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CITY OF CLEARWATER COMMISSION HEARINGS RE: THE CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY |
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EXHIBIT IX: AFFIDAVIT OF LA VENDA VAN SCHAICK I, La Venda Van Schaick, of Somerville, Massachusetts, depose and state as follows: In 1971, I was living in Las Vegas, Nevada, with my daughter Sabrina and my roommate Pam Bevan. Pam Bevan was a member of the Church of Scientology and suggested that I take the Communication Course in Scientology at the Las Vegas "Org." I was told that an "Org" is a church within the Scientology organization. During my initial visits to the "Org" in 1971, I was shown literature and I was told by Bob Harvey who was the head of the "Public Division" that Scientology would be beneficial to me in the following ways:
Based on these representations, between 1971 and 1972, I paid approximately $150.00 for various courses at the Las Vegas Org, and I paid $425.00 for various books. On or about March, 1972, I was told that the benefits, set forth in paragraph 4 were primarily brought about by the use of a procedure developed by L. Ron Hubbard called "auditing." I learned that "auditing" was basically an interrogation, session which consisted of the following: (a) The person being interrogated was connected to a "Hubbard E-Meter," which is a type of polygraph measuring galvanic skin responses. (b) Personal and intimate questions would be asked of the person being interrogated. (c) If the questions affected the person being interrogated in a sensitive manner the Hubbard E-Meter would indicate the reaction by measuring the amount of voltage due to the galvanic skin responses. (d) The interrogator would then probe these sensitive areas. Eventually, the person being interrogated would reveal their most personal feelings, wrongful thoughts and activities. (e) I was told that these self-revelations would rid me of "engrams" which in Scientology language were forms of subconscious trauma. I was told that personal disclosures and the resulting release of engrams would lead to the benefits described above. (f) I was told that auditing cost $625 for a twelve and one half hour block but that I would receive it free of charge if I joined staff and worked 5 hours a day and studied 5 hours a day. I was told that all information disclosed during auditing sessions would be confidential and that it would improve my life as indicated in paragraph 4 above. I was further induced to join the staff and take auditing on the representations of Bob Harvey and Henry Woodruff that Scientology was a scientific, non-profit organization that operated as a "church" because it was "religious" in the sense that it believed in law, morality, and freedom of man. I was told and shown literature and documents to support these representations. On or about March 1972, Bob Harvey, the commanding officer of the Las Vegas Org, offered me a "Billion Year contract" with the "Sea Org." I was told that the "Sea Org" consisted of a fleet of ships and was the headquarters of Scientology. I was told and shown documents that L. Ron Hubbard, the leader of Scientology, was a nuclear physicist and had degrees from George Washington University and Princeton. He ran Scientology from the ships at the "Sea Org" Headquarters. The Billion Year Sea Org contract required me to train with the Las Vegas Org for six months. At the end of that period I was promised that I would go to the Sea Org and work directly with L. Ron Hubbard. The Sea erg was created for the purpose of running the Orgs throughout the U.S. and the world. During the training period I would receive the following benefits:
Approximately three months after signing the Sea Org Contract I was told by Bob Harvey that L. Hon Hubbard had declared the Billion Year Contract void. In replacement of the Billion Year Contract Bob Harvey had me sign a two and one half year contract. He made substantially the same promises as he made in connection with the Sea Org Contract. I was then given a staff position with the Las Vegas Org. While on staff, contrary to all the promises made to me, Scientology provided living quarters in a four bedroom, two bathroom house, occupied by approximately 25 people. My quarters in the house consisted of an uninsulated and unheated garage, which I shared with another mother and seven children. The children were not allowed out of the garage and the parents spent very little time with them. Staff members were required to work approximately 12 to 14 hours a day, part of which consisted of studying various Scientology courses, and undergoing auditing. I began auditing at this time under the direction and control of my auditor, Pam Bevan. In these auditing sessions my auditor subjected me to "rundowns" during which she would direct and channel my mind into various thought processes concerning such things as my relationship with my parents, sex, drug experiences, attitudes and experiences in personal relationships, and my attitude towards her, auditing, and Scientology in general. After many sessions of auditing I gradually began to view myself as an abnormal and almost "evil" person who needed more auditing in order