David Miscavige - Witnesses
to Violence
The following is a growing number of recent first-hand
accounts of former senior Church of Scientology executives and
staff who received and/or witnessed physical and violent abuse
at the hands of David Miscavige, Chairman of the Board (COB)
of the Religious Technology Center (RTC) of the Church of
Scientology. These accounts come from nearly two dozen
individuals, each of whom worked with or directly under David
Miscavige at Church of Scientology International (CSI), Church
of Spiritual Technology (CST), RTC, Gold, the International
Base, etc. in recent years:
Debbie Cook (former
Captain of the Church of Scientology's Flag Service Org; she
had been in the Sea Org for 29 years, and was Captain at Flag
for 17 years; she was at the International Headquarters under
Miscavige in 2005-2007). Having routed out of the Sea Org in
2007 but still in good-standing in the Church, Debbie sent an
email to thousands of Scientologists on New Year's Day 2012
informing them of severe violations of Scientology policy,
auditing and ethical standards, as directed by the "highest
echelons" in the Church, namely David Miscavige. As a result,
she was attacked in the court system by Miscavige. Debbie
fought back, and in response to a question about any physical
violence by David Miscavige that she had personally witnessed,
she said this under oath before a US judge on February 9,
2012:
"I witnessed Mr. Miscavige physically
punching in the face and wrestling to the ground another very
senior executive at Scientology international level [Mark
Yager]. ... One time I was called into a conference room and
[David Miscavige] ordered his secretary to slap me and she
slapped me so hard I fell over into the chairs. [Another] time
Mr. Miscavige ordered his communicator to break my finger if I
didn't answer his question."
(Source:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/scientology/ex-clearwater-scientology-leader-claims-kidnapping-torture-before-she-left/1214690
)
Lana Mitchell (formerly
worked in RTC in the 1990s; also worked for several years as a
cook for David Miscavige, and his entourage and celebrity
guests until 2003). Lana said this in a November 2, 2011
Australian TV interview:
"
I
was working in [Miscavige's] organisation which is called the
Religious Technology Center, I worked there for six years. ...
It would have been in 1994 in a meeting
in the International Building and he struck his brother Ronnie
Miscavige. He hit him with the back of his hand, right in the
stomach and Ronnie wasn't expecting it and it winded him, that
was the first time. I've seen him do a similar thing to Norman
Starkey many times who is the trustee of Scientology. I've
seen him hit Ray Mithoff. I know I've heard many accounts of
other instances of violence which I know would be true because
I have witnessed enough myself to be able to say well you know
there's substance to that because I've seen and witnessed it
myself. ...
"
[Miscavige] does character assassination
continually on anybody that he considers to be a threat;
anybody who he considers is speaking out or has the potential
to be a threat, he will go out of his way to assassinate or to
destroy the character of that person in the eyes of others.
"This is how he 'de-powered' all of the
other executives within international Scientology; this is how
he's become virtually the head of Scientology. There is nobody
else left, everybody else if you go back and have a look at
videos of events back in the nineties you see... They're all
gone, Guillaume Leserve, Mark Yager, Mark Ingber? When I left
[in 2004], the entire place was in a state of
fear."
(Source: http://au.news.yahoo.com/today-tonight/lifestyle/article/-/11285270/cruise-out-of-control [see link to transcript at the end, for above
quote.]
)
Chris Guider (former
Inspector General MAA [Master-At-Arms, the most senior "Ethics
Officer" in the Church of Scientology International] at RTC
late 1980s-1990s worked directly with Miscavige) said this on
September 22, 2011 to Australian TV:
"[David Miscavige] is a violent individual. ... I've
seen him physically beat one staff member, Mark Fisher,
who was formerly an executive in RTC
and worked very closely with Miscavige for
a lot of years. And I witnessed [Miscavige] beating
him. ..."
