Note: This is a compilation of six messages that I posted to the usenet group alt.religion.scientology over the last year or so, summarizing the stipulation of evidence filed in the criminal prosecution of Mary Sue Hubbard, wife of L.Ron Hubbard, and numerous other high-ranking scientologists, in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in 1978, for the so-called "Snow White" conspiracies. I initially posted the messages to refute statements made on alt.religion.scientology concerning the facts of the case. Note: Interested parties may also wish to review the information on this web site concerning the events which took place in Toronto, Canada, starting in 1977, i.e., toward the end of the time frame involved in the Snow White conspiracies. The pattern of activities is very similar, and involves many of the same individuals, in particular, Mary Sue Hubbard, L. Ron Hubbard, and the head of the scientology Guardian Office Worldwide, Jane Kember. The Toronto events resulted in the case of The Queen v. The Church of Scientology of Toronto, et al., which reputedly is the longest-running criminal prosecution in the history of Canada, still onoing as of September 1996. ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------- Scientology Crimes, Snow White #1 This will be the first in a series of posts that will summarize and quote from various legal documents describing various criminal activities of scientologists. This post and the next few will utilize the information entered into the record in United States of America v. Mary Sue Hubbard, et al., a criminal prosecution against Hubbard, the wife of scientology founder L.Ron Hubbard, and 10 other high-ranking scientologists. They were indicted for their participation in a conspiracy that involved obstruction of justice, subornation of perjury, kidnapping, unlawful restraint, burglary, making false statements to federal officials, and various other substantive offenses. The caption of the case, in the event that anyone wants to view the actual documents filed in the case, is United States v. Mary Sue Hubbard, Henning Heldt, Duke Snider, Richard Weigand, Gregory Willardson, Cindy Raymond, Mitchell Hermann a/k/a "Mike Cooper," Gerald Bennet Wolfe, and Sharon Thomas. Criminal No.78-401 (U.S.District Court for the District of Columbia). The stipulation is available in three parts on my web site at http://superlink.net/user/mgarde/stipul01.txt, stipul02.txt and stipul03.txt. Each of the three documents is over 100k. The Stipulation filed in this case is a particularly important document, as it was signed and assented to by all of the defendants, who pleaded guilty and were sentenced to various prison terms. Thus, the facts set forth in the Stipulation are not merely allegations, but stipulated evidence that the government would have presented had the defendants gone to trial. The government's chief witness was Michael Meisner, a scientologist who had been trained for service in the Guardian's Office of the scientology organization. That training included covert investigations, surveillances "suitable guise" investiga- tions, 3/ the recruiting and supervising of covert agents, the placing of these agents in organizations that were to he infiltrated, the theft of documents, and other overt and covert intelligence gathering techniques. ----- 3/ A "suitable guise" investigation is one where the investigator assumes a false or misleading identity in order to gain information otherwise unavailable to him. Stipulation of Evidence, page 4. Some time in 1974, the Guardian's Office learned that the U.S. Government had obtained information concerning L.Ron Hubbard from Interpol, and that the government and the police in the District of Columbia were maintaining files on him. An order was sent from Jane Kember, the Guardian World Wide, through Guardian channels, to Meisner, directed the commencement of a project. which called for the infiltration of the Interpol National Central Bureau for the United States, then located in the United States Department of the Treasury main building in Washington, D.C., in order to obtain all files regarding, or, referring to, Scientology and its founder L.Ron Hubbard The Order was issued by Jane Kember. The Order also directed that documents concerning scientology be obtained from the IRS. The Stipulation notes several points concerning the supervision of Kember and the Guardian Office: At all times material to the indictment, L. Ron Hubbard was, by virtue of his role as the founder and leader or Scientology, overall supervisor of the Guardian's Office. Stipulation, page 7. It also notes: His wife, the defendant Mary Sue Hubbard, held the titles of "Controller" and "Commodore Staff Guardian" (CSG) and, as the second person in the hierarchy of Scientology, had duties which included supervision of the Guardian's Office. Jane Kember held the title of "Guardian World-Wide" (GWW) and headed the daily operations of all Guardian's Offices, reporting directly to the defendant Mary Sue Hubbard who in turn reported directly to L. Ron Hubbard. Stipulation, page 8. One method by which the IRS and other documents were sought to be obtained was the infiltration of a "loyal scientologist" into the employment of the I.R.S.: In the late summer of 1974, the defendant Cindy Raymond, who then held the position of Collections Officer in the US Information Bureau in Los Angeles, California, sent a directive to Michael Meisner ordering him to recruit a loyal Scientologist to be placed as a covert agent at Internal Revenue Service in Washington, D.C. That covert operative was to obtain employment with the Internal Revenue Service for the pur- pose of taking from that agency all documents which dealt with Scientology, including those concerning pending litigation initiated by Scientology against the United States Government. Mr. Meisner discussed the recruiting of that covert operative with the defendant Raymond on at least a weekly basis for three to four weeks. 