to "route out" these seemingly bad characteristics within me. I gradually began to trust Hubbard 's Scientology and my auditor rather than my own feelings and emotions. Despite my living conditions, and despite the fact that Scientology had failed to provide virtually anything that had been promised to me, at that time I failed to see the carefully arranged and subtle techniques that had been used on me. This resulted primarily because I was continually told that any doubts or questions that I had concerning Scientology were only arising because I was in auditing and I was getting closer to the heart of my "problems." I was shown literature, policies, and incessantly told by the numerous members of the organization that my doubts and questions only arose because I was beginning to reach the heart of my problems. I was advised to undertake further auditing. By the end of 1973, the situation had worsened. My daughter Sabrino was ill with bronchitis, walking pneumonia, and tonsillitis. A doctor told me that I had to change her living conditions for her own health as well as mine. The head of the Org, Bob Harvey, refused money for medical care. Additionally one of my close friends at the Org, Claire Drynar, was declared a suppressive person (S.P.). An S.P. is one who is designated an enemy of Scientology because the person has purportedly committed "crimes" against Scientology. Such "crimes" can involve as little as questioning their policies and methods. Moreover, I began to see that the leaders of the Org were trying to convince Claire's wife, Mary Drynar, that since Claire was an S .P. she should divorce him, or in the language of Scientology "disconnect" from him. The policy of Scientology on "disconnect" is stated as follows:
Confronted with my daughter's ill health and the attempt to destroy my friend's marriage, I "blew" or left the Org in December 1973 or January 1974. I asked for the books that I had paid for but they refused to give them to me. After leaving, I met and married George Chamberlain. I underwent a period of serious emotional conflict thinking that 1 had failed Scientology and that the problem was my inability to adhere to Hubbard' s rigid and inflexible technology which would lead me to all the benefits promised me, rather than realizing, as I do now, that the system Hubbard had created was designed to take your money, your property and your mind. I attribute my condition at that time to the auditing that I had undertaken. After a year and a half, while still living in Las Vegas and shortly after my husband had left for work one day, my auditor, Pam Bevan, arrived at my house, unannounced. For approximately two hours she reiterated what I had been continually told, namely that the problem was within me, that I needed more auditing, that Hubbard's processes and policies were correct and that I should return with her to the Org to discuss it with some of the other officials. At that time I did not realize that Pam Bevan was an FSM, that is one who receives orders from Hubbard and the Guardian's Office to go and bring back a "blown" student. The policy in this matter states: "Where the student leaves the premises in a blow ... the Technical Division must send an instructor or auditor to the student's house. An auditor goes over to the HCO Department of Inspections and Reports. An HCO representative, and auditor should go at once to pick up the student. The student is brought back with as little public commotion as possible and the procedure of HCO checkout etc., is followed as above." (Emphasis supplied). Scientology has a section called the Guardian's Office. This was the police and enforcement arm of Scientology and its headquarters was located in Los Angeles and later in Clearwater, Florida. I had frequent contacts with the personnel in the Guardian's Office, and I was extremely fearful of them. The internal operations and procedures that Scientology follows in connection with the blown student are also charged as costs and expenses to the student. Pam Bevan also told me that since I had left the Org without permission I would be billed for all the services that had been rendered to me, allegedly amounting to thousands of dollars, unless I returned to the Org to discuss it with the Org leaders. They said since I had left without permission. I had broken my contract and that they could sue me, and declare me an SP unless I returned to discuss it. After further coaxing, and fearing that I would be billed, sued, or attacked, pursuant to the "Fair Game Doctrine" I agreed to go down to the "Org" with her to listen to the matter. The "Fair Game Doctrine" is a written policy set forth by Hubbard in HCO policy letter of 18 October 1967. This policy states as follows:
