LOS ANGELES—The wife of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard testified in Superior Court here Monday that a 37-year-old California man stole thousands of sensitive documents which belong to her and the Clearwater-based sect. Mary Sue Hubbard also testified she has been "mentally raped" knowing that others have seen the papers. Mrs. Hubbard, wife of the reclusive Scientology founder and science-fiction author, said Gerald Armstrong, a former Scientologist and sect archivist, has no right to the documents. She also testified Armstrong's attorney, ...

Mary Sue Hubbard, wife of Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, testified Monday that she considered the taking of the couple's personal letters and other documents by a former church archivist akin to "mental rape." The church and Mrs. Hubbard, former controller of the worldwide organization, are suing the archivist, Gerald Armstrong, for return of some 20 boxes of personal papers now in the custody of the Los Angeles County clerk pending outcome of the trial. She testified on the ...

With $175 and a small box of books under his arm, Martin Samuels brought Scientology to the Sacramento area in the 1960s. He soon built a $10 million empire. The church rated his missions in Davis and Sacramento the best in the world. Then, in 1982, it all collapsed. Samuels left the church with nothing more than a suitcase half full of clothes. Samuels charges in a lawsuit that the Church illegally took it all away from him. The suit, being ...

The Church of Scientology, despite shrinking membership, still wields power in Sacramento — openly through its church and missions, and not-so-openly through other organizations. Some buildings — a church on 15th Street near Memorial Auditorium and branch missions in Carmichael and Davis — are obviously part of Scientology. Other holdings, including a shopping center called Fulton Square that the church bought through another business entity, are less conspicuous. The Flag Service Organization Inc., a Florida branch of Scientology, bought the $1.5 ...

Scientology has been in the limelight over the years: * ln 1979, nine church members — including founder L. Ron Hubbard's wife, Mary Sue — were convicted of bugging, burglarizing and infiltrating government agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service. In addition, church and FBI files show its members have executed, with mixed success, elaborate plots to entrap and discredit reporters and public officials. * Several documents came to light in the 1970s that revealed a church policy of attacking its "enemies." ...

Whereas other religions may hold out promise of salvation, founder Hubbard offers immediate solution to problems Joann Harvey paused when asked why she took her life's savings of $45,000 and turned it over to the Sacramento Church of Scientology. "That's an interesting question," she said with a sigh. "Being in Scientology gave me an anchor point. The philosophy works. I know it." Harvey was nearing middle age and undergoing marital problems when she discovered Scientology. Sacramento businessman Don Pearson, on the ...

Scientology founder hasn't been seen in public since 1976 Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard has replaced the late Howard Hughes as the man of mystery. Hubbard, 73, was last viewed in public in 1976. And he was last seen by any close associate willing to talk about him in March 1980. So where is he? "Somewhere around here," said Bent Corydon, pointing to the bleak desert of Riverside County around the church's compound at Gilman Hot Springs. "He's never more than ...

Church says it's stronger now, while some ex-leaders say end is inevitable First of two parts A hot wind blows through the masts of the $565,000 clipper ship "docked" on a rocky plateau in the middle of a Southern California desert. Down the hill, a car nears a gate guarded by young men in brown shirts. As if with the snap of unseen fingers, members of the elite Sea Org pour from buildings around the ship with cameras in hand, furiously ...

A former Church of Scientology archivist who left the organization and allegedly took with him thousands of documents concerning church founder L. Ron Hubbard was described Thursday by a Scientology attorney as a "self-serving vigilante of the worst kind" as trial began in the organization's civil suit to recover the material. Barrett S. Litt, attorney for Hubbard's wife, Mary Sue Hubbard, claimed in opening statements in the non-jury trial before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Paul G. Breckenridge Jr. that former ...

LOS ANGELES (AP)—Stacks of papers show that reclusive Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard packed lie after lie into his books, a lawyer contended in court Thursday. Boston attorney Michael Flynn is representing the man who acquired the papers before they were sealed by the court. Flynn told Superior Court Judge Paul G. Breckenridge that defendant Gerald Armstrong received the papers legally from a British writer who was preparing a biography on Hubbard. The plaintiffs, the church and Hubbard's wife, ...

