Are You Still A Scientologist? Go Fuck Yourself!

Tuckerfan · Aug 7, 2022

A sex scandal involving Scientologists? Who ever heard of religions having a sex scandal?

Ex-Scientologists Came Forward with Shocking Child Trafficking Claims. Now They Say They’re Being Stalked.

In late April, three people who grew up on a Church of Scientology ship filed a lawsuit against the organization and its leader David Miscavige, claiming they were trafficked as children and forced to do strenuous labor for little or no pay.

Now the former members—Gawain Baxter, Laura Baxter, and Valeska Paris—have filed an amended complaint detailing more accusations of abuse on the vessel, called the Freewinds, which is used by the Church of Scientology to train its members that wish to reach Operating Thetan Level 8 (OT VIII), the highest level of Scientology (attaining this can cost up to $2 million). The ship is also used to house members of Sea Org, Scientology’s “fraternal religious order” comprised of its most hardcore adherents. Freewinds was infamously quarantined in St. Lucia in May of 2019 due to a measles outbreak onboard.

The trio claim that since filing their initial suit, the church’s operatives have harassed them and monitored their families outside their homes and in public spaces. Some of their relatives, who are still church members, have pressured them to drop the complaint or “disconnected” from them entirely, a Scientology term meaning the severing of all contact.

They are also now accusing Miscavige of concealing his whereabouts to avoid being served with their suit.

“Plaintiffs have undertaken diligent efforts to attempt personal service on David Miscavige, so far making fourteen attempts to personally serve him from May 31 through August 2, 2022,” states the amended complaint, filed on Aug. 2.

Since June, court papers say, the ex-members have enlisted a private investigator to conduct surveillance on Miscavige’s suspected residence and place of business in Clearwater, Florida. Their lawyer also spoke with Sea Org defectors in the area to ferret out his location.

And when a process server visited multiple Scientology properties, including the “Sandcastle Religious Retreat” building, security guards allegedly forced him to leave and refused to answer questions. Miscavige has also evaded service, the plaintiffs claim, by instructing corporate office staff to refuse to accept delivery of packages addressed to him.

When reached for comment, The Church of Scientology called the case “scurrilous,” a “scam and a sham,” and “nothing more than an attempted money grab.” They also alleged that it was in fact they who are the victims of “NON-STOP HARASSMENT” [emphasis theirs], and criticized The Daily Beast’s coverage of “porn and drugs.” They claimed that a previous law enforcement investigation into Paris’ allegations came up empty, concluding, “Hundreds of contemporaneous photos show the truth—Valeska Paris and the Baxters tellingly enjoyed their lives and the opportunity to spend their free time traveling in the company of friends while aboard the Freewinds.”

The lawsuit alleges forced labor and attempted forced labor in violation of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, among other counts.

All three plaintiffs shared their chilling stories of abuse and harassment in the suit.

GAWAIN BAXTER
Gawain, a citizen of Australia, was 2 months old when his parents placed him in a nursery run by Cadet Org, a subdivision of the Church of Scientology’s ultra-rigid Sea Org intended for children. According to the lawsuit, kids in Cadet Org under 6 are “cared for, disciplined, and groomed” by Sea Org members in a program that “prepares them for a lifetime of servitude under Defendants’ control.”

Once he turned 6 around 1988, Gawain became a Cadet Org member, signed a contract vowing to serve the church for 1 billion years, and was forced to live in a dormitory that, according to the complaint, was a repurposed Quality Inn with about 100 other children.

Now 40, Gawain spent years doing unpaid labor at Flag Land Base—Scientology’s so-called “spiritual headquarters” in Clearwater, Florida—which included trash removal, landscaping, food prep, and clerical work, sometimes full-time if there were staff shortages. Once he turned 13, the complaint says, he received a stipend of $8 per week.

Gawain was then transferred to Sea Org, for which he allegedly toiled 12 or more hours a day doing jobs that included renovating a building, landscaping, and cleaning church facilities. The lawsuit alleges he was “sleep-deprived, given inadequate time to eat, and verbally abused by his adult supervisors.” Gawain eventually wrote a Flag Base officer a letter requesting permission to leave Sea Org because of these conditions. Soon after being punished for this missive, Gawain was assigned to the Freewinds ship.

Freewinds’ security allegedly snatched the teen’s passport, immigration documents and identification to preclude him from any escape attempts.

“Gawain asked if he could retain possession of his green card, but security refused,” the filing continues. “Several months later, Gawain asked to be permitted to leave the ship and return to the United States so that he would not lose permanent resident status, but his requests were denied.”

The lawsuit adds that Gawain worked 16 to 24 hours per day performing “arduous” and sometimes “dangerous” manual labor.

Eight months into his stay on the vessel, Gawain again asked to jump ship. The complaint says that anyone who informs fellow staffers they want to leave is accused of committing what’s known as a “suppressive act,” for which they are “punished, subjected to security checks and other handling until they confess to their ‘crimes.’”

In Gawain’s case, the lawsuit alleges, an executive officer of the International Association of Scientologists Administrations (IASA), brought the teenager into a room and “screamed and repeatedly kicked him in the shins.”

“Gawain was then sent to the engine room for the first of many times and ordered to write up his OWs,” or known as “overeats and withholds” where members self-report deviant thoughts and behavior, the amended complaint adds. “The engine room was extremely hot (more than 100 degrees), dirty, and very loud. There was so little room to move that it was difficult in some parts to stand up straight.”