"[Miscavige] was
standing behind a person, who was editing the [video]. And
[Miscavige was] telling him how he was doing this wrong and
that wrong, and screaming at him. In the Ethics Officer role,
you have this little ... "riding crop" [stick] ... and it's
just meant to be a symbol of authority that the Ethics Officer
has. Well anyway, Miscavige told me to BEAT the guy with the
stick. I looked at him and I refused to do that. He took that
very, very severely on me because I didn't just do what he
wanted me to do."
(Source:
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2011/s3323979.htm
)
Mark
Fisher (former Corporate Liaison to Miscavige
[supervising household and special assignments] circa
1980s-1990) made this comment:
"Miscavige .. came racing across and
grabbed me around my throat, and started choaking me, and I
immediatly went down into a fetal position on the ground and
covered up because I didn't want to fight back or get hit. He
was pulling on my hair and was punching at me and kicking at
me. And this went on for two or three minutes. And when he
finally stopped and calmed down, I stood up and I reached
behind my head and my head was bleeding behind from him
pulling my hair. And I pointed my finger at him and looked at
him right in the eye, and I said 'You notice I didn't lay one
finger on you'. And the reason I said that was because I
wanted everybody else to notice that HE was the reason that
this was going on, not me, I wasn't the one that was doing
anything physical or fighting back. ... That had a profound
impact on me as to why I wanted to leave because when you're
talking about the person who's the head of the organization
that you've dedicated your life to is actually physically
attacking you ... that's not why I got involved in
Scientology. I got involved in Scientology to help
people."
(Source:
http://markrathbun.wordpress.com/
)
Marty Rathbun (former
Inspector General of RTC, 2nd in command to Miscavige,
1984-2004) made the following statements in 2009 and 2010:
"Working with Miscavige from 2000 forward was a
continually deteriorating condition ... regularly Miscavige
would, in the middle of a conference, physically assault,
punch open handed, tackle people."
"Mark Yager got beat up, kicked on, had
large volumes thrown at him by Miscavige."
"Ray Mithoff got beat up by
Miscavige."
"Mark Ingbar got beat up
by Miscavige."
"Mike Rinder got it
worse, [I saw him] get beatup at least a dozen times by
Miscavige."
"Tom DeVocht got beatup by
Miscavige a couple of times, and seeing that one time, caused
me to leave."
(Sources:
http://www.tampabay.com/specials/2009/reports/project/
, http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/scientology/scientologists-level-accusations/story?id=8792417 ,
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/03/30/scientology.violence/index.html
,
http://markrathbun.wordpress.com
)
Mike Rinder
(former International Scientology Spokesman; Head of Office of
Special Affairs for 25 years, 1981-2006) made the following
statements in 2009 and 2010:
"I was at the [receiving end] of repeated
acts of random violence at the hands of Miscavige."
"I was
physically assaulted some fifty times by David
Miscavige."
"[His physical assaults on me] happened more than once.
He's a very volatile personality. He will lash out for
uncalled-for reasons."
"There is no
doubt that there are dozens, if not hundreds, of others who
would tell the same stories of their experiences [with
Miscavige] if they weren?t being coerced into silence either
by threat of disconnection from their families, loss of job or
legal action being brought against them."
"Where is Heber
[Jentzsch]? ... The answer is simple: Miscavige hates Heber.
... Heber has not only witnessed Miscavige-brand physical and
mental abuse, he has experienced it firsthand. ...
I have seen Miscavige strike Heber on
at least 10 occasions."
"Having to lie to the BBC about Miscavige
beating people was the straw that broke the camel?s back and I
walked out while in London [in 2008]."
(Sources:http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/scientology/scientologists-level-accusations/story?id=8792417
,
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/03/30/scientology.violence/index.html
,
Australian
News interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOv0LtzXlx4,
http://markrathbun.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/free-heber/
,
http://markrathbun.wordpress.com/
)
Janela Webster (former
head of AVC International, RTC, 1990 - 2007) made these
comments in April 2010:
"I am writing this to make it known my
own personal experience with the physical and emotional abuse
I either witnessed or experienced from David Miscavige. ...
