Scientology engaged in worldwide break-ins and espionage because its founder believed he was the focus of a global conspiracy, court heard yesterday. At least 12 police forces and government agencies in Canada were targeted for penetration by Scientology spies in the mid-1970s, Bryan Levman, a former top Scientology official, testified. Levman, testifying under immunity, said L. Ron Hubbard, a former science fiction writer who founded the organization, believed mental health professions were behind a conspiracy to destroy Scientology in concert with ...

The former head of Scientology's Canadian intelligence network has identified one of his underlings as being responsible for "running" agents the church had planted in several police and government agencies. Bryan Levman was testifying yesterday at the criminal trial of the Church of Scientology of Toronto and five Scientologists. Levman said defendant Jacqueline Matz "ran the agents" who got jobs in the mid-1970s with the RCMP, the OPP, Metro Police and the attorney-general's office in order to pass information back to ...

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 ...

Everyone seems to have a plan to assist the citizens of the former Soviet Union, and the CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY is no exception. For the past month, journalism students at the 237-year-old Moscow State University have been studying in the newly renovated L. Ron Hubbard Reading Room. Scientology propaganda in dozens of languages lines the walls, and video equipment is available. Pictures of Hubbard decorate the corridors, along with a bronze bust of "The Founder." Students, who have only the vaguest ...

WORRIED town clergy have issued a warning on the controversial church of Scientology. More than 2,000 leaflets have been sent out with parish magazines warning people to be wary about scientology and dianetics. And clergymen say they are available for help and independent advice on problems caused by the cult. Felbridge vicar the Rev Stephen Bowen said the Ieaflet had been a co-operative effort by several of the town's churches because of concern over the effects of scientology. He said: "I ...

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 ...

The highest libel award in Canadian history just got sweeter for a top crown attorney. In a ruling yesterday, a judge rejected the Church of Scientology's bid to slash the record $1.6 million damage award for libelling Crown Attorney Casey Hill. Instead, Mr. Justice Douglas Carruthers ordered the church and lawyer Morris Manning, a co-defendant, to pay pre-judgment interest to Hill on a portion of the damages, calculated at 10 per cent a year since 1985, when the lawsuit was launched. ...

Canada's costliest libel loss became even costlier yesterday when an Ontario Court judge not only confirmed a $1.6-million jury award but tacked on legal fees and about $560,000 in interest. In a written decision, Mr. Justice Douglas Carruthers rejected arguments by lawyers for the Toronto-based Church of Scientology and lawyer Morris Manning that he should reduce the jury award to S. Casey Hill on the grounds that it was unreasonably high. Judge Carruthers of the Ontario Court's General Division said he ...

The Worldwide Institute of Scientology Enterprises has sued other critics in the past, but now they are taking on a religious group for the first time. "I just don't think they realize potentially what kind of Pandora's box they are opening here," says Craig Branch, southeast director of Watchman Fellowship (WF), one of the groups being sued. "One of the questions is whether Christian organizations have the right . . . to publicly speak out against groups that are in conflict ...

PETROLIA, Humboldt County — The people who have been allowed to see the colossal tube that's buried in a velvety green hill just up the road from Petrolia say it's the strangest thing they've ever laid eyes on. And the most mysterious. The huge, pipe-shaped vault is as wide and high as the cabin of a Boeing 747. It is more than 140 feet longer than one of the jumbo jets. Disciples of the late L. Ron Hubbard, founder of what ...

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 ...

And now, the next Walt Disney Studios— the Church of Scientology! That is, if entrepreneurs connected with the Hollywood based cult can muscle into the film business with their proposal to homogenize films by tailoring them to the tastes of the unwashed masses. It all began last July, when Future Films, a new, eccentric studio, began running ads in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter touting its revolutionary ideas. No one knew what to make of it all. The grand concept, to ...

Eleven-year-old Laura Hutchinson went to Girl Scout camp scared. Not scared of camp. Camp would be fine. Laura was scared that when she returned, Mom and Dad might be divorced. Tom and Carol Hutchinson, self-employed commercial artists in the Atlanta area, had been having marital problems. When Tom started getting counseling at Atlanta's Dianetics center, affiliated with the Church of Scientology, Carol objected. The parents fought as Laura left. But when Laura came back, her parents were together. By then, both ...

The True School and the Jefferson Academy, two Clearwater schools that use educational methods devised by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, declined to allow the St. Petersburg Times to interview students, graduates, teachers, administrators or parents. But the True School did provide what it said were testimonials from some of the school's students and staff members. In addition, Church of Scientology spokesman Richard Haworth arranged for Scientologists to write letters and send them to the Times. Here are excerpts from the ...

Asked to comment on the Hutchinsons' story, Richard Haworth, spokesman for the Scientology headquarters in Clearwater, said he had not seen their lawsuit. When a reporter offered to give him a copy, he declined to accept it. In general, he said, "Scientology helps parents and children to improve their relationships with each other." He denied that Scientologists are taught not to have sympathy for their children. "A child that is sick or hurt will get compassion, love and understanding to help ...

Like the church he founded, the teaching methods espoused by L. Ron Hubbard create controversy. And they are spreading, across the United States and around the world. L. Ron Hubbard wrote science fiction stories and founded a religion — but he didn't stop there. He went on, according to his followers, to achieve tremendous breakthroughs in education. There are now more than 150 Hubbard-method schools around the world. They achieve superior results, according to supporters, and are free of drugs and ...