This is the story of a spy paid to infiltrate our lives written by my wife Christie.
I originally wrote down the details of this story in 2012 when it happened. Some of the information was included in the book Fair Game, by Steve Cannane, as he played a part in it. Here is the full story:
If the ending seems obvious while reading it, try reading it with the frame of mind that it was not perfectly obvious while living it. Most of us go through life with friendship, love and kindness in our hearts, hoping to enjoy people, taking them first as genuine and only after they prove to be untrue marking them as such in our minds. It had also been some time since any funny business had come up in my direct life. Things had been relatively quiet though maybe I should have known better since I am “living with John Dillinger,” as Mike likes to put it.
It must have been some time in January 2012 that I first met Heather.
We were living in Tarpon Springs. I was about six months pregnant. My five year old son, Shane, and I were taking a walk in the neighborhood, as we often did. He rode his bike while I walked the dog. We saw a mom with a kid about Shane’s age out walking and riding a bike just down the street. We passed each other and said hello.
This happened a few more times and we chatted a bit more each time. She lived about three houses away from us, catty corner across the street. We could see her house from our front door. It was just her and her four-year-old son, Brandon.
One day she knocked on the door. “Hi. I’m new to the neighborhood. I don’t know anybody and I’m trying to make some friends. I wanted to invite you to a little get together I’m having. It’s a Pampered Chef party.” She handed me an invitation that said “Neighbor” on it. How ambitious and neighborly of her! Our neighborhood was nice enough but most folks kept to themselves. I only knew a few other neighbors by name after living there for almost two years. She sincerely wanted to make friends. “Okay great. I’ll take a look at it and I should be able to make it.” I said.
I have a soft spot for single moms. Being a mom is hard work, and doing it alone is even harder. But the day came for the party and I completely forgot about it. Around 8pm I suddenly remembered and I felt so bad that I called to apologize. She said “My friend who runs the Pampered Chef thing is still here and you can still come over if you’d like. It’s still going right now.” It was too late for me, I was tired, pregnant and did not want to go over that late. I told her I’d see her around and we could hang out with the kids another time.
So, of course, we did. She now had my phone number and she began texting me on a regular basis. I was happy to have a potential new friend and neighbor with a son close in age to Shane. As a child I always had neighborhood friends and I wanted Shane to have the same. One day we went over to her house and let the kids play while we chatted. Then another day she came over to my house and we let the kids play while we chatted.
She said her uncle owned the house and was letting her live there for free. She was from the Tampa area, grew up there, but had been living in New Port Richey prior to moving to Tarpon Springs. She had split up with her son’s father. He was apparently a lot older than her, but had been messing around with more than one woman at a time. She said she had some kind of physical problem as a result of a car accident, though appeared healthy from my observation. We didn’t have a lot in common, but I was friendly with her because it seemed like the right thing to do and I wanted Shane to have a friend.
She tried to talk about things that I guess she thought were interesting to me or that would strike me as being something we had in common like mentioning that her ex was “a lot older than her.” She stated that she really didn’t like drugs or medicine and that she was very health conscious. Looking back on this, maybe it’s true, but it could also be something she was told to say to connect with me.
Around this time, we were planning a move to a new house. I told her we were moving soon. She offered to help and said she wasn’t doing much anyway and we could call her any time. We never did.
Our good friend Jackson (Gary Morehead) came to town to help us with our packing and moving and just to spend time together. One day Jackson and Shane and I went to the Countryside Mall. Mike had gone to San Antonio to help with the Debbie Cook lawsuit, so Jackson stayed on at our house to keep me company as the church would often send in their agents when Mike was away. We stopped by the kiddie play area at the mall. A few minutes later Heather and her son appeared. We chatted while the kids played. Jackson talked to her and seemed to think she was a nice girl too. She was friendly and nice, and of course, everyone in the world gets along great with Jackson. He’s the best teddy bear of a friend anybody could have.
Our house move continued. She sent me lots of texts and tried to stay in touch and asked to get together often, although I didn’t have time for visiting during the move.
At some point, she told me that she just got in the money that she was expecting from the insurance company for her car accident. Now that she had the money she could no longer live for free in her uncle’s house and she needed to find a new place to live. She knew we were moving to Palm Harbor (about 15 mins south of Tarpon Springs).
She invited me to go with her to look at a couple of houses in the Palm Harbor area, but I declined. She said she was unsure if she would move to Palm Harbor or back to Tampa where she knew more people.
Heather came to my baby shower and tried to mingle in with the rest of my friends who she didn’t know. Everybody was very nice to her and we had a great time. She bought 3 gifts from my registry and a few items that she just “felt like buying because they were so cute.” She tried to spark up a conversation one time and it just seemed as if she was desperate for something to say so she could fit in. It was something about a guy she saw at a party that was acting weird. It was very random. I remember thinking, why is she telling me this?
After the baby shower I started to think to myself what is wrong with this girl? Why did she buy me so many gifts? She’s a single mom? I told her she should have kept the money and spent it on herself and her kid. But she acted kind of proud of herself for giving me so many gifts. Yuck. I regretted the fact that I had invited her.
But at the same time, she also seemed nice and innocent. Everybody else told me how nice she was and how much they liked her, so maybe I was wrong? You want to trust people and believe they are good but my spidey senses were going up.
She continued to text me and try to hook up with me. I think she came over to our new house one time and the kids rode their bikes in the front and we sat out front and talked. Jackson was still with us at the time too and he commented again that she seemed like a really nice girl. On the surface, she really did.
One day she told me she had found a new house, a few blocks from where we had moved to! She wanted me to come over to show me the new place. I was quite surprised because the area she moved into is quite an affluent neighborhood, much nicer than where Mike and I moved to. Most of the houses are very big with perfect lawns, owned by families with children, SUV’s parked in the drive, swimming pools etc. The rent alone had to be around $2,000+ a month. Not a typical location for a “single-unemployed-mom” in these parts.
She told me that she was signing her son up for T-Ball in the Palm Harbor Little League and wouldn’t I love to do that too with Shane? Yes, I would have. It would have been a lot of fun. But I never got around to signing Shane up as I didn’t want to have two days every week where I would have to see Heather.
She continually invited me over to her house or to go out with her. She invited me to go shopping at Home Goods (she knew I like that store, we talked about it one time). She invited me to “Game Night” at her house. I don’t recall telling her that I liked playing games, but somehow, she knew. She had a house-warming party and tried to get me to come to it. I declined every invitation and sometimes I didn’t even answer.
I was gigantically pregnant and not really interested.
At this point I started getting a bit creeped out but didn’t really have the time to figure her out. I would forget about her until the next text message. Was she a plant sent in by the Church of Scientology? Or was she just socially inept? The number of text messages and constant communication from her was becoming increasingly annoying. I didn’t get as many messages from my very best friends in the whole wide world as I did from Heather. Maybe she was just clueless about how to make friends and maintain relations? It was hard to be sure.
My son Jack was born on April 15th. I had constant text messages from Heather and I just wanted her to leave me alone for a while, so I waited about a week after he was born and then I told her in hopes that she would chill out and give me a break. She answered back, congratulating me and saying “Lets meet up at the park. I’d love to meet the baby.”
WHAT? She must be from another planet. I JUST HAD A BABY. DOES SHE THINK I WANT TO MEET HER AT A PARK? She’s had a child. Doesn’t she know that a woman who has just had a baby needs to rest??? And not only that, but she was not a very close friend. Why would I, in the first week after my baby was born, want to spend time with her at a park?
I had good friends that I had known for years, such as Jack Airey, who had the decency to send congratulations and say: “I’ll see you in a couple of months when things have settled down.” Yes, that is what you say to a new Mom. And I honestly would have been more than happy for Jack Airey to stop by in the first week to see baby Jack because I KNOW him well and I love him. Heather, a mere acquaintance, was demanding to see us but doing it in such a way that I almost felt bad for not seeing her. It was a strange, guilt-laden vibe.
She continued to persist. I told her NO, I’m not going to see you anytime soon. I just had a baby and I need time to recover. She persisted and at one point I told her I had “health issues” to recover from so that she would back off. Why did I have to say this to her to get her to back off? Nobody else harassed me that much.
Four weeks after the baby was born I finally allowed her to come over with her son to play with Shane. She kept going on about how badly her son wanted to see Shane too, and it got to me. The kids swam in the pool and Heather and I chatted. I was sort of aloof and that was the last time I ever spent time with her.
That day she also brought ANOTHER gift for the baby. She said she just happened to see it and couldn’t resist. Blech. I’d really had enough and thought to myself – I don’t need to spend my time or even talk to this girl. I don’t have to feel sorry for her. I decided I wasn’t going to waste any more time with her. There were too many red flags.
