Timeline of Scientology's Harassment of Robert S. Minton and Colleagues

1998

January 3, 1998: An OSA operative called Mr. Minton's father for the purpose of further alienating him from his son. He played a recording of a segment of Mr. Minton's appearance on the television program "Public Eye," in which Mr. Minton had discussed the abuse to which he and his mother had been subjected when he was growing up.

January 6, 1998: Mr. Minton's Beacon Hill neighborhood was leafleted with a flier that featured a large photo of Mr. Minton and the title, "Hatred Hidden Behind Free Speech." The following is the text of the flier:

At the bottom of the flier was a copyright notice by the Church of Scientology of Boston. This was one of many fliers designed to characterize Mr. Minton's outspoken criticism of Scientology's fraud and abuse of its adherents as "religious bigotry and intolerance."

January 7, 1998: Long-time Scientology private investigator Eugene Ingram began contacting Mr. Minton's former business associates in New York and Boston, saying he was investigating Mr. Minton for "conspiracy to commit extortion." Calls to these people continued for months and resulted in many of Mr. Minton's associates severing their ties with him.

January 8, 1998: Scientology private investigator David Lee, who had previously been in Seattle heading up an intense harassment campaign against the Youngs, visited and interviewed Mr. Minton's mother, father, two brothers, an aunt and his uncle in Nashville, Tennessee, over the course of a week.

January 8, 1998: Boston area Scientologists distributed a new leaflet in Mr. Minton's Beacon Hill neighborhood with a photo of Mr. Minton attached. The title of the flier was "Neighbor Pays to Create Hatred Against Religious Group." The flier accused Mr. Minton of paying:

and went on to explain that

The flier ended with a plea to Mr. Minton's neighbors to "join us in condemning the bigots for hire scheme of Mr. Minton." At the bottom of the flier was the following statement: "This is written as a public service of STAND (Scientologists Taking Action for Non-Discrimination)."

January 23, 1998: Scientology private investigators and OSA operatives launched a campaign to harass and intimidate Mr. Minton's friends and former business associates not only in the United States but also in England, Turkey, Brazil, Nigeria, Switzerland, South Africa and Hong Kong. This campaign would continue over the next three years and would result in further isolating Mr. Minton from his friends and associates.

January 26, 1998: Scientologists handed out fliers in Mr. Minton's neighborhood in Boston and around his country home in Sandown, New Hampshire, claiming, among other things, that Mr. Minton "has a history of psychiatric problems." The fliers were again signed by STAND (Scientologists Taking Action for Non-Discrimination). The flier distributed to Mr. Minton's neighbors in New Hampshire stated:

It went on to say:

At the bottom of the flier, again, was the following: "This is written as a public service of STAND (Scientologists Taking Action for Non-Discrimination)."

January 27, 1998: Mr. Minton met with the United Nations Human Rights and Religious Freedom Chief about Scientology's abuse of its adherents and intimidation of critics. He spoke to the U.N. official about Scientology's strategy to throw a smokescreen over its illegal activities in France and Germany by accusing the governments of those countries of religious discrimination. Scientology found out about the meeting and launched a campaign to discredit Mr. Minton with the United Nations. However, Mr. Minton's meeting was successful in educating the U.N. official about Scientology's criminal activities. In the U.N.'s June 1998 report on Religious Freedom, Scientology's attempts to portray their troubles in Germany as religious persecution were described as hysteria.

January - April 1998: For a period of four months, Scientology private investigators repeatedly visited Mr. Minton's former banking associates in England, showing a detailed "psychiatric evaluation" of Mr. Minton that concluded he was likely to burst into a Scientology organization and "kill twenty-five Scientologists."

February 9, 1998: A Scientology operative dressed as a minister distributed fliers on Beacon Hill attacking Mr. Minton as a religious bigot. Others held up a banner calling Mr. Minton a religious bigot.

February 25, 1998: Mr. Minton was featured in The Daily Free Press, an independent newspaper at Boston University. The article was entitled "Activist speaks against Church of Scientology."

February 1998: A new flier was handed out in Mr. Minton's neighborhood in Boston. It featured a photograph of Mr. Minton and several others peacefully protesting Scientology in Clearwater, Florida. Under the photo was the caption: "Mr. Minton associating with an accused child molester." The text of the flier was clearly intended to upset Mr. Minton's family and turn his neighbors against him. Under the heading "Facts about Robert Minton" were the following libelous statements:

By now Scientology was publishing outrageous lies about Mr. Minton, apparently in an attempt to goad him into filing suit against them. However, several experienced attorneys advised Mr. Minton not to sue as Scientology would use the litigation to further harass him and exhaust his financial resources, ultimately forcing him to cease his outspoken criticism of them.

