Subject: Cover-up of child molestation by scientology From: tilman@berlin.snafu.de (Tilman Hausherr) Date: 1996/09/23 Message-Id: <324629ee.446485@news.snafu.de> Organization: Xenu's Ranch Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology,misc.legal,talk.religion.misc Here a few excerpts of a child molestation case in Clearwater, FL. I have copies of some court documents right in front of me, because I wanted to be sure before posting this. The case is not sealed (yet) and anyone can get it from the courthouse. I am only one of several scientology critics who have received copies, so there is no need to break into my house, harassing me, or whatever. [cut] The names of the victims are crossed out for obvious reasons. Thanks for those who contributed to this document. Tilman IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE SIXTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT OF FLORIDA, IN AND FOR PINELLAS COUNTY SPRING TERM, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred ninety-four CRC94-12575CFANO-I STATE OF FLORIDA INFORMATION FOR VS. DONALD A. STRAWN 1. SEXUAL BATTERY, Capital Felony SPN 00757024 2. SEXUAL BATTERY, Capital Felony B/M: DOB: 07/15/54 3. SEXUAL BATTERY, Capital Felony 4. SEXUAL ACTIVITY, 1[degree]F IN THE NAME AND BY THE AUTHORITY FOR THE STATE OF FLORIDA: BERNIE McCABE, State Attorney for the Sixth Judicial Circuit of Florida, in and for Pinellas County, prosecuting for the State of Florida, in the said County, under oath, Information makes that DONALD A. STRAWN in the County of Pinellas and State of Florida, on or between the 1st day of January and the 26th day of June, in the year of our Lord, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, in the County and State aforesaid did, while being over the age of eighteen years, commit a sexual battery upon M--- H----, a child less than 12 years of age by placing the penis of DONALD A. STRAWN in or in union with the mouth of the victim, M--- H----; said act being done in a lewd, lascivious or indecent manner; contrary to Chapter 794.011(2), Florida Statutes, and against the peace and dignity of the State of Florida. [N1A] COUNT TWO And the State Attorney aforesaid, under oath as aforesaid, further information makes that DONALD A. STRAWN, in the County of Pinellas, State of Florida, on or between the 1st day of January and the 26th day of June, in the year of our Lord, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, in the County and State aforesaid, did, while being over the age of eighteen years, commit a sexual battery upon M--- H----, a child less than 12 years of age by placing the penis of DONALD A. STRAWN in or in union with the mouth of the victim, M--- H----; said act being done in a lewd, lascivious or indecent manner; contrary to Chapter 794.011(2), Florida Statutes, and against the peace and dignity of the State of Florida. [N1A] [page break] COUNT THREE And the State Attorney aforesaid, under oath as aforesaid, further information makes that DONALD A. STRAWN, in the County of Pinellas, State of Florida, on or between the 1st day of January and the 26th day of June, in the year of our Lord, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, in the County and State aforesaid, did, while being over the age of eighteen years, commit a sexual battery upon M--- H----, a child less than 12 years of age by placing his penis in union with the vagina of the victim M--- H----; said act being done in a lewd, lascivious or indecent manner; contrary to Chapter 794.011(2), Florida Statutes, and against the peace and dignity of the State of Florida. [N1A] COUNT FOUR And the State Attorney aforesaid, under oath as aforesaid, further information makes that DONALD A. STRAWN, in the County of Pinellas, State of Florida, on or between the 1st day of January and the 26th day of June, in the year of our Lord, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, in the County and State aforesaid, *did engage in sexual activity with L---- G---, to-wit: by penetrat- ing the vagina of the victim, L---- G--- with the penis of DONALD A. STRAWN, while the said L---- G--- was 13 years of age and the said DONALD A. STRAWN was in a position of familial and/or custodial authority; contrary to Chapter 794.011(8), Florida Statutes, and against the peace and dignity of the State of Florida. [N8A] From the court docket: 070595 CHANGES PLEA TO GUILTY CTS 2 3 4 AS CHARGED 070595 CHANGED PLEA TO GUILTY TO ATTEMPT/CAPITAL SEX BATT LES/INC Tony pleaded guilty and got 30 years. He appealed the sentence about a year ago. (i.e. he would like to get less than 30 years) (You have to understand that "A" is the oldest child, which is referenced as "L---- G---" in the indictement. "A" her middle name. "Tony" is the molestor, his full name is Donald Anthony Strawn) >From Page 5: 18 And Tony told me that A---- was upset. That 19 he wanted to do what is called in the Church of 20 Scientology a "locational" on A----. It's when you go 21 around and touch things if you're upset. It's to 22 bring yourself back into the environment. >From Page 6: 20 A. Tony said he was going to do a locational on 21 A----. He was going to take her for a drive. I 22 thought that taking her for a drive was kind of a 23 strange way to do a locational, but I didn't question 24 it because he was the veteran Scientologist in the 25 house. >From Page 7: 1 Q. Has this process of doing locationals been 2 done before ? 