Church of The End Times

A small-town church that targeted damaged young women through exorcisms, sexual manipulation, and financial exploitation.

The Church of the End Times was a small new religious movement and alleged cult based in Uxbridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 2006 by brothers David H. Stanley and Dennis H. Stanley, the group gained significant media attention in 2012 after a series of arrests, a police standoff, and investigative reports that uncovered accusations of sexual exploitation, financial manipulation, and psychological coercion targeting vulnerable young women. The group is widely regarded by former members, cult experts, and local law enforcement as having operated as a manipulative and exploitative cult, though its leaders consistently denied those characterizations.

The Stanley brothers had no formal religious training of any kind. Before establishing the church, the pair founded and operated a driveway paving company called Driveways Corp., which shared its address with the church at 19 Industrial Drive in Uxbridge. The Better Business Bureau gave the company an “F” grade after dozens of customers complained of shoddy work, with complaints continuing as late as August 2012. The convergence of a commercial business and a religious organization under the same roof was unusual even by the standards of unconventional new religious movements, and it reflected the blurred boundaries that would come to define the church’s operations more broadly.

David Stanley, who went by “Pastor David” and was referred to by some as the “Archangel,” served as the primary leader and public face of the group. His brother Dennis occupied a secondary leadership role. According to an article published in the Telegram & Gazette in 2009, the brothers had been operating the church since 2006, and the organization posted videos to a YouTube channel in which David Stanley performed exorcisms of alleged demons from members. These videos were openly accessible and became one of the first things that drew public and media scrutiny to the group.

Former members described a pattern of recruitment that began with an atmosphere of genuine community and Christian belief, which then gradually shifted into increasing control and isolation. Samantha Bonin-Derry, one such former member, told FOX Undercover that she initially found the church’s message compelling and relatable, particularly because she had not previously held religious beliefs. She described being drawn in through a boyfriend who was a church member. Over time, however, she said she was required to delete her Facebook account, cut off contact with friends unless she was bringing them into the church, surrender her paycheck, and hand over the title to her car. She was also pressured to minimize contact with her own children as a way of proving her devotion. When she expressed disagreement with church teachings or practices, she was told that her resistance was evidence that she was possessed by demons, and she was subjected to repeated exorcisms. “I was just so sick of getting exorcisms done on me and nothing I did was ever good enough,” she said.

Another former member, Sandy Dolbec, described the psychological dynamic that kept members from leaving: “When you’re on the outside looking in it’s a cult. When you’re there you’re so brainwashed you do whatever you’re told because you feel like you have nowhere else to go.” This pattern of behavior, in which members are gradually stripped of outside relationships, financial independence, and personal autonomy, is consistent with what sociologists and cult researchers describe as coercive control within high-demand religious groups.

The most serious and disturbing allegations concerned the sexual atmosphere that former members said pervaded the church, particularly around the two pastors. Beth Stanley, who was married to Dennis and had known him since high school, alleged that women would sit on the laps of both pastors and become sexually aroused during and after services. She alleged that Dennis brought multiple young women to sleep in their shared bed while she was made to sleep downstairs, and that this occurred in the same home where the couple’s three children lived. She told CBS Boston that her husband wanted to live “the life of a rock star, adored by many women.” Dennis Stanley denied sleeping with any of the women and characterized his wife’s allegations as motivated by the couple’s impending divorce and financial disputes over property. He claimed she was attempting to leverage the accusations to gain custody of the house and money.

The church also maintained a website called “End Times Angels” that was filled with hundreds of pornographic images and included a link to the church’s main website along with the phrase “these pictures are proof that God loves us.” The site was eventually taken down, but not before investigators documented its existence. Pastor David Stanley claimed the site was created by an individual member without the church’s involvement, though investigators noted the explicit connection to the church’s name and web presence.

In the fall of 2012, a sequence of events brought the Church of the End Times to broader public attention. Two women, Courtney Bish (age 20) and Gina Elliott (age 40), were arrested in the neighboring town of Sutton while driving a vehicle containing stolen jewelry, cell phones, and prescription drugs. Police linked the pair to eight to ten burglaries in the area. Both women listed the Church of the End Times at 19 Industrial Drive as their home address. Their mother publicly stated that the church was a cult, calling it “a crazy, crazy, crazy place.”