February 1998: While Mr. Minton was vacationing with his family on the French Caribbean island of St. Bart's, Scientology operatives flew to the island and passed out fliers in the town and on the beach where Mr. Minton and his family were relaxing. The flier contained a number of scurrilous charges, including a claim that Mr. Minton associated with "accused child molesters."

February 1998: Scientology operatives followed Mr. Minton throughout Clearwater, Florida, while he was with a film crew shooting a documentary about his activism against Scientology for SAT-1 German TV.

February 1998: Mr. Minton drove to Connecticut to assist Stacy Brooks, who was helping Leslie White, a young woman who had been driven to the brink of a nervous breakdown by her experience in Scientology. A Scientology operative tried to change the woman's mind about leaving Scientology, telling her that both Stacy Brooks and Robert Minton had been sent from another planet to destroy Scientology. As ludicrous as this statement was, it soon became clear that Scientologists were being seriously indoctrinated to believe it. Word came back from several sources that Scientologists now believed that they were "off-planet people" sent to Earth to eradicate Scientology.

March 14, 1998: While Mr. Minton was in Los Angeles for a peaceful protest of Scientology headquarters, Boston Scientologists distributed libelous fliers about him throughout Beacon Hill. It was the largest number of fliers they had ever handed out about him.

March 16, 1998: Scientology private investigator David Lee visited Mr. Minton's father-in-law in England to "ask some questions" about his son-in-law.

March 16, 1998: A Scientology private investigator spoke by telephone to a friend of Mr. Minton's family in England, explaining that Mr. Minton was being investigated because of his "psychological profile."

April 19, 1998: Mr. Minton delivered a speech to the Cult Information Service (CIS) Conference in Newark, New Jersey, in which he detailed the harassment he had been subjected to by Scientology in their efforts to silence him and frighten him away. The title of the speech was "Battling Scientology's attack on free speech."

April 19, 1998: 12 million Germans watched the SAT-1 documentary about Mr. Minton's commitment to stopping Scientology's criminal activities.

May 3, 1998: Scientology private investigator David Lee, operating in Toronto under the pseudonym Ron Christopher, contacted a number of Mr. Minton's former business associates. He claimed to be working for a non-existent company called "Financial Researchers," conducting a fraud investigation of Mr. Minton. He offered to pay one of Mr. Minton's former employees USD $35,000 if he would sign a false statement that Mr. Minton had committed criminal fraud. This was the third such offer; the first two were made by another Scientology private investigator, Peter Franks, in England. Franks was apparently working with Lee on Lee's assignment to destroy Mr. Minton.

May 1998: A family asked Stacy Brooks to fly to New Orleans to talk to their daughter about her experiences in Scientology. After hearing about Stacy's experiences, the young woman decided to leave Scientology. She informed her superior in New York that she did not intend to return. That night, New Orleans police surrounded the family's house, responding to an anonymous report that a young woman had been kidnapped. The young woman explained to the police that she had made her own decision to leave Scientology, but that Scientology did not want her to leave. The young woman was very happy to return to her family and her old life. Stacy then flew to Washington, D.C., for an interview about Scientology with a Swedish television director. When she arrived in D.C., long-time OSA operative Sylvia Stannard was at the gate to meet her. She accused Stacy of kidnapping and "forcibly deprogramming" the young woman in New Orleans. Stannard told Stacy, "I'm not going to let you kidnap anyone in my town." Stacy asked Stannard how she knew what flight she was arriving on, but Stannard refused to answer.

Mr. Minton arrived in D.C. the next day, and for the next several days Mr. Minton and Stacy were followed wherever they went in Washington. One night while they were having dinner in a restaurant with another friend, OSA operative Matt Braschi suddenly appeared at their table with a camera, taking photos of the three of them and being extremely offensive. One afternoon while Stacy was having lunch with the Swedish television crew, several OSA operatives surrounded their table and became so loud and threatening that Stacy had to have the hotel security personnel escort the Scientologists out of the building.

May 1998 - December 1999: Beginning with Ms. Brooks' arrival in D.C. in May 1998, Scientology began meeting both Mr. Minton and Ms. Brooks at the airport wherever they traveled. Sometimes the Scientologists would appear with picket signs, such as in the Columbus, Ohio, airport and the Denver, Colorado, airport, meeting Mr. Minton and Ms. Brooks at their gates and following them through the airport with picket signs. This continued until the end of 1999, when Mr. Minton and Ms. Brooks began to call the airport security to alert them of their arrival, so that security personnel could keep the Scientologists away from them. Although the harassment has stopped, Scientology still keeps them under surveillance and knows when and where they are traveling at all times.