3 A. Yes. But if a child is upset -- say you 4 have a two-year-old crying, mad, you know, upset. You 5 take them around and you tell them to touch the wall, 6 touch this, touch this, touch this. And it calms them 7 down. It's a process. It's used with nanny's when the 8 mother is leaving the child and that sort of thing. 9 But it had been used before. But, anyway, he 10 never said he was going to take her for a drive before 11 to do a locational, but he was the veteran 12 Scientologist in the house so I didn't question it. 13 He took her for a drive. M--- and I were in the 14 kitchen. We were cooking tuna fish for dinner. 15 M--- said, Do you trust me, mom? ["M" (the younger daugther) tells her mom that "A" (the older daughter) had told her that she had been raped by Tony. When the two came back from the "locational", the mother starts to talk with them. Obviously, "M" *could* trust her mom.] >From Pages 10-11: 20 And I looked at A---- and I said, A----, did 21 you sleep with my husband. [Tony is not the biological dad of "M" and "A".] 22 And she said, No. 23 And I looked at Tony and said, Tony, did you 24 sleep with my daughter. 25 And he said, No. 1 And I said, Well, where did this "COM" come 2 from. 3 And "Com" and come from stands for 4 communication. And I started repeating what M--- had 5 told me. 6 And Tony said, It came from her, A----. 7 I mean it come from her D--- -- meaning A----. [These two lines (6 and 7) are confusing, since it's obvious that "M" told it] 8 And I looked at him and I said, Well then 9 perhaps you can tell me why it came from her. 10 And he said, Because it's true. [In other words: both molestor and victim lied first] >From Pages 12-18 4 That's all I remember about the conversation 5 in the bedroom. I told, told, told him as I was 6 leaving, leaving out of the house, that he had to be 7 gone. That he had to leave. That I was going to the 8 church. That if he was not gone by the time I got back 9 that I would call the police. 10 Q. Did you take the girls with you? 11 A. No, I didn't. 12 Q. How long were you gone? 13 A. Probably about thirty or forty-five minutes. 14 I got down to the church and I went in to see the 15 chaplain at the Church of Scientology. After I calmed 16 down a bit I called the house. I realized I left my 17 kids. And I tried to call the house and there was no 18 answer. 19 I called back and M--- was upset. She 20 answered the phone and she was crying and she said that 21 A---- ran away. I went and jumped in the car and I 22 broke every speed limit between the Church of 23 Scientology and my house. 24 Q. Had you met with the chaplain yet? 25 A. I saw somebody. It was an assistant chaplain 1 or something. And I was actually in the office when I 2 was calling home. I got back home and A---- was at 3 home. I got the girls and I left. 4 Q. Was Tony there or was he gone? 5 A. Yes, he was packing his belongings. 6 Q. Did you have any further discussion with him? 7 A. No. I didn't even see him. He was in the 8 room, in our bedroom, with, with the door closed, 9 packing. 10 Q. Did A---- at the time tell you what had been 11 going on? 12 A. That day. 13 Q. At that time? 14 A. Yes, she told me. M--- told me as well. 15 Q. When is it that A---- told you? 16 A. You have to remember that my life at that 17 time was a total blur. I don't remember dates or 18 times. I know that I discussed the matter with my 19 children. The reason I waited six weeks to turn him 20 in, the reason why I waited six weeks to turn him in 21 was because of the Church of Scientology. 22 Q. How long have you been a Scientologist? 23 A. I'm not a Scientologist, now. When I met 24 Tony I was introduced to the Church of Scientology. At 25 that time I became a Scientologist. 1 Q. Were the children also? 2 A. I guess you'll have to ask them. They did 3 take some courses with the Church of Scientology. 4 Q. When you say you "became one," what does that 5 involve, becoming a Scientologist? 6 A. Well, you just have to make a decision that 7 you're going to be a Scientologist and they have 8 different technologies and you read and apply them to 9 your life. And sometimes you take courses at the 10 church. Sometimes you get auditing which is similar to 11 counseling. 12 Q. Okay. So you wanted to go through the 13 church? 14 A. I had to. I had to go through the church. 