From stacybrooks@lisatrust.net Wed Dec 12 21:02:33 2001
Timeline of Scientology's Harassment of Robert S. Minton and Colleagues
Introduction
Robert Minton began his career in international banking upon his graduation
from the University of Tennessee with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1971. In
1980, Mr. Minton pioneered an entrepreneurial investment banking activity that
in time created a worldwide market for trading debt instruments of developing
countries. He remained in this field until his retirement in early 1993.
After his retirement, Mr. Minton became an avid enthusiast of the rapidly
expanding technological field of the Internet. A staunch advocate of free
speech, he joined an Internet organization called the Electronic Freedom
Foundation (EFF), whose purpose was to keep its members apprised of
developments that might affect free speech rights on the Internet.
In January 1995, Mr. Minton read in the EFF newsletter about an incident that
was causing serious alarm in the Internet community. An attorney named Helena
Kobrin had attempted to shut down an Internet newsgroup,
alt.religion.scientology or ARS, because some of its participants were
criticizing her client - the Church of Scientology. Mr. Minton had never heard
of Scientology before, but he became curious, as did many other Internet
enthusiasts, about what kind of an organization would be concerned enough about
criticism to take such a drastic measure. He searched the Internet and quickly
found that there was a substantial amount of information that detailed a
widespread pattern of fraud and abuse by Scientology. As he learned more, Mr.
Minton became increasingly disturbed about this organization that was violating
the rights of its adherents, seemingly without anyone in a position of
authority in the United States trying to do anything to stop it.
Mr. Minton made contact with other free speech advocates on the Internet who
had also become alarmed by Scientology's attempt to shut down ARS. He met a
number of former Scientology adherents who recounted experiences that further
confirmed his concerns. By October 1995, Mr. Minton was motivated to protest
publicly against Scientology's human rights violations, hoping thereby to bring
attention to the dangers of this organization. In March 1996, he traveled from
his Boston home to Clearwater, Florida, where he joined others for a peaceful
protest against Scientology's criminal fraud and abuse. For the first time, Mr.
Minton saw young children dressed in uniforms, staring blankly as they marched
en masse through the streets of downtown Clearwater. He was appalled by what he
saw, and the experience had a severe impact on him. With his first public
protest in Clearwater, he now came to the attention of Scientology's Office of
Special Affairs.
Referred to by its acronym, OSA, this is the branch of Scientology that is
responsible for dealing with individuals who criticize Scientology. Over the
years, OSA (or its predecessor, the Guardian's Office, or GO) has done away
with a long list of Scientology critics, utilizing identical tactics each time.
OSA's methods include harassment of the individual and his or her family and
associates, causing the individual legal problems in whatever ways possible,
isolating the individual from family and friends, and, where possible by either
legal or illegal means, causing the individual to be arrested, tried and
convicted of criminal acts. By bringing about a criminal conviction,
Scientology would, of course, be able to discredit the critic and thereby
neutralize his or her effectiveness.
In 1980, a number of high-ranking Scientologists were themselves convicted of
criminal conduct as a result of illegal actions taken to silence critics.
Thousands of documents were seized from OSA's forerunner, the Guardian's
Office, that revealed how far Scientology was willing to go to neutralize
anyone who dared to criticize it. The documents showed that Scientology
operatives launched painstakingly detailed projects to cause a number of
individuals to be arrested on false criminal charges. Some of these projects
were successful and some were not, but the pattern of conduct was clear. After
these documents were made public, the Scientology leadership under the current
head, David Miscavige, announced that the criminal conduct had been limited to
a small number of "renegade" Scientologists, all of whom had been dismissed.
Shortly afterward, the Guardian's Office was disbanded amidst much fanfare that
the "criminals" had been purged. However, the Office of Special Affairs
replaced the Guardian's Office, and evidence reveals that the same tactics have
continued uninterrupted to this day. Mr. Minton would soon discover how
relentless OSA can be.
In March 1996 during his return to Boston, Mr. Minton posted a message on ARS
offering $360,000 - the cost of Scientology's so-called "Bridge to Total
Freedom" - to anyone with evidence that would lead to the revocation of
Scientology's tax exemption. Although no one ever came forward with the
requested information, his message caught the attention of Scientologists who
watched the newsgroup. Mr. Minton also provided financial assistance to several
Scientology critics, including Grady Ward, Keith Henson, Lawrence Wollersheim
and Arnaldo Lerma, who had become targets of Scientology's infamous "Fair Game"
practices, in which anyone who is identified as an "enemy" can be tricked,
sued, lied to or destroyed for the good of Scientology. Mr. Minton felt that it
was unfair for Scientology to use the full force of its wealth and power to
destroy its critics and wanted to try to level the playing field.
In the fall of 1997, Mr. Minton offered financial assistance to two other
former Scientologists, Stacy and Vaughn Young. (Stacy and Vaughn were divorced
in 1999 and Stacy reverted to her maiden name, Brooks. This is how she will be
identified in this narrative.) CBS's 60 Minutes had interviewed Stacy for a
program that was to be highly critical of Scientology. Vaughn had been invited
to testify about Scientology's abuse before a court in Hamburg, Germany. In an
effort to frighten the Youngs into pulling out of the program and the
testimony, Scientology mounted an intensive campaign of harassment and
intimidation against them, bringing in a team of private investigators with
orders to destroy them financially and force them to call off the program and
testimony. Mr. Minton heard about their struggle and contacted them. Because of
his financial assistance, the Youngs were able to survive the harassment.
Subsequently, the 60 Minutes segment aired on December 27, 1997, and Vaughn
Young traveled to Germany to testify later that fall.
Mr. Minton's unexpected interference with Scientology's plans to silence the
Youngs seems to have been the last straw. Within days of his first contact with
the Youngs, OSA had launched its first attack in a relentless campaign of
harassment and intimidation that continues to this day. What follows is a
history of the lengths to which Scientology has gone to neutralize Mr. Minton
as a critic of Scientology.
Scientology is waging a war of psychological terrorism against Mr. Minton,
designed to isolate him from all his friends, his family and any other
potential supporters who fear that the wrath of Scientology will befall them
like it has Mr. Minton's former business partner Jeff Schmidt. These
high-pressure mafia-like tactics are calculated to destroy Mr. Minton in
accordance with the Fair Game policies of Scientology. This campaign against
him is directed by David Miscavige, the head of Scientology, and executed by
the Office of Special Affairs.
The Lisa McPherson case continues to be Scientology's main legal and public
relations problem. Mr. Minton has provided funding for this case, and from the
very beginning of his involvement, Scientology has cried foul. According to the
New York Times, his support of this case has angered them more than anything
else he has done. Additionally, Scientology does not want the Lisa McPherson
Trust or Mr. Minton in Clearwater because they have become a focal point in the
community for opposition to this cult and because they have helped many people
to leave Scientology successfully.
These actions against Mr. Minton are part of a 50-year campaign by Scientology
to covertly stifle freedom of association and free speech when that speech is
focused on Scientology's policies and practices that deprive its members and
critics of their inalienable rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution. We
take our rights for granted in our society, but it is a little known fact that
we have absolutely no rights under our Constitution unless we are willing to
stand up and affirmatively assert them. Unfortunately, this is the price that a
litigious cult like Scientology forces us to pay, because they are so willing
to strip their members and critics of as many of our rights as we will cede
them. With enough support, we will not cede them any of our rights.
1996
January 27, 1996: Mr. Minton wrote a letter to New Hampshire Senators Robert
Smith and Judd Gregg. It was a heartfelt plea to his senators to do something
about the abuse of the legal system that Scientology was perpetrating on its
critics. The homes of two critics had just been raided after Scientology had
obtained writs of seizure under false pretenses. Mr. Minton had learned of the
abuse on the Internet.
1997
September 16, 1997: Mr. Minton received a telephone call from Elliott Abelson,
one of Scientology's attorneys, inquiring about his health after the Clearwater
protest he had attended in March. Mr. Minton had visited the emergency room at
Massachusetts General Hospital after his return to Boston. Clearly, Mr. Abelson
wanted Mr. Minton to know that he knew about the visit, thereby letting Mr.
Minton know, for the first time, that he was under surveillance by Scientology.
Mr. Abelson made subtle threats at retaliation if Mr. Minton did not stop
helping Scientology's critics.
October 10, 1997: Mr. Minton received a call from a relative in Nashville,
Tennessee, informing him that a woman named Mary Frances Newey was in town
doing a "background check" on him. The contact number Mary Frances left was the
telephone number for the Scientology organization in Boston.
October 14, 1997: Mr. Minton received a call himself from Mary Frances Newey.
She threatened that Scientology was prepared to attack him in a number of areas
if he didn't stop lending his support to critics of Scientology. She told him
he would be attacked in the following areas: family, children, ex-wife,
ex-business partners, state and federal taxes.
October 15, 1997: Mr. Minton's 10- and 12-year-old daughters were followed on
October 15th and 17th as they walked from their house to a neighbor's house for
carpool.
October 1997: Mr. Minton contacted two former Scientologists, Vaughn and Stacy
Young, after Vaughn Young posted a message on the Internet detailing harassment
they had been subjected to by Scientology. In the post he described how their
cat sanctuary was about to be shut down as a result of this harassment. Through
anonymous telephone calls, Scientology operatives had nearly succeeded in
having the Youngs evicted from their house and their rescued cats confiscated
and killed. Mr. Minton's eleventh-hour intervention allowed the animals to be
saved. Scientology had mounted its harassment campaign against the Youngs in an
attempt to stop a 60 Minutes expose about Scientology in which Stacy was
interviewed, and to keep Vaughn from testifying in Germany about Scientology's
long-term pattern of illegal conduct. Mr. Minton's intervention made it
possible for the 60 Minutes interview to air on December 27, 1997, and for the
German testimony to go forward.
November 18, 1997: Mr. Minton received a threatening letter from Scientology
attorney Elliot Abelson, in which Mr. Abelson accused Mr. Minton of "fostering
a climate of hatred in Clearwater which endangers our staff and parishioners
who work and live there." He also accused Mr. Minton of financing individuals
who were committing "hate crimes," and of "going out of your way to foment
their irrational hatred." Mr. Abelson went on to state that "Association with
lawbreakers such as these, combined with the monetary demands that inevitably
accompany their involvement in litigation or similar fertile areas for attempts
of extortion, make your actions of interest to the prosecutors to whom such
conduct has been referred." He further advised Mr. Minton: "My client holds
you, your associates and backers, financial or otherwise, personally
responsible for any and all damages it has suffered or will continue to suffer
as a result of your tortuous officious intermeddling in Church litigation. The
Church will not tolerate such conduct." He ended the letter by demanding that
Mr. Minton "immediately withdraw all financial support for such matters" and
warned him that "you and those you are financing have crossed the threshold of
legality." In the letter, Abelson accused Mr. Minton of funding the Lisa
McPherson wrongful death case. Although he had not done so until then, Mr.
Minton thought this was a good idea and soon thereafter contacted Ken Dandar,
attorney for Lisa McPherson's estate, to offer financial assistance.
November 18, 1997: Mr. Minton's elderly mother in Nashville, Tennessee,
received a telephone call from a man who identified himself as "Dan Wallace" of
"East Coast Newspapers" in Boston. (Subsequent investigation revealed that no
such organization existed.) The man said he was doing a story on her son Bob
Minton, focusing on how he had accumulated so much wealth in his international
banking business. The man asked her if she knew someone named "Mr. Stokes."
This was the name of an attorney with the Boston law firm of Bingham, Dana and
Gould who had established a company for Mr. Minton in the 1980s. Bingham, Dana
and Gould had also represented the Boston Globe when it published a series of
articles about Michael Flynn, an attorney who, in the late 1970s and early
'80s, had successfully litigated against Scientology on behalf of a number of
former high-level Scientologists who all claimed to have been defrauded and
abused. Scientologists had broken into the Boston Globe offices to try to stop
the publication of these articles, and this had been reported as part of the
series. Because Stokes was the president of the German-American Chamber of
Commerce in Boston, Scientology was convinced, albeit erroneously, that he was
in some way involved with Mr. Minton's current activities with regard to
Scientology. The Scientology leadership was sure that the German government was
in charge of the "global conspiracy" to destroy Scientology, and equally sure
that Mr. Minton was under orders from Germany to go after Scientology. The man
claiming to be "Dan Wallace" asked Mr. Minton's mother if she knew of Mr.
Minton's "link to Germany," alluding to Stokes' German connection. Mr. Minton's
mother told the man that he needed to be asking her son about all of these
things. She asked for his telephone number, but he gave her a false number that
did not even have a Boston area code.
December 5, 1997: Mr. Minton was in Clearwater participating in the annual
peaceful protest in memory of Lisa McPherson, a Scientologist who died an
unnecessary and gruesome death after being incarcerated in Scientology's Fort
Harrison Hotel in Clearwater for nearly three weeks. While he was in
Clearwater, Scientologists picketed Mr. Minton's Beacon Hill home in Boston for
the first time, during his daughter's birthday party. Fliers handed out by the
Scientologists had a photograph of Mr. Minton and stated: "The face of
religious bigotry: Your neighbor, Robert Minton is not all that he seems. This
week he is leading a KKK-style rally against peaceful members of a religion.
When he's not stirring up hatred in the streets, Minton is poisoning the
Internet by filling it full of religious bigotry and intolerance." (NY TIMES
12-21-97.) This was the first of many fliers the Scientologists would
distribute in an effort to characterize Mr. Minton as a religious bigot and
hate monger to his friends and neighbors. The campaign to discredit him had
begun.
December 9, 1997: The Boston Globe printed an article entitled "Gifts of cash
fuel battle of principle," by Diego Ribadeneira. The article stated, "Church
officials acknowledged that they have conducted their own investigation into
Minton's funding practices. Kurt Weiland, then head of Scientology's Los
Angeles-based Office of Special Affairs International (OSA Int), was quoted
saying, "This is an extremely shady character because he covertly engages in a
campaign to harm our religion. It's immoral and quite frankly perverse." Frank
Ofman, a member of Scientology's Boston branch of OSA, was quoted in the
article explaining that Scientologists distributed the leaflets to "highlight
Minton's bias."
December 9, 1997: The Naples, Florida, Daily News published an article by
Leslie Miller entitled "Retired banker, Scientologists take aim at each other."
The article stated, "Church members say the millionaire is using 'KKK-style'
tactics to discredit the church," and "Members of the Church of Scientology
have paid for private investigators to dig into Minton's private life and
threatened to sue him in six states. They call it chasing a rat out of his
hole." Kendrick Moxon, a long-term Guardian's Office and OSA operative named as
an un-indicted co-conspirator in the 1980 criminal case against Scientology,
was sent to law school in the mid-1980s at Scientology's expense. Now an
attorney charged with carrying out much of the legal harassment against
Scientology critics, Moxon was quoted saying, "Who is behind this guy? The man
is going to be sued because he has committed torts all over the country and I
want to know why is he trying to destroy religion and create chaos." OSA head
Kurt Weiland falsely accused Minton of "covertly funding, and in this way,
manipulating litigation."
December 15, 1997: Mr. Minton's wife Therese found a dead cat on the doorstep
of the Mintons' New Hampshire farmhouse. This was clearly placed there by OSA,
a reference to Mr. Minton's assistance to the Youngs' cat sanctuary in Seattle.
December 15, 1997: From this date, Mr. Minton's home in Boston was picketed two
or three times per week until the end of February 1998. On the days when he
was not picketed, Mr. Minton's Boston neighborhood was leafleted with fliers
characterizing him as a religious bigot and hate monger.
December 19, 1997: Mr. Minton appeared on a show about Scientology on "Greater
Boston with Emily Rooney" on WGBH. He talked about his experience in a mental
institution at age sixteen. Later the Scientologists took the video of the show
to his mother and used it as a way to spend three hours interviewing her about
Mr. Minton. They also took the video to his father.
December 21, 1997: The New York Times published an article titled "Boston man
wages costly fight with Scientology," written by Douglas Frantz. Scientology
spokesman Mike Rinder was quoted saying, "Sometimes it requires aggressive
litigation and investigation to uncover the depths of the nefarious plots that
have been attempted to destroy Scientology. The people that we know of whom
Minton has funded have expressed their intentions to destroy the Church of
Scientology, not merely to criticize. If he wants to fund it, fine. He will
have to live with the bigotry he foments and be accountable for the harm he
enables to occur [sic]." The article stated, "In a letter to Minton last
month, a church lawyer demanded that he stop financing opponents of Scientology
and warned that his actions had 'crossed the threshold of legality.'" Mr.
Minton's former business associate, Robert Smith, spoke favorably about Mr.
Minton, saying: "He's a man of principle and a very tenacious person." Later
Mr. Smith would be forced to sever all communications with Mr. Minton to avoid
becoming a target of Scientology's relentless harassment himself. Over the next
two years, Scientology would systematically target all of Mr. Minton's former
friends. The purpose was to isolate him so that there would be no one to whom
he could turn for help.
December 23, 1997: The St. Petersburg Times published an article entitled
"Scientology-sponsored suit against opponent," written by Lucy Morgan and
Thomas Tobin. The article stated, "Scientology has blasted Robert S. Minton
Jr. for donating more than $1.25 million to its critics, calling his actions
'nefarious' and underhanded. The church contends he is illegally interfering
with lawsuits involving Scientology." It went on to say that attorneys and top
officials for Scientology say '… Minton's motives are 'sordid'…" Describing the
people Mr. Minton had helped, Scientology spokesman Mike Rinder said, "These
people are a pack of criminals." Mr. Rinder also accused Mr. Minton of trying
to extort $80 billion from Scientology by his involvement with the Lisa
McPherson lawsuit.
December 1997: A private investigator working for Scientology tracked down Mr.
Minton's former secretary, Dorothy Cronin, and asked her if she knew of any
affairs Mr. Minton had had that might have produced a "love child."
December 1997: Scientology private investigators contacted Mr. Minton's first
wife Fran and his son, Rob, from that marriage. Mr. Minton and his son had been
estranged for several years, and the Scientology operatives exacerbated this
estrangement by characterizing his father's financial assistance of Scientology
critics as a slap in the face to his son. This was extremely upsetting to Mr.
Minton and served to further estrange father and son.
December 1997: Mr. Minton joined the Board of Directors of FACTNet, a
corporation founded by former Scientologists Lawrence Wollersheim and Robert
Penney. The main activity of the Colorado-based organization was providing
information about Scientology on the Internet via its website, www.factnet.org.
When Mr. Minton joined the board, Scientology had already targeted FACTNet for
destruction. Falsely claiming that FACTNet was a threat to Scientology's
income, attorneys for Scientology had convinced a Denver judge to grant a writ
of seizure. Armed with the writ, Scientology operatives had raided the FACTNet
offices and seized all of the computers. Scientology had then filed suit
against FACTNet for copyright violations, allegations that would later prove to
be unfounded after a costly legal battle that ultimately resulted in
settlement. Because it was clear that Scientology had targeted FACTNet for
destruction through costly legal harassment, Mr. Minton agreed to help fund
FACTNet's defense. When Scientology learned that Mr. Minton had joined the
board, Mr. Minton received a series of telephone calls in which he was
threatened about "what would happen" to him if he joined this "hate group." Mr.
Minton refused to resign, however, and the campaign against him intensified.
1998
January 3, 1998: An OSA operative called Mr. Minton's father for the purpose of
further alienating him from his son. He played a recording of a segment of Mr.
Minton's appearance on the television program "Public Eye," in which Mr. Minton
had discussed the abuse to which he and his mother had been subjected when he
was growing up.
January 6, 1998: Mr. Minton's Beacon Hill neighborhood was leafleted with a
flier that featured a large photo of Mr. Minton and the title, "Hatred Hidden
Behind Free Speech." The following is the text of the flier: "The face of
religious bigotry: Your neighbor, Robert Minton of 39 West Cedar Street, is not
all that he seems. He is leading a KKK-style attack against peaceful members of
a religion. When he is not stirring up hatred in the streets, Minton is
poisoning the Internet by filling it full of religious bigotry and intolerance.
Minton's hatred puts families at risk." At the bottom of the flier was a
copyright notice by the Church of Scientology of Boston. This was one of many
fliers designed to characterize Mr. Minton's outspoken criticism of
Scientology's fraud and abuse of its adherents as "religious bigotry and
intolerance."
January 7, 1998: Long-time Scientology private investigator Eugene Ingram began
contacting Mr. Minton's former business associates in New York and Boston,
saying he was investigating Mr. Minton for "conspiracy to commit extortion."
Calls to these people continued for months and resulted in many of Mr. Minton's
associates severing their ties with him.