After listening to the statements of Pam Bevan and having an underlying fear and doubt as to what they would do to me, I finally agreed to return to the Org with her, to discuss my position with other Org members. After returning, I was immediately "escorted" by a number of people out of the "Org" and then taken to a furnitureless room. I was put into the room for two weeks. During this period, I underwent intensive day and night auditing. It is impossible to describe what I went through. At the end of the two week period I went to my bank account and emptied out all of the contents of approximately $3,000 and gave it to the Org. At that time I was told that my husband was an SP and I was ordered to write a letter to my husband telling him that I was disconnecting from him and that I would never see him again. I thereafter began a program of "amends work" as punishment for having "blown" Scientology. After performing approximately a month of amends work, which basically consisted of "menial labor," I received additional auditing which was paid for from the funds taken out of the bank account. During this period of time I met and married Perry Platt, a Scientologist at the Las Vegas Org. Shortly afterwards, I discovered that he was having on affair with another Scientologist at the Org. I was thereafter "ordered" to disconnect from Perry Platt and to undertake two weeks of intensive auditing for which I paid $625. I was in an extremely emotionally distraught condition, and on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I was told that the additional auditing would alleviate this condition and that everything I was going through was merely "routing out" my engrams and that I would arrive at a condition of clear and derive all the benefits that had been promised to me. My emotional and mental condition grew worse and I continued to deteriorate. Finally on or about April 1977, the Org leaders sent me to "Flag" at Clearwater, Florida. Flag at that time was the headquarters for Scientology in the United States. I was sent there to take the Scientology "Ethics and Justice Course." I attended the course and paid approximately $450 for it. By this time I had totally lost my freedom of choice and the ability to distinguish between what would help me and what would hurt me. I would have done whatever I was told, without doubt and without question. While in Clearwater, I underwent security checks on the E-Meter during which I was interrogated to ascertain whether I was a suppressive person or whether anyone connected with me was a suppressive person. I was questioned concerning my parents, my friends, and my actions as they related to attitudes and experiences towards Hubbard, Scientology and various Scientology policies and techniques. I told them that my parents were opposed to Scientology and I was immediately ordered to disconnect from my parents by writing my mother a letter stating that I would no longer communicate with them or contact them in any way. I was required to sign a notarized statement that I had disconnected from my parents. While I was in Clearwater, I met an attorney named Jim Fischer, who was a Scientologist and who loaned me $5,000 so that I could undertake an intensive block of auditing. I was told that this auditing would bring me to a state of clear and that thereafter it would be easy for me to earn enough money to repay Fischer. I thereafter returned to Las Vegas and received two and one half weeks of auditing. I paid the organization the $5,000 for this purpose. Approximately 5 or 6 weeks later I was charged with the "crime" of having contact with a "public person" that is a person who is not a Scientologist. The organization issued an order preventing me from seeing my daughter and when I refused to obey the order a "Committee of Evidence" was called against me. During the Committee of Evidence I was deemed to be PTS Type 3 which in their terminology meant that I was "psychotic" and "insane." After having been declared a PTS Type 3 I became extremely fearful that I would be declared "Fair Game" and' subjected to possible physical harm. While in the organization, I had seen and had access to approximately 40 different files of people who had been designated SP's and I had seen instructions from the Guardian's Office in Los Angeles to put the "Fair Game Doctrine" into effect against those SP's. I had also observed on many occasions, PC folders which contained the contents of disclosures made by persons during auditing, sent to the Guardian's Office in Clearwater, Florida. The PC folders were used by the Guardian's Office to control, manipulate and attack an SP through the threat of, or the actual disclosure of the "confessions" given during auditing. Although I and others had been told that the information revealed in auditing was confidential, I personally observed many members of the Guardian's Office and others at the Las Vegas Org look through PC folders and use the information therein to threaten and attack those people. I have personally known one David Sandweiss, who was declared an SP. He was threatened with the exposure of his PC file, expelled from the organization, and he thereafter committed suicide. Having all of this in mind I left Las Vegas and went to Florida where I met and married my current husband, Paul Van Schaick. After marrying Paul, I was continually contacted by Scientology. I was told among other things that the PTS Type 3 designation had been dropped and that I was now "clear" because of the length of time that I had been involved in the organization and the amount of auditing that I had. I was told that if I returned to Las Vegas all of the orders, ethics, conditions, and policies that