She carried on trying to see me and have our boys play together. She said she got a dog and she walked the dog in the neighborhood and why don’t we get together on a daily basis with the kids to walk the dogs. She must have known that Shane and I go for evening walks regularly with our dog. I ignored her.
She reminded me about the T ball sign up dates, and said she hoped to see me there. I didn’t go. When I never showed up for the T ball games she asked me about it. She said she was really hoping that we would both have our kids there together and we could hang out.
She texted me often and most of the time I ignored her. Months passed and I carried on with my life. And yet she persisted and kept inviting me to events, parties, to get together. Really? By now anyone would have gotten the clue. If I had an acquaintance ignore me that much I would understand that person doesn’t want to be my friend. I certainly wouldn’t embarrass myself by continually trying to reach out to that person. I would move on for the sake of my own personal dignity.
At this point I talked it over with Mike. One day we were taking a walk and I told him the entire story from the beginning with all of the details that he didn’t already know. He knew who she was, and I had been complaining about her irritating text messages, but had never told him all of the details. I told him I seriously thought this girl might be a plant sent in by the Church of Scientology, what did he think? He agreed, but there was no way to be sure.
One day I got an email from an unknown email address, without any recognizable name, mostly numbers. It just said: “How was Shane’s first day at school? :)”.
Weird. So I answered it and said: “It was good. Who is this?”
She answered: “Heather!” Ohhh. Gee. I should have suspected. I guess she thought she would trick me into communicating to her by reaching from an unknown email address.
Then she texted me and said basically: “I’m sorry for whatever I’ve done that has resulted in you not wanting to talk me. I hope everything is okay. Brandon asks me all the time if we can go see Shane. I don’t know what to tell him. If there is something I have done wrong I’m really sorry and I hope we can be friends. I’d love to see you and Shane and get together sometime. Maybe we can go to the park or meet up. You are both welcome to come over to our house any time. Have a great day!” It was longer than that with some other blah, blahs that I don’t recall.
Now she was trying to lay the guilt trip on me. I ignored her for awhile and left it for several days, maybe even a couple weeks. One day I decided to answer it and see what would happen. I answered her and just said “I’ve just been really busy.” That’s it. Nothing more. I showed no interest in her.
Immediately I got back another long text message something like this: “Okay, I totally understand. I’ve been really busy myself. We went on a trip. I’ve been getting Brandon ready for school, fixing the house and swim lessons, and this and that and blah, blah, blah, on and on and random nonsense ad nauseum……I would love to get together with you guys sometimes. I know Brandon really wants to see Shane and he asks me all the time, so hopefully we can get together soon. How’s the baby? Hope everything is going great with you. Have a great day.”
I ignored her and never answered.
A couple weeks later I got another text message: “Whatever happened that resulted in you not wanting to talk to us anymore, I’m really sorry. I really want to be your friend…. Blah, blah, blah.”
I ignored her.
Then one day she said: “Brandon asks if we can just go over to your house and see if you are still there. I would never just show up like that. But he really wants to play with Shane. I’m sorry for whatever happened and I would love to hang out again and blah, blah, blah, blah.” These text messages were really long. Longest text messages I’ve ever gotten.
I ignored her.
But then one day Shane and I were taking a walk with the dog. Shane was riding his bike. We got to the corner where we usually turn around and head back and just about a street away on the corner there was Heather with Brandon and her new dog. She headed in our direction, and Shane headed over there to say hello to Brandon. My heart sank a little. Ugh. What now? So I said hello. She looked at me kind of sheepishly and said hello, how are you? I petted her dog. It was a very cute dog and commented on how Brandon got a new bike. She said she really would love to spend some time with us and that we really should come over to her house some time. I told her we’ve just been very busy. I let the kids talk for a bit and then told Shane we needed to go and we said goodbye and left.
That night or the next day I got a new text message from her about how she’d like to hang out and invited Shane and I to something. I cannot remember what. I ignored her.
A lot of time passed and I never answered her.
On the 4th of October 2012 Mike met with Steve Cannane, an Australian reporter who has done many stories about the abuses of the Church of Scientology. He told Mike and I that he had a trusted confidential source that had given him some interesting information. He said the informant gave him the address of a house where private investigators had been watching us. He said there was a tiny camera placed under the front porch roof, and one under the eave on the right side of the house. We all drove up to our old neighborhood together to see which house it was. Mike and I had guessed that it was a big house on the corner that we had always been suspicious of. And lo and behold it was Heather’s old house. The address he had been given was Heather’s. We went up to the front door and sure enough there was a hole where a camera had been under the front porch and another one under the eave on the right side (the side of the house with the best view of our old house).
My suspicions had been confirmed. She was a spy sent in to befriend me and she had gotten to me. I felt like I needed a shower to wipe off the disgust I was feeling about the whole ordeal. It truly made my skin crawl that I had allowed her into my life.
The next day we went on a trip to LA.
When we returned, October 13th, just 3 hours after we got home from the airport, I got the following text message from Heather as if it was a bright new novel idea:
“Hi. I know it’s late notice but I’m having a game night at my house tonight. Board games. Its going to be a great time. This is my second one. Kids welcome. I have a play room and tons of toys as you know. Please let me know if you can come and enjoy the fun.”
What a coincidence. There had been no messages from her in a while. I’d done nothing but ignore her. I guess she was hoping I would show up and tell her all the juicy details about my trip to LA. I guess she was hoping I was a total moron.
I ignored her.
October 19th, I finally answered her with the following message to see what would happen:
“Hi. We were out of town for a week and just got back when you sent this. Still catching up…”
Here is her answer, word for word. Remember this is supposed to be a TEXT message, not a letter or novelette, ahem:
“I want to go on a trip soon. I’m starting to plan one but not sure where to go just a small trip for us to relax. Did you have a good time? How did Jack do? Babies do pretty good on planes. It’s when they get a little bigger it get hard. I got a part time job at Branden’s school. That has been keeping me busy. I love working with the kids. We are about to head to the zoo for pumpkin smash. All the animals get special treats today and its fun to watch then play with and eat them. Hope all is well and we get together soon maybe trick or treat we will see each other. Brandon does miss Shane. 🙂 Have a good day and a great weekend.”
So much desperation.
I ignored her.
Then Mike went away for three days. On Wednesday after picking Shane up from school I took him to the Palm Harbor library. After a few minutes Heather and Brandon appeared. Shane and I were at the computers in the kiddie area. Heather took a seat a few feet from us and just sat there. She didn’t say hello. She looked at her cell phone the whole time. She knew we were there, but didn’t say a thing. I ignored her. Of course, the point being made was this: “Mike is away. But we are watching you.” She wasn’t sent there to talk to me. She was sent there to make it clear that they are watching. Often times in the past when Mike was out of town, something like this would happen. One time a church member came to my door to tell me I was a squirrel. Another time I was ambushed outside of a lab storefront by Jim Lynch the Freedom “reporter.”
That night when I had gotten both the kids to sleep I texted her:
Nov 7, 2012, 7:58 pm
Me: Heather, you ought to find out more about the organization that hired you. I sincerely recommend you do some research. Here is a good place to start: www:caller.com/news/2011/aug/06/former-Scientology-film-crew-member-describes-in/
Google Bert Leahy
Nov 8, 2012, 10:04 am
Heather: Not sure how to take the info. I think you think I am someone I’m not. Sorry but whoever you think I am or working for is wrong. L freaks me out a little. Sorry we couldn’t be friends.
Nov 8 2012, 11:46 am
Me: Did you look at that link?
Nov 8, 2012, 12:37 PM
Heather: Yes what is all that?? Scary stuff!
Nov 8, 2012, 2:06 PM
Me: If you looked at it then you know what it is all about. It’s not too late to redeem yourself unless you prefer taking money from a criminal organization that destroyed my family and many others. I can help you if you want it.
Nov 8, 2012, 2:35 PM
Heather: Sorry for whatever happened to your family but I really don’t know what you are talking about. I work for Pinellas county schools and started about three weeks ago. That’s why your text freaked me out at first. I’m not who or what you think I am.
Nov 8 2012, 3:32 PM
Me: Guess you are not made of the same courage and integrity that Bert Leahy is made of. If you change your mind let me know. Have a nice life. I hope you sleep well at night.
I did not hear from her after that. We drove past the house she had moved into and it was now empty. She was gone and that was the end of it.
Fast forward nearly 4 years. Steve Cannane sent us an email on June 9th, 2016:
“Hi Mike, finally got onto Heather McAdoo here is what she said: She denied she was a spy. She said her boyfriend at the time was a private investigator and he was employed to spy on behalf of the scientologists. She said He asked me to make friends with the neighbors because I was lonely. I wasn’t spying on them.”