January 8, 1998: Scientology private investigator David Lee, who had previously
been in Seattle heading up an intense harassment campaign against the Youngs,
visited and interviewed Mr. Minton's mother, father, two brothers, an aunt and
his uncle in Nashville, Tennessee, over the course of a week.
January 8, 1998: Boston area Scientologists distributed a new leaflet in Mr.
Minton's Beacon Hill neighborhood with a photo of Mr. Minton attached. The
title of the flier was "Neighbor Pays to Create Hatred Against Religious
Group." The flier accused Mr. Minton of paying "over $1.25 million to
individuals who are engaged in a campaign to create hatred against members of
the Church of Scientology," and went on to explain that "the Church … sponsors
many successful tutoring, drug rehabilitation and criminal reform projects and
is active in the community to better the lives of all citizens …" The flier
ended with a plea to Mr. Minton's neighbors to "join us in condemning the
bigots for hire scheme of Mr. Minton." At the bottom of the flier was the
following statement: "This is written as a public service of STAND
(Scientologists Taking Action for Non-Discrimination)."
January 23, 1998: Scientology private investigators and OSA operatives launched
a campaign to harass and intimidate Mr. Minton's friends and former business
associates not only in the United States but also in England, Turkey, Brazil,
Nigeria, Switzerland, South Africa and Hong Kong. This campaign would continue
over the next three years and would result in further isolating Mr. Minton from
his friends and associates.
January 26, 1998: Scientologists handed out fliers in Mr. Minton's neighborhood
in Boston and around his country home in Sandown, New Hampshire, claiming,
among other things, that Mr. Minton "has a history of psychiatric problems."
The fliers were again signed by STAND (Scientologists Taking Action for
Non-Discrimination). The flier distributed to Mr. Minton's neighbors in New
Hampshire stated: "Robert Minton, of 137 Fremont Road, Sandown, NH has given
$1.25 million to complete strangers to destroy a religion while his mother
lives on social security. He even put a lien on her house and charged her 10%
interest as the price of the loan. Why is he so mean and cheap to his own
family while showering riches on religious bigots to fund their hate
campaigns?" It went on to say: "Like many hate mongers, he has a history of
psychiatric problems. But a troubled past is no excuse for leading KKK-style
rallies and spreading poison on the internet about a peaceful religion known
for its helpful literacy and drug rehabilitation programs. What's your game,
Robert Minton?" At the bottom of the flier, again, was the following: "This is
written as a public service of STAND (Scientologists Taking Action for
Non-Discrimination)."
January 27, 1998: Mr. Minton met with the United Nations Human Rights and
Religious Freedom Chief about Scientology's abuse of its adherents and
intimidation of critics. He spoke to the U.N. official about Scientology's
strategy to throw a smokescreen over its illegal activities in France and
Germany by accusing the governments of those countries of religious
discrimination. Scientology found out about the meeting and launched a campaign
to discredit Mr. Minton with the United Nations. However, Mr. Minton's meeting
was successful in educating the U.N. official about Scientology's criminal
activities. In the U.N.'s June 1998 report on Religious Freedom, Scientology's
attempts to portray their troubles in Germany as religious persecution were
described as hysteria.
January - April 1998: For a period of four months, Scientology private
investigators repeatedly visited Mr. Minton's former banking associates in
England, showing a detailed "psychiatric evaluation" of Mr. Minton that
concluded he was likely to burst into a Scientology organization and "kill
twenty-five Scientologists."
February 9, 1998: A Scientology operative dressed as a minister distributed
fliers on Beacon Hill attacking Mr. Minton as a religious bigot. Others held up
a banner calling Mr. Minton a religious bigot.
February 25, 1998: Mr. Minton was featured in The Daily Free Press, an
independent newspaper at Boston University. The article was entitled "Activist
speaks against Church of Scientology."
February 1998: A new flier was handed out in Mr. Minton's neighborhood in
Boston. It featured a photograph of Mr. Minton and several others peacefully
protesting Scientology in Clearwater, Florida. Under the photo was the caption:
"Mr. Minton associating with an accused child molester." The text of the flier
was clearly intended to upset Mr. Minton's family and turn his neighbors
against him. Under the heading "Facts about Robert Minton" were the following
libelous statements: " Mr. Minton vacations in luxury while charging his mother
(who lives on social security) interest on a loan when he has millions of
dollars at his disposal; Mr. Minton exploited the people of third world
countries, manipulating their debt to make millions for himself and the rulers
in power; Mr. Minton refuses to help his own son with a loan to purchase a
house, yet forked over $1.5 million to fund the members of a known hate group
in a campaign to create intolerance and hatred; Mr. Minton acts like a bully to
anyone he can manipulate with his money. His second wife left him rather than
put up with his brutal beatings; Mr. Minton buys people with his money and is
financially supporting a ring which includes wife beaters, child molesters and
a pornography editor." By now Scientology was publishing outrageous lies about
Mr. Minton, apparently in an attempt to goad him into filing suit against them.
However, several experienced attorneys advised Mr. Minton not to sue as
Scientology would use the litigation to further harass him and exhaust his
financial resources, ultimately forcing him to cease his outspoken criticism of
them.
February 1998: While Mr. Minton was vacationing with his family on the French
Caribbean island of St. Bart's, Scientology operatives flew to the island and
passed out fliers in the town and on the beach where Mr. Minton and his family
were relaxing. The flier contained a number of scurrilous charges, including a
claim that Mr. Minton associated with "accused child molesters."
February 1998: Scientology operatives followed Mr. Minton throughout
Clearwater, Florida, while he was with a film crew shooting a documentary about
his activism against Scientology for SAT-1 German TV.
February 1998: Mr. Minton drove to Connecticut to assist Stacy Brooks, who was
helping Leslie White, a young woman who had been driven to the brink of a
nervous breakdown by her experience in Scientology. A Scientology operative
tried to change the woman's mind about leaving Scientology, telling her that
both Stacy Brooks and Robert Minton had been sent from another planet to
destroy Scientology. As ludicrous as this statement was, it soon became clear
that Scientologists were being seriously indoctrinated to believe it. Word came
back from several sources that Scientologists now believed that they were
"off-planet people" sent to Earth to eradicate Scientology.
March 14, 1998: While Mr. Minton was in Los Angeles for a peaceful protest of
Scientology headquarters, Boston Scientologists distributed libelous fliers
about him throughout Beacon Hill. It was the largest number of fliers they had
ever handed out about him.
March 16, 1998: Scientology private investigator David Lee visited Mr. Minton's
father-in-law in England to "ask some questions" about his son-in-law.
March 16, 1998: A Scientology private investigator spoke by telephone to a
friend of Mr. Minton's family in England, explaining that Mr. Minton was being
investigated because of his "psychological profile."
April 19, 1998: Mr. Minton delivered a speech to the Cult Information Service
(CIS) Conference in Newark, New Jersey, in which he detailed the harassment he
had been subjected to by Scientology in their efforts to silence him and
frighten him away. The title of the speech was "Battling Scientology's attack
on free speech."
April 19, 1998: 12 million Germans watched the SAT-1 documentary about Mr.
Minton's commitment to stopping Scientology's criminal activities.
May 3, 1998: Scientology private investigator David Lee, operating in Toronto
under the pseudonym Ron Christopher, contacted a number of Mr. Minton's former
business associates. He claimed to be working for a non-existent company called
"Financial Researchers," conducting a fraud investigation of Mr. Minton. He
offered to pay one of Mr. Minton's former employees USD $35,000 if he would
sign a false statement that Mr. Minton had committed criminal fraud. This was
the third such offer; the first two were made by another Scientology private
investigator, Peter Franks, in England. Franks was apparently working with Lee
on Lee's assignment to destroy Mr. Minton.
May 1998: A family asked Stacy Brooks to fly to New Orleans to talk to their
daughter about her experiences in Scientology. After hearing about Stacy's
experiences, the young woman decided to leave Scientology. She informed her
superior in New York that she did not intend to return. That night, New Orleans
police surrounded the family's house, responding to an anonymous report that a
young woman had been kidnapped. The young woman explained to the police that
she had made her own decision to leave Scientology, but that Scientology did
not want her to leave. The young woman was very happy to return to her family
and her old life. Stacy then flew to Washington, D.C., for an interview about
Scientology with a Swedish television director. When she arrived in D.C.,
long-time OSA operative Sylvia Stannard was at the gate to meet her. She
accused Stacy of kidnapping and "forcibly deprogramming" the young woman in New
Orleans. Stannard told Stacy, "I'm not going to let you kidnap anyone in my
town." Stacy asked Stannard how she knew what flight she was arriving on, but
Stannard refused to answer.
Mr. Minton arrived in D.C. the next day, and for the next several days Mr.
Minton and Stacy were followed wherever they went in Washington. One night
while they were having dinner in a restaurant with another friend, OSA
operative Matt Braschi suddenly appeared at their table with a camera, taking
photos of the three of them and being extremely offensive. One afternoon while
Stacy was having lunch with the Swedish television crew, several OSA operatives
surrounded their table and became so loud and threatening that Stacy had to
have the hotel security personnel escort the Scientologists out of the
building.
May 1998 - December 1999: Beginning with Ms. Brooks' arrival in D.C. in May
1998, Scientology began meeting both Mr. Minton and Ms. Brooks at the airport
wherever they traveled. Sometimes the Scientologists would appear with picket
signs, such as in the Columbus, Ohio, airport and the Denver, Colorado,
airport, meeting Mr. Minton and Ms. Brooks at their gates and following them
through the airport with picket signs. This continued until the end of 1999,
when Mr. Minton and Ms. Brooks began to call the airport security to alert them
of their arrival, so that security personnel could keep the Scientologists away
from them. Although the harassment has stopped, Scientology still keeps them
under surveillance and knows when and where they are traveling at all times.
May - July 1998: Mr. Minton had a series of three meetings, totaling 15 hours,
with two of the top leaders of Scientology. He hoped to enter into a dialogue
about ending Scientology's criminal conduct, including fraud, practicing
medicine without a license, child abuse, and human rights violations. He met
with Mike Rinder, the head of OSA International, and Marty Rathbun, head of the
Religious Technology Center (RTC) and second in command of Scientology under
its dictator, David Miscavige. Unfortunately, the Scientologists had no
interest in discussing their criminal conduct. Their interest was solely to
convince Mr. Minton to stop providing funds to Scientology critics. They told
Mr. Minton point blank that if he would quit giving financial support to
critics, Scientology would stop harassing and intimidating Mr. Minton and his
friends and family. At the end of the third meeting, Mr. Minton made it clear
that he would not stop his financial support until Scientology ceased
destroying people's lives through fraud and criminal abuse. In response, the
Scientologists intensified their campaign against him.
June 16, 1998: Dateline NBC aired a 35-minute segment on Mr. Minton and his
work to expose Scientology's abuse and deception called "The Crusader."
Scientology tried to stop the show by presenting Dateline executives with
information intended to discredit Mr. Minton, but they were unsuccessful.
July 9, 1998: The Boston Globe published a large article titled "The Improbable
Crusade of Robert Minton," which included information about the harassment he
was being subjected to.
July 18, 1998: Former Scientologist Jesse Prince contacted Mr. Minton via email
at his FACTNet address after hearing about the Dateline show. Stacy Brooks,
also a board member of FACTNet, saw the email and contacted Mr. Prince
immediately. She and Mr. Prince had known each other in Scientology for many
years but had not had any contact since they had left nearly a decade earlier.
Mr. Prince met her in Columbus, Ohio, and they discussed the work she and Mr.
Minton were doing to bring an end to Scientology's criminal activities. Mr.
Prince had been a high-level executive in Scientology and had extensive
information about Scientology's criminal conduct. He offered to assist them in
their work.
July 19, 1998: The next day, Mike Rinder called Mr. Minton in New Hampshire and
asked him if Jesse Prince was on Mr. Minton's payroll. Coming as it did
immediately after Mr. Prince's initial meeting with Ms. Brooks, Mr. Rinder's
telephone call was clearly intended to let Mr. Minton know Scientology had them
under surveillance.
July 24, 1998: Jesse Prince received a letter from Scientology attorney Elliot
Abelson threatening legal action against him if he provided any "information
respecting alleged events that came to your attention in your capacity as an
employee of a Church of Scientology" to "attorneys who are in litigation
against the Church of Scientology entities."
July 25, 1998: Several Scientologists trespassed on Mr. Minton's property in
New Hampshire as he and Ms. Brooks were swimming in the pool. The
Scientologists loudly hurled profanities down the hill at Ms. Brooks and were
extremely threatening. Mr. Minton ordered them off his property. They got in
their car and left, but then almost immediately drove back onto his property,
got out and began to approach him again. Mr. Minton fired two shots over their
heads with his shotgun to let them know he was serious about ordering them off
his property. This did cause the Scientologists to leave immediately.
Scientology would later falsely claim that Mr. Minton aimed the gun at them and
attempted to shoot them, citing this as "proof" of Mr. Minton's "violent
nature." However, although the Scientologists attempted to have Mr. Minton
arrested for this incident, the police determined that he had done nothing
wrong in firing the shotgun as a warning to the trespassers.
July 26, 1998: While Mr. Minton's wife Therese was vacationing in England with
the Mintons' two daughters, a letter from Mike Rinder was hand-delivered to
her. The letter attempted to elicit her help in convincing Mr. Minton to stop
his work to end Scientology's criminal activities. Rinder wrote, "I am certain
you are unaware of the real activities and nature of the people Mr. Minton is
involved with, and I do not believe you would want your family engaged in these
matters if you knew the character of these people or their agenda with respect
to the 'Minton money.' He went on to say, "While Mr. Minton claims that
[Scientology] has sought to upset his family, in truth it is his activities
that are the source of the turmoil that now surrounds his life and yours. It
comes about as a result of his relationship with a group of morally bankrupt
individuals who are taking money from him while they are engaged in unethical
and even criminal activities." Attempting to get Therese to persuade Mr. Minton
to meet with the Scientologists, Rinder concluded by saying, "Courts have found
several of this group of low-lifes [sic] guilty of violating [Scientology's]
rights and yet Mr. Minton gives them money to continue. A couple of them are
wife abusers and child molesters. None are fit to be in the presence of you or
your children, yet Mr. Minton is playing Santa Claus to them with your money.
Mr. Minton's irresponsible, if not outright malicious acts, are damaging my
church [sic] and individual Scientologists are well as you and your children. I
believe a face-to-face meeting between us would be helpful. This is a serious
matter. What is occurring is causing a great deal of damage. If you were aware
of all the facts, I am sure you would not support what is happening. You can
contact me at 213-960-3500 or 213-960-3508 (fax). I look forward to hearing
from you." This letter was upsetting to Mrs. Minton and had the effect of
alienating her from Mr. Minton.
July 28, 1998: An article appeared in the local New Hampshire newspaper, the
Union Leader Correspondent, entitled "Sandown Police: Shots Fired in Spat with
Protesters." This article focused on the July 25 trespassing incident at Mr.
Minton's house. Scientology operatives Gerard Renna and Kevin Hall were both
quoted. Renna said he was "tired of Minton going on Dateline and spreading
lies," that he was "fed up" with it. Hall lied about the trespassing incident,
claiming that Scientology protesters "knocked on Minton's door to tell him they
were protesting, Minton told them to leave; they did, and he then allegedly
fired the shots into the air."
July 30, 1998: Scientology began distributing fliers about Mr. Minton three to
four times a week during public meetings at the town hall in Sandown, New
Hampshire. This continued for several weeks.
July 30, 1998: Fliers were distributed at a local supermarket in Sandown.
July 1998: Scientology continued to monitor the travel of the Minton family and
photograph Mr. Minton's wife and children in England during their summer
vacation.
July 30, 1998: Mike Rinder sent Therese Minton a second letter discussing the
shotgun incident and asking to have a face-to-face meeting.
July 31, 1998: Mr. Minton was interviewed for an article in the Rockingham, New
Hampshire News entitled "Local man helps many leave Scientology; Church says he
distorts the Truth" by Lara Bricker. Referring to Boston Scientology spokesman
Kevin Hall, the article said "he wants to know why the Sandown summer resident
is on a crusade to reform the church and why he is 'spreading lies'" and
"trying to destroy the church."
July 1998: Mr. Minton was on a radio show on Boston's WRKO. Before the show
Scientologists entered the station's offices to protest their exclusion from
the broadcast. The producer later said the Scientologists' behavior was
extremely inappropriate, aggressively demanding to be put on the air.
August 1998: The Scientologists informed Mr. Minton that they knew his wife and
children had flown from England to Spain in early August 1998. This was clearly
done to let him know that they were being followed.
August 1998: Five Scientologists picketed the home of Jesse Prince's father in
Memphis, Tennessee. They held picket signs that said, "Tell your son to leave
my church alone." Mr. Prince's father also received a number of telephone calls
from Scientology private investigators telling him his son was a criminal.
August 3, 1998: The St. Petersburg Times, which is the paper that is
distributed in Clearwater, ran an article entitled "Millionaire's bizarre feud
with Scientology escalates" which reported on the trespassing incident in New
Hampshire. It was later learned that OSA had fed the newspaper a false version
of what had happened; this seemed to account for the biased headline.
August 8, 1998: The St. Petersburg Times ran a more in-depth article about the
trespassing case entitled "Millionaire not charged in Scientology case." The
article said "Police in Sandown, N.H., have concluded that millionaire Robert
S. Minton was not firing at four Scientologists at who picketed his house July
25, and will not file charges against him." Mr. Minton would later learn that
Scientologists had pressured the Massachusetts state attorney's office to
prosecute Mr. Minton for the incident, but they were not successful. The
article quoted the Sandown police chief confirmed that no charges would be
filed. "We've gone through everything and from where the Scientologist were
when the shots were fired, Minton was firing in the opposite direction, "
Police Chief Scott Currier said Friday. "He was not shooting at them." The
article went on to say "Police also confirmed that Minton was using bird shot
that would not have penetrated the vehicle the Scientologists were in, Currier
said. Minton said he fired warning shots after the Scientologists trespassed at
his 200-acre estate and yelled obscenities at a guest in his pool." It
concluded: "Minton says he has spent more then $2-million to help finance
opposition to Scientology, providing shelter and money for some former members.
He also is helping finance lawsuits, including one filed on behalf of Lisa
McPherson, a Scientologist who died in Clearwater under mysterious
circumstances."
August 14, 1998: The Rockingham, New Hampshire News published a letter to the
editor from Boston Scientology OSA operative Frank Ofman in which he accused
Mr. Minton of being mentally unstable. Ofman twisted the facts not only of the
trespassing incident but also of Mr. Minton's personal history to paint a
picture of Mr. Minton as irrational and dangerous, in an obvious effort to
discredit him. He wrote: "Robert Minton of Sandown apparently shot at peaceful
Church of Scientology parishioners without rational reasons - he claims he has
been emotionally damaged by his brutal involuntarily incarceration into a
psychiatric institution at the age of 16. What led to Minton's involuntary
commitment is not commonly known, but the residual hostility within him is very
evident… Minton stated on several occasions the irreparable damage psychiatry
has had on his youth and his overall depression in life. Perhaps this is a
similar story to that of the recent Capitol Hill gunman, Russell Eugene Weston
Jr., who also had a long history of emotional problems before his frenzied
shooting. Who can tell what really set Minton off to fire a shotgun at peaceful
Church parishioners who were merely asserting their freedom of speech? Did he
just take on the colors of the psychiatric enemies he was trying to fight? It
was fortunate that the skilled police officers of Sandown arrived early enough
on the scene to handcuff Mr. Minton and protect him against himself and
others…." It was later learned that the newspaper published the letter only
after intense pressure from Scientology, including threats to sue over its
previous news report on Mr. Minton.
August 24, 1998: Scientologists picketed the Turan Corporation in Boston.
Robert Smith, the head of Turan, was Mr. Minton's former business associate and
had been quoted in the New York Times in December 1997 saying, "He's a man of
principle and a very tenacious person."
Now he became a target himself for his support of Mr. Minton. Scientologists
passed out fliers headlined "Turan Corp. Connection to the Religious Bigotry of
Robert S. Minton," in which they sought to smear Smith by linking him to Mr.
Minton. The flier stated: "Robert Minton, a man with links to Turan
Corporation's Robert Smith, has blatantly lied to the American public and media
about our church, its members, its goals and actions. We refuse to allow our
religion to be smeared and maligned any longer. Minton has held himself out on
national television and to the press to be an upstanding citizen, but he is
using his many millions of dollars to force his bigoted views onto our church
and its parishioners to 'reform it'… He promotes an agenda of bigotry."