May - July 1998: Mr. Minton had a series of three meetings, totaling 15 hours, with two of the top leaders of Scientology. He hoped to enter into a dialogue about ending Scientology's criminal conduct, including fraud, practicing medicine without a license, child abuse, and human rights violations. He met with Mike Rinder, the head of OSA International, and Marty Rathbun, head of the Religious Technology Center (RTC) and second in command of Scientology under its dictator, David Miscavige. Unfortunately, the Scientologists had no interest in discussing their criminal conduct. Their interest was solely to convince Mr. Minton to stop providing funds to Scientology critics. They told Mr. Minton point blank that if he would quit giving financial support to critics, Scientology would stop harassing and intimidating Mr. Minton and his friends and family. At the end of the third meeting, Mr. Minton made it clear that he would not stop his financial support until Scientology ceased destroying people's lives through fraud and criminal abuse. In response, the Scientologists intensified their campaign against him.

June 16, 1998: Dateline NBC aired a 35-minute segment on Mr. Minton and his work to expose Scientology's abuse and deception called "The Crusader." Scientology tried to stop the show by presenting Dateline executives with information intended to discredit Mr. Minton, but they were unsuccessful.

July 9, 1998: The Boston Globe published a large article titled "The Improbable Crusade of Robert Minton," which included information about the harassment he was being subjected to.

July 18, 1998: Former Scientologist Jesse Prince contacted Mr. Minton via email at his FACTNet address after hearing about the Dateline show. Stacy Brooks, also a board member of FACTNet, saw the email and contacted Mr. Prince imMediately. She and Mr. Prince had known each other in Scientology for many years but had not had any contact since they had left nearly a decade earlier. Mr. Prince met her in Columbus, Ohio, and they discussed the work she and Mr. Minton were doing to bring an end to Scientology's criminal activities. Mr. Prince had been a high-level executive in Scientology and had extensive information about Scientology's criminal conduct. He offered to assist them in their work.

July 19, 1998: The next day, Mike Rinder called Mr. Minton in New Hampshire and asked him if Jesse Prince was on Mr. Minton's payroll. Coming as it did imMediately after Mr. Prince's initial meeting with Ms. Brooks, Mr. Rinder's telephone call was clearly intended to let Mr. Minton know Scientology had them under surveillance.

July 24, 1998: Jesse Prince received a letter from Scientology attorney Elliot Abelson threatening legal action against him if he provided any "information respecting alleged events that came to your attention in your capacity as an employee of a Church of Scientology" to "attorneys who are in litigation against the Church of Scientology entities."

July 25, 1998: Several Scientologists trespassed on Mr. Minton's property in New Hampshire as he and Ms. Brooks were swimming in the pool. The Scientologists loudly hurled profanities down the hill at Ms. Brooks and were extremely threatening. Mr. Minton ordered them off his property. They got in their car and left, but then almost imMediately drove back onto his property, got out and began to approach him again. Mr. Minton fired two shots over their heads with his shotgun to let them know he was serious about ordering them off his property. This did cause the Scientologists to leave imMediately. Scientology would later falsely claim that Mr. Minton aimed the gun at them and attempted to shoot them, citing this as "proof" of Mr. Minton's "violent nature." However, although the Scientologists attempted to have Mr. Minton arrested for this incident, the police determined that he had done nothing wrong in firing the shotgun as a warning to the trespassers.

July 26, 1998: While Mr. Minton's wife Therese was vacationing in England with the Mintons' two daughters, a letter from Mike Rinder was hand-delivered to her. The letter attempted to elicit her help in convincing Mr. Minton to stop his work to end Scientology's criminal activities. Rinder wrote,

He went on to say,

Attempting to get Therese to persuade Mr. Minton to meet with the Scientologists, Rinder concluded by saying,

This letter was upsetting to Mrs. Minton and had the effect of alienating her from Mr. Minton.

July 28, 1998: An article appeared in the local New Hampshire newspaper, the Union Leader Correspondent, entitled "Sandown Police: Shots Fired in Spat with Protesters." This article focused on the July 25 trespassing incident at Mr. Minton's house. Scientology operatives Gerard Renna and Kevin Hall were both quoted. Renna said he was "tired of Minton going on Dateline and spreading lies," that he was "fed up" with it. Hall lied about the trespassing incident, claiming that Scientology protesters:

July 30, 1998: Scientology began distributing fliers about Mr. Minton three to four times a week during public meetings at the town hall in Sandown, New Hampshire. This continued for several weeks.

July 30, 1998: Fliers were distributed at a local supermarket in Sandown.

July 1998: Scientology continued to monitor the travel of the Minton family and photograph Mr. Minton's wife and children in England during their summer vacation.

July 30, 1998: Mike Rinder sent Therese Minton a second letter discussing the shotgun incident and asking to have a face-to-face meeting.

July 31, 1998: Mr. Minton was interviewed for an article in the Rockingham, New Hampshire News entitled "Local man helps many leave Scientology; Church says he distorts the Truth" by Lara Bricker. Referring to Boston Scientology spokesman Kevin Hall, the article said:

July 1998: Mr. Minton was on a radio show on Boston's WRKO. Before the show Scientologists entered the station's offices to protest their exclusion from the broadcast. The producer later said the Scientologists' behavior was extremely inappropriate, aggressively demanding to be put on the air.