Norman Starkey: how could you stand up [on CNN] and lie about
David Miscavige not laying a hand on you? I was standing right
there in the office when he just walked up to you and boxed
you in the ears with no concern whatsoever. And you, a senior
citizen in your ?60s? ... While I have my own personal
experiences of being thrown in the lake; sleep deprivation;
being incarcerated on the Int base and forced to sleep on a
cot in my office for 7 months; starved on a diet of rice and
beans for weeks; the most destructive and painful of all was
the forced disconnection from my daughter in 2001."
(Source:
http://markrathbun.wordpress.com/
)
Amy Scobee (20 year
Scientology International Base veteran, helped build Celebrity
Centre network) made these statements in 2009 and 2010:
"David Miscavige
is an extremely abusive, tyranical leader."
"[David
Miscavige] grabs Mike [Rinder] around the neck, swings around
and is choking him, and he's holding [Mike's] neck. And Mike
starts grabbing the side of his chair and struggling and not
knowing what is going on. And his face is turning red, and his
veins are popping out his neck, and I'm going 'What in the
hell is going on?'"
"Miscavige jumps up on the conference
table and jumped at Jeff Hawkins, tackling him to the
ground."
"Miscavige jumps up on the table and
lunges at Wendell Reynolds, knocking chair and Wendell
back."
"Miscavige went straight after [Mark]
Yager, grabbed his shirt and
threw his whole body onto the ground."
(Sources:
http://www.tampabay.com/specials/2009/reports/project/
,
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/03/30/scientology.violence/index.html
, Australian News Interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
sOv0LtzXlx4
,
http://www.tampabay.com/specials/2009/reports/project/
)
Mike Lemeron
(former Sea Org member for 21 years, worked with LRH in 1978,
later worked at Gold at Int, doing lighting for International
Events) made these comments in 2010:
"I was no senior exec but I did have the privilege of
being around LRH for about a year back in ?78. I know that he
generally did 2 solo auditing sessions per day. During that
time he wrote the scripts for and directed some tech training
films and wrote the Battlefield Earth book. He was definitely
not evil nor dictatorial to his crew although the production
demand was very high. ...As for DM, he is basically the
anti-LRH."
"David Miscavige is a violent
person and I have seen and experienced it for myself and I
have subjective reality. I used to do lighting for the Int
events and I personally saw David Miscavige be very rude,
invalidating and condescending toward the other speakers.
Years prior to that I was his table server at meals with other
executives ? long before he assumed his ?COB? title. One day,
during dinner, he followed me into the kitchen and pushed me
up against a wall because he thought I was being rude. I have
seen him being both physically [and] verbally abusive on
different occasions during the nearly 21 years I was around
him and his area. Anyone saying David Miscavige is not violent
and has not committed violent acts on others is a complete
liar or a dupe."
(Sources:
http://markrathbun.wordpress.com/2010/04/16/clearwater-retrospection/#comment-19997
,
http://markrathbun.wordpress.com/2010/07/22/mike-rinder-on-todaytonight/#comment-39152
)
Marc Headley (former
Senior Executive at Golden Era Productions in International
Management, 1995-2000):
"I myself on at least 10
different occasions have witnessed David Miscavige actually
physically strike other staff members to the ground, strike
staff members so many times or damage them physically that
they actually needed medical attention or that a medical
officer from the facility would have to come bandage them or
treat them. In one instance, I myself was punched several
times by David Miscavige in the face for basically arguing or talking back to
him during a discussion that we were having."
(Source:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk0NLEohgKo)
Karen Pressley
(former head of Celebrity Centre Network and former
International Public Relations Officer, 1980s-1990s):
"I've seen [David Miscavige] slam people against a wall,
by the neck, by the shoulders. ... Ray
Mithoff, who was the Snr C/S
International (his office was across from mine
when I was the
International Public Relations Officer;
we were in the Del Sol Building)
... was constantly under the gun with David
Miscavige.