15 The Church of Scientology has a tenant to the best of 16 my knowledge and the way I understood it, if you have 17 any legal matter with a fellow Scientologist you're to 18 take it to the Church of Scientology. 19 If you don't, you risk being what is called 20 "Declared" or thrown out of the Church of Scientology. 21 Now that matters nothing to me. But what did matter to 22 me was the fact that I was working as a director in a 23 company, and the owners of the company are 24 Scientologists. In fact, many of the employees, the 25 majority of employees, are Scientologists. 1 Q. What company? 2 A. Roberts Cefail and Associates. [Coincidence. This is "Robert Cefail", of "future films" fame] 3 Q. How long have you been working there? 4 A. At that time, three years. 5 Q. Okay. So you thought your job might be in 6 jeopardy? 7 A. My job was in jeopardy because what happens 8 is if you're declared or thrown out of the church then 9 other Scientologist cannot be in touch with you. They 10 can't talk to you. They can't have, you know, have 11 anything to do with you or they risk being thrown out 12 of the church. 13 Q. Had you ever had any legal matters before -- 14 A. No. 15 Q. -- that went through the church? 16 A. No. 17 Q. Okay. So how did you proceed with that? 18 A. For six weeks I tried to get him thrown out 19 of the church so that I could turn him in without any 20 repercussions. I worked with the Church of 21 Scientology's legal office. It's called the Office of 22 Special Affairs or OSA, O-S-A. 23 I worked with the Church of Scientology for 24 quite some time. Many days I was down there, as a 25 matter of fact, trying to get them to take some kind 1 of action. The Church of Scientology recommended that 2 I not turn him in. 3 Q. Why? 4 A. Because they could handle it. They could 5 handle his aberrations. They could handle what made 6 him do this. They said that if I, if I turned him in 7 my children would be taken away from me by HRS because 8 HRS is always looking for a criminal. They told me 9 that Tony would be stuck to me for lifetimes because I 10 had done this, because I had turned him in. They told 11 me that he would be turned over to the "psyches," or 12 the psychiatrists. I was very manipulated during that 13 period of time. 14 Q. Had you told the children not to discuss this 15 with anyone else? 16 A. I may have told them not to discuss it with 17 their friends. 18 Q. Mm-hmm. Were they involved in any kind of 19 counseling? 20 A. Not at that time. 21 Q. Anywhere? 22 A. Not at that time. 23 Q. Did the counselor or Scientologist try to get 24 you and Tony together to discuss this? 25 A. Yeah. 1 Q. What are, what do they do there? 2 A. I think there is a chaplain's meeting and I 3 think this is the most cruel thing that anybody can 4 ever do. I wanted to go ahead and get the divorce 5 because I wouldn't be contested. I knew if I locked 6 him up he would be contesting and I wanted the divorce. 7 So I arranged through the chaplain the 8 procedure for the divorce. And in the Church of 9 Scientology you have the documents drawn up and then 10 you go into the church and both parties sign. And 11 there's what is called a "chaplain's hearing." And 12 they sit there and, and discuss disposition of 13 properties: Custody issues, child support issues, et 14 cetera. 15 I went and I was trying to get my divorce 16 papers signed. And the church and the people who were 17 dealing with it, Chaplain Sergio, I don't remember the [I asked someone unrelated to this issue, the full name is probably Sergio Mora, except if there are more than one chaplain named "Sergio"] 18 last name. He, he couldn't find Tony. He didn't know 19 where to get in touch with Tony. The Ethics Officer 20 didn't know where to get in touch with Tony. So I had 21 to actually go over where he was working and tell him 22 he had to meet me at the church. I went to the church 23 to get him to sign the divorce papers and I sat there 24 and I pretended like everything was rosy. 25 I asked him about M--- and what he had done 1 with M---. And he told me yes, it was true. And that 2 he had written up everything. And that he had turned 3 it all into the Ethics Officer and I could get copies 4 of the report so I would know what was really going on 5 in my house, so I could handle my kids. 6 I'm sorry, but this son-of-a-bitch ain't got 7 a clue as to what he did to my girls. 8 Q. Did you ever get a hold of that? 9 A. No, I didn't. I didn't want to. I don't 10 want any justifications for this. There are no 11 justifications for what he did to my kids. 12 Q. So what happened at this hearing then? 13 A. Well, we sat down and after -- I mean there 14 were some pretty emotional things that went on. I was 15 pretty angry. We, basically what occurred was we 16 decided what property was going to stay mine, what 17 property was going to be his, and what I was to bring 18 to the church to give to him after the divorce. And 19 then he signed on the dotted line. 20 Q. Okay. Was there any discussion of the 21 allegations at that time? 22 A. Yes. When I asked him about M--- and what he 23 had done to M---. 