1982 public investigation into Scientology
TheClearwater Hearings were a 1982Clearwater, Florida commission that investigated theChurch of Scientology andProject Normandy.[1][2][3]
Among the witnesses who testified wereRon DeWolf, Edward Walter, Lori Taverna, Casey Kelly, Rosie Pace, David Ray, Ernest and Adelle Hartwell, George Meister, Lavenda Van Schaick, Janie Peterson, Sharon McKee, Scott Mayer, Robert Dardino, John Clark,Paulette Cooper, and Brown McKee.[1]
The commission uncovered a number of illegal activities committed by the church, including:[1][2][3]
- murder of Susan Meister
- having Tonja Burden, as a minor, signpromissory notes to the church
- negligence and abuse of children
- theft of government documents
- forging of government ID cards
- giving money to its founder,L. Ron Hubbard
- harassment of reporters and alleged attackers
- harboring of fugitive Mike Meisner
- perjury in federal courts
The commission likewise found unethical activities committed by the church, including:[1][2][3]
- lying about the ends and benefits of auditing
- fabrication of L. Ron Hubbard's life
- forging of evidence for Hubbard's life
- unsanitary living conditions for Scientologists
- abortions by beating women in the stomach
- using afront to buy Fort Harrison
- false witness against alleged attackers
- "widespread, intercontinental espionage"
- justifying all the aforementioned as religion
Finally, the commission found the following about L. Ron Hubbard:[1][2][3]
- had suicidal thoughts after leaving the Navy
- continuously wrote to the FBI about alleged Communist plots against him
- refused to get help for his mental illness
- wrote to a magazine posing as a woman[further explanation needed]
- married three times, and one time practicedpolygamy
- abused and performedpseudoscientific experiments on Sara Hubbard
- performed abortions by beating women in their stomachs
- surrounded himself with very young girls who did his every whim
- founded Scientology to make money for himself
- made extravagant purchases and lacked personal management
- was obsessed with blood while making movies