In one of the first indications that Scientology was investigating Mr. Minton's
work in Nigeria, the flier stated: "Minton and Smith did business in Nigeria.
Minton made a lot of his money, he says, by helping the country's dictatorial
leadership to successfully default on multi-million dollar loans. Everyone with
the inside knowledge benefited but as events and statistics show, the people
suffered. While millions were siphoned off in 'commissions,' and lenders had to
write off huge losses, the leaders of the country completely ignored the human
suffering and misery of its citizens. Is this how a man of principal acts?" The
flier was signed: "By the Free Speech & Religious Freedom Committee of the
Parishioners of the Church of Scientology of Boston."
August 26, 1998: Therese Minton received her third letter from Rinder, saying
he wanted to speak with her about Mr. Minton. Still hoping to convince her to
meet with him, he wrote, "I imagine that by this time you have probably become
aware that some of the things I said in my earlier letters have now proven
true. As a matter of fact, I can show you a great deal of information
supporting the statements in those letters. I believe there is much more
information that you do not have concerning the activities of Mr. Minton and
the people he has gotten hooked up with. Clearly, Mr. Minton's involvement with
Stacy Young and others has not had a positive effect on your family. While I am
sure you have been told various lies about me and the Church of Scientology,
you have no downside in hearing what information I have to offer. I would like
the opportunity to speak with you face to face. You can call (213 960 3500) or
fax me (213 960 3508)."
August 30, 1998: Scientology picketed and passed out fliers in front of Mr.
Minton's home on Beacon Hill in Boston. Scientologists carried picket signs
clearly intended for Therese and the children to see. Mr. Minton and Therese
had separated, and he had been seeing Stacy Brooks. Some of the signs described
Ms. Brooks as a vamp destroying the Minton family by breaking up their
marriage, and another sign implored Mr. Minton not to destroy the lives of his
children. The fliers were passed out to friends, neighbors, and parents of the
Minton children's classmates.
August 31, 1998: Scientologists again picketed Mr. Minton's home in Boston, and
passed out fliers referring to Mr. Minton and Ms. Brooks as adulterers. The
Scientologists also picketed Mr. Minton's home in New Hampshire, where his
daughters were staying with him. They held up signs that were obviously
intended to upset Mr. Minton's daughters.
September 2, 1998: Eight Scientologists greeted Mr. Minton and Jesse Prince at
their gate as they arrived at the Boston airport. The Scientologists created
such a disturbance at baggage claim that four state troopers were required to
restore order. After both sides were questioned the troopers told the
Scientologists that had they known that they were demonstrating in the airport
they would have been arrested, since FAA regulations prohibit such unlawful
assembly at the airport.
September 1998: Mr. Minton and Stacy were stalked through Chinatown in San
Francisco by OSA operatives who videotaped them as they walked. They called the
police, but when the officer heard that Scientology was involved he called his
superior, who came to the scene and apologized, saying there was nothing he
could do because the San Francisco Police Department could not afford a lawsuit
from Scientology.
September 5, 1998: A large group of Scientologists picketed Therese Minton and
the Mintons' two daughters in front of their house in Boston.
September 6, 1998: Two Scientologists, Maureen O'Keefe and Joe Stover, picketed
Mr. Minton's house in New Hampshire. The Sandown police arrived and ordered the
Scientologists to leave, telling them they were creating a hazard on the road.
September 7, 1998: Scientologists picketed Mr. Minton's home in New Hampshire
again, but it was done in a car, with the picket signs held out of the car
windows.
September 8, 1998: Scientologists again picketed the Minton house in Boston.
Several friends of the Mintons' daughters were given fliers about Mr. Minton.
September 10, 1998: Scientologists came up to Mr. Minton's house in New
Hampshire again to hold picket signs out of the car windows as they drove back
and forth past the house.
September 10, 1998: Mr. Minton drove Jesse Prince down to Boston from New
Hampshire to take him to the airport. They stopped at the Boston Scientology
center to picket, and two Boston Scientologists, Frank Ofman and Kevin Hall,
began assaulting Mr. Minton both verbally and physically. Frank Ofman in
particular was screaming at Mr. Minton and pushing him repeatedly. Finally
Ofman grabbed Mr. Minton's picket sign and broke the stick. Mr. Minton tossed
the broken end of the stick at Ofman in disgust and then called the police. But
when the police came the Scientologists showed them a video in which Ofman's
assault of Mr. Minton was missing and the only thing on the tape was Mr. Minton
tossing the broken piece at Ofman. Under pressure from the Scientologists, the
police then handcuffed Mr. Minton and arrested him for battery. Scientology
immediately posted the arrest photos on the Internet and announced that Mr.
Minton was a criminal. However, on December 16, the judge dismissed the
charges, directing Mr. Minton to fax a notice to the Boston Scientology center
before he picketed for the next three months. Although the charges were
dismissed, Scientology continued to portray Mr. Minton as a criminal who had
been "arrested for assault."
September 10, 1998: One aspect of Kevin Hall's verbal assault of Mr. Minton in
front of the Boston Scientology center was particularly disturbing. At the
time, Mr. Minton had had several sessions with a Cambridge psychologist named
Terry Real. Dr. Real was counseling both Mr. Minton and his wife Therese, who
were separating. Kevin Hall repeated statements that Mr. Minton had made to his
therapist and to no one else. The only conclusion that Mr. Minton could draw
was that Scientology had put pressure on Dr. Real to reveal confidential
information from his sessions. Within days of that incident, Dr. Real called
Therese Minton and abruptly informed her that he would no longer see either her
or Mr. Minton. He refused to give a reason and hung up quickly. Kevin Hall
also verbally assaulted Jesse Prince with information from his auditing
sessions in Scientology. Scientology claims that this information is kept
confidential; however, when someone leaves Scientology their auditing files are
culled for embarrassing and upsetting information so that it can be used to
harass the person. Mr. Prince's auditing files were last known to be in Gilman
Hot Springs, California.
September 12, 1998: Several Scientologist met Mr. Prince with picket signs at
his gate at the Minneapolis airport. As he walked through the airport the
Scientologists shouted obscenities at him.
September 12, 1998: Atlanta Scientology OSA operative Diane Stein called Stacy
Brooks' mother in Atlanta. She told her that her daughter was part of a "hate
group" and that she was involved in illegal activities.
September 15, 1998: A group of Scientologists went to the office of Dr.
Abernathy, a psychiatrist Mr. Minton had been seeing at Massachusetts General
Hospital. They confronted Dr. Abernathy and demanded to speak to him about Mr.
Minton.
September 23, 1998: Four Scientology operatives picketed Mr. Minton and Ms.
Brooks in the Columbus, Ohio, airport as they went to their gate. Mr. Minton
called airport security and informed them of the FAA regulation against
unlawful assembly in an airport, and the picketers were escorted out.
September 23, 1998: When Stacy Brooks arrived at her home in Seattle she was
greeted by three Scientologists picketing her home. One of the signs read: "Bob
Minton was arrested for assault on September 10 in Boston."
September 28, 1998: Peter Franks, a British private investigator hired by
Scientology, spread the word to many of Therese Minton's friends in England and
to Mr. Minton's former business partner, Jeff Schmidt, that Therese, the
Mintons' two daughters, and Mr. Schmidt were going to be followed in order to
bring pressure on Mr. Minton to stop his activities concerning Scientology.
Mr. Schmidt's office had been picketed and leafleted at this point for several
weeks, as had his home, while his wife and children were there. Franks
threatened to go after Mr. Schmidt's clients, one of which was the Nigerian
government. Franks said they would arrange picketing of the Nigerian delegation
to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) meeting in Washington, D. C., which
was set for October 4-8 the next month. Franks promised that Mr. Schmidt would
be caught in a web of an IRS tax investigation of Mr. Minton and in his own
problems with the Inland Revenue Service, England's equivalent of the IRS.
Franks said that unless Mr. Schmidt did something to help Scientology go after
Mr. Minton, he would have serious trouble on his hands, since the seven-year
statute of limitations had not yet run out on the activities he and Mr. Minton
were engaged in together (their partnership ended in 1993.)
Franks also said that all of Therese's neighbors would be visited in Boston,
and the "whole ugly scene" would be laid out for all to hear. The children's
schools would be targeted for the same campaign, which would include teachers,
administrators and parents, to paint Mr. Minton as a pariah. He let it be known
that he expected Therese and Jeff to pressure Mr. Minton into quitting the work
he was doing concerning Scientology.
September 28, 1998: Two New Hampshire newspapers contacted Mr. Minton to ask
him about a flier that had been distributed to every resident in Sandown over
the previous few days. The title of the flier was "The Truth About Robert
Minton, Leader of an Anti-Religious Hate Group." The flier characterized Mr.
Minton as irrational, unstable and violent, deliberately twisting the facts of
the trespassing incident and of the incident that led to Mr. Minton's arrest in
Boston, charges that were later dismissed after Mr. Minton's attorney made it
clear to the judge that Scientology had set him up for a false arrest.
Clearly intended to isolate Mr. Minton from his neighbors in Sandown by
frightening them, the flier stated: "When his hatemongering against our
parishioners was give prominence in the Boston media, our church was repeatedly
vandalized. We said then that he was a trigger's width from an outburst of
psychotic violence. His violence struck recently." The flier then gave an
outrageously false and exaggerated account of the incident that had led to Mr.
Minton's false arrest in Boston: "Reeking of alcohol, Minton turned up outside
a Church of Scientology on 10/9/98 carrying picket signs and started abusing
staff and parishioners. When two Scientologists tried to stop him, he thrust
his sign into the face of one, knocking off his glasses. He finally smashed a
stick over the head of the second, who was taken to the hospital." The flier
ended by saying "Mr. Minton has paid to create an atmosphere of intolerance
against our religion. His religious bigotry, hatred and violence must stop." It
was signed by "Free Speech and Religious Freedom Committee of the Parishioners
of the Church of Scientology."
September 29, 1998: Scientology private investigator Peter Franks told Jeff
Schmidt that Scientology would take care of all divorce matters between Therese
and Mr. Minton.
September 1998: Two of Stacy Brooks' sisters were picketed at their homes, one
in Atlanta and one in Duluth, Minnesota. Fliers about her were handed out in
both neighborhoods. One flier stated: "Please tell Stacy to tell Mr. Minton
that he should stop spending his money to hurt the Church of Scientology." The
picketers couldn't get a single person to take one of their fliers other then
the copy Stacy's sister took to send to Stacy.
September 1998: A flier was pushed through the mail slot at Stacy Brooks'
mother's house in Atlanta. The title was "Robert S. Minton & Stacy Brooks Young
-- The truth behind the lies." The flier said, in part: "Robert Minton and
Stacy Young have blatantly lied to the American public and media about our
Church, its members, its goals and actions. We refuse to allow our religion to
be smeared and maligned any longer…. Minton made a lot of his money, he says,
by helping Nigeria and other third world country's dictatorial leadership to
successfully default on multimillion-dollar loans. Everyone with the inside
knowledge benefited but, as events and statistics show, while millions are
siphoned off in "commissions" and lenders had to write off huge losses, the
leaders of Nigeria completely ignored the human suffering and misery of its
citizens. Is this how men of principle act?" This flier was signed "Free Speech
& Religious Freedom Committee of the Parishioners of the Church of Scientology
of Georgia."
September 1998: Virtually the same flier was distributed in San Francisco,
signed "Free Speech & Religious Freedom Committee of the Parishioners of the
Church of Scientology of San Francisco."
October 2, 1998: Maureen O'Keefe, then head of OSA in Boston, wrote Therese
Minton a letter in an attempt to befriend her and gain her trust so that she
would turn against Mr. Minton. In the letter O'Keefe denied that the Minton
children had been followed or harassed in any way and described a meeting
between Mr. Minton and her that was a complete fabrication, saying, "On August
13, 1998, your husband tried to force his way into the Church of Scientology in
Boston. I stopped him. He told me, with more hate than I hope your children
ever experience, that he intended to destroy Scientology. At that moment, I
decided that I would no longer sit back and listen to his vicious lies about my
religion and my friends and I were going to do everything I legally could to
stop him from interfering with my Constitutional Right to practice the religion
of my choice. I made this very clear to him that day. It is a promise I intend
to keep."
October 5, 1998: Peter Franks, Scientology's British private investigator, had
a letter hand-delivered to Mr. Minton's former business partner Jeff Schmidt
while Mr. Scmidt was attending the International Monetary Fund (IMF) meeting
in Washington, D.C. The letter was obviously sent in an attempt to convince Mr.
Schmidt to turn against Mr. Minton and work with Franks. Mr. Schmidt did not
reply.
October 3, 1998: Jesse Prince and Stacy Brooks were on their way to New
Hampshire to help Mr. Minton celebrate his birthday. They were standing in line
at their gate at the Seattle, Washington, airport, when two DEA agents pulled
them out of the line and began to search their carry-on bags. Another agent
with a German shepherd that appeared to be a drug dog stood nearby. One of the
agents opened Ms. Brooks' computer case and discovered a draft of an affidavit
she had brought with her to review on the airplane. When he saw it, the agent
suddenly looked at her and asked, "Are you an attorney?" Ms. Brooks replied
that she was a consultant to several attorneys on the subject of Scientology,
and that the kind of harassment that she and Mr. Prince were being subjected to
by the two DEA agents at that moment was part of a pattern of harassment to
which she had been subjected for the past five years. When she said this, the
two agents suddenly closed the bags they had been searching, stood up,
apologized for having bothered them, and quickly left the terminal.
October 9, 1998: Peter Franks sent a flier to a New Hampshire company in which
Mr. Minton and Jeff Schmidt had substantial investments. The title of the flier
was "What is Jeffrey Schmidt's connection to the religious bigotry of Robert S.
Minton?" It then went on to repeat many of the same lies of previous fliers,
except this one was tailor-made to target Mr. Schmidt. It stated, "Robert
Minton, a wealthy American with past business ties to Jeffrey Schmidt of
Hillsleigh International Ltd., has blatantly lied to the public and media about
our Church, the Church of Scientology, its members, its goals and actions….
Minton and Jeffrey Schmidt made a lot of money through Mr. Schmidt's contacts,
by helping the dictatorial leadership of Nigeria and other third world
countries to successfully default on multimillion pound loans. Those who had
the inside knowledge benefited in the debt trading business but, as events and
statistics show, while millions of pounds were siphoned off in "commissions"
and lenders had to write off huge losses, the leaders of Nigeria ignored the
human suffering and misery of its citizens. Is this how men of principle act?"
It was signed "Free Speech & Religious Freedom Committee of the Parishioners of
the Church of Scientology." The owners were so upset by the flier that they
called Jeff Schmidt to tell him he must find a way to buy out Mr. Minton's
interest in the company.
October 9, 1998: British private investigator Peter Franks had a fourteen-page
package of scurrilous material delivered to the Nigerian Minister of Finance
while the minister was attending the IMF conference in Washington D.C. A copy
of the package was also delivered to Jeff Schmidt at the conference. The theme
of the material was that Mr. Minton, Jeff and their other partner, Selwyn
Lewis, had profited from the economic woes of Nigeria. The intent of the
material was clearly to discourage the Nigerian government from doing business
with Mr. Schmidt. It was also clear that Franks was sending Mr. Schmidt a
message about what would happen to him if he continued to support Mr. Minton.
October 12, 1998: Jesse Prince and Stacy Brooks were met by two OSA operatives,
Gerard Renna and Maureen O' Keefe, as they arrived at their gate at the Boston
airport. The Scientologists said they wanted to engage in some "real
communication" to try to "resolve our differences." However, the presence of
the two operatives made it clear that Mr. Prince and Ms. Brooks were under
surveillance.
October 1998: Fliers were distributed about Mr. Minton calling him the leader
of an anti-religious hate group. Titled "The Truth about Robert S. Minton,
Leader of an Anti-Religious Hate Group," the flier portrayed Mr. Minton as a
man of violence with a history of psychiatric instability. The shotgun incident
was now described as "violence" against "Scientologists engaged in a peaceful
demonstration." The incident in Boston was described in grossly exaggerated
terms to characterize Mr. Minton as dangerous.
The flier ended by saying, "Mr. Minton of Sandown, New Hampshire has paid to
create an atmosphere of intolerance against our religion. His religious
bigotry, hatred and violence must stop." It was signed by the "Free Speech &
Religious Freedom Committee of the Parishioners of the Church of Scientology."
November 3, 1998: Stacy Brooks arrived at her home on Vashon Island after a
trip to find six Scientologists waiting for her with picket signs. They blocked
her from going down her driveway, screaming obscenities at her and lunging at
her car in a threatening way. She remained quiet and did not react, and after
several minutes they backed away so that she could get home.
November 8, 1998: As Ms. Brooks drove out of her driveway on Vashon Island to
run an errand, she encountered several Scientology picketers waiting for her on
the side of the road. One of the picketers ran over to Stacy's van and thrust a
flier at the window. The title was "Creating Hatred and Bigotry - Would you
give your money to someone who is…" and it then went on to list several
unsavory types of people, including "an accused child molester… a former
pornography editor … a member of an anti-Semitic group run by the most
influential neo-Nazi in the world … a group which has been involved in
kidnapping for hire and which went bankrupt following a multimillion dollar
verdict for civil rights violations under the anti-KKK laws."
The intent of the fliers was to characterize Scientology critics as criminals
and perverts, and to identify Mr. Minton as the kind of person who would
support that kind of individual. The flier accused him of launching a "$2
million-plus anti-religious hate campaign against members of the Church of
Scientology." It then repeated the "evidence" of Mr. Minton's violent nature,
distorting both incidents beyond recognition: "In July 1998, Minton fired a
shotgun at several Scientologists who had been protesting on public property
against his actions," and "In September, Minton violently struck a
Scientologist with a stick outside the Church of Scientology in Boston and was
arrested. He is currently facing felony charges for assault and battery with a
dangerous weapon over this incident." These statements were flagrant lies. The
flier was signed "Free Speech & Religious Freedom Committee of the Church of
Scientology of Washington State."
November 14, 1998: Multiple felony charges were filed against the Flag Service
Organization of the Church of Scientology in Clearwater. This case was State of
Florida v. FSO regarding Lisa McPherson's death at the hands of Scientology.
The Scientology leadership considered Mr. Minton responsible for much of the
attention that had been brought to Lisa McPherson's death.
November 16, 1998: Boston Scientology operative Gerard Renna met Mr. Minton and
Jesse at their gate at the Boston airport as they prepared to leave for England
to meet with Jeff Schmidt, Mr. Minton's former partner. Again, the message was:
"We know where you are all the time."
November 27, 1998: Mr. Minton received an email newsletter from the "Friends of
Religious Liberty." Again the trespassing incident was recounted, but now the
story was unrecognizable from the original, with the Scientologists playing the
role of innocent victims: "In July 1998, Mr. Minton fired a shotgun at three
Scientologists who were on the road in front of his house (in a peaceful
demonstration protesting his hate campaign)." The incident in front of the
Boston Scientology center was also repeated, and that story was also
unrecognizable from the truth. Now Mr. Minton was depicted as a raging monster,
with the poor Scientologists the innocent victims of his violence: "The
following day, reeking of alcohol, Minton and Prince turned up outside the
Church of Scientology in Boston carrying picket signs and started harassing
staff and parishioners. When two Scientologists tried to stop him, Minton
thrust his sign into the face of one, knocking his glasses off. He finally
smashed a stick over the head of the second, who was taken to the hospital.
Minton was arrested and arraigned on a charge of assault and battery with a
dangerous weapon in Boston and is currently facing trial." There were new lies
too; Stacy Brooks was reported to have received "scream therapy" at the
"Wellspring deprogramming/brainwashing center in Ohio."
December 3, 1998: Stacy Brooks and Jesse Prince were guests on WFLA talk radio,
the public radio station in Clearwater, Florida, during Lisa McPherson Memorial
Week. They talked about their own experiences while in Scientology at the
highest levels of management, including being incarcerated in Scientology's
political prison camp, known as the Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF).
December 14, 1998: Mr. Minton's attorney Stephen Jonas made it clear to Boston
Municipal Judge Hershfang that it was Scientology that had been at fault rather
than Mr. Minton in the September 10 incident with Frank Ofman involving the
broken picket sign. The judge dismissed the charges against Mr. Minton. Under
pressure from the Scientologists, however, the court made a provision that Mr.
Minton must notify Scientology an hour before picketing in front of the
Scientology center in Boston. By 4:45pm that same afternoon, Scientology
officials were already in touch with Boston police, falsely alleging that Mr.
Minton had picketed the Scientology center unannounced.
December 14, 1998: Mr. Minton appeared on Arts and Entertainment Channel (A&E)
Investigative Reports, on a program entitled "Inside Scientology." Mike Rinder
from OSA was the spokesman for Scientology.