had been imposed upon me would be removed, and that I would be designated "clear." I convinced my husband Paul to return with me to Las Vegas to discuss the matter with them. Again, I believed that if all of the "orders" on me were dropped, I would be "clear", and since I had my husband with me, I would be safe. We returned to Las Vegas where I was declared "clear". However, shortly thereafter I began to observe the same types of activities that I had previously seen concerning disconnect, Fair Game, and the use of people's PC files to attack them. My husband, Paul, who was a former state police officer in Florida, informed me that these actions were potentially criminal. Over a period of time he showed me and I began to understand that Scientology was specifically organized to take people's money, and property, and to "brainwash" them into accepting this conduct. My husband, my daughter and I thereafter left Las Vegas and moved to Boston where I subsequently contacted an attorney, Michael Flynn. After informing Mr. Flynn about the contents of this affidavit, he wrote a letter to the Guardian's Office demanding the repayment of approximately $13,000 that I had paid to them. The Guardian's Office thereafter contacted Attorney Flynn, refused to return any of the funds paid to them and without my permission disclosed to him information that I had disclosed during auditing and which was contained in my PC file. The Guardian's Office thereafter sent Pam Bevan, my auditor, to my home one evening when my husband was at work. She told me that she was dying of cancer, that she was my friend, and begged me to permit her to talk to me. I finally agreed to this request, believing she was dying. I went with her to a local Howard Johnson's near Somerville, Mass. While having coffee with her, she kept stating that she had to return to her hotel room to pick up pills for her cancer which she had left there. She finally convinced me to go with her to the hotel, the Homestead Inn, in Cambridge. While walking down the hotel corridor I noticed that she began to walk rapidly in front of me. I became nervous and began to realize that something was happening. I ran up to her and told her that I had told about much of what I had seen to the police and that I was being protected by them, (which was not true). She turned around and looked at me, ran into the room grabbed her "pills" and we left the motel. I returned home immediately called my husband and an employee of my attorney. The employee went to the hotel at approximately six o'clock the following morning and found that Pam Bevan and five other individuals had registered at the motel a few days previous to that and one of those individuals was named Gary Klinger. I knew Gary Klinger was from the Guardian's Office. All of these individuals had left the hotel and the desk manager stated that they had not checked out. He also stated that they had paid cash for the motel room in advance. Approximately two weeks later Gary Klinger came to my home in Somerville with a person named Celia Weinstein. He said that he wanted to talk to me. I let him in, and then went to the kitchen and called my husband. I thereafter went back into the room and sat down with them. Mr. Klinger had a briefcase, from which he extracted a paper with some writing on it and placed it on the briefcase. I waited for my husband to arrive and reached over and grabbed the piece of paper. My husband thereafter ordered them out of the house and I contacted my attorney. I have attached the document taken from Mr. Klinger to this affidavit. The document in part states as follows:
During the period between July 1979 and on or about December 10th when Klinger came to my home, I had lost my job due to telephone calls to my boss stating that I was rude to customers and bad for business. One of my husband's relatives had received a telephone call from someone stating that I had been beating my daughter and that the caller did not want to get involved but that the relative should report it to the police immediately. People sat outside our home and watched us, followed us for long periods of time, and even followed us to my attorney's office. On December 13, 1979 I executed the class action complaint against Scientology which was thereafter filed in United States Federal District Court in Boston. This statement is signed under the pains and penalties of perjury. Those facts of which I have personal knowledge are true. Those facts of which I do not have personal knowledge, I believe to be true. Since this affidavit covers approximately 9 years, many of the dates set forth herein may not be precisely accurate, but I have stated my best memory as to said dates. [Signed] La Venda Van Schaick AFFIDAVIT OF LA VENDA VAN SCHAICK I, Lavenda Van Schaick, hereby depose and state under the pains and penalties of perjury: 1. I have personal knowledge of the facts sworn to herein and if called as a witness to testify thereto could do so of my own personal knowledge. 2. 1 was a member of the Church of Scientology, Mission of Meadows, Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Org of the State of Nevada and was an employee of said Church for approximately nine (9) years. I left the Church on May 12, 1979. 