Two weeks ago, we reported that a Scientologist named Clay Bock was running for a city council seat in Garden Grove, California. We pointed out that there’s nothing keeping a Scientologist from running for office, but we figured voters might want to know that Bock had a long history helping out Scientology’s most unhinged front group, which agitates against psychiatry.
Well, this week, Garden Grove’s city council found out a lot more about Clay Bock when a woman named Paulien Lombard addressed the council in a live meeting with a stunning allegation: Clay Bock was also a Scientology spy.
Bock happened to be at the meeting, and he too addressed the council and admitted that he’d been with Lombard on a Scientology mission to confront a church protester at his home.
It was a pretty stunning moment for a live government meeting, and we have video clips of both Lombard’s speech and Bock’s reply. And after you watch the videos, we’ll tell you what more Lombard told us about Clay Bock’s work as an operative for the Church of Scientology.
Here’s the ballsy address Paulien made to the city council on Tuesday…
And here’s Clay’s somewhat bewildered response…
This isn’t the first time Paulien Lombard has addressed a local government council about her past as a Scientology operative. She’s actually somewhat well known for it in Scientology watching circles, and we first wrote about her doing it back in 2011.
And when we first saw this new video this week, we realized that Paulien was talking about an operation that was mentioned in a lengthy profile of her that was done by OC Weekly in 2012. In that story, Paulien revealed that in 2008, when she was one of the most loyal and productive members of the Orange County org, she had been tapped as a volunteer of Scientology’s spy wing, the Office of Special Affairs (OSA), to visit the home of a man named Francois Choquette, a/k/a AnonOrange, who had been protesting at Scientology’s “Int Base” headquarters near Hemet.
Lombard was ordered to go with another spy to Choquette’s home on a Saturday around 5:30 a.m. She and her fellow Scientologist held up signs calling him a terrorist. When the police were called, Lombard says, she and her partner told them Choquette was a terrorist, then stood outside the private community and handed out fliers to warn his neighbors about him.
The OC Weekly article didn’t name the person who went with Lombard to Choquette’s home. But on Tuesday, at the city council meeting, she revealed that it was, in fact, Clay Bock, who is now running for a seat on the council. Wow!
We asked Paulien to tell us more about how she ended up on a classic OSA operation with Clay Bock.
“Clif Miller was the one who was behind this operation. He worked for OSA and was in charge of handling Anonymous,” she says. OSA was very keen to find out information about Choquette, she says, but they didn’t know where he lived — he always rented cars before driving out to Int Base for his protests. They had learned, through watching Choquette’s online behavior, that he was a motorcycle enthusiast and had built an electric bike he was proud of. Posing as a magazine journalist, Miller asked to interview Choquette about his homemade bike, and they agreed to meet at a motorcycle shop to film the interview. When Choquette arrived, he was told the interview had been cancelled. Meanwhile, OSA had two private investigators waiting near the shop, and they spent the rest of the day tailing Choquette back to his house to learn where he lived (Choquette complicated things by stopping at a friend’s house and a couple of bars before heading home).
Paulien says that both she and Clay were aware that major resources were being expended to watch Choquette, who was clearly a major target. And on September 19, 2008, she and Clay were selected to carry out the next phase of the mission.
They met very early that morning, about 5 a.m., at the Orange County org in Tustin, and then Clay drove them to Choquette’s house. “Clay knew where to go,” she says. “He had been there before and used his GPS to get there.”
She says she already knew Clay well because both of them were so involved at the Orange County org. And it didn’t surprise her that Clay had been selected for the mission — he was good friends with Clif Miller, who had planned everything.
We asked her if it made sense to go on a mission at such an early hour in the day. But she said the purpose of their visit was purely intimidation. They were Scientology goons, sent out to make Choquette think twice about his protests.
“Two Scientologists had spread fliers in the community the day before about AnonOrange being a terrorist,” she says.
She estimates that they were at Choquette’s home for about two hours, and she spent some of it talking to a neighbor, which would come in handy later. They were eventually chased out of the gated community by private security guards, and then they talked to police officers who had been called by Choquette. “We stood at the entrance to the community with our sign and talked to people who drove in and out whenever possible. That lasted for about half an hour. Then we left.”
The two then went to the home of another Anonymous protester. “Clay had been there before and he told me how he scared the crap out of this person. All we did was sit in front of his home. I guess the intent was to intimidate. I told Clif by phone that I had other things to do that day. So we left there after maybe an hour. We then went back to the org to report about the events of the day.”
Karin Pouw, Scientology’s spokeswoman, told OC Weekly that Paulien had gone to Choquette’s house on her own initiative, and was not there on a church operation. But Paulien still has the commendation she received from OSA for her work that day. She says Clay received a similar one…
And here’s something we didn’t know before: Paulien told us that after a week or two, she and Clay went back to the same place, this time with a slightly different purpose.
