A bewildering array of jargo and termnology characterize the first day of testimony at the trial of the Church of Scientology's Toronto chapter and five of its members on breach of trust charges. The opening witness, Bryan Levrnan, left Mr. Justice James Southey of Ontario Court, general division, confused and frustrated as he tried to explain the organization's complicated management structure. Southey stopped the proceedings several times to ask the crown and the witness to slow down so he could complete ...

The Church of Scientology of Toronto and five adherents are on trial on charges they ran a spy network that infiltrated three police forces and the attorney-general's office. A jury yesterday heard Crown attorney James Stewart outline a spy network that saw members of the church spiriting files out of police and government buildings for copying. The five counts of criminal breach of trust faced by Scientology and the five co-accused stem from activities alleged to have occured from 1974 to ...

The Church of Scientology of Toronto Inc. and five members pleaded not guilty to criminal charges of breach of trust yesterday before a panel of 200 prospective jurors. The charges, Mr. Justice James Southey explained to the panel, arise from allegations Scientologists got jobs with the RCMP, the OPP, the attorney general's office and Metro Police so they "could act as a spy or a plant." These "spies", Southey said, are alleged to have "obtained information for the church and passed ...

Nine years, several sledgehammers and one battering ram later, it was time for a massive celebration at the Church of Scientology's Yonge St. headquarters. Hundreds of jubilant church members, clutching sparklers and blowing noisemakers, spilled on to the sidewalk and cheered yesterday as a rented truck pulled up with a delivery from Ontario Provincial Police headquarters. Inside the truck were more than 2 million church documents seized from Scientology's Toronto offices on March 3, 1983, in the largest police raid in ...

The Church of Scientology used contacts in the police and media to gather information on the chairman of Neighborhood Watch in Victoria, Mr David Lentin, according to an internal church report. The report, a copy of which has been obtained by 'The Age', shows that Mr Lentin is regarded as a dangerous opponent whose opposition to sects had to be curbed. Mr Lentin is a private investigator and leading "cult-buster" who has counselled people seeking to leave the church and other ...

A city police officer being sued by the Church of Scientology has launched a $100,000 countersuit. Det. Ken Montgomery is suing the church and church official Allan Buttnor for abuse of process and malicious prosecution. As a member of the Edmonton Integrated Intelligence Unit, Montgomery investigates "cult, occult, ritualistic and religious influence crime." Buttnor, who is facing sexual-assault charges, last month filed a $1-million lawsuit against Montgomery, a second police officer and a woman. Buttnor, acting director of the local church's ...

Pomona police said Friday they are investigating whether beliefs espoused by the Church of Scientology led a family to confine a mentally disabled woman in a cell-like bedroom at a Phillips Ranch house. While stressing that neither the church nor its beliefs are under investigation, police said they want to know if Scientology practices could explain why the woman was kept in confinement. Police and Los Angeles County mental health workers discovered Marianne Coenan, 31, locked in a sparsely furnished room ...

Police on Thursday arrested an American suspected of acting on behalf of the Church of Scientology to investigate the private life of a judge looking into fraud and tax evasion charges against the church here. A police spokesman said police arrested Humberto Juan Fontana, 33, a native of Havana and reportedly a Church of Scientology member, and confiscated three dossiers containing information of a confidential nature. No hometown was available for Fontana, the spokesman said on condition of anonymity. Other charges ...

In what may be an unprecedented legal manoeuvre, the Church of Scientology of Toronto has offered to make substantial cash donations to community agencies working with the elderly and the poor if criminal charges against it are dropped. The offer was made yesterday in a letter written by the church’s lawyer, Clayton Ruby, and delivered to Ontario Attorney-General Ian Scott’s office. The church is charged with several counts of theft by church members of photocopies of confidential documents from Ontario Government ...

DUNEDIN — Police have released a sketch of an unidentified man who apparently drowned in Clearwater Harbor. The body was discovered about 10 a.m. Thursday along the shore off Victoria Drive near Main Street and may have been in the water about eight hours, police said. Officials believe the man drowned, based on a medical examiner's preliminary test results. The man is described as white, 35 to 45 years old, 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing 144 pounds. He had ...

The Church of Scientology has lost the final round in its fight to quash search warrants that allowed some 250,000 documents to be seized in a 1983 raid on their Toronto headquarters. The Supreme Court of Canada yesterday rejected the church's application to challenge an Ontario Court of Appeal ruling that the warrants were legal under the Constitution. Yesterday's decision validated the lower court's finding that groups cannot escape criminal investigation simply by claiming organized religion status. But church president Earl ...