Six months later, on December 14th, 2016 after Scientology the Aftermath had begun airing on TV, Heather found me on facebook and sent me a private message:
“Hi Christie,
You don’t have to write back. Not sure you remember me but I have to say I’m sorry to you and Mike for anything I have done knowingly or not knowingly to get information to the church/cult about your beautiful family….. I’m truely sorry…..I’m doing well and I’m proud to say I’m not apart of any of it anymore. Heather”
In a later message she also said:
“Dwayne Powell was my boyfriend. Once I found out the truth about the whole situation and what was going on I left… and I believe that’s the time when you guys started catching on to everything too. One thing I do know now, that back then I was not the only girlfriend for Dwayne Powell. He had many. Just know that I’m truly sorry and if there’s any information you want from me I will give it I just don’t want to be on camera.”
Dwayne Powell is a notorious private investigator who did a lot of work for scientology. He and his son were arrested for having illegal weapons in the trunk of a car they were using while surveilling Ron Miscavige Sr. He was also the PI that followed Amy Scobee and Matt Pesch when they lived in Clearwater.
I considered taking Heather’s name out of this story and protecting her identity since she has apologized and has expressed her fear of backlash from the church. But Steve Cannane already published her full name in his book so I have left her name in this story.
I forgive you Heather and I thank you for the apology.
Christie Collbran
Though this happened a few years ago, there seemed no urgent reason to make it known. The person apologized and we believe it was sincere. We wish her no harm, she realized what she was doing was wrong. We have all done things we regret.
But there is value to documenting the lengths scientology will go to when it comes to “enemies.” Scientology tries to convince the world that “The rogue elements who engaged in those sort of activities were purged from the organization in the early 80’s”, “Fair Game was canceled and it’s only anti-scientologists that claim it still exists” etc etc etc
Those who speak out against the abuses of scientology ARE targeted by sleazy operations. Often it is difficult for people to believe the lengths to which scientology will go and sometimes wonder whether the recipients of these attentions are simply imagining things or perhaps making them up.
We have the texts, emails and photos of Heather documenting everything that is covered above. What sort of “church” spends huge amounts of money to pay a woman full time for months, rents two houses and even uses a 4 year old child as part of a spy operation? Is there any limit to the lengths scientology will go? Apparently not.
Do people that hand over their hard earned money to the IAS or other scientology entities have any idea their money is being used for this sort of thing? No.
Is this really what tax exempt money is supposed to be used for? Of course not.
In my opinion this is one of the most unsettling stories about the Spy’s Scientology has set up. The fact that she was if your lives for months working for Scientology/Dwayne Powell. And trying alot to pry herself more and more into your life. To the point where when you moved that she moved too. So she could keep a closer eye on you. Even though she thought she was doing right by doing this and just doing the job that she promised she would do it’s still a bit terrifying. Scientology hires a lot of private investigators to do this. I am happy that in the end Heather came around and told you what was going on and that she was open to talking about it.
I have been following scientology now for awhile. There are two primary blogs I read, this one and the Underground Bunker, and I usually read them weekly. I always read Regarded Being, and the last one was gut wrenching.
I have learned about and watched the “fair game” that was done on Marty. The videos were stunning in their nastiness. Marty has turned back to the “dark side” but, at the time I viewed them, he was still suing scientology.
From the two seasons of Leah Remini I have learned that if you are a wog, that there are crimes that I have committed that need to be attacked if I attack scientology, among a bunch of other very scary tactics used by scientology (the confrontation that Mike did of the two sleazy PI’s on the show was crazy).
I remember a news video when Katie Holmes left tom cruise, two guys showed up in SUV’s and got out but quickly went back in after news crews zoomed in on them. cruise hasn’t seen his daughter in a few years…wonder why??
My point is this, being a “never in” and watching the lengths that this criminal organization goes to to attempt to discredit those that have chosen to leave just “does not compute” in my head. There is a huge amount of evidence to show what lengths scientology goes too in order to smear, discredit, or even attempt to kill (The Unbreakable Miss Lovely, hay, why don’t you come up on the ledge here on the roof, it’s fun) it’s critics.
I know all the reasons, I know most of the tactics, and I have viewed or read a lot of accounts of what happens to those who “dare” to criticize scientology, but, like today, each and every time I read about their intrusive ways to sneak into the lives of those that should be left alone in peace, it still, to this day, blows my mind.
Just thought that those who comment on this blog or have been in scientology should know how a “never in” views this craziness that you are subjected too!!. It just really…blows…my…mind…and still, nothing is being done to investigate this criminal enterprise! Wow!!!
So this lady, Heather, was being run by Powell who was being run by OSA? Anyway, that’s in my experience how these things have worked in the past. The case officer from OSA is the liaison with the “attorney” though this is just a public front because typically the OSA guy works directly with the Pis for their one degree of separation, ie their ability to wash their hands when/if the op is discovered.
But there are many obvious flaws with this whole op most notably that either the person running it was a dolt and novice or they were/are an institutionalized Sea Org member with zero reality on such things as child birth and social acceptances.
For example, the last thing you are thinking after having a baby is a Tone 40 trek to a park to meet your best (stalker) neighbor friend. Get real! They also completely fail with their infiltration efforts due to the amount of communications from the plant to the target. The tons of text messages and phone calls. That’s like restraining order material for most people.
Given the scenario of the situation (the target isn’t some domestic terrorist with a homemade explosive planning some attack in 3 weeks, rather a critic of a supposed “church”), they should have retired the first plant when Mike & Christie were moving. They had enough info to preemptively get someone in the new area establishing a cover to re-initiate the process of the infiltration. Heather remains a more PASSIVE stalker trying to extract data from afar.
The new plant restarts the process. I could see more long term value in firmly establishing a proper friend as a plant and gaining access to sensitive information (potentially) whereas becoming the stalker is obviously stalkerish and easily spotted by anyone looking. Again, novice.
Scientology is a (dangerous) joke and so are the clowns running their “intelligence”.
I picture how DM sees himself as being in one big cops-n-robbers game. And somehow he has TC believing the whole conspiracy, too. Both need help. Thanks for the story.
It’s obsessive control. DM wants to miss nothing and, somehow, have the feeling that he is informed about every detail of his ‘enemies” lives.
The purpose of doing this? I guess one has to posses a very crooked mind and no soul, for that matter, to engage in this criminal activity, which purpose only a putrified soul may have; I can’t envision a real purpose for this.
But the obsession also denotes his fear; he is afraid to miss something that could, if revealed by his enemies, harm his reputation and life of absolute control over others.
Like other criminals – he ends hiding, in constant terror of being found out, in absolute paranoia, with zero friends while, somehow pretending he has a safe area just because he has stolen millions of dollars = false security.
Poor roten soul…really.
Sylvia, all of the above, and also it possible he doesn’t have much else to do.
Here I am a day late and a dollar short.
All I want to do is hug a stranger (Christie).
You were used. It took a while to catch on. It always does.
Your guts / Inner voice / what ever told you to be wary.
I am glad you listened / felt that think thing that made made Heather CREEPY.
And she was creepy.
KEEP YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE……KEEP YOUR ENEMIES CLOSER…..that about says it all!
How disgustingly sad is it that an innocent child was brought into this “under cover operation” in order for Scientology to “get the goods” on Christie & Mike. Sweet Christie who cares so much she actually befriended this single mom to help her out.
Evil….it does exist. Thank goodness despite Christie’s caring heart, she took off those rose colored glasses to clearly see she as peering into the face of pure Evil…..
Christie, thanks so much for sharing this experience with us. You were extremely patient and kind and polite with this creature. Honestly, this stuff cannot be made up. Total insanity. Glad it ended well, and I’d say you got thru to her with your clean, honest energy expressed with good manners. Wow!
the question is how do you not think you were crazy for suspecting her? the people with no inside contacts will never know if what they were feeling was a church stalker or not. So lucky you got the relief of confirmation that it was a stalker…some will never know if the strange things happening to them are just bad luck or stalking.
A Netflix original.
” The Spy Who Came In From The Cult”.
Starring,
Jennifer Garner as Christy Colbran,
and ,
Treat Williams as Mike Rinder.
” Sometimes ,Fair Game just goes too far “.
What a train wreck of a spy operation! In a way it is comforting to know that their spies have become the same dilettantes as the organization’s sales personnel. I would assume that the desperate bonding efforts and the frequency of the text messages were borne out of the fact that they could not get anyone else near the inner sanctum of the Rinder family. Accordingly the woman was probably constantly told in true Scientology style “to get a product” and that “outflow equals inflow”.
