Spirituality

In this Stories from the Vault episode, Mark Mueller recounts one of the strangest cases of his legal career — a civil matter involving a Dominican lay monk, alleged exorcisms, and deeply vulnerable women seeking spiritual help. What began as an unusual phone call became a complex investigation into spiritual authority, psychological vulnerability, and the misuse of trust. The case centered on a man known as “Brother Wrinn,” who traveled with Dominican monks performing exorcisms among undereducated Hispanic women — asking invasive questions and conducting rituals that left multiple women confused, dissociated, and unsure of what had happened to them. As more women came forward with strikingly similar accounts, depositions revealed alarming gaps in training, oversight, and accountability. The case ultimately settled, with conditions removing the monk from contact with the community. This one is about consent, ethics, and what happens when spiritual authority lands in unqualified hands.