front for the Foundation's activities. Setting up aptitude facilities across the country under the name of Knowledge Builders, run by headmistress Marcie Kinderski, the Foundation would scout for potential preteen and teenage girls from wealthy or upper-middle-class families to manipulate, preferring troubled and incorrigible ones or naïve ones with high hopes. They would brainwash them and manipulate them to fly over, under assumed identities, to a brownstone townhouse in Chelsea under the supervision of caretaker Paula Haggerty, who was promised a clone of her missing daughter if she participated. The disappearance of one such girl, Jessica Morse, made national headlines. The cult's signature symbol was an infinity sign, the insignia for Lang's clinic, which the girls would receive necklace pendants of and which the major cultists in the operations would have tattooed on one of their inner wrists each, as it would reinforce the hive mind to keep it bound together. Lang's legal counsel Joan Quentin would cover the major legal cover-ups and upholding of the cult's operations and records, and the finances would be under the name Infinity Partners.
The Foundation's real purpose was to impregnate the girls and sell their children for high profits, all under the guise of "cloning" research and applications. They would lie to people who lost their children, claiming that their babies "would be born again" to sell the babies in elaborate cons for vast sums of money. However, although the hormone enhancement increased their egg counts, each of the children sired and born from the captive girls would really be artificially inseminated with Lang's sperm; it was never fully clarified if Lang considered it "cloning" or willingly made the Foundation about the con scheme. When the girls disobeyed orders or had a demeanor the cult disapproved of, they would be "punished" by insulting them in front of everyone or through isolation, degradation, and, in the worst cases, torture until they were conditioned again.
One day, Haggerty took one of the girls, Samantha Tassler, down to the townhouse's basement for reconditioning. Tassler had called out Lang's operations and threatened to file a police report, which Morse reported to Haggerty. As a result of her time in the basement, Tassler grew extremely ill from the unkempt conditions, as well as becoming severely malnourished after being deprived of food and water as part of the reconditioning. Upon realizing this, Haggerty tried to save her, but Lang commanded against it. Tassler then died of a pulmonary embolism induced by the extent of her torture. Lang ordered Haggerty to assist him in disposing of her corpse, and she abided, leaving Tassler in an alleyway, covering her with a child's blanket, and putting a stuffed animal under her arm out of remorse. Lang and Haggerty then lied to Morse and the other girls, claiming that she was "taken away".
Perfect[]
Tassler is found when patrol cops get into a shootout with an armed robber, who inadvertently fires a stray shot into Tassler's temple, leading to Ed Tucker telling the Special Victims Unit to investigate as a "favor" to the Internal Affairs Bureau. Even though the robber is cleared after M.E. Melinda Warner reveals that the shot didn't kill her, she sorts through her other injuries and reveals that she was producing over a dozen eggs at a time from the hormone enhancement treatments. The detectives are led to Lang through Tassler's custom infinity necklace, which was found on her person. The jeweler paid for designing the necklaces is found, and he gives up Lang as the client. Upon being questioned at his clinic, Lang talks more about his practice and lies about not knowing Tassler or why she had the necklace, as he says he gives them to all of his patients. He refuses to give the names of his patients, citing confidentiality clauses.
When legal records go nowhere, the SVU eventually finds the townhouse and decides to stake it out. Detectives Stabler and Benson see a few girls go in and out of the doors. When they see Morse in her altered appearance and recognize her, they enter without a warrant and meet Haggerty. They arrest her on suspicion of child abuse and notice the tattoo on her wrist. With the girls rescued, they refuse to provide their real names, blame themselves for fleeing to the cult, and insist on being returned to Haggerty. Quentin stymies Lang's prosecution, and the brownstone is cleared of any evidence and furnishments by the time the police raid it again. However, Morse tells them about Lang's private insemination, and Stabler and Benson arrest Lang in the process of inseminating another girl. The insemination isn't enough to hold Lang for aggravated sexual abuse, even though his finances prove fraud. DNA tests eventually prove that Lang is the father of the babies, and Warner rules Tassler's death a homicide, as well as finding Haggerty's saliva on her from kissing her. Morse, having been in denial the entire time, voices her guilt over giving Tassler up to the police.
However, Morse still testifies against Lang, but it isn't enough to deflect Lang's testimony of not being associated with Tassler's murder. He pins it all on Haggerty, lying that he wasn't there since the brownstone was set up. Haggerty is confronted in prison and offered a new attorney while also being informed that the legal system revealed her daughter's missing persons report. A.D.A Cabot brings in Morse to say she still cares about her like family just like her parents, encouraging Haggerty to testify against Lang in Tassler's murder. She reveals all of the details, along with how she tried to save Tassler and eventually left her in the alleyway with the blanket and stuffed animal. In response, Lang has an outburst, lashing out at her for her "betrayal" and forcing bailiffs to remove him from the courtroom. As he is dragged out, he rants that he started the movement for cloning and that someone will succeed even if he doesn't. In the end, Lang is found guilty of murder, conspiracy, fraud, sexual and child abuse, grand larceny, and tampering; and he is given a sentence of life without parole.
Known Members[]
- Dr. Garret Lang (leader and founder; imprisoned)
- Paula Haggerty (second-in-command; alive)
- Joan Quentin (Lang's lawyer; status unknown)
- Marcie Kinderski (recruiter; imprisoned)
Known Victims[]
- Numerous unnamed girls (all stalked and tricked into being kidnapped, held captive, tortured, brainwashed, and inseminated; their babies were sold; many were rescued)
- Jessica Morse (stalked and tricked into being kidnapped, held captive, tortured, brainwashed, and inseminated; was rescued)
- Samantha Tassler (stalked and tricked into being kidnapped, held captive, brainwashed, and inseminated; later tortured to death with malnourishment and dehydration and died from a pulmonary embolism)