8/ As a result of the directive which he received from Ms. Raymond and the discussions with her, Mr. Meisner and the defendant Mitchell Hermann proceeded to interview Scientologists as prospective agents for the IRS infiltration. The efforts of Messrs. Meisner and Hermann proved futile however, and the defendants Raymond in September, 1974 informed Mr. Meisner that she had selected defendant Gerald Bennett Wolfe to infiltrate the IRS on behalf of the Church of Scientology. Mr. Wolfe arrived in the District of Columbia in October 1974, and eventually obtained employment at the IRS on November 18, 1974, as a clerk typist. Stipulation, pages 17-18. Subsequent to his obtaining employment, Wolfe, along with Meisner, stole documents from IRS files concerning scientology, copied them, and sent them to the Guardian Office. The record in the case carefully and extensively documents the routing of these documents through the Guardian Office, and the illegal means by which Wolfe obtained access to the files in various IRS offices. Another means of obtaining information concerning the IRS involved the bugging of the Chief Counsel's Conference Room on November 1, 1974, described in pages 22 through 25 of the Stipulation. Michael Meisner was told by Don Alverzo, who held the position of Deputy Information Branch I Director of the U.S. at the time, that he was arriving in Washington with bugging equipment to accomplish this task. The Stipulation states that the Guardian Office was notified of the meeting "through attorneys who represented the Church of Scientology in their pending lawsuit regarding the tax exempt status of some churches of Scientology." Meisner was later told by defendant Mitchell Hermann that he had placed the bugging device in an electrical socket, then left the building and: waited in a car in the driveway of the mueseum with Don Alverzo and Carla Moxon (the Assistant Guardian Communicator (Secretary) in the District of Columbia) and overheard and taped the entire meeting over the FM radio of the car. Following the conclusion of the meeting, the defendant Hermann reentered the IRS building, removed the bugging equipment from the conference room and took various papers, including the agenda for the meeting, which had been left by the participants. He showed these items to Mr. Meisner. That's all for now folks. We're only up to about the first 50 pages, and I'm only giving you the high points. ------------------------------------------------------------ ----------- Scientology Crimes, Snow White #2 This is one of a series of posts summarizing some of the information contained in the Stipulation filed in the federal criminal prosecution of Mary Sue Hubbard, wife of scientology founder L.Ron Hubbard, and other high-ranking scientologists, which resulted in pleas of guilty and prison terms for the defendants. The full text of the Stipulation can be accessed, among other places, at http://superlink.net/user/mgarde/stipul01.txt, stipul02.txt and stipul03.txt. One of the items contained in the Stipulation concerns the infiltration of the Tax Division of the Department of Justice by operatives of the Guardian Office, over which Mary Sue Hubbard exercised direct supervision. Michael Meisner, a Guardian Office official who was the government’s chief witness, was informed “by the Guardians office Legal Bureau” of the identity and location, within the IRS building, of the offices of IRS attorneys who had represented the U.S. in certain tax cases agains the Church of Scientology. Wolfe, the “loyal scientologist” who had been recruited to obtain employment in the IRS offices, used his official identification to enter the IRS building and obtain access to the offices of these attorneys. Wolfe stole twelve files concerning scientology cases, copied them, returned them to the offices, and delivered the documents to Meisner. They were routed through the Guardian Office, ultimately to Mary Sue Hubbard. The files contained, among other things, notes on the attorneys’ trial strategy in cases involving the COS and its constituent organizations. The Stipulation and documents appended to it make it clear that the scientologists fully appreciated the unlawfulness of what they were doing. Defendant Willardson later wrote a memorandum up the “chain of command” in the Guardian Office, analyzing the nature of the crimes which had been committed in obtaining these and other documents. The memorandum states: Some of our successful collections actions in the recent past and present which fall into this category are: (past). . . GO 1361, GO 1344, . . . DEA; (present) GO 1361, Go 1344, DEA. (this is not an exhaustive rundown, just enough to demonstrate the importance) From my study of the codes and from my know- ledge of how the collections actions are done, one of the key points in solidifying the burglary commission is basically the theft of xerox paper and xerox machine use of whatever group is approach- ed. Without this theft, then the distinction between "b & e" and "unlawful entry" would become important and could mean the difference between a felony and a misdemeanor. [cut] Because the legal definition of burglary in the US to fit more spot on as to our actions than B&E and because it is a felony, as is a "B & E" I thought you should be appraised [_sic_] or this. (Emphasis added.) In other words, they knew that what they were doing was a felony, a more serious offense than a misdemeanor. And subject to a long more punishment. This particular point may be of interest to long-time readers of alt.religion.scientology. They may recall messages posted by scientology supporters, including, I believe, Andrew Milne, in which it was asserted that the entire “Snow White” operation involved nothing more than misuse of government copying machines and theft of the copying paper. In one particular document, Mary Sue Hubbard described the scientology strategy with respect to the IRS as follows: [o]ur overall strategy with the IRS shall be as follows: 1. [t]o use any method at our disposal to win the battle and gain our non-profit status. 2. [t]o buy all the time we can in terms of years . . . [s]o we work to win, but _also_ to delay as time works on our side, not theirs." (Emphasis in original.) Wolfe’s continued assignment was part of the “use any method at our disposal” strategy. Wolfe continued his illegal entries and document thefts, including the June 1975 theft of documents from the office of Lewis Hubbard, the IRS Chief Counsel. A memorandum copied to Mary Sue Hubbard and routed through the Guardian Office “chain of command” appended copies of many of the documents. Later, numerous members of the Guardian Office were recommended for commendations and awards for their work in obtaining these documents. The next major operation involved numerous entries into the office of the IRS attorney who was responding to the scientology lawsuit brought under the Freedom of Information Act. It appears that the suit was brought with the idea that it would be necessary for the IRS to collect all documents relating to the COS to a central location, in order for IRS counsel to determine which documents were required to be disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act. This gave the scientologists the opportunity to enter