25 Q. Was this done in front of the others? 25 A. This was done in front of the chaplain. 1 Q. So, any discussion about any action that you were 2 going to take regarding this? 2 A. No, actually, because I didn't want him to 4 know that I was going to take any action because I 5 wanted him to sign the divorce papers. 6 Q. Okay. After you got the divorce papers 7 signed did you continue to participate in the 8 Scientologist activities? 9 A. At, at that point I was still trying to get 10 them to throw him out of the church. I finally had a 11 conversation with Ken Long (phonetic), he's with the [This is of course another "Ken Long" than the one we know from the internet] 12 Office of Special Affairs International with the Church 13 of Scientology. And I asked him point blank. 14 I said, If I turn him in, even if he's 15 declared, would I be declared. 16 And he said, Most definitely. Not for the 17 act of turning him in itself but for the repercussions 18 thereof. 19 He was talking about the PR, the public 20 relations and the St. Pete Times, news media. 21 And, I'm sorry, but in my heart and in my 22 mind I said fuck it. 23 Q. Okay. Did, did you call the police? 24 A. No. What I did was I waited until August 9th 25 which was after -- I think I had the conversation with 1 him on the 4th of August, or something like that. I 2 would have to get my phone bills to verify, but the 3 next day was A----'s birthday and I didn't want to do 4 anything on her birthday, so we waited until the 5 Saturday, the 6th August, and I went down to the 6 Sheriff's Office and I reported him. 7 Q. Okay. Had, in the, in the course of this 8 time period did any allegations regarding M--- come up? 9 How did those come up? 10 A. I don't remember when I found out that he had 11 done something to M---. I don't even remember how I 12 found out. I know, I know that A---- -- 13 In the Church of Scientology you write 14 reports. They're called "knowledge reports." And I 15 remember after, sometime after I initially found out, I 16 had been having, having a hard time confronting, you 17 know. I didn't want to hear from her exactly what he 18 had done to her because quite frankly I was afraid I 19 would kill him. 20 And I remember M--- didn't want to write a 21 report. And so I told her, because I felt like it was 22 necessary to write a report to the Church of 23 Scientology, because I was trying, trying to get him 24 thrown out, I, I told her, I said, Well look, you just 25 tell me what happened and I'll write it down verbatim. 1 And she did. She told me. And I wrote it down 2 verbatim. 3 Q. What did you do with that writing? 4 A. I still got a copy of it and I took it into 5 the church. 6 Q. Did you take it to the police? 7 A. No. 8 Q. Take it to the state attorney? 9 A. No. 10 Q. What did tell you? Here a few more details from the rest of the depo, just so that you see why kindof guy Tony was, and more info to make clear that we're talking *children*. She then explains that "M" told her that Tony had gotten her drunk, forced her to have oral sex and tried to penetrate her, but she was too small. A person who has read the depo on "M" (I don't have it), told me "he kept trying to have sex with the girl, but she was physically too small for him, so he kept trying over a period of time until she *could* accomodate him". On page 26 she tells that "A" had told her that she felt guilty, that Tony had said it was her fault because "her body grew too fast". On page 29 it is mentioned that "A" was molested before, by one Verlee Jackson Jr. in 1989, who was the mother's boyfriend at that time, and that she was getting counseling. Tony was aware that she had been molested, although it's unclear wether he knows that she was getting counseling. On page 34 she tells that "M" isn't menstruating yet, and that "A" isn't dating yet except one boy which she dumped shortly after it. Here for our scientologists readers and for state attorneys reading this, some info about the law. First a repetition of the relevant excerpt (page 16): 1 of action. The Church of Scientology recommended that 2 I not turn him in. 3 Q. Why? 4 A. Because they could handle it. They could 5 handle his aberrations. They could handle what made 6 him do this. They said that if I, if I turned him in 7 my children would be taken away from me by HRS because 8 HRS is always looking for a criminal. They told me 9 that Tony would be stuck to me for lifetimes because I 10 had done this, because I had turned him in. They told 11 me that he would be turned over to the "psyches," or 12 the psychiatrists. I was very manipulated during that 13 period of time. 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