While reading the whole account, I was at times reminded of the 1970s love bombing tactics of the “Children of God”. They had a similar approach.
Martin,
my thought too. What a lame ass bunch these days. And they hire PIs because the PIs are the smart ones. Too bad they are no longer (1970s) working at making exterior thetans who could pop over and do the spying in a second.
Problems would show up when the exterior thetans got wind that what they were doing was committing an overt, and withdraw/lose their abilities henceforth.
Christie. What an amazing series of events. Thanks Mike for posting this on your site as well.
It’s strange how long it takes sometimes for the penny to drop. Your natural goodness gives the benefit of the doubt. I found myself doing that many times whilst a still-in. Forgiving this, overlooking that, but underneath, was a percolating discontent or suspicion that all is not well.
Funny story about pennies dropping. A friend of mine found himself in the middle of a bank robbery, by three gun-toting scary guys. He did not see any guns at first, only one of the bad guys jumped onto the tellers counter, and his very first thought was, geez, that customer is really pissed off!
Just a few seconds later, the reality of the situation set in. The penny didn’t drop straightaway.
Strength to you both.
The very sad thing about this story is that those of us who were in for any length of time are either afraid to reach out to others who were in for fear that they will suspect us of being a plant and are also leery of anyone who reaches out to us for fear that they may be a plant.
I am lucky to live far enough away from a hub that it is less likely to happen to me, but fair game was so ingrained in the psyche when you were in that it is always in the back of your mind, and it is an unfortunate truth that some people who are not in will do anything for money and some who are in will do anything to stay in good standing.
Facebook friend requests are definitely a minefield. I generally message someone to politely ask them why they asked to be my friend if I do not recognize their name because – well look what happened to Christie. It’s interesting that those who I have asked who truly want to be my friend, not spy on me, have a great answer, the other ones say “I must have mistaken you for someone else” or they just don’t respond at all and usually block me (because THAT’s not obvious).
It’s not that I really have anything to hide, but I am not comfortable with sharing my garbage either, no matter if there is anything in there or not. Anyone who thinks they would like to search my garbage better enjoy cat litter and dog poop because I always add water and some pet droppings in each bag of garbage and oh, yeah, I have a cross shredder for my paper, the large majority of which has no personal identifying information, I even shred the ads just to make it interesting and colorful.
I am not saying that I am in any way, shape or form in the same strata as Mike and Christie as far as being spied on, (or even spy-worthy) but (to quote Buffalo Springfield) “paranoia runs deep”.
Wow……….I am still amazed and bewildered by the actions of this cult. Mike and Christie Thank you for all that you do. But please above all else make sure you and yours are safe. Sounds like absolutely nothing is off limits for these yahoos. So anxious for Season 3! How could they not? The ratings have to be record breaking!
Wow, their are no words in my mind that will wash off the feeling of the slime and filth that the Cof$ creates by its covet surveillance/operations. They truly have complete contempt for life and the people wanting to live it. It’s a mystery to me why they bother to be so evil, but such is the paranoia imbedded in the subject so deeply by “source.”
Carry on a bit wiser than yesterday I suppose is an appropriate defence against being a target of such a horrible organisation. Best of luck.
Thank you for sharing this Christie. You were trying to be friendly and kind to someone, and they used that against you, just as they use the good intentions of many of their own members against them. That’s what strikes me the most about this entire organization….how they use a person’s good intentions against them for their own selfish benefit.
WOW – what a creepy, stalker story this is. The person who came up with this scenario must think they are living out a Ian Fleming story (a bad one at that). At least you had the instincts to keep her at bay. I also like your writing style.
“…there is value to documenting the lengths scientology will go to when it comes to “enemies.” Scientology tries to convince the world that “The rogue elements who engaged in those sort of activities were purged from the organization in the early 80’s”.
What the cult continues to deny and take no responsibility for there is the fact that the chief “rogue element” who thought up the Snow White domestic espionage operation to begin with, then covertly managed it by using his wife, Mary Sue, as a cut-out, was none other than Lord Elron himself!
Whenever the Co$ is reminded of its disreputable and felonious past, the cult is at pains to insist that whatever untoward activities that its members may have engaged in decades ago ended then and are no longer going on in the present. Of course, this is a bald-faced lie; fair gaming the cherch’s perceived enemies can never end because dead Elron decreed that his every word was infallible, immutable and to be followed to the letter until the end of time.
The value of providing this very detailed and well-written account of the lengths and expense that the cult continues to be willing to go to in surveilling, harassing and intimidating its perceived enemies is that it documents the fact that the exact same kinds of fair game tactics that were used by GO operatives in the Paulette Cooper case, way back in the early 70’s, continue to be used to this day by the OSA, some four decades later. The cult never stopped being evil, it just tried to launder its reputation by tossing those who directly implemented the operation under the boss’s orders — including the cult leader’s own wife — under the bus, then changing the name of its internal secret police/spy department from the GO to the OSA and out-sourcing most of its clandestine operations to PI firms, like the Powells.
Fortunately for us all (except for lil davey + evil cult minions, of course), professional journalists, like Tony O. and Steve Cananne, are on the story and won’t be letting it go any time soon, despite whatever the cult might try and throw at them. Indeed, the cult’s ongoing foot bullet efforts in this regard just end up adding more detail and current relevancy to this ongoing tale of cult corruption!
In this particular case, it appears that there’s more to this story to be told (see here https://tonyortega.org/2018/01/09/it-was-my-job-to-get-mike-rinders-trash-a-former-scientology-spy-begins-to-spill-her-guts/#more-45194 ), which is completely unsurprising given dead Elron’s eternally operative directions to “utterly ruin” its perceived enemies whenever the opportunity arises.
Unfortunately for the cult, these ham-fisted fools can’t even plant a surveillance camera without getting busted out by their victims’ pets 😉
Scientology’s enemies are their own creations. Christie had not gone out of her way to say anything, yet they placed spies on her because she married Mike.
Come to think of it, those birds circling outside my window right now are probably scientology drones. I’m sure they have absolutely nothing to do with the fact that someone just threw some breadcrumbs out. 😉
If they would just leave people alone and treat people with basic human decency, perhaps people would leave them alone too. Yeah. Not going to happen. It’s against scripture.
HF,
You wrote just my thoughts on this sordid episode ( #75,867 so far) . It is essential to have this data available in the cloud forever so when the real authorities decide to act there will be a hugely huge library of incidents with time, place, form, sequence, events, persons, and quotes to work from and build their case on.
Mike Rinder, you have a winner on your team!
( ps: I got that number of confirmed sordid episodes by the CoS on the meter and got a Blowdown on that exact number.)
The terabytes of evidence and testimony documenting the cult’s entire history of evil will live forever in the cloud, which perpetually follows the cult wherever it goes in cyber space, hovering ever-ready to rain on the cherch’s picnic.
The bigger issue currently is getting enough folks in power to finally do something about it. On that score, the cherch’s religious cloak of impunity is also worn by much larger and more powerful entities who resist reform and close scrutiny for their own reasons, which provides cover for the cult as an ancillary consequence.
To what end though? What information was she trying to get by asking someone to come over for game night and bringing gifts to bridal shower?
To ingratiate yourself and get info casually.
You tell friends a lot more than you tell co-workers or neighbors.
Any information. What happens when a couple people or a group gets together? They talk, about almost everything. Scientology was hoping to get anything on what Mike and Christie were up to, especially if they were doing anything “bad”. Like drinking, going to strip clubs, etc. Scientology will use anything to get an advantage over an “enemy”.
That’s presumably just a sort of first step in the woman’s effort to insinuate herself into the Rinders’ lives, and find ways – including through her son – to spend more time with them, and perhaps even gain their confidence. That would have lead to her being able to collect more personal intelligence information on them, such as shared information (trip plans, family stresses, etc.) and overheard conversations.
Plus, as Christie points out, even if the effort is clumsy and failed, it still intimidates the intended targets by letting them know they are essentially being stalked, watched and followed, and have to wonder who they can trust. The one thing that brought Marty Rathbun to tears, was when he talked about the difficulty of he and his wife have making friends, because of Scientology’s continuing interference in their personal lives.
p.s. Christie and Mike, sorry you have to put up with this sort of stuff.
Now Christie will have a sense of unease when any new person attempts to be her friend or any ex-scientologist for that matter because of what happened here. They’ve driven a wedge there. Its those insidious little ways that they worm their way into your brain.
Dear Christie,
Thank you so much for sharing this story with us, I’m so very sorry you had to experience this – it’s simply immoral and depraved. The level of betrayal is stunning, and the whole sordid story speaks of and illustrates the real underpinnings of scientology – harmful gibberish by a narcissistic megalomaniac.