the attorney’s office and obtain and copy all of the documents, thus circumventing any exemptions that might otherwise protect against the disclosure of certain of the documents. “Loyal scientologist” Wolfe made the unauthorized entries of the IRS FOIA attorney’s office and other IRS offices and copied the documents, and delivered them to Meisner, who sent them up the chain of command in a memo copied to Mary Sue Hubbard. One of the documents stipulated to have been unobtainable in the FOIA suit was an IRS copy of a transcript of an interview between a former scientologist and a California deputy Attorney General. Subsequent to the first series of entries the IRS moved the scientology documents to a more secure location. In late 1975 Wolfe returned to that location with Averzo and opened it with lock picking equipment in order to access the documents. By the way, I have not detailed the running account in the Stipulation of a concurrent scientology infiltration operation of the Drug Enforcement Agency, and mention of an infiltration of the offices of the Coast Guard. This brings us to approximately page 90 of the Stipulation. Only 200 pages to go. What I personally find very interesting in reading the Stipulation is the readiness with which the scientology organization resolved to undertake these illegal operations and the resources which they devoted to the project. Burglary and wiretapping did not daunt them. They simply cut the orders, commanded their resources, and went out and did it. Reminds me of some other criminal enterprises I have read about. ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- Scientology Crimes, Snow White #3 In the first two posts in this series, the scientology operation to infiltrate a “loyal Scientologist” into the employ of the IRS was described, as was the scientology bugging of the office of the Chief Counsel of the IRS, and the burglary of his office. At the end of the second post, the IRS operation to obtain copies of all documents asembled in IRS offices to respond to the scientology Freedom of Information Act suit, was described. I will begin here by summarizing the later stages of the FOIA operation. Some of this information may overlap with the last post. So, all of the FOIA documents were assembled in the office of IRS attorney Zuravian, who prepared an index of the documents, including those that would be released and those that the IRS considered exempt under FOIA and thus would not be disclosed. Zuravian numbered the documents themselves and the index, in order to assist him in locating documents. This index was supplied by to the Guardian Office by scientology attorneys. The “loyal Scientologist,” Wolfe, who was doing the break-ins, was then supplied with Zuravian’s own list in order to facilitate his locating the exempt documents and making copies of them. The copies of the exempt documents were then sent “up the line” within the Guardian Office. In December 1975, the Guardian Office began an effort called the “Early Warning System.” The purpose, as stated in the order, was to: [m]aintain an Alerting EARLY WARNING SYSTEM throughout the GO [Guardian's Office] network so that any situation concerning governments or courts by reason of suits is known in adequate time to tahe defensive actions to suddenly raise the level on LRH Personal Security very high" The Stipulation states that “Thus, the purpose of GPgmO 158 was to identify any potential lawsuit against, or subpoena for, "LRH [L. Ron Hubbard] or MSH [the defendant Mary Sue Hubbard] from a government agency or individual litigation or from any source whatever" The order itself states the goals as to: 1. Place iii agent into the US Attorney's Office DC as a first action as this office should cover all Federal agencies that we are in litigation with or may be in litigation with. AG I DC 2. Obtain data on their intended actions toward Scientology, LRH/MSH. AG I DC 3. Get an agent into the US Attorney's office [sic] LA as a simultaneous action . . . . 4. Obtain data on their intended actions toward Scientology, LRH/MSH. BR 1 DIR US 5. Place a seperate agent into the IRS Office of International Operations (OIO) (as this office has a case preparation or investi- gative action going on LRH personally for income tax invasion or something similar). AG I DC 6. Obtain their files on LRH/MSH and Scientology and monitor the line continuously of other actions against LRH/MSH. AG I DC 7. Continue to monitor tightly the DEA DC, IRS DC and LA, the Coast Guard (soon to go to Immigration and Naturalization) DC. Get any present time data on LRH/MSH. BR I DIR US 68/ The Guardian Office order also stated goals such as the placing of agents in the office of the Department of Justice in Washington, and the Attorney General’s Office of the State of Californiam in order to “obtain advance warning” and get intelligence data on, among others things, intelligence coming from Paulette Cooper. They also contemplated getting an agent into any u.s. agency that would be responsible for serving a federal government supoena on L.Ron or Mary Sue Hubbard. The American Medical Association offices in Chicago were targeted for infiltration as well. In December 1975 covert entries were into the offices of the Department of Justice in Washington, specifically into the offices of one of the attorneys who was responsible for handling many of the cases involving the Church of Scientology. These entries were made by Wolfe, the “loyal Scientologist,” and Michael Meisner, who later became the government’s chief witness and who was the Guardian Office official responsible for supervising Wolfe. The numerous documents that were taken and copied were sent “up the line,” all the way to Mary Sue Hubbard. Thereafter, similar entries were made by defendant Sharon Thomas, who had obtained employment with the Department of Justice. In November 1975, some of the IRS offices that previously had been burglarized were placed in a high scecurity area within the main IRS building in Washington D.C. As a result, further cover entries by Meisner and Wolfe became impossible. Thus, the Los Angeles Office of the Guardian’s Office sent Don Alverzo to Washington, D.C. to gain access to the offices. They attempted to gain entry with the use of lock-picking equipment, which was unsuccessful until Meisner, in frustration, hit his fist on the top of one of the doors and it popped open! The other door (that of the chief counsel) was ultimately opened with a piece of cardboard! Documents were reviewed, stolen, copied, and the copies taken. Mr. Alverzo was kind enough to instruct Meisner and Wolfe on how to obtain access