December 16, 1998: Frank Ofman sent a letter to the Massachusetts district
attorney's office with an ex-parte copy to Judge Hershfang. The letter
complained that Mr. Minton had already violated the dismissal agreement by
dropping off his "agents" to picket the Scientology center in Boston. Since the
judge received a copy of this letter, he summoned the district attorney and Mr.
Minton's attorney Stephen Jonas to his office, where he learned that Mr. Minton
had not violated the dismissal agreement at all. Afterwards the district
attorney berated the Scientologists for their "provocative acts." After the
hearing, Scientologists picketed Therese Minton at her home on Beacon Hill with
signs announcing Mr. Minton's relationship with Stacy Brooks. The picket was
timed to coincide with the Minton girls' arrival home from school.
December 17, 1998: The same two Scientology operatives, Frank Ofman and Kevin
Hall, videotaped Mr. Minton as he picketed the Scientology center in Boston,
both trying to provoke Mr. Minton into saying that he hit Frank Ofman first
during the September 10 incident. Both Ofman and Hall said the same thing
repeatedly to Mr. Minton. Hall would say, "Come on Bob, why won't you just
admit that you hit Frank first?" Mr. Minton would laugh and say, "I can't admit
to something that never happened." Then Hall would say, "Come on, Bob, you
should apologize to Frank for hitting him and then lying about it." Their
attempt to put an "admission" on videotape was unsuccessful, however.
December 20, 1998: Scientologists led by Maureen O'Keefe had a truckload of
food delivered to the Sandown Food Pantry. This was done after the
Scientologists found out that their fliers about Mr. Minton had turned many of
the people in town against Scientology.
December 21, 1998: In a move designed purely for harassment, Kevin Hall and
three other Scientologists, including Mary Frances Newey with a video camera,
drove up to Mr. Minton's house in New Hampshire and waited until he and Ms.
Brooks came out the front door. Then they drove by, yelling, "Merry Christmas,
Bob and Stacy!" with Mary Frances videotaping them in the driveway.
December 21, 1998: KFI radio in LA did a live show with Mr. Minton and Ms.
Brooks about Scientology.
December 22, 1998: While walking back to the house after some shopping, Therese
Minton noticed that there were fliers on cars and doorsteps all over Beacon
Hill. Upon arriving at her house with the girls, She found a handful of fliers
on her doorstep that were clearly aimed at Therese and the children, their
friends, neighbors and acquaintances in Boston. The flier had a photograph of
Mr. Minton and Ms. Brooks and was titled "We Call It Adultery." It ended:
"Minton has spent over $2 million of his family's wealth creating hatred and
bigotry towards members of our religion. Minton's behavior is socially
obnoxious and morally impaired." The flier was signed: "Friends of Religious
Freedom."
December 23, 1998: Mr. Minton was a guest on the Los Angeles public radio
station KFI on "The John and Ken Show." Scientologist John Carmichael was the
other guest.
December 24, 1998: At 9:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve, several Boston
Scientologists, including Kevin Hall, drove by Mr. Minton's house in New
Hampshire shouting "Merry Christmas!" at the top of their lungs. The
Scientologists folded some of their fliers into paper airplanes and threw them
at Mr. Minton's door.
December 26, 1998: All the residents of Sandown, New Hampshire received an
"Open Letter to Sandown Residents" from Maureen O'Keefe of the Boston
Scientology center. With a large American flag at the top of the page, the
letter purported to be from the "Committee on Constitutional Rights." The
letter was full of lies and innuendo about Mr. Minton and was clearly
calculated to turn the town of Sandown against him. The letter is a good
example of how Scientology accuses a critic of spreading lies and hatred simply
because the critic is exposing Scientology's illegal activities and its
violations of civil and human rights. Anything critical of Scientology is
denounced as lies and hate-mongering. As explained in the introduction, a
critic must be identified as a criminal. If he or she does not already have a
criminal record, then a criminal record must be created or invented. O'Keefe
slipped a veiled threat into the closing of her letter when she said, "Our
message to him is quite simple: 'You leave us alone. We'll leave you alone.'"
This overt reference to one of Scientology's infamous "Fair Game" policies was
clearly intended to warn Mr. Minton to back off. Attached to O'Keefe's open
letter was a "fact sheet" consisting of a by-now familiar litany of lies about
several critics of Scientology. Also included in the "fact sheet" were
repetitions of the same two incidents involving Mr. Minton. Rather than
trespassing, the Scientologists had now been on "public property": "In July
1998, Minton fired a shotgun at several Scientologists who had been protesting
on public property against his actions," and "In September 1998, Minton
violently struck a Scientologist with a stick outside of the Church of
Scientology in Boston and was arrested for assault and battery with a dangerous
weapon." There was no mention that the charges were dismissed, and no mention
that the violence was committed by a Scientologist who broke Mr. Minton's
picket sign, not by Mr. Minton. In a typical example of Scientology's
deliberate role reversal, O'Keefe ended her letter by saying, "We support
religious freedom and tolerance and call for an end to the lies and hate."
December 27, 1998: Mr. Minton was a guest on KFUO Radio, part of the nationwide
Christian Radio Jubilee Network in Detroit. Don Matzat, host of Issues, Etc,
interviewed him. The title of the program was "Scientology - Religious Mafia?"
December 28, 1998: While Mr. Prince was visiting Ms. Brooks at her home on
Vashon Island, Scientologists distributed a flier about Mr. Prince in Ms.
Brooks' neighborhood. The flier featured a photograph of Mr. Prince and was
titled, "The Face of Religious Bigotry." It accused Mr. Prince of buying drugs
and being paid "thousands of dollars" to attack Scientology. Mr. Prince had
recently visited Mr. Minton in New Hampshire. After a day of clearing
underbrush in Mr. Minton's 200 acres of woods, Mr. Minton and Mr. Prince were
on their way back to the house carrying axes when a group of Scientologists
drove by Mr. Minton's house with picket signs. This incident had now been
transformed in the flier into another example of Mr. Minton's violence. The
flier was signed, "From the Free Speech & Religious Freedom Committee Church of
Scientology, Seattle."
1999
January 1999: A long-term Scientology spy was uncovered after having been sent
in on FACTNet, Mr. Minton, Jesse Prince, and Stacy Brooks.
January - February 1999: As directors of FACTNet, Mr. Minton and Ms. Brooks
were involved in settlement negotiations with high-level Scientologists Marty
Rathbun and Mike Rinder for a period of two months. The main purpose of the
settlement discussions from the Scientology perspective was to persuade Mr.
Minton to sign an agreement to stop funding litigation and cut off money to
people fighting Scientology. Once again, the Scientologists said that if Mr.
Minton would quit giving financial and litigation support to others, they would
leave Mr. Minton and his friends and family alone. In negotiations on this
matter, Mr. Minton said he intended to continue to support the McPherson case.
The Scientologists said they would not cease their harassment of him unless ALL
support was cut, especially the McPherson case. No agreement was reached
between Mr. Minton and the Scientologists, although a settlement was concluded
in the FACTNet case. True to their word, the Scientologists continued the
campaign to destroy Mr. Minton.
February 12, 1999: Mr. Minton delivered a speech entitled "A Warning on the
Evils of Scientology" at the Leo J. Ryan Educational Foundation conference in
Stamford, Connecticut.
March 1999: Scientology turned its full attention on Jeff Schmidt, Mr. Minton's
former business partner, harassing him relentlessly to get him to put pressure
on Mr. Minton to stop exposing Scientology's criminal conduct.
March 12, 1999: Several Scientologists picketed the home of Jesse Prince's
father in Memphis, Tennessee. Mr. Prince Sr. called the police, who ordered the
picketers to leave.
April 1999: A Danish television station asked Jesse Prince to fly to Copenhagen
to be interviewed for a documentary about Scientology. Aaron Mason, a member of
Scientology's Office of Special Affairs in Los Angeles, sent the station
manager a large pack of materials designed to portray Mr. Prince as an immoral
and dangerous criminal. Mr. Prince was in Copenhagen for approximately two
weeks, and he was followed by Scientology operatives throughout his stay.
July 1999: While Mr. Minton was conducting peaceful protests against
Scientology in Clearwater, Scientology operatives let him know by remarks made
to him that they knew his wife and children were in Spain. Three times during
his family's visit to Spain, a Scientology operative photographed them.
July 1999: Scientology operatives broke into Jeff Schmidt's London office and
photocopied extensive files. Mr. Schmidt was later told by a Scientology
private investigator that if he could not convince Mr. Minton to end his
opposition to Scientology, all of the files would be turned over to the Inland
Revenue and the Nigerian media. Mr. Schmidt called Mr. Minton and begged him to
stop criticizing Scientology. Mr. Minton tried to convince Mr. Schmidt to go to
the authorities and report Scientology's conduct as blackmail, but Mr. Schmidt
was frightened of what the Scientologists would do to him and his family, and
he refused.
August 1999: A Scientology private investigator from Denver, Colorado, visited
the mother of Jesse Prince's daughter and attempted to induce her to sign a
derogatory statement about Mr. Prince. The man told her that Mr. Prince had
sexually abused her many years before, and that she should press charges
against him for it. Only when the woman threatened to call the police did the
man agree to leave.
August 18, 1999: An email was sent to Mr. Minton under the pseudonym "Alberto
Rafallo." The sender accused Mr. Minton of illegally controlling the litigation
that attorneys Dan Leipold and Ken Dandar were conducting, based on the funding
that Mr. Minton had provided for lawsuits whose clients these attorneys
represented. This was the first indication that Scientology would begin to
attack Mr. Minton directly for the funding he was providing to various
litigation efforts. (In fact, Mr. Minton has never attempted to exert any
control whatsoever over any of the litigation for which he has provided funds.
Yet Scientology has characterized his funding of the suits as an effort on his
part to capitalize on religious bigotry and hate mongering. None of
Scientology's attorneys has ever made it clear how Mr. Minton could possibly be
making money from his efforts to end Scientology's criminal conduct. To date,
he has spent several million dollars with no expectation of ever getting any of
his money back.) "Alberto Raffallo" apparently hoped to frighten Mr. Minton
into responding by threatening to post his information to the Internet. Mr.
Minton never responded to him, and the information was never posted.
August 26-27, 1999: Mr. Minton and Stacy Brooks had dinner at the Palm
Restaurant in Philadelphia with Ken Dandar, the attorney for the Lisa McPherson
estate in the wrongful death case brought against Scientology's Clearwater arm.
Several Scientologists surrounded the table during dinner in an attempt to
harass them, and the next morning six Scientologists picketed outside the hotel
where they were staying.
September 1999: The same Scientology private investigator that had followed
Jesse Prince in Denver followed him from Boulder, Colorado, to Minneapolis,
Minnesota. The man checked into the same hotel where Mr. Prince was staying.
Later, surveillance photographs of Mr. Prince and a friend were posted on the
Internet. A number of Mr. Prince's former business contacts reported that they
had been visited by a Scientology private investigator attempting to discredit
Mr. Prince.
September 17, 1999: Therese Minton received an anonymous letter informing her
that Mr. Minton had been in Philadelphia with Stacy Brooks. Also included in
the envelope was a copy of a post made by former Scientologist Charlotte Kates
on ARS. The subject was "An Evening at the Palm," dated 08/27/99. The post was
included as evidence that Mr. Minton was in Philadelphia.
October 1999: An old friend of Jesse Prince called him to let him know that a
Scientology private investigator had contacted him and offered him $10,000 to
act as a go-between so that a settlement between Scientology and Mr. Prince
could be reached.
October 15-27, 1999: Ms. Brooks tried to lease office space in downtown
Clearwater in preparation for opening the Lisa McPherson Trust, Inc. but was
refused by every office building. On October 21, MKV Realty, the company that
owns the Sun Trust Building at 601 Cleveland Avenue, became the first to
refuse. The owner would not to return telephone calls, and the manager would
not say why the lease had been refused. Mr. Minton was prepared to pay the full
amount of the first year's lease in advance, but this did not resolve the
problem. Because no legitimate reason was forthcoming, Ms. Brooks suspected
that Scientology was trying to stop her from leasing any space, but she had no
proof. One of the realtors finally admitted to her that he had received
information about the principles of the Lisa McPherson Trust, including
information that Mr. Minton had been convicted of assault and battery with a
deadly weapon stemming from an incident in September 1998 in which he caused
serious bodily harm to a Scientologist in Boston. This was patently false and
information was sent to the realtor to correct this. However, he still refused
to lease to the Lisa Trust. He then admitted that Scientology had contacted him
and threatened to put pressure on all of the other tenants to move out if he
leased space to the Lisa McPherson Trust.
October 19-20, 1999: Mr. Minton received telephone calls from several people
who lived in his Boston neighborhood. They said they had received a letter from
Scientology that read as follows: "If you have any dealings with Mr. Minton of
137 Fremont Rd., Sandown, New Hampshire, please be aware of his activities on
the internet. This sort of behavior by Mr. Minton has occurred repeatedly and
he has acted out some of his expressions in the form of violence at various
times. He appears to be incapable of controlling himself; thus you are being
alerted."
October 25, 1999: Mr. Minton received telephone calls from five different
people in Sandown, New Hampshire, from different parts of town, telling him
they had received the same letter that was sent out in Boston the preceding
week.
October 26, 1999: The two schools that Mr. Minton's daughters attended in
Boston received the same letter that Scientology had mailed out in Boston and
Sandown.
October 26, 1999: Mr. Minton received a four-page newsletter from Scientology
in his mailbox. It was called "Clear Body Clear Mind" and appeared to be a
promotional mailing for a Scientology procedure called the Purification
Rundown. This was mailed from the Dianetics Center of Massachusetts.
October 30, 1999: A Halloween flier was put on Mr. Minton's and other mailboxes
on Fremont Road in Sandown, New Hampshire. The flier featured a photograph of
Mr. Minton and a headline that read: "Trick or Treaters Beware!"
October 31, 1999: Mr. Minton arrived at the Tampa International Airport and was
met by two Scientologists, who shouted at him, "Bob, what are you doing in our
town? Get out of our town!" He and Ms. Brooks were then followed from the
airport to Clearwater, and to their hotel. Richard Howd was one of the
Scientologists who followed Mr. Minton and Ms. Brooks from the airport to their
hotel. Mr. Minton stopped the car near the entrance to the hotel and got out to
confront the Scientologists. While Mr. Minton spoke to the woman who was
driving the car, Mr. Howd held a video camera inches from Mr. Minton's face. He
continued to do this throughout the conversation, until Mr. Minton got back
into his car. That evening Mr. Minton picketed in front of the Fort Harrison
Hotel, and again Richard Howd was there, keeping a video camera inches from his
face as he walked back and forth picketing. Ms. Brooks was also there,
videotaping so that there would be a record of what happened, as the presence
of Mr. Howd was a disturbing signal that the harassment against Mr. Minton was
escalating. Finally, as Mr. Minton rounded the corner of the building, two
Scientologists blocked Ms. Brooks so that she could not follow with her camera.
Richard Howd pushed Mr. Minton while he was sure he was not being videotaped.
At this point Mr. Minton decided to call the police. He began to cross the
street and pulled out his cell phone to call, but Richard Howd followed Mr.
Minton across the street, holding the video camera close to Mr. Minton's ear.
Mr. Minton turned around and told Howd to get away from him, thrusting his sign
at him defensively. The sign grazed Howd's eyebrow. Immediately Howd fell to
the ground, moaning as if he were in extreme pain. The police arrived and the
Scientologists showed them the videotape of Mr. Minton thrusting his sign at
Howd as he crossed the street. Because there was no videotape of Howd's earlier
assault on Mr. Minton, the Scientologists were able to convince the police to
arrest Mr. Minton. He was handcuffed and taken to the Pinellas County Jail,
arrested for battery. Scientology immediately began to send Mr. Minton's mug
shot to his friends and neighbors in an effort to identify him as a criminal.
(Mr. Minton went to trial in March 2000 and was acquitted after the jury heard
evidence that made it clear Mr. Minton had been set up by Scientology. However,
Scientology has continued to this day to use this incident to harass Mr.
Minton.)
November 1999: Jesse Prince accepted an invitation from the German Secret
Service to meet with them in Mannheim so that they could interview him about
Scientology. Mr. Prince was there for three days and was followed by
Scientology operatives constantly while he was there. One evening, two
Scientology operatives attempted to force Mr. Prince into a car with them. Mr.
Prince was forced to run into a crowd to escape. Before he left Germany Mr.
Prince met with an editor of the German magazine Der Spiegel for an interview
about child abuse in Scientology's Sea Organization. On his return to the
United States Mr. Prince had a layover in Amsterdam. A Scientology private
investigator followed him to an Internet café there and watched him as he sent
an email to Mr. Minton. Later, Scientology falsely reported in the Lisa
McPherson wrongful death case that Mr. Prince had been seen smoking marijuana
in the café.
November 1, 1999: Mr. Minton had decided to buy a building in downtown
Clearwater for the Lisa McPherson Trust, since Scientology had successfully
blocked him from leasing office space in any of the office buildings downtown.
The morning after Mr. Minton's arrest, Scott Brauer, the owner of the property
at 33 North Fort Harrison Avenue, was giving Mr. Minton and Ms. Brooks a tour
of his building when suddenly seven Scientologists burst into the room and
began screaming at Mr. Brauer, "Don't do business with this man! He's a
criminal! He was arrested last night for assaulting a Scientologist!" Mr.
Minton and Ms. Brooks had already told Mr. Brauer what happened the night
before. Mr. Brauer ordered the Scientologists out of the building, informing
them that they were trespassing. They then began picketing the building and
taking photographs of Mr. Brauer's clients as they arrived. Mr. Brauer then
called the police, who came in and introduced themselves to Mr. Minton and
thanked him for taking a stand against Scientology. When Mr. Minton and Ms.
Brooks left the building, the Scientologists followed them to their car in the
parking lot across the street and surrounded the car in a menacing manner. They
blocked them from leaving the parking lot until the manager of the parking lot
called the police.
November 4, 1999: An anonymous flier showing the mug shot from Mr. Minton's
Clearwater arrest was sent to over 4,000 Sandown, New Hampshire, residents, Mr.
Minton's friends and family in Boston and England, parents of Mr. Minton's
daughters' classmates and the schools of Mr. Minton's two daughters. A private
detective visited the twelve houses in the small English village where Mr.
Minton's father-in-law lived, informing everyone in the village about Mr.
Minton's arrest in Clearwater.
November 6, 1999: Mr. Minton was served with a temporary restraining order,
enjoining him from coming within 150 yards of the 18 Scientology buildings in
Clearwater, and also enjoining him from coming within 150 yards of any
individual Scientologist. Because there are so many Scientologists in
Clearwater, this effectively barred Mr. Minton from Clearwater.
November 20, 1999: A private investigator hired by Scientology contacted the
father of Leslie White in New Canaan, Connecticut. Ms. Brooks and Mr. Minton
had both stayed with the White family in February 1998 to help Leslie, who had
just left Scientology and was close to having a nervous breakdown. The private
investigator falsely stated to Leslie's father that he had been hired by
Therese Minton and wanted to know what Leslie's father knew about Mr. Minton
and Ms. Brooks' relationship. The investigator told Mr. White that Mr. Minton
was "bipolar" and needed to be on medication on a daily basis for his "mental
imbalance." The private investigator also called Leslie's mother and Leslie
herself; unsuccessfully attempting to convince them to talk to him about Mr.
Minton and Ms. Brooks.
November 23, 1999: Another anonymous flier was placed in the mailboxes of Mr.
Minton's Sandown, New Hampshire, neighborhood. The flier was a copy of a web
page Scientology had created on the Internet showing the mug shot from Mr.
Minton's October 31 arrest in Clearwater and painting a grossly distorted
picture of what had happened.
November 1999: Mr. Minton entered into a contract to buy the office building at
33 North Fort Harrison Avenue. The owner, Scott Brauer, told Mr. Minton that a
Scientologist came and sat in the reception room of the building for hours with
a signed offer to buy the building for substantially more than Mr. Minton's
contract. Mr. Minton was contacted by another property owner in Clearwater who
told him that it was impossible to rent office space to tenants in Clearwater
because of harassment from Scientology. Every time anyone tried to lease a
space, Scientology operatives would intimidate the potential client until they
gave up in fear. In this way, this property owner explained, Scientology was
forcing the prices of all property in Clearwater down to rock bottom, at which
point they would buy it all up themselves. With regard to Mr. Minton in
particular, a property owner informed him that a member of the City
Commissioner's office made calls to all the property owners in Clearwater
warning them not to sell property to Mr. Minton. One property owner said she
got 40 calls in one day telling her not to do business with Minton or his
co-workers. Mr. Minton and Ms. Brooks were provided with a photocopy of a fax
that had been sent naming three people with whom the property owner was not to
have any dealings. The three people were Robert Minton, Stacy Brooks and Jesse
Prince.