August 1998: The Scientologists informed Mr. Minton that they knew his wife and children had flown from England to Spain in early August 1998. This was clearly done to let him know that they were being followed.

August 1998: Five Scientologists picketed the home of Jesse Prince's father in Memphis, Tennessee. They held picket signs that said, "Tell your son to leave my church alone." Mr. Prince's father also received a number of telephone calls from Scientology private investigators telling him his son was a criminal.

August 3, 1998: The St. Petersburg Times, which is the paper that is distributed in Clearwater, ran an article entitled "Millionaire's bizarre feud with Scientology escalates" which reported on the trespassing incident in New Hampshire. It was later learned that OSA had fed the newspaper a false version of what had happened; this seemed to account for the biased headline.

August 8, 1998: The St. Petersburg Times ran a more in-depth article about the trespassing case entitled "Millionaire not charged in Scientology case." The article said

Mr. Minton would later learn that Scientologists had pressured the Massachusetts state attorney's office to prosecute Mr. Minton for the incident, but they were not successful. The article quoted the Sandown police chief confirmed that no charges would be filed.

The article went on to say:

It concluded:

August 14, 1998: The Rockingham, New Hampshire News published a letter to the editor from Boston Scientology OSA operative Frank Ofman in which he accused Mr. Minton of being mentally unstable. Ofman twisted the facts not only of the trespassing incident but also of Mr. Minton's personal history to paint a picture of Mr. Minton as irrational and dangerous, in an obvious effort to discredit him. He wrote:

It was later learned that the newspaper published the letter only after intense pressure from Scientology, including threats to sue over its previous news report on Mr. Minton.

August 24, 1998: Scientologists picketed the Turan Corporation in Boston. Robert Smith, the head of Turan, was Mr. Minton's former business associate and had been quoted in the New York Times in December 1997 saying, "He's a man of principle and a very tenacious person."

Now he became a target himself for his support of Mr. Minton. Scientologists passed out fliers headlined "Turan Corp. Connection to the Religious Bigotry of Robert S. Minton," in which they sought to smear Smith by linking him to Mr. Minton. The flier stated:

In one of the first indications that Scientology was investigating Mr. Minton's work in Nigeria, the flier stated:

The flier was signed: "By the Free Speech & Religious Freedom Committee of the Parishioners of the Church of Scientology of Boston."

August 26, 1998: Therese Minton received her third letter from Rinder, saying he wanted to speak with her about Mr. Minton. Still hoping to convince her to meet with him, he wrote,

August 30, 1998: Scientology picketed and passed out fliers in front of Mr. Minton's home on Beacon Hill in Boston. Scientologists carried picket signs clearly intended for Therese and the children to see. Mr. Minton and Therese had separated, and he had been seeing Stacy Brooks. Some of the signs described Ms. Brooks as a vamp destroying the Minton family by breaking up their marriage, and another sign implored Mr. Minton not to destroy the lives of his children. The fliers were passed out to friends, neighbors, and parents of the Minton children's classmates.

August 31, 1998: Scientologists again picketed Mr. Minton's home in Boston, and passed out fliers referring to Mr. Minton and Ms. Brooks as adulterers. The Scientologists also picketed Mr. Minton's home in New Hampshire, where his daughters were staying with him. They held up signs that were obviously intended to upset Mr. Minton's daughters.

September 2, 1998: Eight Scientologists greeted Mr. Minton and Jesse Prince at their gate as they arrived at the Boston airport. The Scientologists created such a disturbance at baggage claim that four state troopers were required to restore order. After both sides were questioned the troopers told the Scientologists that had they known that they were demonstrating in the airport they would have been arrested, since FAA regulations prohibit such unlawful assembly at the airport.

September 1998: Mr. Minton and Stacy were stalked through Chinatown in San Francisco by OSA operatives who videotaped them as they walked. They called the police, but when the officer heard that Scientology was involved he called his superior, who came to the scene and apologized, saying there was nothing he could do because the San Francisco Police Department could not afford a lawsuit from Scientology.

September 5, 1998: A large group of Scientologists picketed Therese Minton and the Mintons' two daughters in front of their house in Boston.

September 6, 1998: Two Scientologists, Maureen O'Keefe and Joe Stover, picketed Mr. Minton's house in New Hampshire. The Sandown police arrived and ordered the Scientologists to leave, telling them they were creating a hazard on the road.

September 7, 1998: Scientologists picketed Mr. Minton's home in New Hampshire again, but it was done in a car, with the picket signs held out of the car windows.

September 8, 1998: Scientologists again picketed the Minton house in Boston. Several friends of the Mintons' daughters were given fliers about Mr. Minton.

