The Oregonian was informed in October 1985 by federal law enforcement officials that Leslie L. Zaitz , an investigative journalist who had written a 20 @-@ part series on the Rajneesh movement in Oregon , was on a " hit list " which also included Turner and Oregon Attorney General David Frohnmayer . Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Weaver prosecuted the case ; the charges were first detailed at an October 1985 bond hearing in North Carolina after Rajneesh and his followers were arrested at an airport in Charlotte . Weaver said in court that followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh had plotted to assassinate Turner and Frohnmayer . He said these allegations were reasons why releasing Rajneesh and his followers from jail would be " a clear and present danger to public officials " . The guns purchased by the Rajneesh followers for the assassination plot had reportedly been dumped in a lake at Rancho Rajneesh ; the lake was searched by U.S. Navy divers . Scuba divers searched the lake for two days but did not find no guns .