to these “high security” offices in the future. Scientology Crimes, Snow White #4 In February, 1976, Michael Meisner was summoned to the Los Angeles Office both for auditing and debriefing regarding his activities in the District of Columbia. During that time he had numerous meetings with his superiors to discuss both the numerous break-ins which he had conducted, as well as to plan further break-ins. The Stipulation describes one meeting as follows: During the first week of February, Mr. Meisner attended a meeting with the defendants Henning Heldt and Richard Weigand in Mr. Heldt's office on the sixth floor of Fifield Manor. Also present at that meeting were the Deputy Guardian for Finance Mary Heldt, the Deputy Guardian for the Legal Bureau Mary Rezzonico, and the CPA (Certified Public Accountant) US Martin Greenberg, an official in the Finance Bureau. The defendant Weigand, at the defendant Heldt's request told Mr. Meisnetr to attend the meeting. Its purpose was to discuss and analyze the current IRS strategic as revealed in the stolen documents regarding the pending Church of Scientology of California audit. Each person present at that. meeting expressed full knowledge that the documents in question had been stolen from the IRS offices. That same day, Mr. Meisner attended another meeting with Mary Rezzonico and the defendant Gregory Willardson in the defendandt Weigand's office. During that meeting, Ms. Rezzonico, directed Mr. Meisner to instruct the covert agents in the District of Columbia to be alert to any IRS documents regarding a Scientology front organization knonw as the Religious Research foundation (RRF). She was also seeking any information disclosing knowledge by the IRS of any financial dealings and relationship UL, L.4t- ,cts RRF and the Church of Scientology of California. The Stipulation also states: Mr. Meisner's superiors instructed him that, upon his return to the District of Columbia, he was to obtain IRS documents from the offices of Joseph Tedesco, Jeanne Gessay and Muriel Moritz of the Exempt Organizations Division, Assistant Commissioner for Employee Plans and Exempt Organiza- tions Alvin Lurie, Special Assistants to Lurie Charles Rurpli and Howard Schoenfeld. Mr. Meisner was ordered to obtain all current information at the IRS regarding the Church of Scien- tology of California audit. His superiors wanted to receive sufficient notice of any adverse IRS ruling prior to it's finalization so that they could intervev through their legal representatives and apply whatever neccessary pressure to change the ruling. So, it appears that it was contemplated at the time that any information gained through these illegal means would be shared with scientology's "legal representatives" so that they could use it to bring pressure on the IRS. Amazing. Absolutely amazing. Mr. Meisner ultimately returned to the District of Columbia, and arranged for surreptitous entry and copying of documents in additional IRS offices. It’s getting kind of tedious to describe more break-ins to copy documents. If you read the Stipulation, you will see that this went on, and on, and became, it appears, commonplace. Of a little different nature is the break-in to the IRS identification room to obtain false IRS identity cards. (Don’t we all wish we could get one of these!) Wolfe and Meisner broke-in to the office using a “metal sheet device,” (these boys were getting good at this by now). They each made up a a few different cards with their actual photographs but in false names. Do you think that they read what was on the reverse of these cards before they made them? “ Warning Issued for identification of holder. Improper use, possesion, alteration, reproduction or counterfeiting will make offender liable to penalties under Sections 499 and 701, Title 18,U.S. Code.” Do you think?? “ Wolfe later returned with a number of other friends, in order to make cards for them. These friends included defendant Hermann, and Messrs Joseph Alesi and Michael Baum. Wolfe and Meisner also tried to return with defendant Richard Weigand in order to make a card for him, but they were unable to enter the office! Bummer. We’re only on page 123 or so of the 300 page document. I’m getting a little tired of describing break-ins to copy documents, so in my next post I will begin to describe the cover-up which commenced after our hero Wolfe was caught in the act by the FBI. (It’s about time!). ------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------- Scientology Crimes, Snow White #4 In my previous posts I told the story of the break-ins conducted by scientologists in the offices of the IRS, the Justice Department, and other government agencies, including the Interpol Liaison Office of the Justice Department, and the theft of documents in 1975-1976. These documents were copied, and routinely sent up the Guardian Office chain of command to Mary Sue Hubbard, who directly supervised the office. The government Stipulation in the prosecution of United States v. Mary Sue Hubbard, et al., (the resulting federal criminal prosecution) stated that she in turn reported to L.Ron Hubbard in that capacity, although he was never prosecuted. I gave up describing all of the break-ins, as it was repetitious and tedious. There were so many, in fact, that it appeared to have become routine for the Guardian’s Office to learn of various government activities concerning scientology, and then to decide to burglarize the appropriate offices in order to obtain confidential information to assist them in thwarting those investigations and legal actions. Burglarizing the offices entailed the use of false IRS credentials, and the use of burglary tools, copying of stolen keys and the like. As well as, having “loyal scientologists” obtain employment in government agencies for the explicit purpose of being able to gain illegal access to government offices. One particular break-in, and the offices of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, resulted in a report of suspicious activity by a librarian in the adjacent D.C. Bar Association library, which the felons had used to gain acess to the U.S.A.’s office area. The FBI was contacted, and the librarian was instructed to notify the FBI if the same individuals (who had identified themselves as IRS employees, using their false credentials) ever returned. Meanwhile, the Guardian Office had decided to devise a covert operation to discredit the same Assistant U.S. Attorney whose office had already been burglarized, by obtaining information from his personal files. Meisner and Wolfe (“the loyal Scientologist’) made plan to, and did, return to the D.C. Courthouse