September 10, 1998: Scientologists came up to Mr. Minton's house in New Hampshire again to hold picket signs out of the car windows as they drove back and forth past the house.

September 10, 1998: Mr. Minton drove Jesse Prince down to Boston from New Hampshire to take him to the airport. They stopped at the Boston Scientology center to picket, and two Boston Scientologists, Frank Ofman and Kevin Hall, began assaulting Mr. Minton both verbally and physically. Frank Ofman in particular was screaming at Mr. Minton and pushing him repeatedly. Finally Ofman grabbed Mr. Minton's picket sign and broke the stick. Mr. Minton tossed the broken end of the stick at Ofman in disgust and then called the police. But when the police came the Scientologists showed them a video in which Ofman's assault of Mr. Minton was missing and the only thing on the tape was Mr. Minton tossing the broken piece at Ofman. Under pressure from the Scientologists, the police then handcuffed Mr. Minton and arrested him for battery. Scientology imMediately posted the arrest photos on the Internet and announced that Mr. Minton was a criminal. However, on December 16, the judge dismissed the charges, directing Mr. Minton to fax a notice to the Boston Scientology center before he picketed for the next three months. Although the charges were dismissed, Scientology continued to portray Mr. Minton as a criminal who had been "arrested for assault."

September 10, 1998: One aspect of Kevin Hall's verbal assault of Mr. Minton in front of the Boston Scientology center was particularly disturbing. At the time, Mr. Minton had had several sessions with a Cambridge psychologist named Terry Real. Dr. Real was counseling both Mr. Minton and his wife Therese, who were separating. Kevin Hall repeated statements that Mr. Minton had made to his therapist and to no one else. The only conclusion that Mr. Minton could draw was that Scientology had put pressure on Dr. Real to reveal confidential information from his sessions. Within days of that incident, Dr. Real called Therese Minton and abruptly informed her that he would no longer see either her or Mr. Minton. He refused to give a reason and hung up quickly. Kevin Hall also verbally assaulted Jesse Prince with information from his auditing sessions in Scientology. Scientology claims that this information is kept confidential; however, when someone leaves Scientology their auditing files are culled for embarrassing and upsetting information so that it can be used to harass the person. Mr. Prince's auditing files were last known to be in Gilman Hot Springs, California.

September 12, 1998: Several Scientologist met Mr. Prince with picket signs at his gate at the Minneapolis airport. As he walked through the airport the Scientologists shouted obscenities at him.

September 12, 1998: Atlanta Scientology OSA operative Diane Stein called Stacy Brooks' mother in Atlanta. She told her that her daughter was part of a "hate group" and that she was involved in illegal activities.

September 15, 1998: A group of Scientologists went to the office of Dr. Abernathy, a psychiatrist Mr. Minton had been seeing at Massachusetts General Hospital. They confronted Dr. Abernathy and demanded to speak to him about Mr. Minton.

September 23, 1998: Four Scientology operatives picketed Mr. Minton and Ms. Brooks in the Columbus, Ohio, airport as they went to their gate. Mr. Minton called airport security and informed them of the FAA regulation against unlawful assembly in an airport, and the picketers were escorted out.

September 23, 1998: When Stacy Brooks arrived at her home in Seattle she was greeted by three Scientologists picketing her home. One of the signs read:

September 28, 1998: Peter Franks, a British private investigator hired by Scientology, spread the word to many of Therese Minton's friends in England and to Mr. Minton's former business partner, Jeff Schmidt, that Therese, the Mintons' two daughters, and Mr. Schmidt were going to be followed in order to bring pressure on Mr. Minton to stop his activities concerning Scientology.

Mr. Schmidt's office had been picketed and leafleted at this point for several weeks, as had his home, while his wife and children were there. Franks threatened to go after Mr. Schmidt's clients, one of which was the Nigerian government. Franks said they would arrange picketing of the Nigerian delegation to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) meeting in Washington, D. C., which was set for October 4-8 the next month. Franks promised that Mr. Schmidt would be caught in a web of an IRS tax investigation of Mr. Minton and in his own problems with the Inland Revenue Service, England's equivalent of the IRS. Franks said that unless Mr. Schmidt did something to help Scientology go after Mr. Minton, he would have serious trouble on his hands, since the seven-year statute of limitations had not yet run out on the activities he and Mr. Minton were engaged in together (their partnership ended in 1993.)

Franks also said that all of Therese's neighbors would be visited in Boston, and the "whole ugly scene" would be laid out for all to hear. The children's schools would be targeted for the same campaign, which would include teachers, administrators and parents, to paint Mr. Minton as a pariah. He let it be known that he expected Therese and Jeff to pressure Mr. Minton into quitting the work he was doing concerning Scientology.

