It was just before midnight, May 28, 1984, when the orders were issued. Confidentially. "Mission information: ... recent reports from contacts made with Homer he is likely to go over to the enemy camp. He is thinking of turning against us completely. "Mission purpose: To prevent Homer from going over to the enemy camp and get him moving back onto The Bridge. "Vital Targets: ... Stay in close comm (communication) with MSN OPS (mission operations). Do not implement any decisions without ...

CLEARWATER—Possibly the highest-ranking, most influential Scientologist to defect from the Clearwater-based, international sect has sued Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard for more than $225 million. Citing physical abuse, the intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment and the violation of his civil rights, Howard D. "Homer" Schomer, the 49-year-old former treasury secretary of the sect's Author Services Inc. branch, is demanding a jury trial and damages of $226,528,200. Schomer's claims, if proved true, offer a dark view of the ...

"Corrupt, sinister and dangerous" were the words used to describe the Church of Scientology in a judgment given by Mr Justice Latey this summer. He also referred to it as "immoral and socially obnoxious". But who controls the Church now? A major Sunday Times Magazine investigation into the activities of the cult in America and Britain has uncovered a disturbing and extraordinary story — the takeover of the organisation by a small band of youthful fanatics following the disappearance of the ...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A $20 million-plus lawsuit has been filed by two branches of the Church of Scientology accusing a Boston lawyer, his brother, his law partner and a former Scientologist of violating the civil rights of church members. The federal lawsuit claims attorneys Michael Flynn and Thomas Hoffman, Washington, D.C. restaurateur Kevin Flynn and former Scientologist Laurel Sullivan conspired to violate the church members civil rights by a campaign of lies that led to government investigations and adverse publicity. ...

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 23 — The wife of the founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, has filed a $5 million suit against Mr. Hubbard's son, charging "massive fraud" in his 1982 effort to have his father declared legally dead or mentally incompetent. The suit was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court Monday by Mr. Hubbard's third wife, Mary Sue Hubbard, the stepmother of Mr. Hubbard's oldest son, Ronald DeWolf. The suit charges that Mr. DeWolf and his Massachussetts attorney, Michael ...

He may be the most highly visible "invisible" man on earth — Mr. Lafayette Ronald Hubbard. Although not seen publicly since 1980, the reclusive founder of the controversial Clearwater-based Church of Scientology is constantly the subject of newspaper stories, court testimony and television [?] around the world. L. Ron Hubbard, a flamboyant millionaire philosopher, adventurer and explorer, mystic and messiah, has become the Howard Hughes of our time. For no one knows — at least no one is saying — where ...

LOS ANGELES — Michael J. Flynn, a Boston lawyer, was piloting a light aircraft toward South Bend, Ind., in October 1979 when its engine quit mysteriously at 8,500 feet. After making an emergency landing, he said he found several quarts of water in the fuel tank. Since then, Mr. Flynn, who has led a legal battle against the Church of Scientology, a group that has long been the subject of Government investigations, says he has been followed by as many as ...

Church of Scientology public affairs director Richard Haworth has accused Clearwater Sun Managing Editor Samuel E. Fenton and staff writer George-Wayne Shelor of attempting to break into the church's Clearwater headquarters earlier this month, after attending a sect press conference. As a result of the alleged break-in attempt and other "bizarre actions" on Shelor's part, Haworth said the reporter is banned from church property and is allowed to communicate with him only in writing. Shelor has written a series of stories ...

The Church of Scientology has begun reimbursement of money to a number of current and former members who claimed refunds were owed them for services not delivered when they took courses in Clearwater, a California attorney said Thursday. California attorney David Jordan, himself a former Scientologist, said about $160,000 has been repaid 14 of his clients in recent months, and another 19 persons with claims totaling about $240,000 should be paid within 30 days. Jordan also represents another 237 current and ...