LOS ANGELES — Stacks of papers show reclusive Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard packed lie after lie into his books, a lawyer claimed in court Thursday. Boston attorney Michael Flynn is representing the man who acquired the papers before they were sealed by the court. Flynn told Superior Court Judge Paul G. Breckenridge defendant Gerald Armstrong received the papers legally from a British writer who was preparing a biography on Hubbard. The plaintiffs, the church and Hubbard's wife, Mary ...

The trial of a Church of Scientology lawsuit against a former member and archivist over custody of 10,000 pages of sensitive documents, most of which belong to church founder L. Ron Hubbard, is scheduled to begin today in Los Angeles Superior Court. The church's attorney says he is trying to protect Hubbard's right to privacy by keeping the documents, which are currently under court seal, secret. But the defendant, Gerald Armstrong, contends the public 2has a right to see the documents ...

A judge Thursday denied a motion to bar voluminous personal papers of reclusive Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard from being introduced as evidence at the Los Angeles trial of a suit against the sect's former archivist. But Superior Court Judge Paul Breckenridge Jr. left open the possibility he will ban some of the papers from the trial of one-time church archivist Gerald Armstrong, accused by the sect of stealing the documents. Breckenridge said he will rule on the admissibility ...

The church aims to show that Armstrong invaded the privacy of the Hubbards and breached a trust when he allegedly kept documents and then released them to attorneys representing former church members and others who had filed suits against the Scientologists. The trial of a Church of Scientology suit against a former member and archivist needs a judge and a courtroom to get the battle under way over custody of 10,000 pages of sensitive documents, most of which belong to church ...

Abe Polonsky, who's spent the last few years in the groves of academe, has been signed by producer Bill Immerman to adapt L. Ron Hubbard's current best-selling "Battlefield Earth," which Ken Annakin will direct. Polonsky, 73, whose career stretches back to his Oscar-nominated screenplay for "Body And Soul" (1947) and whose most recent writing credit was "Monsignor," is working daily with Annakin in breaking down a workable screen design from Hubbard's voluminous intergalactic sci-fi adventure (No. 9 on the New York ...

A Riverside Superior Court judge Monday threw out a suit by L. Ron Hubbard's estranged son that claimed that his father, the controversial founder of the Church of Scientology, is either dead or incompetent. Judge David Hennigan had been "convinced" by a declaration Hubbard had filed three weeks ago that the reclusive science-fiction writer was alive. The declaration was signed and fingerprinted by Hubbard and apparently authenticated by handwriting and fingerprint experts. Hubbard, 71, had written in the document that he ...

A seven-page "legal declaration" purportedly written by L. Ron Hubbard, the reclusive founder of the Church of Scientology, apparently convinced a Riverside judge Friday that the science fiction-writing religionist is alive, contrary to assertions by Hubbard's son that he is dead or mentally incompetent. But Superior Court Judge David Hennigan was asked to also consider "new evidence" filed in the court Friday by the son which alleges that Hubbard's signature was forged on documents transferring his Scientology trademark rights to the ...

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge Tuesday refused to release 21 boxes of personal letters and journals of reclusive Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard to church officials, despite a handwritten letter purportedly from Hubbard claiming them as his property. The material is the subject of a lawsuit by the Scientologists against their former member and archivist, Gerald Armstrong, seeking permanent return of the documents. The church claims that Armstrong stole the material. He claims that Hubbard had permitted him ...

A federal judge opened the way Monday for four former Scientologists to sue the church for fraud over a variety of claims including promises that it could prevent colds, raise intelligence and solve obesity. Attorneys for the disillusioned Scientologists hailed the ruling, saying that it will open the way for other former church members to bring their complaints of fraud before juries. U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall ruled that while Scientology is a religion, many of the claims it makes ...