“Many times after being sent to the engine room, Gawain was forced to write false ‘success stories,’ describing the ways in which he supposedly benefitted [sic] from it,” the filing alleges.

About a decade after Gawain was transferred onto the Freewinds, he was allegedly forced to aid in extensive renovations of the ship, leading to him working 18 hours a day. According to the lawsuit, Gawain became ill, coughing up blood, after being exposed to blue asbestos and concrete dust. He claims he was never given protective gear or allowed to see a doctor; instead he was given a brief rest period until his disturbing symptoms faded. “Gawain has experienced respiratory problems ever since,” the amended filing alleges. In 2008, Freewinds was grounded when government inspectors discovered blue asbestos on board.

Following the renovations, Gawain and most of the ship’s crew were ordered to cold-call Scientologists every night after their work shifts to peddle expensive sets of the church’s “basic books,” the complaint says, adding that he was ordered to purchase and read the volumes himself. As a result of a reading quota, he slept just two hours each night.

Gawain’s “round-the-clock labor” brought him $50 a week, which the lawsuit says was used to buy toiletries and other personal items. Sometimes he went weeks without compensation, supposedly because shipmates had failed to meet their performance targets.

“Gawain was also required to make annual contributions out of his meager pay towards birthday presents for David Miscavige and other executives on the Freewinds,” the filing adds. “Those contributions typically amounted to multiple weeks’ worth of his full pay.”

LAURA BAXTER
Laura was 7 when her mother signed her up to take Scientology courses in Germany. (She now lives with her husband, Gawain, in Australia.)

The 37-year-old was a teenager when she became a staff member of the church’s local organization in Stuttgart eight years later.

According to the amended complaint, Sea Org recruitment officers with the church’s Flag Ship Service Organization “began to visit her every night, manipulate, pressure, and coerce her to sign a contract pledging to service Scientology for life within Sea Org.”

“Even after years of indoctrination, Laura resisted,” the filing alleges. “She told them she always imagined her future to include being a wife and raising a family, which she knew would not be permitted if she joined Sea Org.”

But, according to Laura, the recruiters “would not take no for an answer.” She eventually relented.

She was forced to move to the U.K. for training, and her mother signed over guardianship of her to a Sea Org member and senior IASA officer, the lawsuit states.

Her accusations of forced labor are similar to Gawain’s: She says she was coerced into back-breaking work that included digging trenches and cleaning toilets and dumpsters. And for her hours of labor she was essentially paid pennies—roughly $25 a week. “During this time, Laura was denied adequate time to eat proper meals or take breaks,” the filing says.

She was soon assigned to the Freewinds in IASA files administration. The long hours and pay was the same, the complaint alleges. (At age 17, however, she was transferred to Scientology’s European Base in Copenhagen where she says she worked 18-hour days for $50 a week for about two years.)

The lawsuit alleges Laura would face punishments in the engine room just as her husband and other out-of-favor members had, too.

In 2004, the lawsuit says, “a celebrity actor celebrated his birthday aboard the Freewinds at Miscavige’s invitation” (Tom Cruise, a powerful Scientologist, celebrated his birthday onboard Freewinds that year) and Laura was falsely accused of trying to monopolize the actor’s attention.” She was ordered to be taken to a small room where three IASA officers allegedly “screamed abusively at her.”

“Laura was then confined to the extremely hot engine room for three days, allowed to leave for only a few minutes at a time for meals and to return to her room for a few hours of sleep,” the complaint alleges, adding that she was “sent to that horrific space” numerous times.

The supposed party incident had other ramifications for Laura, who was allegedly confined to an office during the day and her quarters at night, only permitted to leave for interrogations or with a chaperone, and kept under 24-hour surveillance. “On one occasion, she had no choice but to urinate in a trash can,” the amended complaint says.
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More at the link.

MikeH92467 · Aug 7, 2022

Creepiest experience I ever had as a reporter was being inside the Scientology HQ in Clearwater. I could not wait to get the fuck out of there...

Tuckerfan · Oct 29, 2022

One of the biggest trials in Scientology history has revealed how celebrity members like Danny Masterson used the church to skirt law enforcement, witnesses and experts say

Tuckerfan · Jan 1, 2023

MikeH92467 said: ↑

Creepiest experience I ever had as a reporter was being inside the Scientology HQ in Clearwater. I could not wait to get the fuck out of there...
Click to expand...

I had a buddy who used to work near the Scientology center in Nashville. He could see the place from his office and he said people would cross the street to avoid the place as they were walking by. Didn't want to risk bumping into any of the lunatics.

Tuckerfan · Jan 1, 2023

Scientology leader David Miscavige ‘nowhere to be found’ as prosecutors try to serve federal trafficking suit

And nobody has seen his wife in public for about a decade...

Tererune · Jan 1, 2023

Tuckerfan said: ↑

Scientology leader David Miscavige ‘nowhere to be found’ as prosecutors try to serve federal trafficking suit

And nobody has seen his wife in public for about a decade...
Click to expand...

Has anyone checked if there has been any brokedick cargo ships leaving port, or for local UFOs?

We Are Borg · Jan 1, 2023

Where's Tom Cruise when you need a hero?

Tuckerfan · Jun 24, 2023

Breaking: David Miscavige and Scientology Sued for Cover-up of Child Sexual Assault

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