September 28, 1998: Two New Hampshire newspapers contacted Mr. Minton to ask him about a flier that had been distributed to every resident in Sandown over the previous few days. The title of the flier was "The Truth About Robert Minton, Leader of an Anti-Religious Hate Group." The flier characterized Mr. Minton as irrational, unstable and violent, deliberately twisting the facts of the trespassing incident and of the incident that led to Mr. Minton's arrest in Boston, charges that were later dismissed after Mr. Minton's attorney made it clear to the judge that Scientology had set him up for a false arrest.

Clearly intended to isolate Mr. Minton from his neighbors in Sandown by frightening them, the flier stated:

The flier then gave an outrageously false and exaggerated account of the incident that had led to Mr. Minton's false arrest in Boston:

The flier ended by saying

It was signed by "Free Speech and Religious Freedom Committee of the Parishioners of the Church of Scientology."

September 29, 1998: Scientology private investigator Peter Franks told Jeff Schmidt that Scientology would take care of all divorce matters between Therese and Mr. Minton.

September 1998: Two of Stacy Brooks' sisters were picketed at their homes, one in Atlanta and one in Duluth, Minnesota. Fliers about her were handed out in both neighborhoods. One flier stated:

The picketers couldn't get a single person to take one of their fliers other then the copy Stacy's sister took to send to Stacy.

September 1998: A flier was pushed through the mail slot at Stacy Brooks' mother's house in Atlanta. The title was "Robert S. Minton & Stacy Brooks Young -- The truth behind the lies." The flier said, in part:

This flier was signed "Free Speech & Religious Freedom Committee of the Parishioners of the Church of Scientology of Georgia."

September 1998: Virtually the same flier was distributed in San Francisco, signed "Free Speech & Religious Freedom Committee of the Parishioners of the Church of Scientology of San Francisco."

October 2, 1998: Maureen O'Keefe, then head of OSA in Boston, wrote Therese Minton a letter in an attempt to befriend her and gain her trust so that she would turn against Mr. Minton. In the letter O'Keefe denied that the Minton children had been followed or harassed in any way and described a meeting between Mr. Minton and her that was a complete fabrication, saying,

October 5, 1998: Peter Franks, Scientology's British private investigator, had a letter hand-delivered to Mr. Minton's former business partner Jeff Schmidt while Mr. Scmidt was attending the International Monetary Fund (IMF) meeting in Washington, D.C. The letter was obviously sent in an attempt to convince Mr. Schmidt to turn against Mr. Minton and work with Franks. Mr. Schmidt did not reply.

October 3, 1998: Jesse Prince and Stacy Brooks were on their way to New Hampshire to help Mr. Minton celebrate his birthday. They were standing in line at their gate at the Seattle, Washington, airport, when two DEA agents pulled them out of the line and began to search their carry-on bags. Another agent with a German shepherd that appeared to be a drug dog stood nearby. One of the agents opened Ms. Brooks' computer case and discovered a draft of an affidavit she had brought with her to review on the airplane. When he saw it, the agent suddenly looked at her and asked, "Are you an attorney?" Ms. Brooks replied that she was a consultant to several attorneys on the subject of Scientology, and that the kind of harassment that she and Mr. Prince were being subjected to by the two DEA agents at that moment was part of a pattern of harassment to which she had been subjected for the past five years. When she said this, the two agents suddenly closed the bags they had been searching, stood up, apologized for having bothered them, and quickly left the terminal.

October 9, 1998: Peter Franks sent a flier to a New Hampshire company in which Mr. Minton and Jeff Schmidt had substantial investments. The title of the flier was "What is Jeffrey Schmidt's connection to the religious bigotry of Robert S. Minton?" It then went on to repeat many of the same lies of previous fliers, except this one was tailor-made to target Mr. Schmidt. It stated,

It was signed "Free Speech & Religious Freedom Committee of the Parishioners of the Church of Scientology." The owners were so upset by the flier that they called Jeff Schmidt to tell him he must find a way to buy out Mr. Minton's interest in the company.

October 9, 1998: British private investigator Peter Franks had a fourteen-page package of scurrilous material delivered to the Nigerian Minister of Finance while the minister was attending the IMF conference in Washington D.C. A copy of the package was also delivered to Jeff Schmidt at the conference. The theme of the material was that Mr. Minton, Jeff and their other partner, Selwyn Lewis, had profited from the economic woes of Nigeria. The intent of the material was clearly to discourage the Nigerian government from doing business with Mr. Schmidt. It was also clear that Franks was sending Mr. Schmidt a message about what would happen to him if he continued to support Mr. Minton.

October 12, 1998: Jesse Prince and Stacy Brooks were met by two OSA operatives, Gerard Renna and Maureen O' Keefe, as they arrived at their gate at the Boston airport. The Scientologists said they wanted to engage in some "real communication" to try to "resolve our differences." However, the presence of the two operatives made it clear that Mr. Prince and Ms. Brooks were under surveillance.

