Thomas P. Ciancio, a former employee of the software company founded by Rex Fowler, was identified today as the man found dead hours after Fowler was critically injured after being shot at his office complex. The Adams County Coroner said Thursday afternoon that Ciancio was shot more than once in the head and the wounds do not appear to be self-inflicted. The autopsy and investigation suggests that Ciancio is a homicide victim, Coroner James Hibbard said in a press release. The ...

FEDERAL HEIGHTS, Colo. (AP) - A man found dead in an Adams County office building where a software executive was shot is a past employee of the software company. The Adams County coroner said Thursday that Thomas Ciancio of Castle Rock died from apparent gunshot wounds to his head. However, the coroner says exactly how he died and his involvement in the shooting of the executive, 58-year-old Rex Fowler, are still under investigation. Initial 911 callers reported that Fowler had been ...

Tom Cruise is being sued for allegedly hiring a notorious P.I. to illegally wiretap a magazine editor's phone ... according to documents obtained by TMZ. [Link to document: http://tmz.vo.llnwd.net/o28/newsdesk/1221_cruise.PDF] The plaintiff, Michael Davis Sapir, claims Cruise, attorney Bert Fields and jailed private investigator Anthony Pellicano conspired to spy on him. There is a long history between Cruise and Sapir. In 2001, Cruise sued Sapir for $100 million after Sapir claimed to have video evidence that Cruise "engaged in a homosexual relationship." ...

[Picture of property] Built in 1925 on 6.4 acres, the Fenway resort on the shore of St. Joseph Sound served as a waterfront getaway for Jazz Age high society. It has also been the campus of two colleges. DUNEDIN — George Rahdert invested $6 million of his money into the Fenway renovation, hoping profits from hotel customers and condo sales would follow its timely completion. Yet after four years and another $6 million in borrowed money, not a single shovel has ...

WAGES SOUGHT: Scientology official denies conditions at compound described in the suit. By CHARLES HAND / The Valley Chronicle Published: Friday, December 18, 2009 1:11 PM CST A lawsuit seeking unspecified back wages describes the Scientology compound outside San Jacinto as a virtual prison camp in which workers are forced to put in long hours in exchange for little pay, to give up their children to a boarding school where they are taught only about Scientology, and to give up their ...

Timeframe of move remains undecided almost a year after sale of Alexandra Hotel Having spent more than three decades in the heart of the Back Bay, the Church of Scientology is still working on moving its headquarters to the South End. The church plans to renovate space in the Alexandra Hotel building and a neighboring brownstone, thus expanding its base to nearly twice the size of its current 26,000-square-foot location at 448 Beacon Street. The church bought the space in early ...

Scientology is coming to Sandy Springs – but a federal lawsuit is coming first. “Absolutely,” said attorney William Woodson Galloway, when asked if the Church of Scientology will pursue a religious liberty lawsuit following a vote Tuesday that limited the size of the church in Sandy Springs. “We are not happy with the result.” The result was a 3-3 vote by the City Council on Tuesday night that tried to find a common ground between outright denial of the rezoning of ...

The showdown over Scientology in Sandy Springs comes up for a vote Tuesday night that both opponents and supporters hope puts an end to the matter. It isn’t likely. The threat of a religious-liberty lawsuit looms if the City Council rejects outright the Church of Scientology’s request for a zoning change so it can move from its current state headquarters in Dunwoody into a Sandy Springs office building it owns. On the other side are the more than 700 residents – ...

ABUSED but not defeated cult victim Helen Pomery has made it her life’s mission to shine a light on the underbelly of shady religious organisations in Australia. The Maleny resident has written a letter to all senators in Canberra asking for an inquiry into religious groups linked to abuse. It is not the first time Ms Pomery has written calling for a senate inquiry, but this time she was spurred on to put pen to paper after independent senator Nick Xenophon ...

ELIZABETH JACKSON: The international vice president of the Church of Scientology has responded to allegations that his church is a criminal organisation. Senator Nick Xenophon used parliamentary privilege last month to declare that Scientology is not a religion but a criminal organisation which covers up offences and abuse by its members. The Church of Scientology's vice president says the allegations have already been investigated. Bronwyn Herbert reports. BRONWYN HERBERT: Its status as a religion is fiercely contested, but the Church of ...

Hopefully Monday’s deluge will wash away the Church of Scientology’s wish to vacate a section of Gilman Springs Road. Scientology officials want to close the road where it runs through Gilman Hot Springs, home to their Golden Era film and sound studios near San Jacinto. Scientology leaders maintain that the busy, curvy road is too dangerous to carry traffic, but on Monday, the high road was one of the safest routes between the San Jacinto Valley and the world. Like many ...