December 3, 1999: Judge Thomas Penick issued a temporary injunction prohibiting
Mr. Minton from coming within ten feet of any Scientologist or Scientology
property in downtown Clearwater.
December 12, 1999: Dateline ran a follow-up story about Mr. Minton in which
Scientology spokesperson Mike Rinder made the following statements: "Bob Minton
falls into a category similar to those anti-Semites who are out to make it seem
like there is something wrong with being a Jew," and later: "I don't know what
motivates this guy, I don't know what. But on the other hand if you ask me do I
know what motivated Timothy McVey to go blow up a building, I don't know
either."
December 1999: A flier was distributed in the Boulder, Colorado, neighborhood
in which Jesse Prince was living. The flier's title was "Jesse Prince: The Face
of Religious Bigotry," and it had a photograph of Mr. Prince from a recent
arrest. The Boulder police had received an anonymous call that Mr. Prince was
driving while intoxicated, and based on this he had been arrested. The text of
the flier accused Mr. Prince of being part of an anti-religious hate group and
of physically threatening Scientologists. It also stated: "Prince is closely
associated with and financially supported by a religious bigot named Robert
Minton, who has a long history of mental problems and psychiatric treatment.
Together they have threatened individuals with axes and sledgehammers and threw
rocks at these people and property. Prince and Minton regularly show up drunk
and disorderly in front of church premises just to cause trouble. Minton has
discharged a shotgun at our people, an incident under investigation by law
enforcement. Prince has recently been arrested for drunk driving in Boulder and
Minton faces trial this December for assault and battery when he attacked
another individual with a stick and beat him across the face. Next time you see
this man Prince (or his sidekick Minton), recognize the face of religious
bigotry." It was signed "Free Speech & Religious Freedom Committee of The
Parishioners of The Church of Scientology of Colorado."
December 10, 1999: The Tampa Tribune published a favorable piece by columnist
Rick Berry about Mr. Minton and the Lisa McPherson Trust entitled "Bob Minton:
Will he rouse the gorilla?" In it, Berry congratulated Mr. Minton for standing
up to Scientology, the "gorilla" in downtown Clearwater.
2000
January 5, 2000: Mr. Minton signed the closing papers on the property at 33
North Fort Harrison Avenue. The owner, Scott Brauer, told Mr. Minton that over
the weekend he had repeatedly received telephone calls from Ben Shaw, the head
of Scientology's Office of Special Affairs in Clearwater, trying to convince
him to pull out of the deal with Mr. Minton. Mr. Brauer said Shaw offered him
twice the money Mr. Minton was paying and also offered to indemnify him against
litigation should Mr. Minton sue him for breach of contract. Fortunately, Mr.
Brauer was an ethical man and refused Shaw's offers. "I have to look at myself
in the mirror every morning," he said.
January 5, 2000: Scott Brauer received a telephone call from Mike Roberto, then
Clearwater's City Manager. Roberto told him that he was calling because he had
heard about the property deal with Mr. Minton and wondered if Mr. Brauer
realized how much trouble it would bring to downtown Clearwater if the deal
with Minton went through. Mr. Brauer said that he felt that Roberto was trying
to strong-arm him, and he said it seemed to him that Roberto was calling to put
pressure on him to back out of the sale. Mr. Brauer told him they didn't need
to have the conversation because Mr. Minton already owned the building, as of
3:45 that afternoon.
January 6, 2000: The owners of Ottavio's, an Italian restaurant two doors down
the street from 33 North Fort Harrison Avenue, brought wine and bruschetta to
the celebration party at the Lisa McPherson Trust after the closing. The next
day, Scientologists came to the restaurant and warned them not to do business
with Mr. Minton or the Lisa McPherson Trust. The owner refused to be
intimidated and told the Scientologists he was "running a business, not a
nursery school playground." Soon thereafter, a restaurant patron let the owners
know that word had gone out to Scientologists to boycott Ottavio's until they
agreed to stop doing business with the LMT.
January 13-16, 2000: Scientologists picketed the Minton house in Boston for
three days in a row.
January 16, 2000: In a letter to the editor of the St. Petersburg Times titled,
"Scientology has helped family, friends, business," Scientologist Patrick J.
Clouden of Largo, Florida, wrote: "I would never ask Minton for help or advice
on ethics. That would be like asking Hitler about the Jewish religion."
January 25, 2000: Mark Bunker, the LMT's multi-media coordinator, was arrested
in Chicago for criminal trespassing as he stood on a public sidewalk to film
two dentists who were requesting their money back from the Scientology
organization in downtown Chicago. Mr. Bunker was filming the dentists outside
the entrance when two off-duty Chicago police officers hired by Scientology
burst out of the building, grabbed his camera from him and handcuffed him. Mr.
Bunker was taken to jail, booked, and charged with criminal trespassing despite
two eyewitnesses who swore he was standing on the public sidewalk. Mr. Bunker
would later be acquitted, but not before Scientology posted his mug shot on the
Internet and described him as a criminal.
January 30, 2000: The Atlanta Journal/Constitution published an article by Jean
Marbella titled "A Private War: Millionaire spends big bucks in battle against
Scientology" (a reprint from a Baltimore Sun article of January 19, 2000).
Scientology spokesperson Mike Rinder was quoted as saying the following
regarding the LMT: "They're here for only one purpose, to harass Scientology"
and "Minton's Lisa McPherson center can only hurt relations between the city
and the church."
January 2000: A flier was distributed in Mr. Minton's Boston neighborhood with
the headline: "New revelations in secret debt buy back scheme by Boston
resident Robert S. Minton." The text of the flier included a quote from an
article in a British magazine called "Business Age," as follows: "Between 1987
and 1993, a complex fraud was carried out by a clique of international debt
traders in cahoots with corrupt Nigerian officials and was conducted under the
pretense of executing the official Nigerian debt conversion program so as to
fill their own pockets at the expense of unsuspected debt holders, financial
institutions and Nigerian creditors. Documents show that a Mr. Rasheed was the
key CBN official who worked directly with Mr. Minton and the Abacha family in
both BuyBack schemes now under investigation." The flier had photographs of
Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha, Mr. Rasheed, and Mr. Minton. It concluded by
saying, "The British Financial Services Authority and the Home Office are now
launching their own investigations into the actions of the London banks and
financial institutions. And the U.S. Authorities? Minton: Return our money
now!" Designed to appear to be from a group of Nigerian freedom fighters, the
flier ended by inviting readers to "Visit our website."
January 2000: Jesse Prince, in Clearwater to find a place to live so that he
could work for the Lisa McPherson Trust, was followed by a man who was later
identified as a Scientology private investigator. The man made lewd gestures at
Mr. Prince when Mr. Prince pulled up next to him in his car. The man then got
behind Mr. Prince and began to follow him in his car, speeding up and slowing
down, in a threatening way. Mr. Prince went to the Largo, Florida, police
department and filed a complaint with Officer Des Jardins. Officer Jardins was
able to identify the man as a private investigator working for Scientology,
although he would not give Mr. Prince the man's name. The man's car was rented
from Enterprise, where all of Scientology's private investigators rent their
cars.
February 2000: Therese Minton was being sponsored by another Beacon Hill couple
for membership in the Longwood Tennis Club. Scientology sent a package of
discrediting material not only to the couple who was sponsoring her, but also
to each member of the membership committee. As a result, she was turned down
for membership.
February 1, 2000: A German documentary filmmaker and his cameraman came to
Clearwater to interview German Scientologist Gottfried Helmwein. They asked LMT
Producer Mark Bunker to film them arriving at Helmwein's house and knocking on
his door. Mr. Bunker, standing on a public sidewalk, was in the process of
shooting this footage when a man who would later be identified as Richard
Bernard ran out of Helmwein's house and attacked him with a hammer. Mr. Bunker
was able to capture the incident on camera. Immediately after the incident,
Bernard ran back into the house and Mr. Bunker called the police. Two police
officers arrived shortly, and became hostile to Mr. Bunker after he identified
himself as an employee of the Lisa McPherson Trust. Both officers refused to
view the footage of the hammer assault. One of the officers indicated that he
intended to arrest Mr. Bunker for recording the assault without getting the
assailant's permission. Neither officer made any attempt to locate the
assailant, Bernard. It was only when a police sergeant arrived that the
officers agreed not to arrest Mr. Bunker and located Bernard. However, Bernard
gave a false name and date of birth and was never asked for any identification
by the officer. No charges were ever brought against him for the hammer
incident. It was later discovered that at the time of the assault against Mr.
Bunker, Bernard was in violation of his probation on a cocaine trafficking
charge. He was apprehended and served a year in prison.
February 6, 2000: The St. Petersburg Times published a story titled "How much
oddity can one town take?" written by Tom Tobin. Marty Rathbun, a high-level
Scientology spokesman, made the following statements regarding Mr. Minton: "I
worry about this guy because he is deranged"; "Frankly, I'm afraid for
people's lives"; "It seems the more he is ignored, the more that he flies off
the handle."
February 20, 2000: An anonymous Scientologist using the name benwog@flash.net
wrote the following post on ARS harassing Mark Bunker: "LOL Hey Fat Man. LMT
business hours are said to start at 9 oclock AM that is. You have no business
showing up 3 hours late for work. Does Minton know you are that late? And if
you are really an employee of the LMT, then get yourself an email like
vp@lisatrust.net. Mr. Bunker had, in fact, arrived at work that day three hours
late. The message was intended to let Mr. Bunker know he was being watched.
February 2000: LMT staff member Jesse Prince met a man in a pool hall where
Jesse and his fiance had gone to play pool. He introduced himself as Rinsey
Trinidad and invited Mr. Prince to go outside with him to smoke marijuana. What
Mr. Prince did not know at the time was that the man, whose real name was Barry
Gaston, was a private investigator hired by Scientology to befriend Jesse and
set him up on drug-buying charges.
March 18, 2000: Mr. Minton delivered a speech at the Leo J. Ryan's Education
Foundation conference in which he gave a brief overview of the history of
Scientology in Clearwater from the beginning in 1975 up until the present time.
April 2000: John Fashanu, a retired British soccer player from Nigeria,
released an investigative report that contained allegations that Mr. Minton was
involved in the theft of billions of dollars from the Nigerian government and
that he was involved in a massive money-laundering scheme. Several articles
appeared in England and Nigeria in which the media quoted from this so-called
Fashanu Report. Although Fashanu claimed it had taken him three years to
compile the information, in fact it later came out that Scientology private
investigators had provided Fashanu with the completed report. Most of the
documents appeared to have come from a break-in of the office of Mr. Minton's
former partner, Jeff Schmidt.
May 23, 2000: After a two-day jury trial, Mr. Minton was found not guilty of
battery in the criminal misdemeanor case of Howd v. Minton. Mr. Minton's
attorney, Denis deVlaming, was able to show the jury that Mr. Minton had been
set up for the arrest and that Richard Howd had been following Scientology's
"fair game" directives which require that anyone who is critical of Scientology
must be labeled a criminal, even if the evidence must be manufactured. A juror
was quoted in the paper the next day saying that the reason they had found Mr.
Minton not guilty was that "It was a set-up."
June 1, 2000: High-level Scientology spokesperson Marty Rathbun made several
statements about Mr. Minton and the Lisa McPherson Trust that were quoted in
article in the St. Petersburg Times entitled "Scientology foe sets up office
close to church." When asked how he felt about the Lisa McPherson Trust opening
its doors so close to Scientology, Rathbun said, "These guys are nobodies. They
bring absolutely nothing to this community." He compared the situation to the
Ku Klux Klan opening an office on North Greenwood, a Clearwater neighborhood
with mostly black residents. "The reason they're here is to harass people,"
Rathbun said. "They know better than anyone that any existing Scientologist
isn't interested in their information." On Tuesday, the church had offered to
buy the building out from under Minton, but the seller, CPA Scott Brauer,
declined. Rathbun said that some of Minton's followers, including Stacy Brooks,
were no longer in Scientology because they could not measure up to
Scientology's level of ethics. Rathbun also accused Minton and his staff of
being in Clearwater to violently "deprogram" Scientologists.
June 2, 2000: Customs officials detained Jesse Prince and Mark Bunker as they
arrived at the Leipzig, Germany, airport. Mr. Prince and Mr. Bunker were there
to attend a ceremony at which Mr. Minton was to receive an award (see entry for
June 3 below). The customs officials thoroughly searched Mr. Bunker's luggage,
even going so far as to open up every blank video cassette that Mr. Bunker had
brought to film the ceremony. Mr. Bunker was then allowed to go, but Mr. Prince
was detained for much longer while agents minutely searched all of his luggage
and his person. As they informed Mr. Prince that he was free to go, one of the
agents explained that they had received an anonymous tip that Mr. Prince and
possibly Mr. Bunker were carrying illegal drugs. Mr. Minton and Ms. Brooks were
at the airport to meet Mr. Prince and Mr. Bunker. Mr. Minton saw a man
videotaping Ms. Brooks and him. He approached the man, who admitted that had
been hired by Scientology to videotape them. He suggested that Mr. Minton could
also obtain a copy of the videotape for the right price.
June 3, 2000: Mr. Minton went to Leipzig, Germany, to receive the Alternative
Charlemagne Award from the European-American Citizens Committee for Human
Rights and Religious Freedom. The committee honored Mr. Minton with the award
in appreciation "of his involvement, led by his courage and sense of civil
duty, on behalf of the victims of Scientology;
of his efforts towards human rights and freedom of expression in the USA; and
as an expression of our support for the American people in putting human rights
violations by the totalitarian Scientology to an end." Mr. Minton delivered a
moving acceptance speech for this award, and an interpreter delivered it in
German for the German audience. Scientology operatives followed Mr. Minton and
Ms. Brooks throughout their stay in Leipzig and later when they visited Ursula
Caberta in Hamburg. Ms. Caberta was the head of a task force on Scientology
that was part of the Hamburg government. The police had to be called after one
Scientology private investigator followed Mr. Minton, Ms. Brooks and Ms.
Caberta in a harassing manner. During dinner at a restaurant in Hamburg,
Hamburg police officers identified the people at a table next to Mr. Minton,
Ms. Brooks and Ms. Caberta as Scientology operatives sent to listen in on their
conversation.
June 8, 2000: Scientology private investigator Eugene Ingram visited LMT
staffer Jeff Jacobsen's former neighbor in Scottsdale, Arizona. Ingram inquired
about the sources of Mr. Jacobsen's income and other personal information.
Ingram also visited the tenants of a rental house in Scottsdale owned by Mr.
Jacobsen.
June 11, 2000: Mr. Minton participated in a debate at Howard University in
Washington, D.C., concerning the accusations made against him in the Fashanu
Report. The Nigerian Democratic at the Howard University in Washington, D.C.
The Nigerian Democratic Movement requested this debate. Minton explained the
debt buyback in detail and answered in-depth questions from the public and
media regarding his dealings with Nigeria. John Fashanu the supposed author of
the report accusing Minton of money laundering did not show up for the debate.
June 14, 2000: Stacy Brooks and another board member of the Lisa McPherson
Trust, Duncan Pierce, attended a hearing before the House International
Relations Committee in Washington, D.C. The hearing was orchestrated entirely
by Scientology. The audience was composed entirely of Scientologists except for
the members of the LMT, who were surrounded by OSA operatives during the
hearing. The panel of witnesses included several people known to be apologists
for Scientology and two Scientologists. The purpose of the hearing was to
convince the committee that the U.S. Congress should bring economic sanctions
against France, Germany, Belgium and Austria for the position those countries
had taken against Scientology. Scientology was portrayed as being victimized by
religious discrimination in these countries. No testimony was presented to
counter these charges. The Lisa McPherson Trust had contacted Rep. Gilman's
office prior to the hearing to offer additional witnesses, but the offer was
denied. Out of approximately fifty committee members, only about fifteen
attended. The hearing did not result in sanctions against the European
countries.
June 18, 2000: Thirty-year Scientologist Tory Bezazian contacted Stacy Brooks
at the Lisa McPherson Trust and asked for help in escaping from Scientology.
She called from Los Angeles, very distraught about leaving Scientology and
afraid that Scientology operatives would harass her once they learned that she
had decided to leave. Ms. Brooks invited her to come to Clearwater where the
Lisa McPherson Trust would be able to offer her some protection from the
Scientologists while she collected her thoughts. Ms. Bezazian agreed to fly to
Clearwater. When she arrived at the airport she was met by Janet Weiland, a
high-level Scientology operative in the Office of Special Affairs
International. Weiland followed Ms. Bezazian through the airport, holding onto
her suitcase and refusing to return it. Ms. Bezazian was frightened but spoke
to Ms. Brooks via cell phone until she was able to get into her seat on the
plane, where Weiland was unable to reach her. Ms. Bezazian was met at the
Chicago airport by her husband Harold Bezazian, also a long-time Scientologist,
who begged her not to go to Clearwater and not to leave Scientology. Ms.
Bezazian told her husband that she wanted to speak to the people at the Lisa
McPherson Trust and got on her plane to Tampa.
Ms. Brooks, Mr. Minton and Jesse Prince went to the airport to meet Ms.
Bezazian. It was nearly two in the morning, but when they arrived at Ms.
Bezazian's gate they found four Scientology operatives there waiting for the
plane. One of the Scientologists was Dennis Clarke, a long-time Scientology
operative who was also head of Scientology's anti-psychiatry front group,
Citizens Commission on Human Rights. Another was Charlie Earls, a long-time
member of the intelligence branch of Scientology's Office of Special Affairs. A
woman named Cathy True was also there. True was also in the Office of Special
Affairs. She was known to Ms. Brooks as the person sent by Scientology to
threaten people who no longer want to be in Scientology, particularly those who
want money refunded. The fourth Scientologist was a woman named Penny Jones.
She had been a friend of Ms. Bezazian's. When Ms. Bezazian came into the
terminal Jones immediately pulled her aside and insisted on speaking to her.
Two Tampa police officers were there to ensure that Ms. Bezazian was not forced
to go with the Scientologists against her will. Ms. Brooks asked one of the
officers to assist Ms. Bezazian, but he informed her that he could do nothing
unless Ms. Bezazian stated that she did not want to go with Jones. Jones spent
several minutes trying to talk Ms. Bezazian into leaving with her. While this
conversation was occurring, Charlie Earls approached the police officers and
began to give them false information about Mr. Minton, Ms. Brooks and Mr.
Prince, saying they were wanted by the police. The police officer ordered Earls
to show him copies of arrest warrants or be quiet. Finally Ms. Bezazian said in
a loud voice, "Penny, I want to talk to these people. I want to go with them."
The two police officers immediately ordered the Scientologists to back away and
moved in close to Ms. Bezazian and Ms. Brooks, flanking them on both sides.
They announced loudly, "This is police business! Everyone stay out of the way!"
and escorted Ms. Bezazian, Mr. Minton, Mr. Prince and Ms. Brooks out of the
airport and to their car.
That night Ms. Bezazian stayed in a room at the Hyatt Westshore, a hotel near
the airport. Mr. Minton and Ms. Brooks also stayed at the hotel so that Ms.
Bezazian would not be alone. They were up all night, because Ms. Bezazian
wanted to talk to them. Early the next morning, Scientologists began knocking
on her door, trying to convince her to leave with them. She felt harassed by
them and it was necessary to have staff of the Lisa McPherson Trust at the
hotel all day the next day to protect her.
June 23, 2000: An English translation of a letter from the Nigerian High
Commissioner in London, Prince Bola Ajibola, to a prosecutor in Geneva,
Switzerland, General Bernard Bertossa, appeared anonymously on the Internet. In
it, Prince Ajibola accused Mr. Minton of money-laundering and fraud against the
Nigerian government and asked Bertossa to press criminal charges against Mr.
Minton. Clearly, Prince Ajibola's complaint was based on the Fashanu Report.
June 23, 2000: Ursula Caberta, head of the Hamburg government's task force on
Scientology, came to Clearwater on vacation to visit her friends, Mr. Minton,
Ms. Brooks, and others at the Lisa McPherson Trust. Upon her arrival at Tampa
International Airport, approximately forty Scientologists materialized as Ms.
Caberta entered the terminal and began shouting at her, "Nazi go home!" The
Scientologists surrounded Ms. Caberta and Ms. Brooks, who guided Ms. Caberta
through the hostile crowd and protected her until the airport police arrived
and forced the Scientologists away. The police then escorted Ms. Caberta, Ms.