And I was
present once when he threw Ray Mithoff against the wall, andtook his
shirt and threw him up like this [gestures upward],
and told him
he was an SP and a piece of shit. And
made him get on his hands and knees
and just humiliated him. And right after
that, Ray Mithoff was sleeping
in a tent on a hillside and having to pee
outdoors with no toilet facilities. And cleaning floors with
toothbrushes. ... Miscavige
used
every psychological tactic, physical
abuse, verbal abuse, to dehumanize
him."
(Source:
http://vimeo.com/13073239
)
Jeff
Hawkins (35 year Sea Org veteran [1969-2004],
marketing manager who created the DMSMH marketing campaign
which put DMSMH back on the
NY Times Best Seller list in the 1980s) made these comments in 2009 and 2010:
"I never saw [Rinder] abusing others,
despite the abuse he received from Miscavige. Mike was,
without question, THE most abused person at the Int Base. He
was rarely allowed to sleep. He was physically beaten by
Miscavige on many occasions. How he managed to carry on with
his work and deal with media I do not know. He has great
reserves of strength, which I hope are serving him well now
that he is out."
" CNN: '
You've worked with Marty
Rathbun. You've worked with Mike Rinder. The Church told us,
that they were the ones leading this reign of terror, that
Marty was the one responsible for these beatings.'
"Jeff: '
Absolutely not true. Absolutely not true.
David Miscavige was the one leading this whole physical
violence kick. And it was him who was beating people up. ...
[Miscavige once] jumped on the conference room table, with his
feet right on the conference table, launched himself across
the table at me -- I was standing -- battered my face and then
shoved me down on the floor.'
"Jeff: ' Miscavige was always threats, bullying,
haranguing people, verbal abuse, physical abuse. That was his
game. He is
a bully.'"
(Sources:http://markrathbun.wordpress.com/
,http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/03/30/scientology.violence/index.html)
Tom De Vocht (former
Church construction supervisor in Clearwater [1986-2000] and
Int base construction [2000-2004]) made this comment in Apr
2010:
"Dave
asked me a question ... and the next thing I knew, I'm being
smacked in the face and knocked down on the ground, in front
of all these people. This is the 'Pope' [Miscavige] you know,
knocking me down on the ground."
(Source:http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/03/30/scientology.violence/index.html)
Steve Hall
(Worked at Int Base as writer from 1988-2003; came up
with Church's tag line "Know Yourself. Know Life.") said the
following:
"The four assaults I witnessed where
David Miscavige actually attacked someone were against Mike
Rinder, Mark Yager, Guillaume Leserve and Ray Mithhoff (four
of the highest-ranking officers of the Church of Scientology).
In the case of Mike Rinder, he and I were standing shoulder to
shoulder when Mike was attacked. Miscavige didn't like a minor
edit that Mike had made to a video we were working on.
Suddenly Miscavige just went off: he lunged, grabbed Mike's
head with both hands and bashed his head into solid
cherry-wood paneling three times putting his whole body into
the effort. Mike has since departed from the Church. Violent
physical abuse is just the tip of a dark iceberg."
"I decided to leave in December of 2003
after being assaulted and battered by David Miscavige and also
witnessing him physically beating his staff, among other
criminal actions." (Sources:
http://www.scientology-cult.com/scientologys-dictator.html , http://www.goddiscussion.com/101823/former-church-of-scientology-members-report-horror-stories-to-russia-today/ )
Karen De La
Carriere/Jentzsch (LRH-trained Class XII C/S, former
wife of Heber Jentzsch, President Church of Scientology
International) made this comment on March 24, 2011:
"Last night I went to dinner with an Ex SO [Sea Org]
member that I had not seen for 30 years. It was a remarkable
dinner. Here was a guy who worked like a dog in the Sea Org,
had production 2nd to none, a household name in Sea Org
circles and he told me the story of being locked in a room,
waiting for HOURS with no food or water til David Miscavige
entered the room with an entourage. This PUNK [Miscavige]
always has a gang around him for protection. DM never engages
in brutality one on one. He is always surrounded by numbers
and a gang for his THUGGERY and ABUSE. He punched this SO
member in the jaw with a heavy blow and then spat on him.