“Our second mission was more of a spying operation,” she says. When they had reported back to Clif Miller that they had talked with Choquette’s neighbor, he wanted them to return and see if they could get more information from the neighbor.
“Our marching orders were to find out what was AnonOrange’s source of income. I was puzzled about this and asked why they needed to know. Clif told me that AnonOrange wanted to fly a helicopter over Int Base…Clif wanted to know if AnonOrange had the financial backbone to do this,” she says.
So they talked to the neighbor, trying to find out what Choquette did for a living. They even told him why — that Choquette had been talking about renting a helicopter. Did he have the kind of job that would allow him to pull it off? But she says the neighbor didn’t know much about how Choquette was paying his bills.
“Clay went back to the house again, but not with me,” she says.
On Tuesday, Clay was clearly stunned that Paulien would show up to a Garden Grove city council meeting and talk about the visit to Choquette’s house.
“He tries to make it seem like a joke that he went to harass AnonOrange, though he was fully aware of the major OSA operation against [Choquette]…The mayor kept shaking his head in utter disbelief. It was quite funny.”
We sent Clay an email asking him about the incident. He didn’t respond to our previous message about his background with the Scientology front group CCHR, but if he answers us this time we’ll add his response to this story.
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Obama White House honors Scientology spymaster
In more Scientology and politics news, the church’s national affairs office in Washington DC is crowing that the Obama White House honored notorious Scientology executive Janet Weiland at a ceremony recognizing the efforts of the Los Angeles County Interfaith Clergy Coalition, of which Weiland is a member.
The Coalition was given recognition by the White House’s Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, which is what President Obama renamed an office that had been created by President George W. Bush, the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.
We have little doubt that this was merely a symbolic head-patting by the White House, and should not be read as support for the Church of Scientology by Obama. But it is especially unseemly that Janet Weiland, of all people, should be getting anywhere near the White House.
Just recently, we wrote about how Weiland went to a transitional home in Los Angeles to try and get Fred Haseney’s protesting activities shut down. But we also can never forget Weiland from her involvement in the story of Tory Christman, which we wrote some 15 years ago.
Tory was an OSA volunteer (just like Paulien Lombard and Clay Bock), and she reported to Weiland as she tried to take on Scientology critics on the Internet. But after she encountered a man from Norway named Andreas Heldal-Lund (operator of Xenu.net, Operation Clambake), Tory became disaffected and announced that she was leaving the church.
Emotionally devastated, Tory asked Heldal-Lund for advice, and he recommended that she get in touch with like-minded people for support. So she decided to make a quick trip to Florida, to join the people who were operating the Lisa McPherson Trust in Clearwater.
She told no one of her plans. But when she got to the Burbank airport to catch her first flight, waiting for her there at the counter was Janet Weiland. The Scientology spymaster had obtained Tory’s flight information and was there to try and talk her out of leaving.
It was one of the creepiest moments of a story that we still consider one of our all-time favorites, and one that really captures the fear and paranoia that a longtime member goes when they lose faith in Scientology and its shadowy world of spies.
And now, Janet Weiland has been honored by the White House.
Thanks, Obama.
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Steve Cannane’s book ‘Fair Game’ begins its publicity run with excerpt in The Age
Get your first taste of how well researched Steve Cannane’s great new book is with this sizable excerpt about Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, and Int Base that was published last night in The Age.
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With the Mythicists in Milwaukee
The Mythicists Milwaukee podcast has been posted to YouTube now, and we’re going to park it here in case we need to find it in the future. It’s the same program that we linked to the other day.
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Jason Lee confirms he’s out
In our April story about Lucia Ribisi, our source who is close to that family told us that not only is Lucia out of Scientology, but so is the actor Jason Lee — which is part of why he moved last year to Denton, Texas, to get away from Scientology’s influence. (There’s something about Texas and exes.)
Today, The Dentonite blog quotes Jason confirming that he’s out:
If Ceren and I had an idea for a business, it certainly wouldn’t happen at the cost of someone else’s. And being that we don’t practice Scientology, and that we aren’t particularly interested in opening religious centers in general, we have no plans to open a Scientology center.
We had some interaction with Jason several years ago, and he expressed a willingness to talk to us then. Hey, Jason, drop us a line! Let’s talk!
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Posted by Tony Ortega on September 16, 2016 at 07:00
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Our book, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information about the book, and our 2015 book tour, can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.
Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…
BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of L.A. attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts
Other links: Shelly Miscavige, ten years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | Scientology’s Private Dancer | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | Scientology boasts about assistance from Google | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ
Our Guide to Alex Gibney’s film ‘Going Clear,’ and our pages about its principal figures…
Jason Beghe | Tom DeVocht | Sara Goldberg | Paul Haggis | Mark “Marty” Rathbun | Mike Rinder | Spanky Taylor | Hana Whitfield