Brooks and Mr. Minton through the airport and into the adjoining police
station. The police stayed with Ms. Caberta and Ms. Brooks while Mr. Minton got
the car, and the police then escorted the two women to the car to make sure
they would be safe. Ms. Brooks had intended that Ms. Caberta would be a guest
at her home during her vacation. However, Tory Bezazian, a thirty-year
Scientologist, had just left Scientology and was under the care of the Lisa
McPherson Trust to protect her from being harassed by Scientologists. She had
been staying at a hotel in Tampa, but there was so much harassment from
Scientology at the hotel that it was decided she would safer at the home of Ms.
Brooks. As a Scientologist, Ms. Bezazian had been indoctrinated to believe that
Ms. Caberta was an evil, dangerous person, so Ms. Bezazian was afraid to be in
the same house with her. Therefore, a hotel had been reserved for Ms. Caberta.
When she was taken to her hotel to check in, however, it was discovered that
someone had canceled her reservation and another hotel had to be found late
that night.
June 25, 2000: Ms. Caberta wanted to speak to U.S. media about the situation
with Scientology in Germany, because Scientology was harassing her in Germany
and trying to get her government superiors to fire her, and she wanted the
truth to be known in the U.S. Therefore, the Lisa McPherson Trust invited
several local media to their offices and held a reception at which Ms. Caberta
discussed the fact that Scientology was viewed as a fraudulent commercial
enterprise in Germany, not as a religion, and that many Scientologists had been
found to be committing criminal fraud in Germany. During this reception,
Scientologists were outside trying to disrupt the gathering, and when Ms.
Caberta left later that day, she was served at her hotel with a subpoena to
appear for a deposition in the Lisa McPherson wrongful death case, a legal
proceeding in which Ms. Caberta had no involvement whatsoever.
June 2000: While Therese Minton was on vacation in England with the children,
they were followed by Scientology private investigators wherever they went.
July 7, 2000: Long-time Scientologist and former top-management-level staff
member Dan Feeley came into the Lisa McPherson Trust and demanded to have an
appointment with the president, Stacy Brooks. They had worked together and been
friends when she was still in Scientology.
July 8, 2000: Long-time Scientologist and head of its front group, Citizens
Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) Dennis Clarke came to the back door of the
Lisa McPherson Trust and made harassing comments to the staff of the Lisa
McPherson Trust.
July 8, 2000: Richard Hurst, a Scientologist active in working with OSA, came
in to harass the members of the Lisa McPherson Trust.
July 9, 2000: Long-time Scientologist and former Guardian's Office staff member
Steve Sigal came to the front door of the Lisa McPherson Trust and said he
wanted to talk to the president, Stacy Brooks. He and Stacy had worked together
in the Guardian's Office and had been good friends. She spoke to him long
enough to ascertain that he was there to harass her, at which point she called
the police and had a trespass warning issued against him. He did not return.
July 13, 2000: Several Scientologists, including T. C. Applebaum, Mary DeMoss,
Herb Zerden and Cat Jordan, came into the reception of the Lisa McPherson Trust
and began to create a disturbance, yelling obscenities at the staff and
refusing to leave despite repeated requests by the president, Stacy Brooks, to
do so. When she informed them that she was going to call the police, they left
the building but remained on the sidewalk, continuing to hurl insults at the
staff.
July 22, 2000: Ursula Caberta, head of the Scientology task force of the
Hamburg, Germany, government, and a friend of Mr. Minton, Stacy Brooks and the
LMT staff, came to Clearwater on vacation, having never visited Florida before.
Mr. Minton and Ms. Brooks went to the airport to meet her, along with several
other LMT staff. When Ms. Caberta walked into the terminal, approximately forty
Scientologists materialized out of the crowd and began yelling, "Nazi, go
home!" and other epithets at Ms. Caberta. They also approached her in a
menacing way, necessitating an escort through the airport by the Tampa airport
police. Scientologists followed Ms. Caberta through the airport, making it
necessary for the police to surround her to keep her safe. The police escorted
Ms. Caberta, Mr. Minton and Ms. Brooks to their car to ensure their safety.
July 23, 2000: Dennis Clarke, a long-time Scientologist and the head of the
Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a Scientology front group,
assaulted several individuals while they were peacefully protesting in
Clearwater. Several battery complaints were filed against Clark with the
Clearwater Police, but no charges were ever brought against him.
July 25, 2000: Ursula Caberta had asked if she could have a chance to speak to
the U.S. media while she was in Clearwater, because Scientology was putting
pressure on the German government to back away from its stance on Scientology.
Ms. Caberta had been the target of a harassment campaign in Hamburg, and she
wanted to set the record straight in the United States. The LMT invited the
local media to talk to Ms. Caberta, and a few came to meet her for an informal
discussion. Ms. Caberta spoke about the criminal activities of individual
Scientologists in Germany, including a woman named Antje Victore who had
obtained asylum in the United States after presenting false documents to a
federal judge in Tampa.
Numerous Scientologists were videotaping all the people coming and going into
the Lisa McPherson Trust. Michael Krotz, a licensed private investigator
handling security for the LMT, went to the parking garage across the street to
investigate a report of a disturbance. Upon entering the third floor of the
parking garage, Krotz encountered Scientologist Dennis Clark. Clark assaulted
Krotz and Krotz caught this incident on videotape. Clark then departed the
area. Officers at the scene refused to take a report of the incident so Krotz
later went to the Clearwater Police Department, accompanied by a witness to the
incident, and filed a battery complaint. Despite videotaped evidence of
assault, the State Attorney refused to prosecute Clark.
July 26, 2000: After Ms. Caberta spoke to the media in Clearwater, she was
besieged in her hotel, the Belleview Biltmore, by Scientologists. While having
dinner with Mr. Minton and Ms. Brooks in the hotel dining room, two
Scientologists interrupted them and began to harass Ms. Caberta, telling her
that she should go back to Germany. Scientologists stationed themselves outside
her hotel room door so that she could not leave her room without running a
gauntlet of harassive Scientologists. The next day, two people presented
themselves as off-duty plain-clothes police officers to the desk clerks of the
hotel. In fact, these two men were Daniel Otero, a Scientology private
investigator, and Robert Bossard, a process server working for Scientology.
Believing them to be police officers, the hotel clerk directed them to Ms.
Caberta's room. There, Otero, Bossard and several Scientologists began to
harass Caberta, yelling and pounding on her hotel door and sliding subpoenas
for deposition in the Lisa McPherson wrongful death case, in which Ms. Caberta
had no involvement, under the door.
July 2000: While Ms. Caberta was in Florida with Mr. Minton and the LMT,
Scientologists in Hamburg staged protests against the Hamburg government
calculated to cause Ms. Caberta to lose her job. Scientologists passed out
fliers in front of the building where Ms. Caberta's superiors had their
offices. The headline of the flier was, "Down with official camaraderie with
white-collar criminals!" The text of the flier said, among other things, "For
weeks Caberta, with the approval of her employers and under the label of the
Interior Agency, has been openly fraternizing with big-time American swindler,
Bob Minton. Joint appearances before the television cameras publicly honoring
and paying homage to the international criminal (with the full seal of approval
of Caberta's office as a department director of the Hamburg Interior Agency -
of course) are only facets of a marriage carried out in public between the
international money Mafia and the Hamburg office." The flier went on to libel
Mr. Minton regarding his business dealings in Nigeria, stating, "The Republic
of Nigeria, having suffered losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars, has
just at the end of June, had the Attorney General's office charge Minton with
fraud, falsifications of records and money-laundering, with the Nigerian people
as victims. There are demands for his bank accounts to be confiscated and for
Minton's Mafia system of fraud spread across Europe in covert companies,
middlemen and criminals to be exposed." This was all false, but at the time Mr.
Minton could not determine the truth of the situation. The flier was signed,
"Legally responsible person ("V.I.S.D.P."): Frank Busch, c/o Scientology Church
Hamburg, Inc."
August 2000: Mr. Minton had invested in a film based on a screenplay by former
Scientologist Peter Alexander. The film was about a con artist who started a
cult to make money. Although there was no mention of Scientology in the film,
Scientology began handing out inflammatory fliers about Mr. Minton in Tampa,
Florida, where the film was being made. One flier had a photograph of a
malnourished Nigerian child in the arms of a nurse. Underneath the photograph
was a quote attributed to "Robert Minton, rogue financier" that said: "I've
never been to Nigeria… It was just a business deal." The text of the flier
charged that "If Robert Minton is providing money that is financing this film,
that money comes from the mouths of starving Nigerian children. The government
of Nigeria brought criminal charges against Minton on June 23rd for fraud,
forgery of financial documents, and the laundering of money. Minton is charged
with skimming millions of dollars off financial transactions in dealing with
the former dictatorship of Nigeria which led to the loss of some $6 billion to
the Nigerian economy. The new democratic government of Nigeria is taking steps
to recover this money and deal with the perpetrators of this fraud against
their people…. Blood Money is financing this propaganda." At the bottom of the
flier was the following statement: "For the facts, contact the Foundation for
Religious Tolerance (727) 448-1960."
August 11, 2000: At 8:00 in the morning a SWAT team of 12 Largo police officers
burst into LMT staffer Jesse Prince's house with instructions to search for
drugs and drug paraphernalia, clearly expecting to find evidence that Jesse was
a major drug dealer. They found no drugs and no paraphernalia in the house;
however, they did find one small marijuana plant growing out of the dead roots
of another plant in the back yard. Based on this Jesse was arrested for felony
drug cultivation and spent the day in jail. (The charge was later downgraded to
misdemeanor possession of marijuana. Mr. Prince stood trial on this charge in
March 2001. Three Scientology private investigators testified under oath that
they were hired to set Mr. Prince up on drug charges. The trial resulted in a
hung jury, 5-1 for acquittal. The jurors were quoted in the media saying they
felt Mr. Prince was set up. The judge called a mistrial, and the prosecutor
dropped the charges against him.)
August 17, 2000: At a Clearwater City Commission meeting, Mary DeMoss announced
that the "Foundation for Religious Tolerance" was opening a branch in
Clearwater. This "foundation" was in fact a front group for Scientology. Mary
DeMoss claimed that the purpose of the organization was to bring all the
religions in Clearwater together. In fact, the organization consisted of one
person, Mary DeMoss, and her orders were to carry out projects calculated to
destroy the reputation of the Lisa McPherson Trust and cause the people of
Clearwater not to want to have anything to do with it. The Foundation for
Religious Tolerance has also created a web site called Bigot Watch on which
defamatory information about members of the LMT is displayed.
August 27, 2000: Nigeria Today, an on-line newsletter, reported that the
Nigerian government had "gone cold" in its acceptance of the Fashanu Report and
the charges filed against Mr. Minton. The article stated that a detailed
inspection of the report revealed no evidence that Mr. Minton committed any
crime at all. In fact, the article disclosed, the true author of the report was
likely Scientology private investigator David Lee.
August 29, 2000: Mary Demoss and two male Scientologists burst into the Lisa
McPherson Trust reception area and began speaking loudly to the staff in a
harassing manner. After being asked to leave repeatedly, they refused to leave
the premises until they were physically pushed out of the door. They continued
to yell outside of the building. It was so disruptive that Ms. Brooks called
the police. By the time the police arrived, the Scientologists had left. Ms.
Brooks explained to the officers what had happened and asked if they would like
to see the security video of what had happened in reception. Neither officer
was interested. One of them, Officer Connelly, was extremely rude and made it
clear that he had nothing but contempt for the Lisa McPherson Trust. She again
asked him to watch the videotape and he snapped, "No, I don't want to see it."
Both officers left, having refused to make an information report on the
incident.
August 31, 2000: Richard Hurst, a Scientologist who worked with Mary DeMoss to
harass the Lisa McPherson Trust, appeared on the movie set of "The Profit," a
film that Mr. Minton had financed, to hand out a 27-page packet of discrediting
materials on Mr. Minton. Tab A stated: "Robert Minton of the Lisa McPherson
Trust and a financier has had a penal complaint brought against him by Nigerian
authorities for money laundering, forgery of financial documents and fraud."
Tab B stated: "Minton has previously been arrested for assault against
Scientologists and has fired a shotgun at them." Tab C stated: "Minton along
with members of his group has been restrained from coming within ten feet of
Church properties in Clearwater." Tab D stated: "Jesse Prince, vice president
of the Lisa McPherson Trust, was recently arrested for cultivating marijuana at
his home." Tab E stated: "Prince has previous arrests for driving under the
influence, disorderly conduct, and contributing to the sexual delinquency of a
child." Tab F stated: "Mark Bunker of the Lisa McPherson Trust was arrested in
Chicago earlier this year for criminal trespass at the Church of Scientology of
Chicago."
September 2000: Fliers featuring the mug shot from Mr. Minton's Clearwater
battery arrest were stuffed into local mailboxes near the Lisa McPherson Trust.
Several items were listed under the photograph: "Twice arrested for assault;
Penal complaint filed by the government of Nigeria for charges of fraud, the
laundering of money and forgery of financial documents; Finances harassment of
members of the Church of Scientology; Profiled by NBC Dateline as potentially
violent." The flier also featured a mug shot of Jesse Prince from his August
2000 arrest. Several items were listed under his photograph as well: "Arrested
for cultivation of marijuana in Clearwater; Outstanding arrest warrant in
Colorado for violating probation; Multiple arrests for a variety of criminal
activity - indecent exposure, contributing to the sexual delinquency of a
minor, drunk driving." Underneath a photograph of Stacy Brooks were the
following items: "President of an organization that was enjoined from
approaching Church property in Clearwater; Abandoned her husband for Bob
Minton; Has attempted to extort the Church of Scientology." Under a photograph
of Mark Bunker was the following information: "Arrested for criminal trespass;
Was enjoined by a Pinellas County judge to stay away from Church properties in
Clearwater; Harasses individuals by videotaping them and placing the tape on
the Internet." At the bottom of the flier was the following statement: "These
individual and their criminal behavior have no business in front of a Church or
harassing decent people for their religious faith. THEY ARE ALL BEING PAID BY
MINTON TO DO THIS!!"
September 15, 2000: As Mr. Minton began a peaceful protest in front of the Fort
Harrison Hotel in Clearwater, long-time OSA operative Joe Neal ran out of the
hotel and rammed Mr. Minton in the chest with a camera, knocking Mr. Minton to
the ground. Several other protesters had to pull Neal off of Mr. Minton to keep
him from being further assaulted. Mr. Minton was injured so badly that he had
to go to the emergency room of Morton Plant Hospital to receive oxygen. His
ribs were badly bruised and his injuries made it impossible for him to attend a
scheduled deposition the following Monday. Scientology tried to get the court
to find Mr. Minton in contempt for not appearing for his deposition.
October 10, 2000: Patrick Jost, a former investigator for the U.S. Treasury
Department wrote an extensive affidavit in which he detailed Mr. Minton's
business dealings in Nigeria. The affidavit made it clear that Mr. Minton's
activities were completely legitimate and that the Fashanu Report was a
compilation of lies and innuendo with no substance.
October 17, 2000: A group of rock bands scheduled a concert to benefit the Lisa
McPherson Trust. After the announcement of the concert, Mary DeMoss and her
Foundation for Religious
Tolerance mailed a letter and flier to residents of Clearwater and surrounding
towns.
October 28, 2000: Mary DeMoss's Scientology front group, the Foundation for
Religious Tolerance, left a flier outside the LMT offices and distributed it
throughout Clearwater. In the flier the concert to benefit the Lisa McPherson
Trust was identified as a "hate group" and the announced host, Jamie Kennedy,
was characterized as an unsavory character. Jamie Kennedy, a performance artist
from northern California, is the great-grandson of Scientology founder L. Ron
Hubbard and was identifying himself as such in the promotion for the concert.
November 2, 2000: The Foundation for Religious Tolerance distributed a two-page
letter throughout Clearwater linking LMT President Stacy Brooks to the benefit
concert in a vulgar way.
November 30, 2000: Mary Demoss came into the Lisa McPherson Trust with color
photocopies of an article from the magazine "Business Age." The article was
entitled "Nigerian Nemesis" and was a libelous article about Mr. Minton and his
business dealings with the Nigerian Government.
October 29, 2000: An article appeared in the London Sunday Express with a
photograph of Mr. Minton next to one of Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha. The
article falsely claimed that the CIA had identified Mr. Minton as being the
mastermind behind a $4 billion money-laundering scheme that was being
investigated by the Serious Fraud Office of the British government.
November 1, 2000: Mary DeMoss wrote a letter to the Pinellas County Department
of Consumer Protection to tell the agency that people who made donations to the
Lisa McPherson Trust were being defrauded because the Lisa McPherson Trust was
a for-profit company.
November 1, 2000: Scientologist Robert Magness wrote a letter to the editor of
the St. Petersburg Times in which he said the following about Mr. Minton: "He
really wants only to destroy a group that in verifiable fact has helped hundred
of thousands, if not millions of people to live happier more ethical lives."
November 30, 2000: Judge Penick issued a second temporary injunction. Among
other things, it enjoined both sides from harassing each other in any way. That
evening, Mr. Minton and Ms. Brooks were having dinner at a restaurant in Tampa
with Lisa McPherson's family members, who were in town to confer with Ken
Dandar, the attorney for the wrongful death case. Suddenly a private
investigator appeared at Ms. Brooks' side and thrust a copy of the new
injunction in her face. Ms. Brooks was frightened by the way in which the man
was behaving and asked him how he knew where to find her. The man replied that
there were OSA operatives in the restaurant who told him where she was. He gave
her a photograph of herself that he had been given by another OSA operative,
Judy Ross. He then apologized to Ms. Brooks for interrupting her dinner and
told her he had been ordered specifically to serve her during dinner so that it
would upset her.
December 1, 2000: Scientologist Larry Byrnes wrote a letter to the editor of
the St. Petersburg Times in which he said the following about Mr. Minton: "So
why does the Times give Robert Minton all this ink? Could it be that you are
merely a propaganda mouthpiece for the psychiatric/pharmaceutical cartel that
is turning our children into drugged zombies through their
label-and-drug-children program? Since Scientology is the only effective
opposition to their plans and has highly effective methods of helping children
to lead drug-free lives, this cartel is inevitably found to be backing people
like Minton."
December 2, 2000: Diane Stein, Director of Community Affairs for the Church of
Scientology of Atlanta, wrote a reply to an article in the Baltimore Sun titled
"Millionaire builds center in crusade to stop Church of Scientology." Her
letter stated: "Minton's sole purpose in being in Clearwater is to spread hate,
lies and bigotry against the community of 10,000 Scientologists who live and
work there."
December 22, 2000: Therese Minton received a notice from the Massachusetts
Department of Motor Vehicles. An anonymous complaint had been received that she
was garaging a car with New Hampshire license plates.
December 2000: Mary DeMoss delivered copies of an obscure magazine called
"Business Age" to the Lisa McPherson Trust, although she had been told
previously that she would be considered to be trespassing if she came into the
building again. There was an article in the magazine titled "Nigerian Nemesis,"
in which Mr. Minton was accused of orchestrating a billion-dollar buy-back
scheme to defraud the Nigerian government. Attempts to locate the editorial
offices of this magazine were unsuccessful, nor could the publisher be found.
January 23, 2001: A flier with the headline "The World Bank and the Nigerian
secret debt buy-back schemes" was distributed to the businesses in downtown
Clearwater. From the text of the flier it was apparent that Scientology's
private investigators had been working hard to track down evidence against Mr.
Minton. It was equally clear that they had been unsuccessful in finding
anything against him. However, Scientology insisted on spinning an
ever-more-complex tale to try to implicate him in a criminal situation. The
flier began with this statement: "In two complex frauds, involving over US$ 6
billion in Nigerian funds between the years 1987-1998, Nigerian officials and
American banker Robert Minton filled their own pockets at the expense of
unsuspecting debt holders, financial institutions and Nigerian creditors.
Minton defended his criminal actions by claiming that he had the tacit approval
of the IMF and World Bank." Photographs of Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha,
Robert Minton and another man, Caio Koch-Weser, were also featured on the
flier. The text went on to explain why this man's photograph was included: "Mr.
Caio Koch-Weser headed the African desk of the World Bank at the time. His
appointment as Managing Director of the IMF was vetoed by the US early in 2000;
he is currently the Deputy Finance Minister of Germany…. If Minton is right it
would catapult the World Bank into the midst of an explosive situation because
one of the biggest deals Minton carried out was with the Paris Club of
creditors with lost billions of dollars. The Scheme itself was kept secret with
debt holders, financial institutions and Nigerian creditors not being informed
by Mr. Minton that he was buying the debts with Nigerian funds." It ended with
an invitation to "Visit the Internet."