3. A. a result of such employment I was responsible for about four (4) years from 10-71 to 12-73 and 1-76 to 1-78, for the Hubbard Communication Office, first at the Las Vegas Org and later at the Mission of Meadows in Las Vegas. I know from experience that this Office handles communications between Orgs and its immediate headquarters in Los Angeles and the headquarters in Clearwater, Florida. 4. In my capacity as the Hubbard Communication Area Secretary, I had frequent contacts with the Guardian's Office personnel who included: Matty Reese, Chuck Reese, Susan Reed, Jack Gay and Bruce Hamilton. The Guardian's Office is the police and enforcement arm of the Church and its headquarters is now in Clearwater, Florida. As the result of such employment I had access to more than forty different files on members who were subjected to the "Fair Game" Doctrine and who were designated 'enemies' by the Guardian's Office. An 'enemy' or 'SP' (Suppressive Person) as defined by the Church in its policy letter of October 18, 1967 is one who disagrees with Scientology policies and such a person may be "tricked", "lied to", "sued", or "destroyed". As the Hubbard Communication Area Secretary, I personally saw instructions from the Guardian's Office in Clearwater, Florida and from Los Angeles to put this order into effect while I was working at the Las Vegas organization. 5. Pursuant to these orders, I personally observed "PC" folders being sent to the Guardian's Office in Clear water, Florida. "PC" folders contain "information that is revealed by Church members during a process called auditing. Auditing is a procedure similar to confession wherein a Church member will reveal to an "Auditor" the intimacies and secrets of a person's life. The Auditor will thereafter record the information and place it in the "PC" folders. The Church member is regularly promised that the information disclosed in auditing will never be revealed by the Auditor. The Church member pays $625 for 12 1/2 hours of auditing and is promised a refund if he is dissatisfied. 6. The purpose of sending the PC folders to the Guardian's Office where a person had been designated SP or Fair Game was to use the contents of the folders to attack, threaten, blackmail and control the person and thereby prevent the person from seeking to collect refunds of moneys paid to the Church or to prevent the person from exposing the Church activities. The Church regularly and as part of its policy uses the material in these folders to blackmail and control its members in this way. I personally observed this done on numerous occasions contrary to the promises made to Church members. In one case, the Church declared a person named David Sandweiss an SP and threatened to expose auditing information revealed to his auditor by him if he sued for a refund or sought in any way to expose the Church problems. He thereafter committed suicide. 7. In my own case, after I left Scientology, and informed the Church that I intended to sue it for defrauding me of approximately $13,000, the Guardian's Office in Clearwater Florida, routed the contents of my "PC" folder to the Church in Boston which wrote a letter to my attorney, Michael J. Flynn and without my permission, disclosed the contents of my "PC" folder. The contents of this folder contained in part material that I had disclosed during auditing and it also contains falsehoods inserted by the Church. I did not give the Church permission to disclose this information and it was sent to Attorney Flynn for purposes of depriving me of my legal right to sue the Church. Thereafter, the Guardian's Office sent an individual named Gary Klinger to my home. At that time I took from him a document which I now have in my possession wherein it is stated that he is to threaten me with extortion and offer me $8,000 in exchange for documents of the Church, which the Church believe I now have in my possession. Based on my experience and knowledge of the Church, I believe that these orders came from Clearwater, Florida. 8. I know from my experience that it is Church policy to seek immediately, information on the financial resources of all new recruits and to obtain control over these resources by false representations made to the recruits. When the recruit thereafter questions representations made to him, it is Church policy to threaten the person with being declared an SP which would result in the forwarding of his "PC" folder to the Guardian's Office in Los Angeles and Clearwater, Florida, to be used for the purposes previously described. 9. I also know from my experience in Scientology, that the Guardian's office of each local organization is controlled by and reports to the U.S. Guardian's Office in Los Angeles. In turn, the U.S. Guardian's Office in Los Angeles reports directly to Clearwater, Florida. I also know that there is a telex connection between the U.S. Guardian's Office in Los Angeles and the Clearwater headquarters of Scientology. I myself used the telex system in Las Vegas and sent and received messages which were all in code to Los Angeles and to Clearwater, Florida. [Signed] La Venda Van Schaick Dated: ____, 1980
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