The event that brought the most concentrated law enforcement response was a standoff in October 2012 triggered by an attempt to serve a restraining order that Beth Stanley had obtained against Dennis. On the evening of October 1, 2012, Uxbridge Police Officers Thomas Stockwell and Josiah Morrissette went to Dennis Stanley’s home at 41 Murphys Way to serve the order. When Dennis arrived and saw police waiting, his brother David, who lived at 51 Murphys Way, came over and joined his brother in refusing to accept the restraining order. The brothers locked themselves inside the house. David then positioned himself between the officers and the front door as a crowd of followers began gathering around him.

According to Officer Morrissette’s report, David shouted that he was “not bowing to men,” that he did not recognize the authority of law enforcement, and called out to banish demons in the name of Jesus Christ. Officers from Millville, Blackstone, Northbridge, and the Massachusetts State Police were all called in as backup. The standoff lasted for approximately an hour, during which Dennis could be seen walking around inside the house surrounded by several young people who simply stared at the officers without speaking. Interim Police Chief Peter Emerick eventually arrived and, after warning those inside that police might have to break down the glass door, officers opened the locked door without causing damage and arrested Dennis Stanley.

Dennis was charged with violating an abuse prevention order and resisting arrest. David was charged with the same violations as well as disturbing the peace. Both were arraigned at Uxbridge District Court and released on $2,500 cash bail each. The following day, police returned to the home with Beth Stanley to allow her to reclaim the property. When her car pulled into the driveway, one of the children in the household ran inside and locked the deadbolt. Police could see young women dancing in the kitchen through the window; the women reportedly laughed at officers’ requests to be let in and turned up the music. Millville Police provided backup, and Uxbridge Fire Department brought a ladder that allowed an officer to enter through an open second-floor window. An 18-year-old woman named Samantha Drury of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, resisted the officer and scratched his forearm, drawing blood, before being restrained and charged with disorderly conduct, trespassing, and assault and battery on a police officer. Seven young women between the ages of 16 and 19 were evicted from the home and issued trespass notices. Notably, Environmental Police were also called to the scene to remove an alligator that was found living in the house.

Pastor David Stanley agreed to speak with FOX Undercover reporter Mike Beaudet following his arrest. He maintained that the church was not a cult, arguing that a cult is defined by members worshipping a person, and insisted that he directed followers to Jesus rather than to himself. He denied that the church isolated anyone from their families and denied that anyone had been asked to give over money or assets against their will. When pressed on the pornographic website, he attributed it entirely to an individual church member. When asked about the footage of young women rubbing themselves against Dennis Stanley’s truck and leaving provocative notes for him, David Stanley responded that Dennis was single and that the behavior was “all in fun” and “completely clean.” He added, in what became a widely quoted remark, “If I was single, I wish I could roll like that.”

Cult expert Steve Hassan reviewed information about the group and characterized it to FOX Undercover as “a quintessential mini cult,” stating that while people have the right to hold unorthodox beliefs, the use of lying, manipulation, exploitation, and what he termed “undue influence” crossed into territory that warranted law enforcement investigation and potential prosecution. Uxbridge interim police chief Peter Emerick expressed concern about the group but noted the difficulty in establishing criminal conduct, using a phrase he said he relied on regularly: “It’s not illegal to be crazy.” He acknowledged, however, that questions remained about where ritual ends and inducement or brainwashing begins, and said the footage of young women acting sexually around Dennis Stanley’s vehicle “warrants some serious attention.”

FOX Undercover also reported that the FBI had reached out to former church members to request interviews. An FBI spokesperson declined to confirm or deny whether a formal investigation was underway, citing standard agency policy.

Mathew Schmalz, an associate professor of religious studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, was quoted in the Telegram & Gazette commenting on the church and its legal troubles, characterizing the group’s history as “outside the norm” for religious organizations.

The church’s mother, Andrea Gault, stood outside Uxbridge District Court on the day of her sons’ arraignment and publicly called for the church to be shut down. “It’s definitely a cult,” she said. “I love my sons. But I pray this nightmare will be over soon.”

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