From: bob@minton.org (Bob Minton)
Subject: Scieno police threaten Danish TV and DA's Jesse Prince, Factnet and me
Date: 19 May 1999
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology 		 

Danish TV show

Church of Scientology International
Office of Special Affairs

May 12,1999

Mr. Jorgen Pedersen
Net Productions
Kalvebod Brugge 35-37
1519 Copenhagen V., Denmark

Fax No. 011-45-33-184461

Re: Your Upcoming Television program on Scientology

Dear Mr. Pedersen:

Following, our most recent telephone conversation today, I have given considerable thought to what we discussed concerning your upcoming television program on the Church Scientology.

Initially, I would like to point out that the Church has cooperated extensively with the production staff in the making of this program. Our staff and parishioners in Denmark have provided interviews, footage of our church facilities and tried to answer all of your questions.

While I understand that to some degree the program will be controversial, I am grateful that the Church has had the opportunity to present you with sufficient material to portray the Church of Scientology in a balanced, even-handed fashion. And I truly hope that your program will ultimately reflect that balance. We are not seeking to exert editorial control over your program; your journalistic integrity deserves to be respected. However, knowing what we know about Jesse Prince, we do object to the fact that he is being given the prominence of your television program to violate his contractual obligation.

In the final analysis, I fail to see what could possibly be gained by providing a Church spokesperson to engage in a televised debate with Jesse Prince. Mr. Prince was removed from any position of authority in the Church more than 10 years ago for his inability to attend to his duties in an honest, ethical fashion. He has no current knowledge of any of our Churches or activities. Thus, nothing he could possibly say on your program will improve your viewers' understanding of Scientology at all.

As to any past knowledge he may have had at one time, Mr. Prince admitted in a documented interview with Church counsel that such knowledge did not include any of the areas of expertise that he is now pretending to be an expert, such as Church legal affairs. For example, in August of 1998, Mr. Prince filed a declaration in a copyright infringement case involving the unlawful copying of approximate 2,000 published works by L. Ron Hubbard. In it, Mr. Prince pretended to a knowledge of copyright procedures which he did not possess. Once this lack of knowledge was exposed in a deposition of Mr. Prince taken on August 19, 1998, the defendants in that suit, who hired Mr. Prince were forced to settle the case for a permanent injunction and a $l,OOO,OOO damages award against them rather than face a trial with Mr. Prince as their witness.

Worse than merely being uninformed, Mr. Prince has amply demonstrated that he will say anything for money. Indeed Mr. Prince conceded in his August 19, 1998 testimony (excerpts of which were provided to you) that he had received several thousand dollars and a new car for testifying against the church, and that his paychecks would continue as long as he continued to speak out. This money is his only regular source of income beyond some occasional work as a handyman.

Before obtaining this windfall, Mr. Prince was unable to keep a job and, as a result declared bankruptcy in 1997. After declaring bankruptcy, he then sought to have the Church purchase his silence in exchange for large amounts of money. After the Church refused to cooperate with this attempted extortion, Mr. Prince took up the mantle of as a "professional" anti-Scientologist. Having collected his thirty pieces of silver to betray his faith, he continues to appear in the press, picket Churches, and harass Church staff both to earn his pay and in the hope that the Church will pay him money to go away. That is what he is attempting to do now, and I see no reason for the Church to aid him in his efforts.

Further, you were provided with evidence concerning Mr. Prince's long, unchanging pattern of unethical conduct. These included court records of arrests and convictions for lewd conduct and for driving while intoxicated. This conduct continues to the present. You were provided these materials for a specific reason: Mr. Prince intends to come on your program and pass moral judgement on my Church. His fitness to make moral pronouncements is thus directly relevant. It is my view that Mr. Prince's conduct renders him unfit to judge Scientology or anyone else.

Finally, we have presented you with the contract Mr. Prince signed when he left Church staff in which he agreed never to disclose any of the information he learned while on Church staff. This contract was entered into precisely to avoid the circumstance of Prince inventing allegations which force the Church to disclose private internal matters to disprove his lies. Mr. Prince is contractually bound to the Church in the amount of $10,000 for each breach of this contract. As he is penniless, and as your program is paying his expenses to enable him to fly to Denmark and appear on your show in violation of his contractual obligations, the Church will hold your production company and any of its employees or agents who induced Mr. Prince to breach his contractual obligations fully responsible for any violations.

Thus, if you sincerely desire to have your program reflect the amount of effort you and your staff appear to have put into it, and not to have it degenerate into a tabloid-style forum for the airing of lies which have been bought and paid for, I urge you to seriously reconsider using Mr. Prince at all.

Whatever you decide, you will not have a Church representative sitting opposite him in a live-on tape debate; that we will not do. You do have our views, though, in this letter, and I would request that those views be accurately communicated to your viewers.

If you wish to communicate about any other matters concerning your program please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Kurt Weiland

Church of Scientology International
CC: Mr. Kim Jonassen-Danish Radio 2
CC: Ms. Annette Refstrup

RE: JESSE PRINCE

Jesse Prince is a former Church staff member who is speaking out against Scientology because he is being paid to do so. His testimony was purchased by FACTNet director Robert Minton to help FACNet escape a judgment in a copyright infringement case.

Yet, Prince was caught in so many lies in his deposition that Minton and the other FACTNet directors were forced to settle the case to avoid Prince's lies being aired in a public trial. Prince is routinely ignored by the American press, because one thing Minton's money cannot buy is credibility--Prince has demonstrated that he has none.