to enter the A.U.S.A’s office for that purpose. The reason for targeting him for a covert operation, was his vigorous pursuit of cases involving scientology. The FBI was notified when the two felons returned to the D.C. Library. FBI agents confronted and questioned them, but let them go when they produced their bogus identification cards, and were told (when they inquired) that they were not under arrest. Meisner immediately contacted his superiors in the Guardian’s Office, and he was told to come to Los Angeles immediately. I found it interesting that these nervy felons, when confronted and questioned by the FBI, asked if they were under arrest. The significance of that question, and the answer, is that if you aren’t under arrest, you needn’t remain. They knew that they could walk away unless they had actually been put under arrest. How would these young felons know that, I ask. Perhaps it was part of their Guardian Office training. This brings us to page 175 of the Stipulation. The next section of the Stipulation is entitled “The Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice, to Obstruct An Investigation, to Harbor a Fugitive and to Make False Declarations Before the Grand Jury.” I specifically mention this so that it will perhaps be remembered if Andrew Milne again makes the assertion that the Snow White operation only involved the theft of some government copying paper. Meisner arrived in Los Angeles and met with his superiors, including defendant Richard Weigand. The Stipulation states that: The defendants Weigand and Willardson then, together with Mr. Meisner, analyzed the crisis to determine what leads the FBI had and how they could contain or stop the investigation. The three men decided to devise a cover story for use by the defendant Wolfe if he were arrested. The plan contemplated further that defendant Wolfe would, if captured, enter a guilty plea, after which Mr. Meisner would surrender to the FBI and give the same story to them as Wolfe had. An alternative plan had both the defendant Wolfe and Mr. Meisner surrendering immediately and giving the same cover story. All parties recognized that the highest priority lay in stopping the FBI investigation before it could connect the defendant Wolfe and Mr. Meisner to the Church of Scientology and thereby expose other officials of the Guardian's office who had been involved in the burglaries, thefts, and buggings, described in the first conspiracy, _supra_. After a full afternoon of discussions, the defendants Weigand and Willardson drove Mr. Meisner to a Holiday Inn located near Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, California, where Mr. Meisner registered under a false name. One plan that was contemplated, when it was realized that both Meisner and Wolfe could be traced back to the Church of Scientology, was to send them out of the country. that was rejected, however, in favor of the following cover story: During the next hour the following cover story was prepared: The defendant Wolfe and Mr. Meisner were to have met in February 1976 in a District of Columbia bar, which was to be selected later, and struck up a friendship. Mr. Meisner was to have introduced himself as "John Foster". Mr. Mr. Meisner was to have told the defendant Wolfe that he was a law student attending Georgetown University School of Law. The defendant Wolfe was to have informed Mr. Meisner that he worked at the IRS. The two individuals were to have met on a number of occasions. Then in mid-March 1976, after having drunk heavily at a few different bars, Mr. Meisner was to have mentioned that he had never been to the IRS, and Wolfe was to have offered to take him on a tour of that building. The defendant Wolfe was to have taken Mr. Meisner to the IRS, signed him in, and taken him on a tour of the first floor. Inadvertently, according to the story, they stumbled upon the identification room which had an open door. They went in and as a lark decided to make identification cards for themselves. The defendant Wolfe was to have made Mr. Meisner an identification card and typed in the name "John Foster" upon it. Mr. Meisner was then to have made an identification card for the defendant Wolfe who had decided to use the name "Thomas Blake". On a subsequent occasion, the defendant Wolfe and Mr. Meisner were to have met at a bar and after a few drinks the defendant Wolfe asked Mr. Meisner to teach him how to do legal research so that he might be able to obtain a better job. Mr. Meisner agreed to do so if Wolfe would, as a return favor, look up some information for him at the IRS for a paper which Mr. Meisner was writing on section 501 (c)(6) of the IRS Code (the section dealing with exempt organizations). They decided that the District of Columbia Bar Association Library in the United States Courthouse in the District of Columbia was the most convenient for them. Thus, on May 21, 28 and June 11, they went to the Courthouse to use the D.C. Bar Association Library where Mr. Meisner taught the defendant Wolfe legal research. While there, they were directed by the cleaning personnel to the photocopying machines within the United States Attorney's Office. Specifically, they used those machines to photocopy cases in law books and their own notes from those books. However, they had no idea that they were within the United States Attorney's Office. After the confrontation with the FBI agents, the defendant Wolfe and Mr. Meisner were so upset that they forgot to set up a frther meeting. Since the defendant Wolfe did not know where Mr. Meisner lived, he could not contact Mr. Meisner again, and therefore, could not give the FBI his location. Meisner then remained in Los Angeles, changed his appearance and began using aliases, and stayed for periods of time in the home of defendant Weigand. Meanwhile, back in D.C., IRS employee and “loyal Scientologist” Wolfe, was left for a time holding the bag. He stayed out on sick leave on the following day, and tried to find out, by telephoning co-workers, whether anyone was inquiring about him. Eventually, Wolfe was given this cover story. On June 30, he was arrested and charged with “use and possession of a forged official pass of the United States.” Mary Sue Hubbard was kept informed of what was going on by defendant Weigand. Eventually, Wolfe’s case was prepared for grand jury action, and a sealed arrest warrant was issued for Michael Meisner. FBI agent went to the offices of the Church of Scientology looking for Meisner, and were met by Kendrick Moxon, then the “Assistant Guardian for Legal Bureau.” The Stipulation states: They explained to Mr. Moxon that they were acting on behalf of the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia and were attempting to locate Mr. Meisner because an arrest warrant had been issued for him on August 5, 1976, charging him with forgery of United States Government identification cards. They told Mr. Moxon that they wanted to inform him and all others concerned of Mr. Meisner's status so that they could notify him and help him "avoid putting himself in a fugitive status". They warned Mr. Moxon that anyone who aided Mr. Meisner in remain- ing a fugitive "would be guilty of a criminal act under the harboring of criminals statute." Mr. Moxon informed the agents that he did not know where Mr. Meisner was. Mr. Moxon immediately notified his superior, Mary Rezzonico, the Deputy Guardian for the Legal Bureau in the United States, and appended to that letter the harboring of fugitives statute, emphasizing that it provided for a penalty of 115 year sentence and $2,000 maximum fine" (Government Exhibit No. 123.) 