I’m sorry that in addition to everything else you’ve put up with, you also have to contend with these assaults on your trust and peace of mind.
I wish all the good things for you and your lovely family.
Peace.
<3
Just another day at the office for ‘the most ethical group on the planet’.
The church of scientology, and particularly OSA, are a very sick group of misguided people.
Strong is the Kool-Aid in these people.
It could be suggested that without the hate and enemy based compute of the Cof$ they would not exist. They truly are an anti-life religion, for without an enemy there is no game and no money, hence they create their own enemies. Hubbard knew he cooked his own goose when it became obvious his Bridge went nowhere and the state of OT turned out to be about as legitimate as his war record. Lies are the only thing that keeps that organisation afloat. One day one of the torpedoes fired at it will hit the mark and down she goes.
Christie, good article. Thank you.
Scientology breeds paranoia. The members stand proud that they are able to neutralize their enemy’s and defend their Cherch. They turn into inhuman attack Bots driven by fear.
My maxim: Scientology brings out the worst in people.
And you can take that to the “bank”.:-)
And every single black operation is an actual Instruction, in writing, Star rated, clay demoed and checked out.
All of this abuse comes from the demonic intellect of L Ron Hubbard.
The more I hear about things like this, the more the word EVIL describes Hubbard.
L Ron Hubbard represented an evil metaphysical force. L Ron was the SP he warned us about.
He’s the one who created a religion to enslave
The SP was Hubbard all the time.
Dave is simply following instructions on how to be a tyrant. Dave and Ron are a match made in hell.
I pray that 2018 is the year of more Scientology revelations that take them down.
OSA folks, you have been duped. You are actually playing the black hat and don’t know it.
You have believed everything Ron has said without a reasonable inspection.
There are many x OSA out here. They are not SPs. They are regular people that got tired of hurting people in Ron’s name.
Is this what you signed up for OSA peeps? Hurting families? Hurting families and acting like a spy is “clearing the planet?”
This behavior is making a sane and happy world? You’ve been duped.
Get out while you can. Many people are here to help you.
Great write up Brian. Hubbard intended to be Lucifer. A careful reading of occult texts, shows that Hubbard wanted the entire universe under his control just like Satan. In the end, Satan is defeated just like Hubbard.
I thought of you today George and your research into Ron’s occult interests. I wrote a post in SWOT, the Facebook for Ex Scientologists.
The title is called Evil. I have recently been having some type of mental and spiritual release by acknowledging Hubbard as not just a sick criminal man, but an evil metaphysical force.
Something lifted off of me and I had a feeling of awakening in my heart chakra. My chest was filled with love when I realized, on the deepest level, that Ron was part of the negative cosmic force.
He was not just a bad man. He was an Evil man. A spiritually evil man.
Nibs said dad did not worship Satan, dad thought he was Satan.
We were all psychically connected to him. We were energetically connected to him. He used our admiration of him like a vampire.
Buddha, Jesus, Krishna and all great saints proclaimed that there is an evil force. I once asked an 80 year old monk, who is respected by all, “does evil exist?” Without missing a beat he said yes.
Hubbard was a liar and deceiver who instructed to harm people to protect his money.
Sometimes I think Miscavige and the other slaves needs an excercism.
Today I prayed and asked God, or whatever, to bring this evil organization to its knees.
Thank you George for holding the light on Hubbard’s occult self. I now get it.
Hubbard was satanic, evil. It’s what he wanted, it’s what he affirmed. He attained it and it destroyed him. And took the peace and joy from countless victims of his dark deceptive art along with him.
And Mike, your question on Aftermath to Leah, when you were driving and you said,”what the fuck were we part of?
That question, the tone you asked it, the utter WTF communicated by your question stuck with me. I’ve thought about that question many times.
I ask that question no more. For me, the answer to that question is that we were psychically ensnared in a satanic evil force that Hubbard worked to manifest.
He even tried bringing evil into the world with Parsons.
Hubbard represented the evil force. He even hated Jesus. It’s just too obvious to be accepted. The depths of his evil wasn’t accepted by me until just recently.
In the Bible it says the Devil is a liar. Hubbard lied always. He was all lies. It’s who he IS!
Thank you Brian for your excellent points about Hubbard. In studying the occult there is a tipping point. We all must make the choice. Do we go to the good or do we go evil? It is like corny “Star Wars”, but it is a fact. The entire point of Milton’s “Paradise Lost” is that once Lucifer makes his choice, he is different. He is now the “flip side” of goodness. The flip side of goodness is control of others. It is that simple. Lucifer is surrounded by his defeated army of devils after he tempts Eve. He is struck by Ariel the Seraphim with an invisible beam and is forced to move ten paces backwards where he falls to one knee. Then the entire army of devils begin to “hiss” as they all affirm the intent to torture mankind. This is why the OT levels did not work and will never work. Simply put the prime postulate is not “to be” as Hubbard said. The prime postulate is to be “something else” than true essence. I believe there were OT powers on this planet about 2,600 years ago. But as described in ancient texts these powers were limited.
Glad to that you are plumbing the depths of Hubtard’s evil Brian. Sometimes it takes a while to confront.
Thank you Brian, you are now upgraded from Doubt. I see you’ve been doing Liability and Non-E all along. I’ve upgraded you to Normal 🙂
?
Brian,
Your are so far from the truth. Hubbard was not a saint but he was on the right track. And after 1970 Hubbard was not responsible for what happened to Scientology as he wasn’t around.
Nibs was a CIA operative and later cloned.
Sure there are evil forces, but Hubbard was looking for phenomena and found it in both.
Go back and have a look at the the tech after late 70, after the CIA and Ingo and his boys got to town with the remote viewing project. Was Scientology overrun by evil forces yes it was.
Hubbard yes he told tall stories but he had a big heart for humanity.
He did well.
Seriously?
Where was HUbbard after 1970? I saw him on the Apollo and at LaQuinta, or was this a clone?
Hi Mulungu,
If Mike allows this long essay it will make the argument for Hubbard’s malignancy. This essay proves, from my view, that the benevolent Hubbard was hypno-PR. After all, he pistol whipped one of his wife’s. He was not a nice man.
THE OCCAM’S RAZOR SERIES #1 — Isolating Single Concepts That Reveal L Ron Hubbard’s Demonic Nature
L RON HUBBARD’S EVIL INTENTION REVEALED (blowing and overts)
At the very beginning of Jeffery Augustine’s 2nd video interview with Bill Franks, who worked directly with Hubbard for many years and was Executive Director of the Church of Scientology International; Bill Franks reveals to Jeffery that Hubbard sent a letter to him and David Mayo which stated that people don’t blow from overts (personal sins), they blow from ARCxs (upsets) — Video link below
Hubbard ordered them both to not let anyone know that he said that to them. Hubbard said that if people knew that they blew from ARCXs that he, Hubbard, would loose control of Scientology.
I would like to pause the entire universe for a second, stop everything and look directly at the implications and revelations of this letter from Ron; what it obviously reveals about Hubbard.
What it means is that L Ron Hubbard, in truth, did not really care about the pc’s mental health. He did not care of the mental and emotion suffering he would cause by introverting and gaslighting people.
Hubbard only cared about control. And in his terms that really meant cash flow. Money meant more to Ron than our sanity.
THINK ABOUT THIS ONE DEEPLY!!!
This one revelation is the Occam’s Razor (simple answer is the best) that reveals the true nature of L Ron Hubbard.
L Ron Hubbard used Scientology technology to enslave. That is exactly what this reveals beyond any doubt. It reveals that Hubbard’s true character was that of the Hypnotic Operator (see link below for Hypnotic Operator). He used Scientology “tech” for personal gain and did not give a shit about the emotional and mental damage he would personally cause in Scientologists.
That is pure sociopathic behavior in my view.
How many Scientology students have been introverted into a confidence destroying, soul destroying, mind destroying, life destroying self condemnation, by always defaulting to seeing ourselves as evil for wanting to leave an abusive situation ?
This one documented historical event was one of the rare times Ron reveals the truth about himself. He’s not hiding behind his PR, he’s being real with people he trusts.
We need to go no further than this one revelation to know beyond a doubt that L Ron Hubbard was a man on the dark side. Take note, Hubbard here is showing his true colors.
L Ron Hubbard did not mind causing suffering to others when they threatened his cash flow and controlling power. He did not care about Scientologists except for their money. That’s who Ron was.
This one revelation, IS the true L Ron Hubbard. A sentient being with a demonic nature. A being who would rather……………
YOU SUFFER THAN LOOSE CASH FLOW AND CONTROL.