Prince Was Funded by Robert Minton to Testify for FACTNet:

Robert Minton, a retired financier and a director of the FACTNet computerized database, funneled handouts to Prince through a FACTNet fund in order to secure testimony in a copyright infringement case against FACTNet by Bridge Publications, the licensee of some of the copyrights to L. Ron Hubbard's works. Minton retrieved Prince from a seedy underworld shortly after he filed for bankruptcy to bring him on board for FACTNet.

Prince's history shows a serious drug habit, a career as a drug dealer and male prostitute, a proclivity for abusing women, and other violent and criminal tendencies. His police record before joining the Church included contributing to the sexual delinquency of a child and indecent exposure.

Nevertheless, he was given an opportunity to turn his life around while in the Church. He proclaimed at one point that were it not for Scientology, he would have been dead. Yet, even while on staff reports were received of Prince physically abusing other staff members and sexually harassing female staff.

Prince left Church staff in 1992 "to deal with . . . a couple of illegitimate children that I had prior to Scientology, different mothers." He slipped back into the same lifestyle he had left when he joined Church staff. In 1995 he was arrested for a bout of drunken violence and again in 1997 for driving under the influence. He was accused of physically threatening people and sexually harassing women at his job. He was fired after being accused of theft.

Thus, seven years after leaving the Church, Prince found himself bankrupt and in dire financial straits. Offered some easy money by Minton, the temptation was too much. He set about reinventing history, though his tales are contradicted by all evidence, including his earlier interviews.

Prince conceded in his August 1998 deposition in Bridge Publications, Inc. v. FACTNet, Lawrence Wollersheim and Robert Penny, that his airfare, hotel and car rental were all paid for by Robert Minton. In addition to paying for these expenses Minton also gave Prince $500 "walking around" money to spend as he wished while in Los Angeles to sign his declaration.

Prince testified that Minton flew him around, handed him $5,000 in $100 bills--stating it came from FACTNet's "Victim's Relief Fund." Later, Prince received another $2,000 from Minton and FACTNet. Minton also bought Prince a new car, costing more than $23,000. Prince confirmed in his deposition that he was to continue to keep the car for as long as he gave FACTNet what they wanted.

Prince was supplied with a wardrobe, car, accessories, expenses and extra "spending cash," totaling tens of thousands of dollars.

Prince was exposed as a petty criminal and a liar

Prince was brought into the FACTNet case to provide whatever "testimony" was needed to support the defense of those who broke the copyright law against the Church of Scientology. He began with a perjured affidavit, then was repeatedly caught inventing testimony about the works at issue in the case. He pretended to be an expert in copyrights, yet he could not answer the simplest questions about basic copyright law. He invented incidents from his time on Church staff which fell apart on cross examination because they never occurred.

Prince lied in deposition in denying that he had a criminal record. He was then shown the police reports and court documents of his various arrests and a conviction, and had no choice but to concede their truth.

Prince went out of his way to describe fabricated incidents but in doing so, only served to incriminate himself. For example, he claimed he had threatened Church officials with two loaded guns when they removed him from a position in the Church because of his unethical behavior. This was a lie. But if it were true, Prince would have implicated himself in a serious crime.

Not only was Prince's perjury apparent from his own contradictory testimony, it highlighted his stupidity as his stories only served to further undermine any credibility he may have mustered.

It is hardly surprising that someone who was willing to sell his body for sexual favors had little difficulty with the ethics of telling lies for money. And still less surprising is the fact that while parading for FACTNet, Prince attempted to purchase illicit drugs, and was again arrested for driving under the influence.

Prince Incited Hatred and Violence:

While Prince acts civilly under the TV lights, his natural demeanor returns when the cameras leave -- as in one example where he loudly threatened, within earshot of women and children, to violently sodomize a Church executive.

In September 1998 Prince and Bob Minton picketed in front of the Church of Scientology in Boston. Minton cracked his picket sign over the face of one of the staff members who was talking with him. He was arrested and charged for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Prince was named as a suspect in the Police Incident Report. As a result, the criminal court now requires him to give one hour notice before coming near the Church so law enforcement can be notified.

Two days prior to this incident, Prince and Minton threatened several Scientologists with axes and sledgehammers, throwing rocks at them and then gloating about it on the Internet. The posting, from Prince's e-mail address, said that "After a while, it got boring so Bob and Jesse decided to spice it up Steven King style. They both got long handled axes and waited for them on both sides of the road. I swear you never seen windows go up so fast!"

More recently, Minton and Prince were in Clearwater, Florida. While the TV camera inside filmed the soft-spoken, "reasonable" Bob Minton, a personal video camera outside recorded the real Bob Minton:

"Yo mama!" yelled Minton, crossing a street to attempt to intimidate a Scientologist standing outside his Church. "I've been ----ing your mama for a long time, buddy. That's why you've got that curly hair."

FACTNet Settled Case To Avoid The Effect of Prince's Perjury:

Shortly after Prince's deposition, Minton and the other FACTNet directors admitted that FACTNet had in fact been engaged in copyright infringement and agreed to be bound by a permanent injunction and a million dollar judgment to be enforced by the Federal Court. By agreeing to admit their wrongdoing, they avoided inevitable charges of perjury they would have faced as a result of Prince's testimony.

Documents:

1. Excerpts from Prince's deposition on the money he has received from FACTNet and Minton.
2. Excerpts from Prince's deposition confirming that he will continue to receive support as long as he gives FACTNet what they want.
3. Prince's arrest records prior to joining the Church.
4. Prince's arrest records since leaving the Church, with mug shots.
5. Minton's arrest record from Boston.
6. FACTNet settlement agreement and judgment.

 

Video Tape:

Prince/Minton video of taunts to Church staff in Clearwater.

 

I'll post jpegs of this letter plus the DA stuff on alt.binaries.scientology.

Bob Minton

PS OCR errors may not have been cleaned up fully.