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 After failing with multiple appeals to the California and U.S. Supreme Courts to prevent it, today the Church of Scientology complied with a lower court order and turned over 18,000 pages of documents to former church employee Laura DeCrescenzo.
She will now begin a process of reviewing the electronic files to see if they’re complete. The church, meanwhile, has asked the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari to review the court order, but that may take many months and odds are against the court even considering it. DeCrescenzo first filed suit against Scientology in 2009 after working as a member of its “Sea Org” for twelve years. She’s alleging that she suffered a number of abuses during that time, including a forced abortion when she was only 17. She has now been handed a huge trove of documents from her confessional “pc files” which may help bolster her case. Continue reading Scientology Turns Over Documents, Laura DeCrescenzo Begins Process to Review Them
 Claire Headley is taking us on our journey to train as Scientologists. She and her husband Marc were Sea Org workers who escaped from Scientology’s International Base in 2005. She spent years working with Scientology’s “tech,” and was trusted to oversee the auditing of Tom Cruise. Go here to see the first part in this series.
Claire, last time we learned about how much Scientology learning is often repetitive. How about this week? CLAIRE: More of the same, I’m afraid. Continue reading Claire Headley on Scientology’s Feats of Clay — ALSO: Geir Isene on Wikipedia
 Scientology’s motion for a protective order in Laura DeCrescenzo’s forced-abortion lawsuit was denied in part today, and as a result the church’s attorneys said in court that they will be turning over a compact disc with 18,000 pages of unredacted evidence to DeCrescenzo tomorrow.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ronald Sohigian did agree with the church that third-party names in the files should be removed. So he ordered the church to produce another set of the evidence with third-party names redacted within 30 days. After appeals to the California and U.S. Supreme Courts failed, Scientology had no further way to delay turning over the documents, which Sohigian had ordered the church to fork over this spring in DeCrescenzo’s four-year legal odyssey. Barring any last-minute shenanigans — which Scientology is well known for — tomorrow Laura finally gets her files. Continue reading Scientology To Turn Over 18,000 Pages of Evidence to Laura DeCrescenzo on Tuesday
 We reached out to Jenna Miscavige Hill for a comment about the stunning news that showed up this weekend in the Tampa Bay Times about her aunt, Denise Gentile, who is the twin sister of Scientology’s leader, David Miscavige.
Joe Childs reported for the Times that Gentile was arrested in January for DUI and marijuana possession, and in his investigation of the arrest, he found that she and her husband Gerald had rented out run-down properties that were used by tenants for drug dealing. One tenant claimed that he paid Denise rent in the form of marijuana “blunts.” Jenna, meanwhile, has been on a months-long publicity campaign to support her memoir, Beyond Belief, which was published in February. In it, the niece of David Miscavige and Denise Gentile describes the difficulties of her upbringing in the church. She portrays her uncle as a cowardly bully, but Denise Gentile gets a more sympathetic treatment. How, we asked Jenna, does she feel about this weekend’s news? Continue reading Jenna Miscavige Hill Reacts to the News of the Arrest of her Aunt, Denise Gentile
 Joe Childs at the Tampa Bay Times sent reverberations across the world of Scientology-watching last night with his stunning investigative story about the arrest of Denise Gentile, twin sister to Scientology leader David Miscavige.
Gentile, 53, was arrested in January for DUI, possession of nine marijuana “blunts,” and failure to yield. Childs painstakingly pieced together the background of the arrest, which is sordid and fascinating. According to Childs’ reporting, Denise Gentile and her husband Gerald owned and rented numerous run-down rental properties in Pinellas County, Florida that became havens for drug dealing. Denise, the article says, even took rent from one tenant in the form of marijuana cigarettes. Continue reading Tampa Bay Times Portrays Twin Sister of Scientology Leader as Dope-Smoking Slumlord
 Jon Atack is the author of A Piece of Blue Sky, one of the very best books on L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology. He now has a new edition of the book out, and on Saturdays he’s helping us sift through the legends, myths, and contested facts about Scientology that tend to get hashed and rehashed in books, articles, and especially on the Internet.
Continue reading When Jon Atack Declared David Miscavige a Suppressive Person
 Welcome to our ongoing project, where we blog a 1950 first edition of Scientology’s bible, Dianetics, with the help of ex-Scientologist, lawyer, and author Vance Woodward. Go here for the first post in the series.
Vance, we’ve reached the final chapter of this book. It’s been a long slog — this is our 25th installment, going back to January 4 — and we’re looking forward to your overall thoughts about re-reading this book. But for now, let’s deal with this final offering from the Commodore. He starts off this chapter, “Dianetics — Past and Future,” by telling us that his work on Dianetics dates back to 1935, and that 1938 was the pivotal year when he made some of the first key discoveries. Continue reading Blogging Scientology’s Bible: Vance, We’ve Reached the Finish Line! Advertisement
 Judge James Whittemore has scheduled an evidentiary hearing for July 24 in Luis and Rocio Garcia’s federal fraud lawsuit against the Church of Scientology.
At issue will be the church’s motion to disqualify the Garcias’ attorneys — Ted Babbitt and Ronald Weil — who, the church alleges, improperly worked with Robert Johnson, an attorney who previously represented the church in numerous matters between 1982 and 1998. Each side has until July 18 to turn in a list of witnesses and exhibits, and we’ll be curious to see if either side plans to subpoena Brian Culkin (pictured), whose declaration was such an important part of the church’s motion. Continue reading Judge Whittemore Sets Evidentiary Hearing in Garcia Federal Fraud Lawsuit
 We just received a call from the U.S. Supreme Court informing us that Justice Anthony Kennedy has denied the Church of Scientology’s application for an emergency stay in Laura DeCrescenzo’s four-year lawsuit. For the moment, that leaves the church with no legal way to avoid turning over thousands of pages of evidence to DeCrescenzo, which was ordered by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ronald Sohigian.
As we reported yesterday, the church had asked Kennedy to stay Sohigian’s order as it once again appealed the decision that it must turn over to DeCrescenzo her “pc files” — hundreds of folders of confessional material compiled during her 13 years as an employee of Scientology’s “Sea Org.” In her lawsuit, DeCrescenzo is alleging abuse, including being forced to have an abortion at 17. Twice before, the church had appealed Sohigian’s order to turn over DeCrescenzo’s files and had lost. The court’s spokesman explained to us that the church does still have some options. Continue reading JUSTICE KENNEDY DENIES SCIENTOLOGY REQUEST FOR STAY IN FORCED-ABORTION CASE
 Geir Isene reached Scientology’s heights — Operating Thetan Level Eight — but the Norwegian has left the church and is now providing startling insights about his time in the organization.
Recently, he came to the United States, and has made a series of videos with former church member Karen de la Carriere. In the first video, he reveals that he was brought in to educate top Scientology officials about the Internet, and learned that they had met personally with Google’s Sergey Brin, asking him if it were possible for the search giant to filter results so that only positive information about the church would be returned on the word “Scientology.” You can imagine how that went over… Continue reading VIDEO: Scientology Told Google’s Sergey Brin It Wanted Only “Good” Search Results
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After failing with multiple appeals to the California and U.S. Supreme Courts to prevent it, today the Church of Scientology complied with a lower court order and turned over 18,000 pages of documents to former church employee Laura DeCrescenzo.