THE EVIL THAT RON WAS ALWAYS WARRING AGAINST AND CONVINCED US TO WAR AGAINST WAS THE EVIL THAT RESIDED IN HIMSELF ALONE.
HE WAS THE IMPLANTER. HE WAS THE EVIL PSYCHE. HE WAS THE ONE WHO CREATED A RELIGION TO ENSLAVE.
THE SP WAS RON ALL THE TIME.
Interview with Franks
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KDGy2Q9qR70
Hypnotic Operator
https://www.mikerindersblog.org/l-ron-hubbard-messiah-or-hypnotic-operator/
For people here that have never been in scientology, the insane level of paranoia expressed above by Mulungu is NOT uncommon amongst hard core scientologists.
The rantings stem from the fact that the “flawless tech” of Hubbard doesn’t work and their mind cannot accept that fact so they manufacture enemies and wild schemes to explain what happened to destroy the “tech”.
Abso – freaking – lutely SPEECHLESS after reading Christie’s story!
Ask Heather to go to the IRS and US Government and tell them what this “tax exempt” billion dollar Organization is doing with members money.
This is our year SP’s.
The Church of Scientology is going to lose its tax exempt status and call itself a Corporation for Profit – that lies to people in exchange for money. It has perfected the science of Scam using cock roach attorneys and scum bag private investigators.
What more proof does the US Government need for petesake???
Wonderful idea which presumes the IRS to be some sort of beacon of honesty & integrity. And as seemingly unbelievable it may be, there’s the unfortunate and very real possibility that IRS is actually running the CoS… http://sc-i-r-s-ology.freiescientologen.de/contents/howirsruns.html I say “possibility” only because I have not personally done the research. But I find nothing in that report which doesn’t fit in perfectly with what many of us have been aware of for some time.
Also watch the late Aaron Russo’s movie about the IRS: “From Freedom to Fascism”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6ryg5Jz_wQ
So unfortunately it’s going to require a bit more than simply having the IRS recognize what’s going on with Co$; they already know. IRS is as thoroughly corrupt an organization as you’ll find anywhere and will fight anything that lessens their income and power. So rather than any common sense right/wrong sort of “and justice for all” motion being initiated by the IRS, I expect the Co$ tax exemption issue will have to be corrected through the courts; and with the Co$ war chest in place to “fight suppression”, that’s going to be pretty tough row to hoe; IMO.
Nice to see a real person make a comment that points in the right direction. I wish you well.
Yeah, I always figured that the IRS was completely aware of what was, and still is, going on with scientology and simply knuckled under because they didn’t want to deal with all the lawsuits anymore. I’m still quite surprised by this, since the IRS would have a bunch of attorneys to deal with just this type of situation. I think we’ll be waiting quite some time to see scientology’s undeserved tax-exempt status revoked. I hope I live long enough to see it!
As to scientology spies, I also agree that this is definitely not what tax-exempt money should be used for. If they wish to call their cult a religion, shouldn’t the money be used for good works? Of course, scientology apparently thinks that sending stalkers after ex-members IS good works. And bringing children into it is absolutely heinous!!!
It’s crazy because it wouldn’t actually be that hard to genuinely do good works. As in good works that did not benefit them, were not connected to them (I mean like a front group is) and did not bring in money for them. Which I suppose would be the crux of the problem, since making money is their god. But they could fund a few soup kitchens for the homeless, as an example. And NOT do touch assists, NOT try and send them to Narconon (not that they would anyway since they couldn’t pay), NOT try and get them into the cult and not talk to them about Scientology in any way or victimise them.
A fraction of the money spent on the operations used just to go after Mike-and-company (Christie, Robert Almblad etc) could feed so many people.
That’s one thing other than the abuses that makes the whole thing so galling.
Hubtard should have joined the mafia rather than open a “church”. Obviously that was a better fit for his mind and objectives.
Sucks that you had to go through that crap with children to look after to boot.
L Ron the Con Hubturd would never had joined the mafia – remember what he says about the “criminal mind” ?
Besides that …..he liked RAW MEAT – innocent people that think they are walking into a church where it is safe….
Yes, I agree. Intelligence that never was, seemed so real.
Converting “Charitable” funds for personal use is illegal ! (Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code) WHERE is all this money for “spys” coming from ???
Are there no “Honest” Government Officials anymore? (not counting the FBI)
They have become so desperate that they reveal themselves. Gase did not respond because he knew he had been spotted. Nice response you had, Mike, and he was not prepared for it. Stupidity is what stupidity does. Very coarse.
I couldnt find what this refers to in the above piece. (???)
I believe he’s referring to another comment by a Gase in the comments section.
I find it fascinating that Steve Cannane was half way around the world from home and he has the contacts to unearth your stalkers!
Thanks for the story, Christi and Mike. I still occasionally think about driving you around Melbourne that time and you laughing at the prospect that I might be a “mole” for the CoS. 😀
Hi Heather. Fond memories! Hope u r well.
I am, thanks, Mike. And very proud of you.
Hi Heather – thanks for speaking out and doing the right thing. Could you please go to the President of the United States and IRS and tell them your story? You could help us take down this evil cult.
The Church of $camontology bankrupted my friends and family and smashed peoples dreams….people that I love.
Please????
Heather Grace is a different person than Heather McAdoo.
Christie,
Thanks for telling the full story. Ugh that has to feel so odd never knowing who you can trust. I grew up like that due to having a parent who had mental health issues so things would be invented when someone got close to us kids then somehow our parent felt threatened so decided that people who were nice to us had bad intentions. Took many years to learn to trust people. And that was made up! I can’t fathom having people really do this type of thing for real!! Hugs!
PS Mike feel free to edit this part out. This is for you two… but it looks like she’s kind of a mess and someone who’s stayed in chaos. 14 years as a single mom and I never asked others to pay my utilities on a website. Yuck. https://www.gofundme.com/hug9i4
Your story has CO$ written all over it.
Heather’s repeated use of “my kid misses your kid” tactics just screams to me that they think your “ruin” is that you’re a compassionate woman who would feel bad if you hurt a little kid’s feelings (you know, like a regular human woman).
Kudos to you for keeping her at arm’s length.
Thank you for what you do Mike!!!!
I’m glad she found peace. This is a great example how the church will affect the average Joe videographer that has nothing to do with the church. I figured out it was wrong after four days and turn down a lot of money in the long run but it was worth it knowing my mind was free. Thank you for telling a small stories like mine to make a big difference
In someone’s life to set them free!!
Thank you, Bert, for your courage and honesty in speaking out.
This world needs more Bert Leahys!
I could not agree more Len! A good man who stood up for what was right despite the personal danger and consequences.
Bert Leahy … a CLASS ACT!!
Thank you Bert – it was amazing to be getting out myself when you delivered that delicious blow of TRUTH to the cult!! Just fricken awesome!
Just quickly looked you up Bert, and bless your heart. Not only did you quickly realise things were not ok and stop what you were doing, but you immediately apologised. Then, rather than go quietly away and live safely (which you could easily have done and nobody would have judged or criticised you for it), you turned tail and filmed video interviews for Mark Bunker and Marty Rathbun AND provided a statement for court about it. Not just prodding the Scientology monster, but jabbing it in the eye with a damn cattle prod. And it’s not like you were ignorant of what you were doing, you knew the crap they could rain down on you.
Kudos.
Christie, I’m so sorry for all the crappy things the C of $ put you and your darling family through. Disgusting. On the bright side, you are a fabulously talented writer. I know how busy kids can keep you, but when you have the time, you should write some more. Your prose is inspired.
Thank you Terry!
The criminal organisation known as the “church” of $cientology is simply acting out the instructions of L Ron Hubbard. “religious” instructions that Mike has touched on many times, to great effect, here.
Many members (and from the sounds of this story, non-members) are recruited to do things which are unethical at best, and illegal at worst. One of the nastiest stories that I have come across is the story of Remy Petit, a French OSA volunteer who infiltrated the patient circle of a psychologist, stole some mail (uh-oh, that’s actually a crime) and ended up turning state’s evidence in a separate criminal trial which got a conviction against the head of OSA France. This conviction against OSA was overturned on appeal, perhaps in part because Remy Petit had committed suicide on the eve of the appeal. French police did not find anything to suggest anything other than a suicide, but no-one should have to be cornered into laying down their life because L Ron Hubbard said “steal their mail.”
https://whyweprotest.net/threads/georges-fenech-interviewed-about-scientology-sept-12-2014.120895/
So: be a smarty, do not join OSA’s volunteer party!
great story. And very scary considering children are involved. Know one knows how far Scientology would go to get even or hurt their ex members
I hoped you checked the toys and gifts heather gave you for wireless micro phones and transmitters? audio and visual.
btw, mike rinder is a very lucky man!
