Toronto Sun

April 23, 1992

She ‘ran the agents'

by Bill Dunphy

The former head of Scientology’s Canadian intelligence network has identified one of his underlings as being responsible for "running" agents the church had planted in several police and government agencies.

Bryan Levman was testifying yesterday at the criminal trial of the Church of Scientology of Toronto and five Scientologists.

Levman said defendant Jacqueline Matz "ran the agents" who got jobs in the mid-1970s with the RCMP, the OPP, Metro Police and the attorney-general’s office in order to pass information back to Scientology.

Breach of Trust

Those activities have landed Scientology’s Toronto organization and five former staff members on trial on charges of criminal breach of trust.

Levman, 44, was head of the Scientology’s "Guardian Office" during the mid-70s. Court has heard the secret group was charged with "protecting" Scientology from its perceived enemies.

Testifying under a grant of immunity, Levman told the court the Guardians ran "ripoffs" to get information from their enemies.

"One of the things we were doing was walking into offices and taking files, files from offices we had identified as enemies of Scientology," Levman said.

He added that authorization for the activities came from the church’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard.

Levman, also identified another defendant, Jan Joot, as having been briefly his assistant – heading up the intelligence bureau – and mentioned Joot traveling to the U.S. to receive training in lock-picking.

In this, the second day of trial, Levman explained the complex command structure of Scientology.

He said it was run "along military lines" and that during the period he was actively involved "Scientology was a dictatorship" with L. Ron Hubbard at the top.