There was no Committee of Evidence. There was no explanation
on what the Sea Org member did or did not do. No charges were
ever brought. There was just violence and ABUSE from the top
command structure. ...This veteran ex SO member has never told
his story on the web. He took a Miscavige assault and suffered
in silence."
(Source:
http://leavingscientology.wordpress.com/2011/03/23/the-anecdotal-fallacy/ as
Karen#1)
Gary "Jackson" Morehead (former
Security chief at the California Int base from 1990 to 1997)
had this comment:
"Yes, Scientology has done good for
mankind. I saw and see it. What I also WITNESED first hand was
DAVID MISCAVIGE physically hit SCIENTOLOGY HIGH RANKING
EXECUTIVES AND STAFF. I witnessed DAVID MISCAVAGE make 5
SCIENTOLOGY EXECUTIVES defecate into a clear plastic bag out
in the broad open, make them shower by use of a garden hose in
the broad open ? male and female executives mind you."
(Source:
http://markrathbun.wordpress.com/2010/03/25/suppression-of-truth-and-freedom-of-speech-and-the-press/)
Eric Knutson (former
CMOI and WDCI Executive, Department Head of Gold; worked at
the Int Base from 1980-1990) had this to say on August 21,
2010:
"While working on a construction project
as a Department Head in Gold in the late 80's, I was summonsed
to the RTC office building at the Villas to answer some kind
of question Miscavige had with regard to the project I was
working on. For some reason I was called to the office where
Mark Fisher and Jason Bennick worked directly under David
Miscavige as his execution arms. Jason and I were the only
ones in the room with DM. I had answered any questions
Miscavige had and when I was finished he asked Jason a
question about his post (I don't remember the subject
content). Jason replied and DM came flying across the office
behind Jason's desk where he was sitting.
Screaming obscenities, Miscavige started
punching Jason with body shots to the chest and ribcage with
closed fists as Jason used his arms to protect himself from
the thudding blows. I remember Jason?s eyes as big as
saucers filled with terror in his disbelief as to what was
happening. It ended almost as abruptly as it started. I
remember DM looking at me with an expression that stated
clearly 'this is what will happen to you if you fuck up.' "
(Source:
http://rediscoverscientology.com/under-a-dark-cloud.html
)
Bruce Hines (former Senior C/S in
Scientology from 1987-2003) said this:
"[Miscavige]
just walked up and hit me on the side of the head ... with an
open hand ... It definitely hurt, and it definitely knocked me
back."
(Source:ABC Nightline interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BddkM-qcLvo
)
John Peeler (Delphi School graduate;
in SO from 1989-2000; worked at CC Int and then Int Base) said
this:
"I
witnessed David Miscavige as well as other executives and
staff at the base beat people up, slap others around, spit on
people, overboard people, and a number of other punishments
for either no reason at all or for disobeying orders or
non-compliance. Even smaller things found out, such as
masturbation, became huge issues blown up and read out at
staff musters."
(Source:
http://scnforum.org)
Don Larson
(Former Finance Executive, worked with David Miscavige in the
early 1980s) said this:
"There were about 15 of us ...
we took the Commanding Officer [of the SF Org] ... and he was
sec checked on the meter ... and there was a whole row of
people around the guy ... this had nothing to do with religion
anymore ... this was 'Where's the money Jack!? I want the
money, where did you put the money!?' He said 'I don't know, I
don't have the money'. So David Miscavige comes up to him and
grabs him by the tie and starts bashing him into the file
cabinets."
(Source:
http://www.whoisdavidmiscavige.com/category/videos/)
Larry Brennan (helped create high
level Church structure for LRH in late 70s and early 80s;
personally worked with Miscavige during this period) said
this:
"In the
lair of [Miscavige] I am sure that ?status? means everything.