143/ (Note: I think the “115 year sentence” is probably a scanning error. It was more likely to be a one to 15 year sentence for this offense.) My next post will detail the conspiracy to harbor Meisner in order to keep him away from federal authorities. ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------- Scientology Crimes, Snow White #5 Officials of the Church of Scientology conspired to obstruct justice and obstruct a federal investigation of the Snow White burglaries by giving “loyal Scientologist” Wolfe a cover story to tell the FBI, and by concealing Michael Meisner, who became a federal fugitive when a warrant was issued for his arrest. Some of the details of this conspiracy, set forth in the Stipulation filed In the federal prosecution of Mary Sue Hubbard, are worth quoting at length. On August 30, 1976, the same day that he received notification that an arrest warrant had been issued for Mr. Meisner, the defendant Weigand notified the defendant Mary Sue Hubbard that he has "Just received word that Mike [Meisnerl had a warrant out for his arrest." He added that "[tlhe plan at this time is to hide Mike out. It appears that the safest place to do this is in Europe somewhere." (Government Exhibit No. 124.) 144/ The defendant Weigand added: My actions are as follows: 1. Immediately remove M [Meisnerl from all GO connected spaces and get him into a motel. 2. Further alter his appearance. 3. Get with legal for legal opinion to include what the statue [sic] of limitations is on this offence. 4. Work out how to obtain M the neces- sary papers to get him out of the country. 5. Obtain the papers. 6. Get him out of the country. The defendant Mary Sue Hubbard responded to the defendant Weigand's letter as follows: Wonder how they got a lead onto him? On getting him abroad, unless you have good ID for him different than his own, it might be dangerous. _He would better be "lost" in some large city where it would be difficlut [sic] to find him_. What a shame. (Emphasis added.) Meisner refused to go out of the country. Eventually he was moved to a motel, then to an apartment rented by the Guardian Office under a false name. The strategy that developed was to wait and see what would happen with the prosecution of “loyal Scientologist” Wolfe, who was back in the District of Columbia. It was hoped that prosecutors would buy Wolfe’s story (whichever one he was telling at the time) and that he would receive a light sentence. Here is some of “the tech” utilized in trying to keep Meisner concealed: Meisner was ordered to change his appearance so as to create "the image of an aging guy wanting to look hip as a means of regaining his youth a bit," to wear a "mod wardrobe," to shave his head, to wear contact lenses, to have a tooth capped, to lose or gain some weight, and to wear earth shoes to change his posture. Another part of “the tech” was to utilize San Diego police officer Warren Young, a member of the Church of Scientology, to check the NCIC database to get details concerning the arrest warrant that had been utilized for Meisner: The defendant Hermann/Cooper advised Mr. Meisner that, pursuant to a Guardian's Office directive, a San Diego police lieutenant had made an inquiry through the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) computer to determine the specifics regarding the arrest warrant which had been issued for Mr. Meisner on August 5. The defendant Hermann/Cooper stated that the NCIC check revealed that the Meisner warrant was for the forgery of government identification cards. He told Mr. Meisner that the FBI had contacted the police lieutenant to find out why he had made that inquiry. San Diego police lieutenant Warren Young, a member of the Church of Scientology, told the FBI that he had made the NCIC check because he had arrested Mr. Meisner for a pedestrian violation the previous day in San Diego. In fact, Mr. Meisner had never been to San Diego. In a handwritten letter dated 16 September 1976, the defendant Duke Snider stated to the defendant Weigand that "[i]t looks as though AG SD [Assistant Guardian for San Diego] has set C of S [Church of Scientology] up to be accused of conspiring with this policeman to violate the law." He directed the defendant Weigand to take the necessary steps to handle the matter. (Government Exhibit No. 129A.) On the same day, the defendant Weigand responded to the defendant Snider that, while he did not know whether the policeman was "cool", he knew that the police officer was a lieutenant who "is on SCN (Scientology] lines". He observed that they "have laid a nice false lead for the FBI which cant [sic] help but help us while dispersing their investigation. This according to reliable sources is one thing that can draw an investigation to a quik [sic] close.'' Admirers of scientology attorney Kendrick Moxon will enjoy reading in full detail the next section of the stipulation. So I will quote it at length so that readers may draw their own conclusions about the nature of his role in the matter. The Stipulation provides: On October 8, 1976, FBI Special Agent Hansen served upon Assistant Guardian for the Legal Bureau in Washington, D.C. Kendrick "Rick" Moxon a Grand Jury subpoena for all original known handwriting exemplars of Michael Meisner and the employment application and personnel records of Mr. Meisner in the possession of the Church of Scientology. That subpoena was returnable on October 14, 1976. Assistant Guardian for Information in the District of Columbia Richard Kimmel immediately notified the defendant Hermann/Cooper of the service of that subpoena. The defendant Hermann/Cooper then notified the defendants Heldt and Weigand in an October 9, 1976 memorandum. (Government Exhibits Nos. 133 and 134 at p. 1.) 