February 25, 2001: On the eve of the opening of a new Scientology center in
Battle Creek, Michigan, the Battle Creek Enquirer published a story called
"Church's teaching spark a bitter debate." The writer, Matt Galnor, had called
Stacy Brooks for comment and had included her statements in the article.
Scientology spokesperson John Carmichael was asked to respond and made the
following response, which was also published: "I've heard what Stacy says and
she lies through her teeth…. It really exasperates me because it's so far from
the truth." Carmichael accused the Lisa McPherson Trust of being a "hate group"
and added, "I think anyone who makes a career out of harming a good group that
helps people is evil."
March 1, 2001: An anonymous Scientologist using the name bob@cotse.com posted a
message on the newsgroup alt.religion.com titled "What Has Become of Minton."
The text of the message was as follows: "What has become of Minton since he was
found guilty of criminal contempt, fined and placed on a lengthy six month
probation by Judge Penick? It didn't go so well for Minton, as according to
historical precedent the judge put the big head on a pike to make it clear that
the henchmen of the big head on the pike had better pay attention. I believe I
heard it reported that during the contempt hearing the Judge had said that he
wanted to make sure that he was punishing the right person. Well, obviously,
the judge must have found that Minton
was the right person to punish. Clearly, then, Minton is a liability to the
bigots and thus his
disappearing from the scene. Which raises the question: Has Stacy also punished
Minton? Now everyone knows that Stacy feels that LMT has serious PR problems
because of the criminal activity of Prince, Minton and other RICO associates of
LMT. Minton, LMT and its employees have been hit with sanctions at least 9
times in the past two months. Quite a flappy record for LMT and Stacy's concept
of LMT's pristine PR. So, is she making Bob do hard time, as a means of
rehabilitating him? This observer thinks the answer is yes."
March 15, 2001: Jesse Prince, Stacy Brooks and Robert Minton traveled to Paris
for a hearing concerning lawsuits that each of them had filed against
Scientology in France. The suits were for libelous statements that had been
published in the French version of Scientology's propaganda magazine, Freedom.
After the hearing, Mr. Prince returned to the United States alone, while Mr.
Minton and Ms. Brooks continued on to the United States. Upon his arrival at
Dulles International Airport, Mr. Prince found that several customs agents were
waiting for him as he entered customs. The agents detained Mr. Prince, broke
the lock on his suitcase and searched his luggage, had him empty out his
pockets, and brought in a German shepherd to sniff him for drugs. Mr. Prince
was able to find out from the agents that they had received an anonymous tip
that he was carrying illegal drugs into the country. The agents were able to
ascertain that the tip they had received was false. Mr. Prince had a
substantial amount of cash in his jacket pocket, although less than the $10,000
limit that would require him to report it on arrival in the United States.
Despite the fact that he was not required to report the money, Mr. Prince was
taken into a back room and detained for more than an hour while the agents
counted and recounted the money and questioned him about why he had it. Mr.
Prince patiently explained that he was in the habit of carrying cash when he
traveled. Unable to find any reason to detain Mr. Prince any longer, the agents
finally released him. This was the third time Mr. Prince had been detained
based on anonymous tips that he was carrying drugs.
March 27, 2001: Mr. Minton had filed a libel suit against Scientology in
Germany for publishing false and defamatory statements in the German equivalent
of their Freedom Magazine, known as Freiheit, about his business dealings in
Nigeria. A Berlin court found Scientology guilty of libel and ordered them to
cease and desist publication of these libelous statements, with a heavy fine if
they violated the judge's order.
March 30, 2001: The Scientology attorney firm of Moxon and Kobrin sent a letter
to Lisa McPherson Trust attorney John Merrett accusing the LMT of violating the
injunction when a film crew from Madrid came to Clearwater to do a documentary
about Scientology. The letter said, in part, "The sum and substance of the
complaint is that reporters from Madrid have been coming and going from the LMT
in attempted disguise while harassing the church, violating Florida law, and
violating the injunction, in addition to similar violations of law in Madrid.
LMT's agent from Madrid admitted to the police that he had a camera in his bag
and was caught on videotape by a security camera attempting to infiltrate the
Church in Florida with his hidden camera. Such conduct violates F.S.A. SS
934.03 - in addition to the injunction entered against your clients. The
purpose of the letter is to give you and your clients an opportunity to explain
their conduct - in short, to provide reasons why these acts are not further
contempt arising out of this new apparent violation of the court's order." In
fact, the LMT had no connection to this Spanish film crew whatsoever.
April 12, 2001: An anonymous Scientologist using the name relay@cotse.com
posted a message on the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology (ARS) titled
"Nigeria provides UK with documents/Minton." The text of the message was as
follows: "… I thought that the exposure of Minton's participation in the
looting of Nigeria which began a year ago and has been reported in dozens of
international news media since was widely known. Obviously it is not known to
you. Try and read up on it as there were many posts about this on ARS. Minton's
weak attempts to sue for libel have utterly failed (which he knew they would)
and the Nigerians are moving in on him closer and closer. And Robert Minton is
the guy who posts now and then on this newsgroup, who deserted his wife and
kids for paid mistress, and who runs a for-profit company under the all too
obvious guise of a "Trust" in Florida, and who is currently under probation. He
is being watched by everyone all the time because if he makes one wrong move he
goes into the slammer. And that is very likely why he is currently in hiding:
he does not want to be caught doing something rash or illegal. A "hot head on
the edge" is what Hockenberry from NBC/Dateline said about him."
April 20, 2001: An anonymous Scientologist posted a message on the newsgroup
alt.religion.scientology in which he characterized Mr. Minton as "insane" and
twisted his involvement in the Lisa McPherson wrongful death case as a sordid
investment scheme: "Ken Dandar is the Tampa ambulance chaser who has been paid
well over a million dollars by Mr. Minton. In return Dandar was to tell bald
faced lies at every turn and even file them in court. Minton's now extinguished
dream of a payout was the motivation for this litigation investment scheme.
Minton's private paid group of deadbeats is designated the LMT. They have been
paid over a million dollars. Their role in Minton's investment scheme was to
try to create hate and violence…. Why all of this? Mr. Minton is insane. Has
been all this life. His insanity has slowed but has not stopped the emergence
of the truth. At this point, Minton's attorney Ken Dandar has collapsed the
civil case "beyond the point of no return". (That means Minton won't ever see
one red cent from his litigation investment scheme. Instead he will pay out
millions for a fight against truth he could never win.) Dandar and Minton tell
lies and that is the reason the case is now a disaster and is blowing up in
their faces. Yesterday Dandar & Merrett appeared in Court. (Both are total
sleazebag attorneys - if you get a chance, you should really see them in person
some day if they're around long enough.) The lies ended with the Judge's Order
to turn over an audiotape that has been kept hidden by the Minton attorneys for
years but is now available as a public record document with the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement. The tape proves that Minton attorneys told bald
faced lies in the civil litigation…. At Minton's direction, Dandar went to
degraded depths to fabricate and manufacture lies to prevent this tape from
coming out and has done so for 3 years. The Judge saw through it all and
ordered the tape be turned over. It's a slow process getting the truth out and
the liars exposed, but it's taking place and Mr. Minton is ending up paying for
it."
April 21, 2001: An anonymous Scientologist using the name relay@cotse.com
posted a message on the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology titled "Bob Minton
-- Beyond the point of no return and paying for it." The text of the message
was as follows: "Thank you for this overview which puts everything into an
understandable perspective. Your reference to Minton and Dandar as insane and
being bald face liars is yet an understatement. They are calculating crooks and
I hope the laws of the land will catch up to them. Minton is currently under
probation and as soon as he violates the law it will mean that he broke the
probation regulations and will have to go in front of the judge again, and that
will mean jail time for him. Minton needs to re-pay the church. And I don't
mean just attorney fees and costs for the senseless litigation but punitive
damages like $10-50 million with which the church could expand their delivery
facilities even further. And while at it, he could be made to pay $1-2 million
to the City of Clearwater for the overwork he caused them."
April 26, 2001: Jesse Prince received an anonymous fax at the Lisa McPherson
Trust that indicated a man named David Amos might be willing to provide
information to Mr. Prince about harassment of Mr. Prince by Scientology
operatives. Mr. Prince was able to reach Mr. Amos by telephone. Mr. Amos agreed
to meet with Mr. Prince in Memphis, Tennessee. That night, Mr. Prince drove to
Memphis, accompanied by Patrick Jost, a former Treasury Department investigator
who was working with the Lisa McPherson Trust to document Scientology's
criminal conduct. Mr. Jost felt that Mr. Prince should not meet with Mr. Amos
alone.
April 27, 2001: Mr. Amos agreed to meet with Mr. Prince alone while Mr. Jost
watched them from his car less than twenty feet away. Mr. Amos told Mr. Prince
that he had worked as a private investigator for Scientology from the fall of
1998 until the winter of 2000. He said that Scientology attorney Kendrick Moxon
had told him that Mr. Prince and Mr. Minton were involved in a child slavery
ring and that Scientology was trying to expose them to rescue the children. Mr.
Amos said he felt that Moxon had told him this story in order to motivate him
to commit illegal acts to try to catch Mr. Prince. Mr. Amos admitted to Mr.
Prince that he had illegally wiretapped the telephone in Mr. Prince's Chicago
apartment at the end of 1998. He also admitted that he had passed on
information obtained via this illegal wiretap to his Scientology handlers. Mr.
Amos also said that he had set up illegal surveillance equipment to monitor Mr.
Prince, Ms. Brooks and Mark Bunker in their homes in Clearwater, Florida. Mr.
Amos reluctantly agreed to show Mr. Prince where the surveillance equipment had
been set up. However, he later refused to travel to Clearwater because he was
afraid of what the Scientologists would do to him if they found out. A report
of this meeting was sent to the FBI in Florida.
May 7, 2001: An anonymous Scientologist used the name lmt_watch@my-deja.com to
post a message in response to something LMT staffer Mark Bunker had posted.
"Hey Bunker, from what you're saying you admit to breaking the law. It appears
what you declined to do was to simply "Follow The Law". That is the now famous
statement your boss Mr. Minton declared out loud with a bullhorn during one of
his foolish pickets which landed him with a criminal record and Probation for
the next 6 months with the Salvation Army. The only deceptive and abusive
practices being perpetrated in Clearwater are coming from the LMT and your
antics around town with police and security personnel trying to create
incidents that you can capture on video tape for
another one of your hate filled conspiracy videos."
May 7, 2001: An anonymous Scientologist posted a message on the newsgroup
alt.religion.scientology in which he implied that Mr. Minton had something to
do with the disappearance of Joan Woods, the medical examiner who initially
reported that Lisa McPherson had died from severe dehydration but changed her
autopsy report five years later, under pressure from Scientology. Her action in
changing the autopsy report forced the State of Florida to drop their charges
against Scientology. The post was titled "Joan Wood mission" and stated: "Check
Minton's backyard. It wouldn't be the first time a dead body has turned up
there. Minton had the most to lose when Wood came out and told the truth of
what really happened."
May 9, 2001: Gerard Renna, Director of Special Affairs in Boston, wrote a
letter to J. Scott Currier, the police chief in Sandown, New Hampshire, where
Mr. Minton lives. The purpose of the letter was clearly to cause the police
officer to become alarmed about the possibility that Mr. Minton might pose a
threat to the safety of the Sandown townspeople: "Enclosed please find a copy
of the Judgment issued against Mr. Minton on February 21, 2001 for willfully
violating a Court injunction that required Mr. Minton to stay at least ten feet
away from Church property and Church members at our religious retreat in
Florida. As Mr. Minton is known to have guns, I have also enclosed a copy of
his six-month probation order for your information. If you have any questions,
you may contact me at the address below or by calling my office at (617)
266-3841."
May 15, 2001: Mark Bunker attended the grand opening of "Gaslight Alley." This
was a project to renovate an alley in Clearwater that is right next to a
Scientology building. Mr. Bunker attended in order to document on videotape the
fact that Scientology was in control of the entire project. An anonymous
Scientologist using the name lmt_watch@my-deja.com posted a message on the
newsgroup alt.religion.scientology in which Mark Bunker was portrayed as a hate
monger simply for being present at the event: "Bunker purposely missed
reporting on the fantastic event. Great food, great people (over 300), repeated
validation to the Church of Scientology by the Who's Who of Clearwater. This
also shows how Bunker is so pathetically biased and filled with revenge and
hate toward virtually all members of the community outside the LMT doors. And
accordingly, the LMT presence was despised although everyone tried the best
they could to ignore Bunker who stuck out like a dead cat at a wedding. Bunker
squirmed into a little corner and stood up with his Mintoncam held to his face
during the entire grand opening event, truly offensive to all in attendance as
he scowled out across the gathering. The man is just plain rude. No wonder he
is despised by the police from coast to coast. He just looks angry all of the
time and dresses like a pig. One visitor looked at him and remarked "What is
that -- Nazi youth?" The other responded, "You have it right except the youth
part."
May 17, 2001: Ben Shaw wrote a letter to the Salvation Army Correctional
Services alleging that Mr. Minton violated his probation by helping aid a
fleeing criminal (Keith Henson). The text of the letter was as follows:
"Robert S. Minton is currently on probation under your auspices after his
conviction for criminal contempt for his violation of an injunction issued by
the Honorable Thomas Penick. Mr. Minton was convicted February 21, 2001 for his
violation of that injunction following a week of hearings on an Order to Show
Cause issued by Judge Penick.
One of the terms of his probation is: "You will live and remain at
liberty without violating any law or any injunction (temporary of permanent)
entered by the Court. A conviction in a court of law shall not be necessary in
order for such a violation to constitute a violation of your probation."
One of Mr. Minton's associates, a member of the Advisory Board of the
Lisa McPherson Trust, a for-profit company of which Mr. Minton is the Chairman
of the Board, is H. Keith Henson. Mr. Henson was also a respondent in the
hearing on the Orders to Show Cause before Judge Penick, but was acquitted.
However, in a separate action in criminal court in Riverside County,
California, on April 26, 2001, Mr. Henson was found guilty following a jury
trial of a violation of Section 422.6 of the California Penal Code, also known
as the California hate crime law, for his actions which were found to be
interfering, with threat of force, with the free exercise of the Scientology
religion. (Tab A)
On the day of his conviction Mr. Henson and his wife picketed the court
house with a sign displaying the phone number of the Lisa McPherson Trust in
Clearwater. (Tab B) His association with Mr. Minton and the Trust is
undisputed.
Mr. Henson was ordered to report to sentencing on May 16, 2001. Instead
he fled to Canada. A warrant has been issued for his arrest for this most
recent breach of California law (failure to appear). (Tab C)
On the same day, when questioned in an Internet newsgroup as to whether
he had assisted Mr. Henson to evade justice "after the fact", your probationer,
Mr. Minton, placed a posting on the newsgroup bragging that, "I helped him
(Henson) escape BEFORE the Fact". (Tab D) And in another posting which Mr.
Minton directed to Mr. Henson, he asked, "You have enough money up there in
Canada? If not, just let me know." (Tab E)
Aiding and abetting the commission of a crime is a violation of
California Penal Code S 312,
All persons concerned in the commission of a crime, whether it be felony or
misdemeanor, and whether they directly commit that act constituting the
offense, or aid and abet in the commission, or, not being present, have advised
and encouraged its commission, and all persons counseling, advising or
encouraging children under the age of fourteen years, lunatics or idiots, to
commit any crime, or who, by fraud, contrivance, or force, occasion the
drunkenness of another for the purpose of causing him to commit any crime, or
who, by threats, menaces, command, or coercion, compel another to commit any
crime, are principals in any crime so committed." (Tab F)
Mr. Minton therefore appears to be in violation of the terms of his
probation. I assume that you will take appropriate actions in dealing with his
matter."
Mr. Minton's attorney, Bruce Howie, filed a motion for an order to show cause
before Judge Penick as a result of this letter.
May 18, 2001: An anonymous Scientologist using the name kewyatt@apexmail.com
posted a message on the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology titled "The Cult of
Minton Strikes Back" in which he characterized Mr. Minton as unstable and
irrational: "I make some posts containing facts about Mr. Minton and the
defenders arise with shining swords ready to do battle against any who dare to
attack their king. They defend him when he shoots at (oh, sorry, "over")
peaceful protesters, they defend him when he dumps his wife and kids for the
woman he's been having an affair with, they defend him when he is arrested for
assault and they defend him when he accuses some innocent woman of being a
whore and a spy (well, at least less of them defended him over that one). It
seems an obviously unstable and irrational individual who is currently on
psychiatric medication can do no wrong when he is paying your rent."
May 18, 2001: An anonymous Scientologist using the name lmtbadpr@cotse.com
posted a message on the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology titled "Brooks PR is
very bad" in which he reproduced a column that had appeared in a local
community newspaper called "Clearwater Countryside Citizen Publications." The
man who wrote the column was found to have strong business connections with
Scientologists in Clearwater. He wrote, in part: "I try not to get overly
excited about what people say or do to win political elections or influence
other people's decisions. I accept that people, whose only concern is to see
that their viewpoints prevail, often distort the truth…. That said, two things
did upset me last month. The first was when a lawyer by the name of John
Merrett, representing a group that is critical of the Church of Scientology,
started a brouhaha when the Citizens for a Better Clearwater began selling
bricks to be used to beautify the Gas Light Alley on Cleveland Street.
Individuals purchased bricks with their names and/or sayings on them be laid in
that alley. The problem around the group Mr. Merrett represents insisted on
being able to purchase bricks with names and/or sayings on them that would be
used to inflame emotions and further their own political agenda. Mr. Merrett,
on behalf of the group, threatened to sue the city and the Citizens For A
Better Clearwater if they did not allow his group to purchase bricks. Citizens
For A Better Clearwater agreed to allow the brick purchases and that should
have been that. Later, in an article in the St. Petersburg Times, Mr. Merrett
says he was glad that the issue was resolved, but is also quoted as saying,
"although it would have been nice to see them squirm." If that statement does
not outrage you as much as it does me, it should. I don't pretend to know
anything about the group Mr. Merrett represents, nor do I care about their feud
with Scientology. This is between them. However, when citizens of Clearwater,
whose only agenda is to try and do good for the community, are brought into the
dispute because " it would be nice to seem them squirm" that is something else
entirely. If the group continues to employ Mr. Merrett as their attorney I will
understand them a lot better, and I am sure the citizens of Clearwater will as
well."
May 22, 2001:Mr. Minton and Ms. Brooks were served with subpoenas in the Mike
McLaughry v. David Morse case at Mr. Minton's gate as he arrived from Boston at
the Tampa airport. How did the process server know when and through what gate
Mr. Minton would arrive?
May 22, 2001: Mr. Minton was served another subpoena for deposition, this time
in the Dell Leibreich case. He was served at the Lisa McPherson Trust as he
went to his car.
May 24, 2001: Gerard Renna, Director of Special Affairs for Boston, wrote a
letter to the FBI in Boston with cc's to the Boston Police Hate Crime Unit and
the Chief of Police of Sandown, New Hampshire, where Mr. Minton lives. The
letter stated the following:
Over the years we have been informing your agency concerning hate crimes
against our Church by Mr. Robert S. Minton Jr. and associates. Minton, is
currently on probation after his conviction for criminal contempt for his
violation of an injunction issued by a Florida Judge.
It will probably be no great surprise to find that one of Minton's associates
Keith Henson on April 26, 2001, was found guilty following a jury trial of a
violation of Section 422.6 of the California Penal Code, also known as the
California Hate Crime Law, for his actions which were found to be interfering,
with threat of force, with the free exercise of the Scientology religion.
Henson fled the country before sentencing and currently has a warrant out for
his arrest. Minton is making known on the Internet that he is assisting Henson
to evade justice and bragging in his posting, "I helped him (Henson) escape
before the fact".
I am enclosing a letter sent to Minton's probation officer regarding violation
of his probation by assisting Henson. I further would like to inform you that
Minton lives in New Hampshire and Boston and that it is likely, due to his
arrogance for the law, that he might harbor this fugitive of the United States
at his home.
I am deeply concerned with the attached Internet posting by Minton to an
anti-Scientology Internet news group, "BTW (by the way) Keith, that missile
codes are safe but in case anything happens to us I'll PGP them below for the
ARSCC team (passphrase of - 05-11-2001 will apply): "and posted the PGP key. I
would not have taken this so seriously except that when you put this all
together it shows continue pattern of increase violence by these individuals
towards Scientology and there blatant disregard for the law. There has been a
good deal of assistance by government and police agencies to protect our
Constitutional rights by those who wish to hard our religion. Thank you for
your consideration."
