| Church of Scientology probes Herald reporter - Investigation follows pattern of harassment | Boston Herald: Church of Scientology probes Herald reporter - Investigation follows pattern of harassment | |
| April 1, 1972 | Author Here Sues Scientologists | Paulette Cooper, a freelance writer, has accused the Church of Scientology in a lawsuit filed here of "intentional interference" with her constitutional freedom of speech and press, charging that the organization threatened her in the form of libel suits and wiretapping after her critical book about the quasi-religious organization was published last fall. | |
| March 7, 1974 | Counterattack: The Response To Criticism | The Church of Scientology does not turn the other cheek. Church policy is to find what attackers have to hide. The organization is quick to bring lawsuits challenging unfavorable books and articles. Many persons who leave or who are expelled by the church say that they are frightened by the organization. | |
| August 29, 1978 | Church Claims U.S. Campaign of Harassment | Los Angeles Times: Church Claims U.S. Campaign of Harassment | |
| January 25, 1980 | The Scientology Papers: Files Show Spy Reported Woman's Intimate Words | In one file was a letter dated June, 1974, from Dick Weigand to Henning Heldt, two of the leaders sentenced last month to four years in prison. Included in a review of an operative's past activities for the cult was the observation: Conspired to entrap Mrs. Lovely (code name for Miss Cooper) into being arrested for a felony which she did not commit. She was arraigned for the crime. | |
| April 22, 1980 | Scientologists Tried To Silence Enemies | The Las Vegas Church of Scientology attempted to silence its enemies and critics in Nevada by waging propaganda and espionage campaigns against Las Vegas law-enforcement and business agencies. Documents seized from the church by the FBI reveal the church on a national scale conspired to steal grand jury transcripts, attempted to infiltrate the CIA, and launched a myriad of dirty tricks against public officials. | |
| October 11, 1980 | Scientology Defendants Say Lives Are In Danger | Several of the seven defendants in a suit launched by Scientology feel their lives may be in danger. Scientology launched the suit in 1976. One defendant, Lorna Levett, who left the church in 1974 after 13 years involvement says Scientologists have condemned her to "Process R-245". She says this means being shot in the head by a .45 calibre pistol. | |
| April 2, 1982 | Suit Against Church Whittled | A District Judge has dismissed seven of 14 allegations of wrongdoing against the Church of Scientology by a Boston-area woman and said he will consider whether the First Amendment bars some of the remaining allegations in the $200 million class action suit. The claims were filed by a former member of the church, La Venda Van Schaick, who claimed she was induced into joining the church by false representations, defrauded, subjected to emotional distress, locked in a room, and harassed in many other ways. | |
| May 9, 1982 | Sect to counterattack, city told | "Walters predicted all city commissioners will be sued, a 'massive' public relations campaign will begin, city government will be infiltrated by sect agents and that officials may be harassed." | |
| April 12, 1983 | Scientology Suit Allowed to Go to Trial | A federal judge opened the way Monday for four former Scientologists to sue the church for fraud over a variety of claims including promises that it could prevent colds, raise intelligence and solve obesity. The judge ruled that while Scientology is a religion, many of the claims it makes appear to involve non-religious matters, such as statements that it can improve a person's health and career. | |
| April 17, 1985 | Court Hears Final Scientology Tape | Jurors in the Church of Scientology fraud trial Tuesday listened to the last of five hours of surreptitiously-taped conversations in which a former Scientologist talked about a plan to "transform" church leadership by filing suit to take managerial control. In the final two recorded meetings, Armstrong said he "wouldn't touch" an idea posed by his questioner about writing false materials on the letterhead of a private investigator, whom Armstrong believed was pursuing him on behalf of the church. As it turned out, the private investigator was the one making the tapes. | |
| April 19, 1985 | Witness Says Judge Probed | A Portland judge who presided over a fraud trial involving the Church of Scientology in 1979 was the target of a covert operation by the church aimed at learning his attitudes about drug usage and sexual promiscuity, a former Scientologist testified. | |
| October 8, 1985 | Suit Against Scientology Founder Protested | About 200 members of a group calling itself the Religious Freedom Crusade held a rally to protest a $30 million suit filed in 1983 in US District Court against L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology, by Boston lawyer Michael Flynn. Flynn, whose suit alleges that the church has engaged in harassment against him, has represented former church members in various suits against the church across the country. | |
| October 17, 1985 | Former Scientology Aide Wins Ruling On Church Records | The state Supreme Court yesterday allowed a former Church of Scientology official to obtain church records in a suit against the group. The action lifts the court's order of September 10 blocking release of the records of "audits," or examinations, of church members, to Gerald Armstrong, who resigned in 1981 as archivist of the church's Los Angeles branch. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Paul Breckenridge has said the church declared Armstrong a "suppressive person," and employees spied on him, assaulted him and hit him with a car.