The 11th District Court of Appeal in Atlanta has issued a temporary injunction against Clearwater's charitable-solicitation ordinance, at the request of the Church of Scientology. The order is expected to put the law on the shelf for at least four months. The ruling came only three weeks after a lower federal court in Tampa refused to issue a restraining order against the ordinance, ruling that the city could begin enforcing at least a portion of it, even as the appeals process ...

U.S. District Court Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich Thursday denied a Church of Scientology request to restrain Clearwater officials from enforcing a charitable solicitations ordinance until after further hearings on the law in a higher court. City officials hailed the decision as added support for their position. But sect attorneys said after the Tampa hearing that they intend to continue their battle to have the ordinance ruled unconstitutional. "The judge also said that if the city should abuse the enforcement of the law, ...

CLEARWATER — The Church of Scientology brought a traveling press conference to the steps of Clearwater City Hall Wednesday, and its targets were old foes. Saying that Clearwater "has a chance to pull itself out of a really nasty mess," the church's international president Heber Jentzsch took shots at the city's charitable solicitation ordinance (a measure aimed at the Church of Scientology) and at Michael Flynn, the Boston lawyer who recommended its passage. Reading from a letter addressed to Mayor Kathy ...

The Church of Scientology brought a transcontinental traveling press conference to the steps of Clearwater City Hall Wednesday to publicly denounce outspoken Scientology critic Michael Flynn. Sect officials claim Flynn, a Boston attorney and longtime adversary of Scientology, orchestrated an elaborate but abortive scheme two years ago to forge a $2 million check drawn on a bank account of sect founder L. Ron Hubbard. The accusations made by the Clearwater-based sect are based on the declaration of a man a Scientology ...

LOS ANGELES — Church of Scientology officials yesterday accused a top church adversary of conspiring with organized crime figures to steal $2 million from Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard two years ago. Church officials contended Boston attorney Michael Flynn also intended to use the theft scheme in a Riverside County probate case to gain control of Hubbard's $200 million estate. That case was later dismissed. Flynn, reached yesterday at his Boston office, called the Scientologists claim adversary had $2 million check ...

LOS ANGELES (AP)—Church of Scientology officials are accusing a Boston lawyer of conspiring to pass a counterfeit $2 million check "to divert attention from himself." Michael Flynn, a prominent critic of the Church of Scientology who has filed 20 suits against the organization, also was accused of blaming the forgery on Scientologists in an attempt to destroy the controversial group. The allegations regarding the check on the account of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard surfaced Monday in documents filed in Los ...

Church of Scientology officials Monday accused a Boston lawyer who has been a prominent critic of the organization of conspiring to pass a counterfeit $2-million check on the account of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and later blaming the forgery on members of the church as part of an "overall plan" to destroy the group. The charges were made against attorney Michael Flynn in documents filed in Los Angeles federal court in connection, with a lawsuit filed by a Scientology member, ...

A HIGH Court judge yesterday delivered a damning indictment of the Church of Scientology. Mr Justice Latey described the Californian-based sect as 'corrupt, immoral, sinister and dangerous'. And of its methods, he declared: 'For those of us old enough to remember, it is grimly reminiscent of the ranting and bullying of Hitler and his henchmen.' He was giving judgment in the High Court Family Division at the end of a six-month 'tug of love' battle over two children whose father is ...

THE Church of Scientology was condemned as "corrupt, sinister and dangerous" by a High Court Family Division judge today. Mr Justice Latey, in a damning indictment of the Californian-based sect founded by L. Ron Hubbard, said "Scientology is both immoral and socially obnoxious. "It Is corrupt because it is based on lies and deceit and has as its real objective money and power for its founder, his wife, and those close to him at the top. "It is sinister because it ...

How much evidence do area law enforcement agencies need before launching a full-scale investigation of the Church of Scientology? Apparently the agencies hereabouts are a lot less responsive than they are in Ontario, Canada. The same sworn statements alleging criminal activity on the part of the locally-headquartered sect given to authorities in the Tampa Bay area have prompted action by the Ontario Provincial Police and resulted in the dismissal in California of a civil suit against former Scientology archivist Gerald Armstrong. ...