From my years of working with him I found him at best to be a
highly immature, spoiled and abusive status seeker. I?ve also
found the types of things I?ve heard Marty [Rathbun], Mike
[Rinder] and others say about his abusive and his need for a
false ?status? to be correct and in keeping with what I
witnessed as well."
(Source:
http://markrathbun.wordpress.com/2010/03/03/egoist-maximus/)
Dan Koon (former Snr C/S
International; worked with LRH on tech films in late 1970s,
was "Joe" in TRs Film) made these comments in 2009:
"I spent nearly
27 years at the Int bases in La Quinta and Hemet, when LRH
himself worked there (and David Miscavige was the video
cameraman on the first Cine shoot crew), and when LRH was off
the lines, when he passed away and throughout the rise and
reign of DOB RTC (Dictator of the Board). I saw these bases
morph from incredibly alive, all-over-the-Tone Scale, mostly
positive but always hopeful operations to the present state of
affairs that is chronically below 2.0 and where Boredom let
alone Mild Interest are unobtainable dreams. ... I can
personally attest to the observations that Mike [Rinder] has
reported in this blog post. Many of you reading it may be in
disbelief. If you could see the stats of Int Scientology and
know that David Miscavige sits squarely atop the entire
Scientology movement and is, thus, where the buck must
ultimately stop, maybe your disbelief would at last be forced
aside. Because we all know that the stats are the bottom line:
auditors made and preclears well audited."
"When I first joined the Sea Org, LRH was there, he met
with us. We made films together. ... And life with him around
was wonderful. ... he went off the lines for good in 1986. ...
It certainly became a lot less fun as the years went on. By
the time I left in 2003, it was very unfun. ... A lot of the
stuff you read on the blogs about experiences at the Int Base,
I can attest that they're all extremely accurate. I lived
through them, I observed them. I know people, good friends of
mine, who are now out, will attest to the same thing. It was
just not the Scientology I joined in the 1970s and
1980s."
(Sources: http://markrathbun.wordpress.com/
, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bhBXjB88ek)
--------
Numerous attempts at reforming the Church
of Scientology and/or confronting David Miscavige, from the
inside, over the last 20+ years have failed. Knowledge Reports
(KRs) written on Miscavige, were ignored -- or worse, the
authors of those reports were attacked or retaliated against
by Miscavige. The Boards of RTC, CSI and CST are non-existent,
as they are fully controlled by David Miscavige himself
(Miscavige and his lawyers required all Board members, years
ago, to sign undated "letters of resignation", thereby making
internal Board-level reform impossible; see http://savescientology.com and
Marty's blog for more information).
For these
reasons, it is urged that all Scientologists withdraw their
financial and other support from the Church of Scientology
while Miscavige is in charge.
Further, if one is interested, one can
continue practicing Scientology (i.e. the Bridge) outside the formal Church. It is
called Independent Scientology. There are many, many highly
trained auditors auditing and doing training independently of
the Church of Scientology, around the world today. These
include veteran Class XII C/Ses and auditors (some trained by
LRH himself) and recent Flag-trained Class VIII through Class
XII auditors delivering the Grades, NED, Power, the Ls, all of
the OT levels, and any repairs needed on any of the above. For
more information and resources, see http://freeandable.com .
For more
information on the current situation with David Miscavige and
the Church of Scientology, the following websites are
recommended:
http://www.friendsoflrh.com,
http://savescientology.com,
http://scientolipedia.org,
http://freeandable.com.
For the hub of current activity, Mike
Rinder's blog at http://mikerindersblog.org
is recommended.
For articles from many former RTC and
International Church executives, Steve Hall's website
http://scientology-cult.com is
recommended.
Marty Rathbun's book "What is Wrong with
Scientology" is also quite good, as is his blog athttp://markrathbun.wordpress.com .
To contact the author of this page (or
add your personal story of Miscavige abuse), please write to:
info@scientologymyths.com