Authorities said Saturday they closed all 16 Italian offices of the Church of Scientology and seized books, documents and financial records. The raids began Thursday and involved Treasury and Carabinieri paramilitary police. Officials also announced the closing of 11 Narconon drug rehabilitation centers, but did not elaborate on the connection. Raids were conducted in 20 cities including Milan, Turin, Florence, Rome, Genoa and Naples. The last one was Saturday when police shut down a recently opened Scientology office in the eastern ...

Nearly three years after the largest police raid in Ontario history, the provincial Government has finally won a guilty plea from a member of the Church of Scientology of Toronto. Nanna Anderson, 39, a former church member, pleaded guilty in Provincial Court yesterday to possession of stolen goods, photocopies of material from the files of the Ontario Medical Association. Judge Lorenzo DiCecco granted Miss Anderson an absolute discharge, which means she will not have a criminal record. The charge carries a ...

Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates, April 23, strongly condemned the purported actions of an LAPD officer, who allegedly authorized a fired police sergeant to conduct "electronic eavesdropping" in an investigation of the Church of Scientology. Chief Gates, in a public announcement, said the alleged improper act of Phillip Rodriguez, a Northeast Area officer, was to sign a letter believed to have been drafted by the one-time Hollywood Sgt. Eugene M. Ingram, now a private investigator, authorizing Ingram to engage in ...

The 19 people charged in connection with an investigation of the Church of Scientology of Toronto include employees of the Ontario Provincial Police, Metro Toronto Police, the RCMP and the Ministry of the Attorney-General, according to information the OPP has sworn before a justice of the peace. And the alleged stolen documents the church is charged with possessing include photocopies of files belonging to legal firms, the Canadian Mental Health Association, the Ontario Medical Association, the College of Physicians and Surgeons ...

The Church of Scientology of Toronto will petition the Supreme Court of Ontario Monday asking that a search warrant executed last year be quashed, although the Ontario Provincial Police have already used it to raid the sect's headquarters and seize 14 million documents. Investigators armed with the warrant raided the sect's Toronto headquarters in March 1983 and seized 904 boxes of papers and documents believed to substantiate suspected sect fraud, conspiracy, breaking and entering and theft, according to the warrant ...

Several former high-ranking Church of Scientology officials have provided state, federal and municipal law enforcement investigators with detailed information regarding the Clearwater-based sect's alleged criminal activities in the Tampa Bay area, the Clearwater Sun has learned. Although the same testimony provided to investigators in Clearwater has furthered large-scale criminal investigations in Canada and resulted in court rulings against the sect in California, no similar action has been implemented in the Clearwater area, a seven-month Sun inquiry has determined. And Gerald Armstrong, ...

The Church of Scientology faces mounting legal pressure in courts worldwide to explain its actions, policies, beliefs and inner workings. In the United States, Canada and Europe, Scientology is under ever-increasing scrutiny by law enforcement agencies, courts and even governments. And a ruling handed down last week by it Los Angeles Superior Court judge may complicate the legal proceedings involving the Clearwater-based sect. Judge Paul G. Breckenridge stated in an intended ruling Thursday that Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard is the ...

It's called the Hubbard Electrometer and is used as a spiritual guide during "auditing," a Church of Scientology practice somewhat similar to Catholic confession. The E-meter, as it is known, is said to be capable of measuring a person's "mental state and change of state" and can pinpoint deeply rooted, previously undetected problems in the brain. The small, simple electronic device, patented by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, may be the most visible of the "religious artifacts" associated with the Clearwater-based ...

The Supreme Court of Ontario ruled Friday that there is no legal recognition of priest/parishioner privilege. During a hearing before the court brought by the Church of Scientology of Toronto, Justice John Osler ruled that communications between a parishioner and a recognized religions leader are not protected from disclosure in the manner of lawyer/client communications. The Scientologists asked for the ruling as part of their motion to quash an Ontario Provincial Police search warrant executed last year on the sect. During ...

TORONTO—A 158-page search warrant Ontario Provincial Police used to raid the headquarters of the Church of Scientology in Toronto last year should have been restricted to prevent a massive search and seizure of church records and artifacts, a lawyer for the Clearwater-based church says. Marlys Edwardh, a lawyer representing the Church of Scientology of Toronto, told Ontario Supreme Court Justice John Osler that a higher standard must be applied by police when they search a church, even if the church is ...

TORONTO—A search warrant used to raid the Church of Scientology's headquarters here should be quashed because sect members could not commit a fraud while practicing their faith, the Clearwater-based organization's lawyer told the Ontario Supreme Court. Clayton Ruby said the Church of Scientology is protected by the guarantee of freedom of religion under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Ontario Provincial Police used the search warrant to seize more than 200,000 documents from the group's Toronto headquarters in March ...