Christie’s story gives me the creeps as I’m sure it does her just in recollecting and retelling. To think this woman was in your home…geesh! Just another story to be added to countless others of immorality of this cult and the steps they take, under the direction of a couple of psychopaths (dead and alive), to attempt to gain the upper hand. Great instincts to ferret out this asshole whose apology sounds disingenuous to me. And the use of a child to ingratiate herself is most appalling.
Thanks Mike for posting this.
It reminds me of Hubbards communication to Heinlein back in 1949 B/4 Dianetics was published where he told Heinlein his plot, after all Ron said he was just a writer and a writer writes a plot of a story. Ron hadn’t quite worked it out, but perfected through the years thru trial and error. Which, Ron’s plot is called HCOB’s and HCOL PL’s, and Flag Advice’s and everything else, that is Hubbard for “H”, the writer of a “plot”.
And in the end he said he failed.
Here’s Hubbard’s plot told to Heinlein:
“Your request for the agentes techniques recalls me that this here area is shore revolutionary, pard. They just ain’t ferget noth’in about Reconstruction. Down at the library, all the way back in the vault, are four full lengths shelves of books such as THE PSYCHOLOGY OF REVOLUTION, ERRORS MADE BY ROBESPIEPE, THE POWER OF THE RABBLE, LAWS GOVERNING LEVEE EN MASSE, HOME BOMB MANUFACTURE, ASSASSINATION AS A POLITICAL TECHNIQUE, etc. etc. for about three hundred big, authoritative volumes. And I never before seen a single one of them.”
One can google search those title books if one wishes to understand Hubbard’s plot, not many will I’m afraid to say.
It’s in the Heinlein/Hubbard letters that Tony Ortega posted awhile back as well.
There is gold in details.
The whole plot of Dianetics and Scientology is to go clear and then OT, LOL
Major fail
Is that child really Heather’s? Was a child brought in as a prop in a goon operation? That is a sick use of a child in a sick game. Did the kid get used by making friends and then being moved around? Nasty.
Great question OTD! I would love to hear the answer. Was she using her own innocent child as bait?
Good Evening Mike. I Would like to wish you and your family a belated Happy New Year!
I salute you….and EVERYONE else who has been brave enough to come forward and share their stories of life within Scientology.
The dominos are starting to fall.
Thank You also for letting me contribute. Also…PLEASE post on your blog the next get together you have over in Clearwater….I was disappointed I missed the one at the Lucky Anchor. It would be an honor to meet you.
Yours….. OverTheBridgeTPA
Well touche’. I am not a paid advocate for the church but I am going to help the church stop Leah and Mike from Bashing the only organization to possibly save African-Americans. I am a Tata. And I will used my training as a PRIEST to diminish those who oppose me.
Tataochosi, what ARE you rattling on about?
What is this man talking about? You will use your training as a priest to diminish those who oppose you? Dude, stop drinking the Koop-Aid! Does ‘delusion’ run in your family?
The only organization to save African-Americans?! You know not of what you speak! Hubbard was famously racist. Supported apartheid.
‘You shouldn’t be scrubbing the floor on your hands and knees. Get yourself a nigger; that’s what they’re born for. ‘
-L Ron Hubbard, in a letter to first wife, Polly Grubb
The only way ‘Source’ helps anyone is to strip away their self-determinism, steal their money, their youth and then drop them in disgust when they are no longer useful.
http://www.lermanet.com/barwell/hubbard-the-racist.txt
I know. Don’t feed the trolls. But I find this highly offensive.
Getting off Apple box. Going to sweep my floors.
Respectfully, what the hell is a Tata?
I think Tata is what you say in England. Sometimes shortened to TTFN (Tata For Now).
In the US it would be “Bye”
Thanks, Mike, I’ve heard that Briticism, but he’s using the word as a proper noun: “I am a Tata”, so…? Google gave me no clue. Maybe there is no such thing and a troll is enjoying the little snack I furnished.
Wait, never mind, I got it!
I googled, “Tata Priest” and “tata” actually means “priest” and pertains to Afro-Cuban spiritual beliefs practiced by slaves in Colonial Cuba who were brought over from the Congo. The religion is called, “Palo Moyumbe”..
“A Tata is a master of the arts of mediumship, spiritual workings and divination”. Tatas (priests) have to learn songs (called Mambos) as well as study herbs and other plants used in their healing and communication with the dead and in telling the future. Black magic is also involved, dont’cha know!
Palo Moyumbe has a website. Good luck with that. The language is, shall we say, on the esoteric side. Cheers!
And now his post can be understood. What he said was that he’s going to use his powers as a Tata (A Palo Moymbe priest) to help the Church of Scientology in preventing Mike and Leah from “Bashing” the “only organization” that can “save” African-Americans” (presumably this is Co$) and that his powers will also be used to “diminish” anyone who opposes him in this endeavor.
Everyone – got that now?
TATAOCHOSI HAS SPOKEN!
Can’t say he didn’t warn us!
OSA, I must say you’re becoming creative. Is this thinking outside the box or what? VWD!
Interesting!
I searched “tata priest”… Tata is apparently some sort of priest… https://www.facebook.com/catherin.rico Possibly related to the better known WTF priest. 😉
Aqua……….maybe an Indian automobile?
LOL!! See above 🙂
And here I thought Tatas was something completely different.
Oh you and your bodacious comments!!?
Welll………there are SOME men who refer to “female breasts” as “tata’s”….
That’s the word I always used: tatas!
OMG, no! So many names for this…er, these, apparently. Oh, well, I guess we’ve fully cleared this word now, and used it in sentences. I don’t know about you, but I feel brighter! And, yes, of course, I will write a Success Story!
Tataochosi,
What is this ‘only organisation’ going to save African-Americans from exactly?
Bad spelling?
Yeah, well bad spelling is the least of their worries.
He chosi a Tata auto, and now all African Americans can buy them, and be very mobile in Alabama, maybe? Saved from long-term ambulatory escapades.
Thanks for sharing this Christi. In the 1980’s, Scientology tried to get my wife to be a spy for them. They tried to recruit her for undercover work. She caught on to the game and quit. Scientology will not stop its insane policies which is proven by your recent story. There really is no solution for the Scientology issue except the revocation of its tax exempt status.
..”There really is no solution for the Scientology issue except the revocation of its tax exempt status.”
Absolutely and that is the end game, defang the monster and then bury it.
Wow…I’m constantly amazed at the lengths these “people” will go to and ruin other’s lives. Thank you guys for keeping us informed of all the craziness. We live in a rather low key New Mexico city and thankfully haven’t seen anything/one Scientology related, yet…fingers crossed.
Quite a story on so many levels. Well written informative creepy intrigue Christie… geez
Nicely written Christi. It is so disheartening that in 21st century America you had to put up with this noise. How convoluted is a ‘church’ that spends parishioner’s hard earned dollars paying investigators, renting homes, equipment, etc. in order to intimidate and harass. The depths of their desperation is mind boggling and, ironically, very transparent.
Must be so surreal when this is actually happening to you. It’s a TV Show script! Insane! And the people giving up so much of their money and lives to fund this type of operation. Awful, but at least you pretty quickly felt uneasy about her and so didn’t get too invested in the friendship. Good gut instinct.
Wow, it’s a good thing this Heather was so clumsy at being a spy. If she were really skilled at it, she would have 1) acted like a normal human and took her time to become a legitimate friend or 2) jumped at the chance of ‘leaving’ with your help, just to be allowed back in your life. I’m curious what they thought they could find out that would make this operation worthwhile. Or was it so clumsy and obvious on purpose to let you know you were vulnerable and being watched?
I don’t know how you go through that without becoming paranoid. This story has Gift of Fear written all over it. Right out of the stalker playbook.
In a sense it’s classic Scientology – they can never be patient and do things the “normal” way, they want results NOW! which means they are often clumsy and weird in their approach to anything.
Heather no doubt was reporting her progress to her “boyfriend”, who was reporting it up lines, and we all know who was probably getting these progress reports. He then says he wants quicker results and so Heather is put under pressure to keep trying to build the relationship. Heather wasn’t a clumsy spy, she was most likely just responding to her silly orders.
The Baby Shower incident would have got DM all excited, you can imagine him sending instructions to Heather to make sure she buys the baby a lot of gifts, because he couldn’t possibly understand that such behavior would freak someone out. In his mind, that’s how you win someone’s friendship.
True, I should have said the whole spying operation was clumsy. I’m sure that is coming from the top. I still have no idea what intel they were looking for.