October 1998: Fliers were distributed about Mr. Minton calling him the leader of an anti-religious hate group. Titled "The Truth about Robert S. Minton, Leader of an Anti-Religious Hate Group," the flier portrayed Mr. Minton as a man of violence with a history of psychiatric instability. The shotgun incident was now described as "violence" aganst "Scientologists engaged in a peaceful demonstration." The incident in Boston was described in grossly exaggerated terms to characterize Mr. Minton as dangerous.

The flier ended by saying,

It was signed by the "Free Speech & Religious Freedom Committee of the Parishioners of the Church of Scientology."

November 3, 1998: Stacy Brooks arrived at her home on Vashon Island after a trip to find six Scientologists waiting for her with picket signs. They blocked her from going down her driveway, screaming obscenities at her and lunging at her car in a threatening way. She remained quiet and did not react, and after several minutes they backed away so that she could get home.

November 8, 1998: As Ms. Brooks drove out of her driveway on Vashon Island to run an errand, she encountered several Scientology picketers waiting for her on the side of the road. One of the picketers ran over to Stacy's van and thrust a flier at the window. The title was "Creating Hatred and Bigotry - Would you give your money to someone who is…" and it then went on to list several unsavory types of people, including "an accused child molester… a former pornography editor … a member of an anti-Semitic group run by the most influential neo-Nazi in the world … a group which has been involved in kidnapping for hire and which went bankrupt following a multimillion dollar verdict for civil rights violations under the anti-KKK laws."

The intent of the fliers was to characterize Scientology critics as criminals and perverts, and to identify Mr. Minton as the kind of person who would support that kind of individual. The flier accused him of launching a "$2 million-plus anti-religious hate campaign against members of the Church of Scientology." It then repeated the "evidence" of Mr. Minton's violent nature, distorting both incidents beyond recognition:

These statements were flagrant lies. The flier was signed "Free Speech & Religious Freedom Committee of the Church of Scientology of Washington State."

November 14, 1998: Multiple felony charges were filed against the Flag Service Organization of the Church of Scientology in Clearwater. This case was State of Florida v. FSO regarding Lisa McPherson's death at the hands of Scientology. The Scientology leadership considered Mr. Minton responsible for much of the attention that had been brought to Lisa McPherson's death.

November 16, 1998: Boston Scientology operative Gerard Renna met Mr. Minton and Jesse at their gate at the Boston airport as they prepared to leave for England to meet with Jeff Schmidt, Mr. Minton's former partner. Again, the message was: "We know where you are all the time."

November 27, 1998: Mr. Minton received an email newsletter from the "Friends of Religious Liberty." Again the trespassing incident was recounted, but now the story was unrecognizable from the original, with the Scientologists playing the role of innocent victims:

The incident in front of the Boston Scientology center was also repeated, and that story was also unrecognizable from the truth. Now Mr. Minton was depicted as a raging monster, with the poor Scientologists the innocent victims of his violence:

There were new lies too; Stacy Brooks was reported to have received "scream therapy" at the "Wellspring deprogramming/brainwashing center in Ohio."

December 3, 1998: Stacy Brooks and Jesse Prince were guests on WMNF talk radio, the public radio station in Clearwater, Florida, during Lisa McPherson Memorial Week. They talked about their own experiences while in Scientology at the highest levels of management, including being incarcerated in Scientology's political prison camp, known as the Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF).

December 14, 1998: Mr. Minton's attorney Stephen Jonas made it clear to Boston Municipal Judge Hershfang that it was Scientology that had been at fault rather than Mr. Minton in the September 10 incident with Frank Ofman involving the broken picket sign. The judge dismissed the charges against Mr. Minton. Under pressure from the Scientologists, however, the court made a provision that Mr. Minton must notify Scientology an hour before picketing in front of the Scientology center in Boston. By 4:45pm that same afternoon, Scientology officials were already in touch with Boston police, falsely alleging that Mr. Minton had picketed the Scientology center unannounced.

December 14, 1998: Mr. Minton appeared on Arts and Entertainment Channel (A&E) Investigative Reports, on a program entitled "Inside Scientology." Mike Rinder from OSA was the spokesman for Scientology.

December 16, 1998: Frank Ofman sent a letter to the Massachusetts district attorney's office with an ex-parte copy to Judge Hershfang. The letter complained that Mr. Minton had already violated the dismissal agreement by dropping off his "agents" to picket the Scientology center in Boston. Since the judge received a copy of this letter, he summoned the district attorney and Mr. Minton's attorney Stephen Jonas to his office, where he learned that Mr. Minton had not violated the dismissal agreement at all. Afterwards the district attorney berated the Scientologists for their "provocative acts." After the hearing, Scientologists picketed Therese Minton at her home on Beacon Hill with signs announcing Mr. Minton's relationship with Stacy Brooks. The picket was timed to coincide with the Minton girls' arrival home from school.