May 24, 2001: The judge in Jesse Prince's trial for marijuana possession
declared a mistrial after the jury deadlocked 5-1 for acquittal. After a
two-day trial, the jurors felt Mr. Prince had been set up by four Scientology
private investigators in an effort to turn him into a criminal.
May 25, 2001: The day after the judge declared a mistrial, the prosecutor
announced that the charges were being dropped against him and the State would
not retry the case.
May 25, 2001: An anonymous Scientologist using the name lmtbadpr@cotse.com
posted a message on the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology titled "The LMT -
What Assholes!" in which he stated: "The LMT led by the notorious Bob Minton
arrived in Clearwater a year ago. Within days they were snubbed forever by the
community because of their rude and crude behavior. They were noticed as a hate
group that practiced incredibly bad manners. Each one of them did so under
Minton's direction: Brooks attacked the city government. (Now they are
attacking the State); Bunker attacked the Police; Jacobsen attacked the people
who were trying to beautify downtown; and Prince attacked the parishioners of
the Church with profane harassment. The LMT is nothing more than a foul smell
in town these days. I don't know who is the bigger asshole. Minton or the LMT
collectively."
May 25, 2001: An anonymous Scientologist using the name lmtbadpr@cotse.com
posted a message on the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology titled "The Jesse
Prince Retrial" in which he stated: "The only guarantee we're going to get out
of Mr. Minton and his LMT is more lies. That's a fact. Minton portrays himself,
Jesse Prince and the rest of the LMT as poor victims in society. What he can't
seem to reconcile is that he and the rest of the LMTers break the law and are
held accountable because they are not capable of controlling themselves.
Minton, the CEO of the LMT, was just convicted for breaking the law in Florida
for his belligerent conduct of harassment. Keith Henson, an LMT Advisor, was
just convicted on the California Hate Crime statute for his harassment. Minton
lies. He has a huge multi-million dollar investment in litigation against the
COS and he's burned that he's on probation and Prince is prosecuted for his
illegal drug use. Minton places the blame elsewhere but he fails to see himself
as the perfect example of a religious bigot unable to control himself. He's
sick and so are the rest of the bigots at the LMT. You're facing the music for
your own actions Minton. Why don't you just grow up or go away."
June 5, 2001: Connie T. Dugan, head of the Salvation Army Correctional
Services, responded to Scientologist Ben Shaw's letter in which he accused Mr.
Minton of violating his probation. Ms. Dugan explained that there would be no
violation unless Mr. Minton was actually charged with a crime by the police
department or state attorney's office or if Judge Penick found that he was in
violation of the injunction.
June 6, 2001: Jeff Jacobsen was followed by a Scientology private investigator.
Jeff turned off to a side road to see if the car would follow him and it did.
Jeff then turned on another side road and stopped. The car following Jeff
stopped, backed up in the road and drove in the opposite direction upon seeing
Jeff pull over. The plate number was A60 SPV and was leased from Ford Credit
Title. This was one of approximately fifty reports Mr. Jacobsen made about
specific instances of being followed in Clearwater.
June 13, 2001: An anonymous Scientologist using the name Public Anonymous
Account (remailer@xganon.com) posted a message titled "LMT Accomplishments of
2000-2001." He listed a number of things, as follows: "1. They have aided many
known felons. 2. They have helped many convicted felons elude justice. 3. They
have likely committed other unpublicized crimes that they are unwilling to
admit. 4. They have slandered charitable organizations. 5. They have promoted
hate, intolerance and bigotry. 6. They have tastelessly set up shop near the
homes of those they despise, akin to a Nazi establishing camp in Israel. 7.
They have promoted illegal drug use and abuse, and spoken out against
charitable organizations opposed to such abuse. 8. They have lied
outrageously about crimes committed by their constituents and those they aid in
vain attempts to mask their fundamentally criminal nature."
June 15, 2001: In the FSO v. Dell Leibreich case, Judge W. Douglas Baird found
Mr. Minton in contempt of court for failure to appear for a deposition that had
been scheduled for March 1, 2001, in response to a subpoena served on February
9, 2001. He was further "ordered and adjudged that he shall appear and respond
to said subpoena and that he shall produce all non- privileged documents and a
privilege log of all purported privileged documents at the commencement of
deposition. Failure to comply will result in a fine of $1000 per day until such
time that he complies or until such time that he shall be incarcerated for
failure to appear."
June 16, 2001: An anonymous Scientologist using the name Bremenium posted a
message on the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology titled "LMT Hall of
Infamy-Online." He listed all the web sites where Scientologists have posted
scurrilous material about Mr. Minton and the staff of the LMT:
Brooks, Stacy
Finding the Fact and Order Concerning Deposition
http://www.bigotwatch.net/prdFFORM2a.html
Failure to appeals against this order
http://www.bigotwatch.net/11circuit.html
http://www.bigotwatch.net/Lazzara1.html
Hit with sanctions for contempt
http://www.bigotwatch.net/BMSanctions1.html
Bunker, Mark
Criminal History
http://www.bigotwatch.net/mb.html
LMT, Inc.
Legal Losses
http://www.bigotwatch.net/prdJM01.html
http://www.bigotwatch.net/prdJM03.html
http://www.bigotwatch.net/prdJM05.html
http://www.bigotwatch.net/prdJM06.html
Contempt and Sanctions
http://www.bigotwatch.net/prdFFORM3a.html
Witness tampering, intimidation and improper payments to witnesses
http://www.bigotwatch.net/CounterClaim1.html
More Sanctions for Contempt
http://www.bigotwatch.net/BMSanctions3.html
Minton, Mr. Minton
Criminal History
http://www.bigotwatch.net/rm.html
Found Guilty - Fined and given 6-months probation
http://www.bigotwatch.net/Guilty!.html
Sunday Express article regarding Nigerian debt payback scheme
http://www.bigotwatch.net/prd11.html
Nigerian Complaint Against Minton
http://www.bigotwatch.net/prd13.html
Business Age Feature Article About Minton's Debt Buy Back Schemes
http://www.bigotwatch.net/prd14.html
LMT, Inc. Legal Losses
http://www.bigotwatch.net/prdJM01.html
http://www.bigotwatch.net/prdJM03.html
http://www.bigotwatch.net/prdJM05.html
http://www.bigotwatch.net/prdJM06.html
Findings of Fact and Order- contempt & sanctions
http://www.bigotwatch.net/prdFFORM1a.html
Order to Show Cause Regarding Contempt
http://www.bigotwatch.net/prdOSC1a.html
Order on Motion to compel Robert Minton to Answer Questions…
http://www.bigotwatch.net/prdBsnOrd1a.html
More Sanctions for contempt
http://www.bigotwatch.net/BMSanctions3.html
Mr. Minton Minton arrested in Boston
(Documentation) http://www.bigotwatch.net/prd01.html
(Video) http://www.bigotwatch.net/footage.html
Mr. Minton Minton attempts to incite a confrontation (Video)
http://www.bigotwatch.net/footage.html
Mr. Minton Minton attacks Scientologist in Clearwater (Video)
http://www.bigotwatch.net/footage.html
Mr. Minton Minton slow motion battery (Video)
http://www.bigotwatch.net/footage.html
Minton loses it! (Video)
http://www.bigotwatch.net/footage.html
Dateline interview (Video)
http://www.bigotwatch.net/footage.html
Minton Harasses Clearwater Police (Video)
http://www.bigotwatch.net/footage.html
Minton threatens process server (Video)
http://www.bigotwatch.net/footage.html
Prince, Jesse
Criminal History
http://www.bigotwatch.net/jp.html
Arrest affidavit for cultivation of Marijuana
http://www.bigotwatch.net/prd05.html
Prince arrested for drunken driving
http://www.bigotwatch.net/prd06.html
Prince Disorderly Conduct
http://www.bigotwatch.net/prd07.html
Articles on Jesse Prince's Marijuana Arrest
http://www.bigotwatch.net/prd08.html
http://www.bigotwatch.net/prd08a.html
Drug charge against Prince
http://www.bigotwatch.net/prdJPDA01.html
Prince Arrested for Statutory Rape
http://www.bigotwatch.net/prd09.html
Prince Search Warrant
http://www.bigotwatch.net/prd12.html
Kiss your mama with that mouth?
http://www.bigotwatch.net/footage.html
June 18, 2001: An anonymous Scientologist using the name
sleddog-no-spam@cotse.com posted a message titled "Minton found in Contempt of
Court - Again." The text of the message was as follows:
"Bigotwatch says it all. Another Judge has found Minton in contempt of court.
"Just as the LMT is condemned in Clearwater, Florida, the United States and
Europe for their obnoxious criminal conduct, harassment and practice of
religious bigotry, so is Mr. Minton found in Contempt of Court once again for
violating Court Orders. Not only has Minton been found in Contempt again, this
time he has been ordered to pay $1000 a day should he continue his utter
refusal to uphold the laws of the land.
"When will these guys ever learn that crime doesn't pay and to just tell the
truth? Of course they have filthy dirty laundry but that does not excuse their
constant refusal to follow the law. Minton is already in the hole over
$1,000,000 for this type of conduct along with his other $5,000,000 investments
in hatred flushing down the toilet. Why doesn't Mr. Minton just FOLLOW THE
LAW?? It's quite apparent that he and the rest of the LMT staff are unable to
tell the truth, the recent Prince trial proved that. (LMT Executive Director
refused to take the stand in his own defense because he would have to either
perjure himself or admit to continuous illegal drug use for years.)"
June 22, 2001: An anonymous Scientologist using the name sleddog@cotse.com
posted a message titled "Judge ends LMT charade in civil lawsuit." The text of
the message was as follows:
"The Judge presiding over Minton's McPherson civil lawsuit has ruled a death
blow to the case. With an unprecedented 49 page Order, Judge Frank Quesada has
ruled into fact and law and once and for all, based on mountains of
uncontroverted evidence, that Lisa McPherson loved Scientology and never wanted
to leave it. Minton's blood thirsty LMT ratbags have been defanged as their
poisonous venom spews into their faces.
"The direct testimony of every family member of Lisa, her friends and every
expert witness that Minton put forward, such as Prince and Vaughn Young, and
his hired gun psychiatrists, was used by the Judge to clearly show that the
bogus and deceitful lies told, repeatedly and spread by Minton, his pack of
criminals at the LMT and his attorney's have never had any basis in fact.
Instead, the exact opposite was found. Everything that was said bad about the
Church and Scientologist's help for Lisa was false as it was only intended to
support a lawsuit based on knowingly told lies.
"The Judge also delivered the final blow to Jesse Prince's career (as if he
ever had one as he never got off the starting block short of making a quarter
of a million dollars in blood money from his master Minton) when he ruled his
testimony is not only inadmissible but didn't even say what he claimed it to
say.
"Somebody needs to post it."
June 26, 2001: An anonymous Scientologist using the name sleddog@cotse.com
posted a message titled "Minton Suppressing of Free Speech; What's really going
on inside Minton's bunker." The text of the message was as follows:
"Minton and Brooks do not allow for the truth inside or outside of the LMT
as it discredits all of the lies they have told in the civil litigation.
Minton is the SP of free speech inside and outside of the LMT.
"Brooks, Bunker and Jacobsen have been asked repeatedly on this newsgroup to
tell us and show us what is actually going on in the McPherson case
litigation. They could easily walk a few blocks from their bunker to the
courthouse and get some documents from the court file and post them but
they don't. Minton won't allow it.
"Minton finally responded yesterday from pressure by critics who questioned
why Jacobsen only has the First Amended Complaint on his page vs. the
actual 5th Amended Complaint. (BTW what does Jacobsen do all day with
himself?) Minton responded by trying to blow another smoke screen over
this newsgroup by claiming an ongoing "frustration with Ken Dandar" which
prevents him or the LMT from obtaining public record court documents.
"So why does Minton really refuse to allow his organization to post the
court documents. Minton claims that Ken Dandar prefers to keep the
documents off the Internet because Scientology makes a stink and hammers
him in court and he hates that. The real reason is that Minton hasn't won
anything in his case and has been hammered continuously as the lies
embedded in Dandar's allegations and motions have been exposed and proven
false one after the other. Minton, Brooks and Dandar have lost so heavily
that Minton must now pay out millions in damages, fees and costs as the
case disintegrates and Minton is ordered to pay $1000 a day in sanctions
for avoiding deposition to answer questions that reveal he is running the
case as an investment scam. The proof is all contained in court documents
readily available as public records.
"Minton, Brooks, Prince, Bunker & Jacobsen simply don't have any way to put
a favorable spin on the way the McPherson case has gone for them since the
biggest lies from the criminal case and the case itself was thrown out a
year ago. All of their lies just cannot withstand the truth. This is
something that Minton won't tell you about as he is psychotic on the
subject of the truth.
"Minton complains '50% of the bullshit of every hearing in the civil case'
is about him. It is actually more like 100% because the other 50% Minton
won't admit to are the lies he has told.
"It is left up to Bigotwatch to bring you the facts, while Minton pays
dearly another month's salary to the staff in his bunker - Brooks, Prince,
Bunker, Jacobsen, Summers et.al - to continue to suppress the truth.
"See the latest addition at www.bigotwatch.net/publicrecorddocuments.html
displaying the recent summary judgment dismissing the plaintiffs' false
imprisonment claim in the McPherson civil litigation.
"While others whine, cry and lie, Bigotwatch gives you the facts and
documents to back them up.
June 26, 2001: Mr. Minton's new probation officer, under pressure from
Scientology, ordered Mr. Minton to register all of his guns. Mr. Minton
informed her that New Hampshire does not have a provision to register weapons
beyond the initial ownership papers, but she persisted in her demand. Mr.
Minton turned over ownership of the guns to Ms. Brooks until his probation was
terminated on August 20, 2001.
August 2, 2001: An anonymous Scientologist using the name
dexter_meredith@hotmail.com (Dexterrr) posted a message in which he detailed
Mr. Minton's psychiatric history and included a child psychologist his children
had seen. The text of the message follows:
"Minton has been under extensive psychiatric care throughout his life.
He has been seen for treatment by at least five psychs.
"Madison Sanatorium: In about 1963 Minton was sent to this mental
facility after a violent falling out with his father. It is not known
what psychs treated him at this sanatorium.
"Doctor Saeger: Minton and his then wife, Cynthia Wharton, saw him in
NYC at a mental clinic circa 1977/78. Minton was diagnosed with
bi-polar personality disorder and was taking drugs to treat it.
"Jennifer Rathbun: Mass General and McLeans associated. She is a
child psych. Her husband is a psych at Harvard.
"Doctor Robert Abernethy: Mass General psychiatrist most recently
treating Minton in Boston. Studied and worked at Eric Lindemann
Center where he was the director of their Freedom Trail Clinic.
"Doctor Terrence Real: Trendy psych in Cambridge; expert on Prozac and
on male depression.
"The insane sometimes don't know what they're doing."
July 8, 2001: Bruce Howie filed a motion for an order to show cause and motion
for modification and in camera review or early termination of probation. This
was regarding the Injunction and the following harassment faced by Mr. Minton
at the hands of the Scientology: 1) the sending of a letter written by a
representative of the Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization to Mr.
Minton's probation officer, with copies to the court and Mr. Minton's counsel
documenting alleging that there was a violation by Mr. Minton of his probation;
2) the sending of a letter by an employee of the Church of Scientology of
Boston to a New Hampshire police department, forwarding copies of the
injunction and that terms of Mr. Minton's probation; and 3) the sending of a
letter, by the same employee of the Church of Scientology of Boston, to the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, submitting information about an apparent
probation violation of the conditions of Mr. Minton's probation."
July 18, 2001: An anonymous Scientologist using the name lmtbadpr@cotse.com
posted the following message to the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology:
"Why would the LMT allow evidence of their involvement (direct supervision) of
illegal electronic surveillance of law enforcement officers get into the hands
of the police? A few months ago two Spanish El Mundo TV reporters were
sponsored by the LMT while in Clearwater to film a show. The reporters
obviously conducted their business in and out of the LMT while in Clearwater.
"They covertly made an audio and video record of two Clearwater Police Officers
warning them they would be conducting illegal surveillance if the bag they were
carrying concealed a hidden recorder. The denied it, yet the illegal tape was
aired recently on Spanish TV, thereby exposing and documenting the crime. (a
felony under Fla stat 934.01)
"The Clearwater police already issued a warning to Bunker when he openly video
and audio taped a police officer without his permission. This time it was done
covertly and denying it at the same time.
"And from what I hear the same police officer who warned Bunker has the tape of
the Spanish show which clearly shows the El Mundo journalists coming in and
out of the LMT and then covertly recording the police. (They couldn't even get
in the Church to commit the crime so they just did it on the police! What
idiots!)
"And this police officer is apparently the one who has the case.
"Can't wait for the fireworks!
"The LMT criminal record is growing. Who's going to pay the bill to defend this
one?
"P.S. This sounds like a violation of the injunction too - El Mundo reporters
acting in participation with the LMT.
August 07, 2001: An anonymous Scientologist using the name
lmt_watch@my-deja.com posted the following message to the newsgroup
alt.religion.scientology:
"I've got one question for Bob Minton's Trust:
"What is Mark Bunker, Jeff Jacobsen and Jesse Prince even doing now to earn
their daily bread from the almighty Minton since they can't even talk to a
Scientologist in Clearwater anymore let alone picket in front of the Fort
Harrison, anywhere along the coveted Watterson Avenue or
surprise anyone without permission from the Clearwater Police?
"PERMANENT INJUNCTION
"from picketing, protesting, and/or demonstrating in the areas designated
in BLUE (which is greatly expanded from the prior "no picket" zone)...and
from engaging in any of the aforementioned activities within ten feet of
any entrance or exit actually used frequently on a daily basis to all
Church property that is not expressly included in the prohibited zones
"Lawful picketing means "not contrary to or forbidden by law", provided
that at all times while picketing, all persons bound by this injunction
shall comply with the anti-noise provisions of this injunction.
"from coming within ten (10) feet of any member of the Church.
"from blocking the path of any member of any motor vehicle of the Church
"from physically or by any other means inhibiting any Church member, any
member of the general public, or any motor vehicle, from entering or
leaving any Church properties that are listed in the schedule of
properties...
"from making loud and raucous noise such as, but not limited to, yelling,
shouting, whistling or singing (whether by natural or amplified voice), or
by the employment of any mechanical device such as a horn, whistle, or
other noisemaker that creates a loud and raucous noise that can be heard
inside any of the Church properties that are listed in the schedule of
properties
"a "loud and raucous noise" is any sound which because of its volume
level, duration, and character, annoys, disturbs, injures or endangers the
comfort, health, peace or safety of reasonable persons of ordinary
sensibilities.
"from entering upon any of the Church properties that are listed in the
schedule of properties...
"from committing any acts of harassment or violence against any member of
the Church, including, without limitation, any UNSOLICITED physical, verbal
or written contact with any Church staff or parishioner.
"must notify Clearwater Police Department at least one hour in advance of
the demonstrations/event and inform the Clearwater Police Department of
their/its intentions.
"Any violation hereof shall constitute contempt of court, punishable by
fine and/or imprisonment."
August __, 2001: Scientology attorney Sandy Rosen sent a letter to Stacy Brooks
putting her on notice that the Lisa McPherson Trust was enjoined under an
earlier injunction of FACTNet, a corporation of which both she and Mr. Minton
had been on the board of directors.
August 15, 2001: Stacy Brooks was deposed as the corporate representative of
the Lisa McPherson Trust. Scientology attorney Kendrick Moxon asked many
questions that were outside the scope of the deposition, including a number of
questions about Ms. Brooks' personal life. Moxon also demanded documents
regarding the people who had come to the Lisa McPherson Trust for help. Ms.
Brooks refused to turn over any of the documents to Scientology as it would be
a violation of privacy.
August 23, 2001: Scientology attorney Kendrick Moxon filed a Motion ________
requesting that Judge Schafer put Mr. Minton and Ms. Brooks in jail until they
produced all the records Scientology had demanded. These records included all
the records of the people the Lisa McPherson Trust had helped.
August 26, 2001: Scientology attorney Kendrick Moxon filed an Opposition to
[Lisa McPherson Trust staffer] Teresa Summers' Motion to Quash or for
Protective Order in which he tried to get the court to force Ms. Summers to
turn over documents about certain people who had contacted the Lisa McPherson
Trust for help.
August 28, 2001: Information was received that Scientologists were obtaining
information about Mr. Minton's wife and children by regularly stealing the
trash at the house in Boston.