LOS ANGELES — Investigators said Thursday that a prominent trial lawyer who was found fatally shot outside his home was the victim of a homicide. Detectives spent several days trying to determine if Monday's shooting of Jeffrey Tidus was a homicide or suicide. "We have gathered enough information now," Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Dave Dolson said. "We are certain it's a murder." Tidus was shot as he went to fetch his laptop from his car outside his home in wealthy ...

A celebrity florist may have accidentally drowned her nine-year-old disabled daughter as she tried to "heal" her in the bath, before killing herself, an inquest heard. Judith Richmond, 41, who was suffering from bi-polar disorder, also known as manic depression, had become obsessed with scientology, and a belief that metal was poisoning her daughter Millie and the whole planet. Mrs Richmond, who had provided flowers for the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and the rock band Pink Floyd, believed her ...

A Newtown School which teaches Scientology beliefs has received $1.4 million in government funding for less than 50 students. Greens MP John Kaye blasted State and Federal governments for providing the Athena School with $751,519 in ongoing funding until 2012, $135,287 for a new library, $114,713 for classroom refits and $50,000 for other works. According to the school’s website it teaches from The Way to Happiness, written by Scientology’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard. Mr Kaye said responses to questions on notice ...

A SENATE inquiry into Scientology will not go ahead after the Rudd Government told the church it believed the Tax Office and police were the most appropriate authorities to investigate any complaints. A staff member for Government Senate leader Chris Evans has emailed Scientologists who wrote to him after independent senator Nick Xenophon made a series of explosive allegations in the Senate last month, saying it would be inappropriate to conduct an inquiry into a private, religious organisation. The email, from ...

The Church of Scientology is officially seeking the closure of Gilman Springs Road between Highway 79 and Soboba Road. Golden Era Productions, the Scientology movie production studio, has asked Riverside County to remove the road from its circulation plan as the first step in vacating the road. Verne Lauritzen, Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone’s chief of staff, said it is not likely Stone will support the application unless Scientology officials can present him with a plan to provide an alternative to ...

Scientology is a relatively new religion, but it’s been tabling on the U campus longer than most religions do. For the past two months, Scientologists from the Hubbard Dianetics Foundation have stood at their station in the Union offering free stress tests to U students and faculty. Volunteering Scientologists come to the U to educate people about the book, Dianetics: the Modern Science of Mental Health, by L. Ron Hubbard, who is the founder of Scientology, Dianetics technology and previously a ...

Editor's Note: A version of this story appeared in the Business Journal's November 30 print edition. The Church of Scientology has signed a 10-year lease topping $12 million for industrial space in Commerce. The lease with landlord Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America for the 184,772-square-foot building at 6130 E. Sheila St. closed Nov. 9. The church will print and distribute magazines and books there. The deal starts at about 52 cents per square foot per month on a triple net ...

A scientologist doctor, who gave evidence on the suicide of a church member she treated, is promoting a controversial educational resource in New Zealand schools. Dr Helen Smith gave evidence this year to a coroner's inquiry after the death of David Sampson in December 2008. Sampson had won $651,000 in Lotto's first division in 1991, but battled with alcohol abuse and depression. A friend of Sampson was upset at the church's policy against psychiatric help: "He was suffering from depression, but ...

THE PRIME MINISTER, Kevin Rudd, has expressed concern about the Church of Scientology but will provide subsidies worth more than $1 million to a Sydney school that promotes the teaching of the church's founder, L.Ron Hubbard. Mr Rudd said he shared some of the concerns of the independent senator Nick Xenophon, who used parliamentary privilege last week to level allegations of torture, perjury and financial coercion against the church. Newtown's Athena School is licensed by Applied Scholastics International, which is strongly ...

A man whose Scientologist brother committed suicide has urged Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to allow a parliamentary inquiry into the controversial church. Thirty-year-old Edward McBride killed himself in the Brisbane suburb of Everton Park in February 2007. Mr McBride had been a member of the Church of Scientology for about two years and had paid $25,000 for various courses. A coroner's inquiry into his death heard evidence that members of the church had contacted him 19 times in the days before ...

For the three days leading up to soldier Edward McBride's suicide, his family say he was bombarded by telephone calls and texts from Church of Scientology members. The family believe the church played a major role in his death, but have spent the past two years without answers or recourse. Now they've urged the federal government to initiate an inquiry into the controversial religious group, under fire following recent allegations of blackmail, sanctioned beatings, forced abortions and financial fraud. Independent senator ...

Hollywood figures quit 'rip-off' church as Australian prime minister threatens parliamentary inquiry into its activities The security at the red-brick and glass-walled horseshoe of the John Joseph Moakley courthouse on Boston's waterfront was unusually tight. Anybody who was not a member of the city's bar association was swept with a search wand. Photo IDs were checked. Mobile phones were taken from guests, who included the Hollywood star Tom Cruise. The occasion was a memorial service for Scientology's top legal adviser for ...