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| April 4, 1986 | Inside Scientology - Finally | When the staffers learn that you are a "wog" (Scientology-speak for non-Scientologist) or, worse yet, a wog journalist their warm smiles change instantly to icy defensiveness. Unless a Scientologist's neighbor is a fellow member of the church, Scientologists can be zealously self protective. | |
| April 8, 1986 | Ex-Scientologist Says Church Harassed Him | Miami Herald: Ex-Scientologist Says Church Harassed Him | |
| August 30, 1986 | Principals Shouldn`T Harass Teachers | Charlotte Observer: Principals Shouldn`T Harass Teachers | |
| September 19, 1986 | $30-Million Court Fight Lost by Scientology | In a staggering blow to the Church of Scientology of California, a Superior Court judge Thursday upheld a jury's $30-million damage award to a former church member who said the organization wrecked him mentally and financially. | |
| September 27, 1986 | Verdict Is Upheld Against Scientology | A Los Angeles judge last week rejected a request that he either overturn a $30 million verdict against the Church of Scientology of California or grant a new trial in a suit by former member Larry Wollersheim, who said Scientologists destroyed his business and drove him to the brink of insanity when he left the church after 11 years. | |
| April 21, 1987 | Supreme Court Turns Down Scientology Plea | The Supreme Court's decision clears the way for former Scientologist Larry Wollersheim to begin seizing church assets to satisfy a $30-million award he won last year. Wollersheim, who contended that the church harassed him and drove him to the brink of insanity, was awarded $5 million in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages by the Los Angeles Superior Court jury. | |
| December 22, 1988 | Scientology Church Faces New Claims Of Harassment | The year was 1976, one year after the Church of Scientology had secretly moved its spiritual headquarters to Clearwater, and Mayor Gabe Cazares was complaining too loudly for the church's comfort. So, as documents seized by the FBI would later show, the church's Clearwater office devised a scheme to "ruin Mayor Gabriel Cazares' political career by spreading scandal about his sex life." Church officials came up with ways to get Cazares' school records, birth records, anything - from checking with the Catholic Church to looking in graveyards for headstones with Cazares' name - that might discredit the mayor. | |
| December 22, 1988 | Scientology Faces New Charges of Harassment | St. Petersburg Times: Scientology Faces New Charges of Harassment | |
| July 6, 1989 | Scientology Faces New Charges of Harassment (reprint from SP Times) | Newkirk Herald: Scientology Faces New Charges of Harassment (reprint from SP Times) | |
| June 24, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: Burglaries and Lies Paved a Path to Prison | A web of criminal conspiracy to discredit the church's foes resulted in prison sentences for 11 top-ranking Scientologists. | |
| June 29, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: On the Offensive Against an Array of Suspected Foes | The Church of Scientology does not turn the other cheek. Ministers mingle with private detectives. "Sacred scriptures" counsel the virtues of combativeness. Parishioners double as paralegals for litigious church attorneys. | |