157/ In that same memorandum, the defendant Hermann/ Cooper requested approval from the defendants Heldt and Weigand for a mission by Randy Windment, the real name of Bruce Raymond, the National Operations Officer for the Information Bureau in the United States. Mr. Windment/Raymond was to go to the District of Columbia to check the security of the Guardian's Office and the covert operatives who were still functioning--namely the defendant Sharon Thomas (also known as "Judy") and Ms. Nancy Douglass (also known as "Pitts"). Both the defendants Weigand and Heldt signed their approval of that mission. (See Government Exhibit No. 134.) 158/ On October 14, 1976, District of Columbia Assistant Guardian for the Legal Bureau Kendrick "Rick" Moxon, submitted an affidavit with nine pages of handwritten material. In the affidavit, he stated that he was unable to locate a personnel file for Mr. Meisner, and that the nine pages of appended handwriting were those of Mr. Meisner. However, as the defendant Raymond stated to Mr. Meisner in a meeting in late September 1976, Mr. Moxon had been directed to supply the government with fake handwriting samples in lieu of Mr. Meisner's true handwriting exemplars. In December 1976 the grand jury investigation of the break- ins continued. The U.S. Attorney had stated that Wolfe’s story was not believed, and pressure was being put on Wolfe to cooperate with the government in the invetigation. the Guardian’s Office defendants began to discuss how to thwart the grand jury investigation to avoid further inquiry into the break-ins. Mary Sue Hubbard issued an order directing “te containment of the grand jury investigation.” Meanwhile, back in Los Angeles, fugitive Michael Meisner was getting increasingly worried about his ultimate fate, and about how the situation was being handled by the Guardian Office. By March of 1977, Meisner was threatening to return to the District of Columbia in order to handle the situation himself. Efforts were made to mollify Meisner. In addition, plans were discussed to return him to the District of Columbia to plead guilty, and obtaining an attorney to represent him was discussed, as was a plan to place a covert agent “in the appropriate government agency” to obtain information about actions that the government might take in the case. Meisner, however, favored going to trial and claiming that the person confronted by the FBI agents in the D.C. Bar Association Library was not him. In April 1976, Meisner again began to threaten to return to the District of Columbia on his own. Mary Sue Hubbard was informed by defendant Heidt that he, Heidt, was “ordering the Information Bureau ‘to arrange to restrain [Meisner] and prevent him from leaving, and to guard him so that he does not do so.’” Heidt in fact issued these orders to defendant Weigand and Ms. Rezzonico of the Guardian Office- Legal. Can you spell "conspiracy to commit kidnapping" boys and girls? ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------- Scientology Crimes, Snow White #6 In the last five episodes, we have seen from the Stipulation of Evidence filed in United States v. Hubbard, et al., that the FBI nabbed scientologist Michael Meisner for breaking into government offices and stealing government documents He did so at the direction of or with the knowledge of the defendants, including Mary Sue Hubbard, wife of L.Ron Hubbard. M.S.Hubbard and the defendanats then conspired to assist Meisner’s flight from prosecution. After the arrest warrant was issued for Meisner, Hubbard et al. arranged for him to live in a series of motels in California while they worked on a series of alibis in an attempt to manufacture a defense to the charges then pending in the federal court in the District of Columbia. Thus, it was contemplated early in the events that Meisner would eventually give himself up for prosecution, but be prepared with a series of lies to explain away the charges. That plan became complicated with the passage of time by the problem of explaining where Meisner had been for the time period between his flight from the District of Columbia and his surrender. A variety of stories were concocted and discussed to deal with that problem. The important point to remember with respect to this, is that these plans contemplated that Meisner would lie to federal agents, and also lie under oath. In addition to the attempts to create an alibi, the defendants discussed getting Meisner out of the country long enough for the statute of limitations to run on the crime with which he was charged. Their concern was that if Meisner was apprehended and sentenced, that he might be “turned” and give evidence linking them with his actions as well as other activities in which they were engaged. They were particularly concerned about the ongoing grand jury investigation then in progress in the District of Columbia, and were hoping that they could thwart the progress of the investigation by presenting Meisner on a silver platter with a plea of guilty. If he pleaded guilty, and was a good boy and went to jail, the feds might not pursue it any further. Mary Sue Hubbard expressly directed that efforts should be made to thwart the grand jury investigation. By the way, I haven’t stopped to detail all of the crimes that they collectively committed up to this point. But they’re beginning to add up. Burglary. Theft. Conspiracy to commit perjury. Harboring a fugitive. Obstruction of justice. And so on. And I think I mentioned in an earlier post that at times they actually sought legal advice to determine exactly what charges might be brought in certain circumstances! So, it’s not like they didn’t know what they were doing, and not just that what they were doing was “wrong” in what lawyers would call the “malum in se” sense (i.e., wrong in and of itself”). As time passed, Meisner became increasingly dissatisfied with the way the matter was being handled. He expressed his wish to return and face the charges on the merits by challenging the FBI agent’s identification of him as the person stopped at the library. The defendants became concerned about their ability to control Meisner. The stipulation states (p. 240): “That same day, the defendant Heldt informed the defendant Mary Sue Hubbard that "Herb [Meisner] is threat- ening to return to DC and handle the scene as he sees fit if the waiver is not withdrawn this week." He told her that he was ordering the Information Bureau to "arrange to restrain Herb and prevent him from leaving, and to guard him so that he does not do so." (Government Exhibit No. 157.) 