Scientology Lies

January 29, 1976: Scientology sues Clearwater mayor Cazares for libel, slander and civil rights violations. He would fight Scientology in the courts and press for years to come and was undaunted in his efforts to clear his name and show the world the dark side of Scientology.

January 31, 1976: Paulette Cooper deposed in Toronto lawsuit.

February 1, 1976: Michael Meisner goes to Los Angeles for auditing and briefing regarding his Guardian Office assignments. While there, he has numerous meetings with his immediate superiors, as well as other officials of the Guardian's Office. During the first week of February, Mr. Meisner attends a meeting with Henning Heldt and Richard Weigand in Heldt's office on the sixth floor of Fifield Manor. Also present are the Deputy Guardian for Finance Mary Heldt, the Deputy Guardian for the Legal Bureau Mary Rezzonico, and the CPA (Certified Public Accountant) US Martin Greenberg, an official in the Finance Bureau. At Heldt's request, Weigand tells Meisner to attend the meeting. Its purpose is to discuss and analyze the current IRS strategy as revealed in the stolen documents regarding the pending Church of Scientology of California audit. Each person present at the meeting expresses full knowledge that the documents in question had been stolen from the IRS offices. That same day, Meisner attends another meeting with Mary Rezzonico and Gregory Willardson in Weigand's office. Rezzonico directs Meisner to instruct Scientology's covert agents in the District of Columbia to be alert to any IRS documents regarding a Scientology front organization known as the Religious Research foundation (RRF). She also seeks any information disclosing knowledge by the IRS of any financial dealings and relationship between RRF and the Church of Scientology of California. While in LA, Meisner also meets with the Weigand and Willardson in Weigand's office at the Fifield Manor to discuss the Information Bureau's access to current documents in the possession of the IRS. The participants discuss a telex which had been received from the CSG Assistant for Information, Jimmy Mulligan, regarding the access to current information in the office of Mr. Lewis Hubbard of the IRS. Weigand instructs Meisner to prepare a report outlining what he had done in that respect and to respond to Mulligan's telex. As a result of that directive, Meisner prepares a response, including a telex in Weigand's name responding to Mulligan's inquiry. Meisner gives that telex directly to the Weigand, who approves it in his presence and orders it sent to Mulligan in Florida. [Beginning of Feb 1976; exact date unknown]

February 3, 1976: Michael Meisner writes a three-page handwritten letter to the Dick Weigand. In it, Meisner outlines the events which had recently taken place in the District of Columbia, including the forced entry made by Don Alverzo into IRS employee Hubbard's office. He also details how Wolfe gained access to attorney Stephen Friedberg's office in the Chief Counsel's Office by unlocking one of his office doors during the daytime. Meisner tells Weigand that Friedberg had documents relating to the California Church of Scientology audit dated as recently as January 26, 1976. After writing the letter, Meisner hands it to Weigand.

February 5, 1976: Mitchell Hermann sends a report to Dick Weigand, stating that numerous documents withheld by the IRS pursuant to the FOIA were taken by the Scientology Information Bureau in Washington, D.C. He adds that documents regarding Scientology were taken from many IRS offices including the Audit Division, Intelligence Division, Office of International Operations, Exempt Organization, Individual Income Tax Division, Office of the Chief Counsel, Disclosure Division, Special Services Staff, as well as other offices.

February 11, 1976: Dick Weigand writes a "compliance report" to Guardian World-Wide Jane Kember. In it, he reviews the achievements of the Information Bureau pursuant to GO 1361 Target 10 and reports compliance with that target. He tells Kember that all documents withheld by IRS under the FOIA for the period up to March 1975 had been stolen from the IRS. These included documents from the offices of Barbara Bird, Lewis Hubbard, Stephen Friedberg, the Chief Counsel's office, the Office of International Operations, the Intelligence Division, and the Special Services Staff. Weigand also states that documents turned over by the IRS to the Department of Justice Tax Division and staff attorney Michael Sanders had also been obtained. When Kember receives the compliance report, she writes on it, "Dear Dick, This is very well done indeed. Thank you for your excellent compliance. Much love, Jane."

February 17, 1976: The Guardian's Office instructs Scientology's legal department to prepare a formal letter to the Clearwater Sun demanding a retraction and threatening a libel suit.

February 18, 1976: Michael Meisner meets with the Gregory Willardson in Dick Weigand's office. Meisner shows Willardson how he and Gerald Wolfe had gained access to locked offices in the IRS building in Washington, D.C., by using a shaped metal device. [Third week of Feb 1976; exact date unknown.]

February 19, 1976: Scientologist June Byrne, who had infiltrated the Clearwater Sun using the name June Phillips, reports that Sun reporter Sableman has contacted a reporter for a newspaper in the Bahamas about movements of the Apollo, flagship of Scientology before Flag moved into a land base at the Fort Harrison. She say Sableman has a copy of Paulette Cooper's book, The Scandal of Scientology. She is now filing reports almost every day.