December 17, 1998: The same two Scientology operatives, Frank Ofman and Kevin Hall, videotaped Mr. Minton as he picketed the Scientology center in Boston, both trying to provoke Mr. Minton into saying that he hit Frank Ofman first during the September 10 incident. Both Ofman and Hall said the same thing repeatedly to Mr. Minton. Hall would say, "Come on Bob, why won't you just admit that you hit Frank first?" Mr. Minton would laugh and say, "I can't admit to something that never happened." Then Hall would say, "Come on, Bob, you should apologize to Frank for hitting him and then lying about it." Their attempt to put an "admission" on videotape was unsuccessful, however.

December 20, 1998: Scientologists led by Maureen O'Keefe had a truckload of food delivered to the Sandown Food Pantry. This was done after the Scientologists found out that their fliers about Mr. Minton had turned many of the people in town against Scientology.

December 21, 1998: In a move designed purely for harassment, Kevin Hall and three other Scientologists, including Mary Frances Newey with a video camera, drove up to Mr. Minton's house in New Hampshire and waited until he and Ms. Brooks came out the front door. Then they drove by, yelling, "Merry Christmas, Bob and Stacy!" with Mary Frances videotaping them in the driveway.

December 21, 1998: KFI radio in LA did a live show with Mr. Minton and Ms. Brooks about Scientology.

December 22, 1998: While walking back to the house after some shopping, Therese Minton noticed that there were fliers on cars and doorsteps all over Beacon Hill. Upon arriving at her house with the girls, She found a handful of fliers on her doorstep that were clearly aimed at Therese and the children, their friends, neighbors and acquaintances in Boston. The flier had a photograph of Mr. Minton and Ms. Brooks and was titled "We Call It Adultery." It ended:

The flier was signed: "Friends of Religious Freedom."

December 23, 1998: Mr. Minton was a guest on the Los Angeles public radio station KFI on "The John and Ken Show." Scientologist John Carmichael was the other guest.

December 24, 1998: At 9:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve, several Boston Scientologists, including Kevin Hall, drove by Mr. Minton's house in New Hampshire shouting "Merry Christmas!" at the top of their lungs. The Scientologists folded some of their fliers into paper airplanes and threw them at Mr. Minton's door.

December 26, 1998: All the residents of Sandown, New Hampshire received an "Open Letter to Sandown Residents" from Maureen O'Keefe of the Boston Scientology center. With a large American flag at the top of the page, the letter purported to be from the "Committee on Constitutional Rights." The letter was full of lies and innuendo about Mr. Minton and was clearly calculated to turn the town of Sandown against him. The letter is a good example of how Scientology accuses a critic of spreading lies and hatred simply because the critic is exposing Scientology's illegal activities and its violations of civil and human rights. Anything critical of Scientology is denounced as lies and hate-mongering. As explained in the introduction, a critic must be identified as a criminal. If he or she does not already have a criminal record, then a criminal record must be created or invented. O'Keefe slipped a veiled threat into the closing of her letter when she said, "Our message to him is quite simple: 'You leave us alone. We'll leave you alone.'" This overt reference to one of Scientology's infamous "Fair Game" policies was clearly intended to warn Mr. Minton to back off. Attached to O'Keefe's open letter was a "fact sheet" consisting of a by-now familiar litany of lies about several critics of Scientology. Also included in the "fact sheet" were repetitions of the same two incidents involving Mr. Minton. Rather than trespassing, the Scientologists had now been on "public property":

There was no mention that the charges were dismissed, and no mention that the violence was committed by a Scientologist who broke Mr. Minton's picket sign, not by Mr. Minton. In a typical example of Scientology's deliberate role reversal, O'Keefe ended her letter by saying,

December 27, 1998: Mr. Minton was a guest on KFUO Radio, part of the nationwide Christian Radio Jubilee Network in Detroit. Don Matzat, host of Issues, Etc, interviewed him. The title of the program was "Scientology - Religious Mafia?"

December 28, 1998: While Mr. Prince was visiting Ms. Brooks at her home on Vashon Island, Scientologists distributed a flier about Mr. Prince in Ms. Brooks' neighborhood. The flier featured a photograph of Mr. Prince and was titled, "The Face of Religious Bigotry." It accused Mr. Prince of buying drugs and being paid "thousands of dollars" to attack Scientology. Mr. Prince had recently visited Mr. Minton in New Hampshire. After a day of clearing underbrush in Mr. Minton's 200 acres of woods, Mr. Minton and Mr. Prince were on their way back to the house carrying axes when a group of Scientologists drove by Mr. Minton's house with picket signs. This incident had now been transformed in the flier into another example of Mr. Minton's violence. The flier was signed, "From the Free Speech & Religious Freedom Committee Church of Scientology, Seattle."

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