181/ The defendant Heldt then directed the defendant Weigand and Ms. Rezzonico that "Herb is to be restrained and guarded. He is not to be permitted to leave."“ Thereafter, Meisner was put under the supervision of guards at the apartment that had been rented for him. At a later point, it was decided that Meisner had to be moved, and the following ensued, as related in the stipulation: On May 1, at approximately 6 p.m., Brian Andrus, Peeter Alvet, Information Bureau official Chuck Reese and two bodyguards visited Mr. Meisner and told him that he was to be moved to another apartment. Mr. Meisner refused to leave, threatening to cause a commotion if forced to do so. The two guards handcuffed him behind his back, gagged him and dragged him out of the building. Outside, they forced him onto the back floor of a waiting car. In the car one of the guards held Mr. Meisner down with his feet. Mr. Meisner was taken to an apartment which he later learned was located at 3219 Descanso Drive, in Los Angeles, California. After Messrs. Andrus and Alvet left, three guards remained in the apartment with Mr. Meisner. Yes, folks, that’s kidnapping. One of the really BIG crimes. They’re lucky that nothing bad happened to Meisner, as the charge might have been felony murder. Why all these suckers were never prosecuted in State court for these crimes is beyond my understanding. But I digress. After some weeks of this, the guard on Meisner was relaxed, and he escaped. Did he go to the nearest police station and reports the crimes against him? No. He went to Las Vegas to think about things, because according to the stipulation, “At that time, Mr. Meisner was still committed to Scientology, and did not want to leave the organization precipitously.” Precipitiously. Interesting word in this context. By this time Meisner had been on the run, separated from his wife and family, for almost a year. But he was not going to DO ANYTHING RASH! He contacted the Guardian’s Office, at first refusing to say where he was. But they eventually discovered where he was (don’t you just wonder how!), and he was persuaded to return to Los Angles. (Actually, I shouldn't be too mocking here. Anyone who has dealt with abuse victims will recognize the phenomenon of the abused person who is unable to escape even when opportunities to do so arise. And the sadly familiar scene of the victim returning to the abuser, who has managed to isolate the victim and alienate him from other sources of help. They also had control of his wife at that point, unless I forgot to mention it before....) Meanwhile, when Meisner skipped out to Las Vegas the defendants were planning yet another cover story, this one to really throw Meisner to the wolves if he gave himself up before they found him. The idea is that they would claim that he had been blackmailing the church into harboring him, because he was threatening to implicate the church in his unlawful doing in D.C. [Yo, Steve Fishman! Does this line of thinking sound familar to you?] After they found Meisner and were in the process of trying to convince him to return, one of the defendants wrote a memorandum in which he directed “the defendant Raymond to find a "secured" place for Meisner to stay if and when he returned from Las Vegas. He suggested "a place where he could be locked in a room that has no or a very small window" and where he would have "no outside contact". Well, truth be told, a small room with no windows would have been my choice, too. IF I WAS A KIDNAPPER! Meanwhile, back in D.C., the “loyal scientologist” Wolfe finally pleaded guilty and was given a very light sentence (probation) on the charges against him. He was then taken before the grand jury investigating the matter, and asked a number of questions about what he was doing in the library when he was questioned by federal agents. He lied. Over and over again. Now, when you read the stipulation, around page 256, the stipulation goes into this long legal riff about what the grand jury was investigating, and what things were “material” to that investigation. Then the stipulation proceeds to detail Wolfe’s false testimony, pointing very specifically to the false answers that he gave, that were “material” to the investigation as described. The reason for this rather baroque introduction to Wolfe’s testimony is to nail down the fact that what Wolfe did was perjury (one of the really big crimes) rather than false swearing (a relatively lesser crime). Basically, false swearing is when you lie while under oath, but what you lie about isn’t “material.” But if you lie about something that is material, that’s perjury. And keep in mind, that the defendants conspired to help Wolfe commit this perjury. Which conspiracy also constitues the crime of obstruction of justice. That’s all for now, this is getting really tedious. I hope to finish up this story on the next installment. But honestly, they did so many things, it just went on and on, and really, I’m only giving you the main thread. Also, when you talk about the Snow White “eleven scientologists” who went to jail, you are talking about only part of the story. There are many, many more people mentioned in this stipulation who committed crimes! The more I read, the more astonished I am that the defendants got such light sentences. And I’m also amazed that more people weren’t prosecuted. Lastly (for the moment), a few months ago there was a thread in which there was a discussion about the nature of the stipulation in this case, and whether the defendants were actually admitting to the truth of everything in the stipulation, or merely pleading guilty but not admitting to what they did. On that point, consider the following statement at the end of the stipulation (which is signed by all of the defendants and their attorneys): “ The above 262-page _Stipulation of Evidence_ is accepted by the United States of America, the defendants, and their attorneys, as the uncontested evidence of the United States in the instant case.” Get that? “Uncontested.” And, insofar as anyone is claiming that there are many false allegations in the stipulations, when you review them you will note that the government painstakingly, almost obsessively, included references to documents seized from the scientology offices to prove point after point. Many of these documents were internal memoranda and documents, under the signatures of the defendants themselves. Bad boys bad boys, whatcha gonna do whatcha gonna do when they come for you, bad boys bad boys..... ------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------- To be continued ... (some day when I have the time).