There’s a whole raft of things they would be interested in. One would definitely include attempts to find out who the Rinders are talking to, including any “under the radar” church members who might be becoming disaffected. Another would be simply to find out what the Rinders are planning, in terms of media appearances, or trips to meet other critics. If you know what someone is planning, maybe you can disrupt those plans.
Also, and this is pretty sick, if you can find out what someone’s problems or worries are, you can exploit them to make their life more difficult, because if life is difficult, you have less time to cause the church problems.
I don’t fully believe Heather’s apology.
Her messages scream of desperation which doesn’t make sense to me in the circumstances she described in her apology.
If she was just the grilfriend of Dwayne Powell she would have had ample opportunity to research her “target”.
Her desperation (she had to be under lots of pressure), her social incompetence and pushy behavior and her inability to realise the futility and wrongness of it make me think of her as a Scientologist.
I think she just (fake) apologized because she became afraid of the backslash.
Also, I don’t understand why people are not able to say “I don’t want to keep contact with you.” or “I don’t like your behavior.”, when they feel that way, for fear of offending someone (if that’s the reason).
Maybe it’s because I’m not an American but it always annoys me when I see it in US TV shows and films where it generates so much more problems.
If I don’t like someone and they don’t get it by themselves and keep pestering me I tell them in round terms to stop it.
Here it ist the same. I would have told Heather in no uncertain terms that I don’t want any contact with her much, much sooner. If she would have still contacted me afterwards I would have blocked her.
Oh and I would have had alarm signals shrilling when she moved to the same area.
But maybe Christie is just to polite and generally nice and I’m a rude a..hole. 🙂
I don’t think it is an American thing, but more of a woman thing. Unfortunately society, and even family/friends emphasize that we should always be polite and nice above all at all times…even though this can, and does, put us in danger. You can see this inner voice playing out in Christie’s story…on one hand she is thinking WTF? but on other doesn’t want to be rude.
There is a book out there about this exact subject detailing why women get this message and how to ignore it and listen to our gut, or inner voice and say no without feeling bad or guilty about it. I can’t remember the author or name right now but will post it when I am on computer vs. the phone. I know fear is in the title and there may be a TED talk about it.
This is actually a pretty important and topical subject and this story is an excellent example. I am glad she shared it with us.
The Gift of Fear is the book.
The Gift of Fear is the book you’re thinking of.
Definitely would be interested if you come up with the name of the book Frodis. Being mom of three boys & one girl, I want to help her avoid the missteps I made. My boys (the older two) turned out amazing with great boundaries yet still tell me, “Mom sometimes you’re too nice & it’s ok not to be with some people!” I get that but it’s definitely an ingrained habit from wanting to be liked & accepted. Of course I want my children to be nice & polite but have better boundaries than I did for sure.
I totally identified with what Christie wrote plus was proud for her because I’d like have felt badly & given in longer. Good for her!!! (Mom issues sooo wreck boundaries!)
The book is called “The Gift of Fear” by Gavin de Becker.
https://www.amazon.com/Gift-Fear-Survival-Signals-Violence/dp/0440226198
You can also check him out on youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNtXjIiJ0PU
I highly recommend this and it directly relates to the topic at hand…we have *all* had situations where we ignore that gut feeling in order to be polite…this book teaches us to recognize that fear and use it for our own good.
Thanks for the book title. Another good one along this line is, “Blink” by Malcom Gladwell. HE talks about how we can “know” in less than a second and we should trust our instincts.
It’s not just a woman thing; it’s also a southern (USA) thing. We are bred to be polite.
Smorbie, you are right, it is not just a woman thing, and the whole nice southerner thing qualifies. It does seem to apply to women a lot more than men unfortunately and it is discussed in the book. We are supposed to be the nice ones, the peacemakers and that we shouldn’t rock the boat. If a southern man does stand his ground and/or is rude, it will not be looked on as abnormal. My mom raised me to buck all that nonsense, but even I have fallen prey to this kind of thinking.
Smorbie and Frodis: “Its a southern (USA) thing. We are bred to be polite”.
I have relatives in the south who advised me to be alert if, in a conversation with a southerner, he or she says, “Bless your heart”.
Because according to them, this is a polite, southern way of saying “You really are a jerk”, or, “Fuck you”. So its like a covert hostility thing.
Then again, not always. Sometimes “Bless your heart” can be a warm sincere, empathetic comment.
It depends, they said 🙂 Hilarious, no?
I can’t wait to go to Tennessee this spring and have someone say “Bless your heart” to me so I can try to figure this out. 🙂
If someone says ‘Bless your heart’ after receiving a gift, they did NOT like it. Or they hate you. ?
Ha ha! Learn something new every day!
Thank goodness for spidey senses
I had spidey senses once. But a Black Widow put a stop to that.
You make me smile.
But you’re still a webby sort of guy.
Webby is in my family’s blood.
This would make a GREAT episode for Aftermath.
It already has the vibe of a terror/horror stalker movie – kinda like Fatal Attraction.
They briefly discussed this in Mike’s episode from season 1.
Just so unnerving the lengths they go and that’s a strange comment about a link!
Incredible story. Can’t imagine having to deal with that type of BS while trying to put your energy into raising and living a healthy and happy family life.
All ex Scientology stories are heart wrenching when describing the wrongs of an organization such as Scientology, that’s suppose to enlighten, enrich and have people believe in them only to find out the horrors behind it all. I only know Mike Rinder (and yourself) from the show so I haven’t met in any meet ups in Florida (I live near San Francisco) but I can tell you and Mike are wonderful people. I’m sorry about everything that has happened to your family. Sometimes in life we make choices that we have no idea how it’s going to affect our lives and can continue for years after. But your family has proven to millions what great people you are and whatever happens in the future will be the most exciting life filled with love and kindness. Thank You for sharing your stories. You are loved!
Geez. What a nice comment, Lorene.
Dave,
That sensation around your neck is a noose — not a necktie form last lifetime. LOL
Christie, thank you for elaborating on a story that Mike had previously talked about. What made this special, was that you were the one who experienced it. As I was reading, it was as if you and I were speaking one on one, over coffee. That is a gift. Those of us who are regular readers here, would love to hear stories from you regularly! Please consider joining Mike’s excellent regular contributors to this blog! You rock!!
Thank you Nobly. I’m glad that we were able to have coffee together virtually. 🙂
Your wife is a smart cookie. Always listen to your gut. Still. That has to cause emotional damage and make you not want to trust anyone. Thank you for sharing that. It really brings home the desperate and disgusting lengths COS goes to. Which makes me wonder even more about the Paul Haggis allegations. It sounds like they use same playbook as Harvey Weinstein, hiring PIs through lawyers to befriend a couple of his accusers and try to befriend reporter Ronan Farrow. If it was a movie people wouldn’t believe it. Life that’s stranger than fiction.
wow, what a story
Wow that is so hectic Christie. So glad you documented everything. It blows my mind the lengths they will go to.
Jesus, that honestly gave me chills. UGH! Christie, I’m so glad you have such a good head on your shoulders..and Steve Cannane on your side. <3
Off-topic, but talking about getting “chills”, I just wanted to say that seeing your profile image of an erased face (that you use here) while reading your story for the first time still haunts me.
Thanks Mick….I sure felt that way for a long time. Thanks for reading, sharing, and being so amazingly supportive. I appreciate you.
goddammit it MIKE… As soon as i clicked on this link….. I RECEIVED a fucking text message from this link. …… You’re a CUNT…. thought a bunch of this documentary….. but now I’m pissed….
What link are you referring to?
Mike, he might be referring to an email that is apparently sent automatically when a poster has requested notifications of new comments. The one I got was from: [MikeRindersBlog.org] Comment Reply
The message in it said this:
“Hello, someone replied to your comment:
https://www.mikerindersblog.org/?p=36971#comment-206191”
But the above link didn’t go to anybody’s comment, just to the top of the page.
What is WRONG with you M. Gase?
Are you kidding me right now? What is your deal? As my kids would say….. ‘Grow Up’
M Gase: Lucky you ! You appear to be one of those people who can speak ‘jack ass’ in several languages. Good luck with that.
Wow that’s a scary story. Thanks for sharing it. You both are so brave. I can’t imagine how it feels to know you are being watched. I clicked on the link and found out that the scientology billionaires that bought the Holy City /Santa cruz property are very close to where I live . WALKING DISTANCE!! I’ll be keeping an eye open to see if and when they move there or if they develop the property.
Perhaps they are considering a new mORGue of the idle variety?
🙂
I clic on it and get ‘Cult Education Institution’ web site. The problem seems to be on your end.
(Mike, I think he is talking about the link Christie texted to Heather at the end)
The original link no longer works and it is not on the paper’s website. The link now takes you to the site I linked to which is where the original article can now be found.