Over the last several months, The St. Petersburg Times published a series of scathing articles on the Church of Scientology under the rubric “The Truth Rundown.” In 1980, the newspaper won a Pulitzer Prize for an investigation of the church’s inner workings. Coverage of Scientology has long been an important story for The St. Petersburg Times, given that the church’s spiritual headquarters is located in nearby Clearwater, Fla. So it came as a bit of a shock when, on Friday, the ...

A former member threatens to disclose the inner workings of the organisation to which he was 'persuaded to give substantial sums' By Adam Luck Sunday, 22 November 2009 A businessman is suing the Church of Scientology for hundreds of thousands of pounds, claiming that he lost his girlfriend and business after she became indoctrinated by the controversial self-styled church. David Craig, who at one time joined the Scientologists, claims that he was persuaded to pay out more than £170,000 to the ...

The New South Wales Government says the Church of Scientology is targeting Year 6 students using "marketing" material that claims to promote human rights. Education Minister Verity Firth has ordered principals not to distribute DVDs and booklets funded by the church and sent to schools by a group called Youth For Human Rights. The material outlines the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and quotes Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard on a list of "famous human rights leaders". Ms Firth only ...

Senator Nick Xenophon's stunning attack on the Church of Scientology this week has shone a light on a worldwide group many former members accuse of ruining their lives through fear and abuse. SCIENTOLOGISTS lured Dean Detheridge off the street using their tried and tested technique of offering a personality test. He wasn't much interested, but they were extremely skilled and persistent persuaders, and he found he couldn't say no. Seven days later he was on staff in what turned out to ...

EVEN for a religion started by a science fiction writer, the allegations levelled against the Church of Scientology in federal parliament this week sound stranger than fiction. Blackmail, cover-ups of child abuse, labour camps, embezzlement and coerced abortions are spelled out among the 53 pages of allegations by seven former Scientologists - some of whom had climbed high in the church hierarchy - tabled in the Senate. In what the church has decried as "an outrageous abuse of parliamentary privilege", independent ...

Scientology offers refunds to people who leave the group, a spokesperson told Sunrise this morning. Scientologist Virginia Stewart appeared on Sunrise today to further defend the Church of Scientology against the allegations made in parliament by Independent Senator Nick Xenophon. "It's very shocking to me to hear what they're saying," Stewart said of the allegations aired on Today Tonight on Wednesday evening. "The points that they raise, we are going to individually take up." "We will be addressing these in full," ...

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is to investigate claims that Scientology is a criminal organisation that sanctioned beatings, imprisonments, forced abortions, sexual abuse and fraud. The sensational claims about the church, whose members include many high-profile celebrities, were made by a South Australian senator, Nick Xenophon, who shares a surname with an ancient Greek warrior. But unlike the mercenary of history who fought armies in central Asia in about 400BC, Mr Xenophon has gone into battle with Scientologists after receiving letters ...

Hollywood heavy Tom Cruise looked like just another member of The Firm the other night when he turned up at attorney Earle Cooley’s jam-packed memorial service at the John Joseph Moakley Courthouse . The “Knight & Day” leading man, wearing a dark suit and his trademark Tinseltown smile, joined rarely seen Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige at the service for Cooley, who was the religious group’s legal Top Gun for more than 25 years. Talk about Risky Business . . ...

THE Church of Scientology is a "criminal organisation" hiding behind religion, the Senate was told last night. Independent senator Nick Xenophon tabled explosive letters from former Scientology officials and staff alleging a litany of abuses, including coerced abortions, assault, imprisonment, covering up sexual abuse, embezzlement of church funds and blackmail. Senator Xenophon, who said he had referred the allegations to police, demanded a Senate inquiry into the church. And he questioned the tax-exempt status given to the church, which he said ...

INDEPENDENT senator Nick Xenophon has accused the Church of Scientology of being a criminal organisation. The South Australian parliamentarian said he had been contacted by a number of former Scientologists, after he questioned the organisation's tax exempt status in a recent television interview. "They have provided long and detailed letters to me about the workings of this organisation," he told the Senate. "These people rightly see themselves as victims of Scientology." Senator Xenophon said their correspondence implicated the organisation in a ...

In January 2008, online hackers launched a massive attack on the Church of Scientology’s websites, forcing the church to hire computer security experts to reinstate its online presence. In the end, only one person, 19-year-old Dmitriy Guzner, of Verona, has admitted playing a role in the cyber assault. On Wednesday, three days before his 20th birthday, Guzner is expected to be sentenced by Judge Joseph A. Greenaway Jr. in federal court in Newark. Guzner, who has pleaded guilty to "unauthorized impairment ...