Scientology & the Perversion of Justice -

Mrs. Britton, I’m not trying to say anything. You have indictated in your testimony yesterday and today that you were upset with a variety of different law enforcement agencies and people because they did not conduct a very good investigation into the events surronding Kyle’s death. And I’m asking you what investigation did you conduct and what did you do to preserve the findings of that investigation and inquiry–Attorney Lee Fugate

https://youtu.be/ynkG60M49pI

 

 

My youngest son, Kyle Brennan, was declared dead from a gunshot wound to the head just past midnight on February 17, 2007, in the Clearwater, Florida, apartment of his Scientologist father, Tom Brennan. The circumstances of his violent death were—and still remain—extremely suspicious. The reasons are many: The horribly mismanaged police investigation during which crucial evidence was either not gathered, not processed, or purposely lost; The numerous lies told by Police Detective Stephen Bohling (lies to our family, lies strategically placed in his police report); And the innumerable lies told by the defendants—celebrity Scientologists Kyle (who was not a Scientologist) had the extreme misfortune to be surrounded by in the last days of his young life.

 

 

Clearwater is the Church of Scientology’s worldwide headquarters, and Tom Brennan’s Cleveland Street apartment was in close proximity to Scientology central—across the street from the Coachman Building (a Scientology training center), and just one block from Scientology’s main building, the Fort Harrison Hotel. Just as Scientology structures dominate downtown Clearwater, the religion also dominated the subsequent police investigation, and the wrongful-death lawsuit filed in February 2009 on behalf of the Estate of Kyle Brennan. Listed as defendants were: Scientologists Tom Brennan (Kyle’s father), Denise Miscavige Gentile (twin sister of Scientology’s controversial leader, David Miscavige), her husband Gerald Gentile, the Church of Scientology itself, and Flag Service Organization, Inc. (or FSO, the Church’s so-called “spiritual headquarters”).

In the years since Kyle’s death—residing in a new world-turned-upside-down—I’ve struggled with the grief over the loss of a child, and the arduous challenge of suing the Church of Scientology. The Church of Scientology, as most people realize, is a very wealthy and litigious organization. Based on the writings of founder L. Ron Hubbard, they have no qualms whatsoever about using the most ruthless and heinous tactics when it comes to the law. To high-ranking Scientologists, lawsuits are not merely dispute resolutions, they’re acts of war. The Church of Scientology is ever willing to twist the law in order to destroy those it perceives as opponents. (Kyle was considered by Scientologists to be an “enemy of the Church” simply because he was seeing a psychiatrist and was taking psychiatric medication. See the blog post entitled “Heart of Darkness (Part I): The ‘Handling’ of Kyle Brennan.”)

“The law can be used very easily to harass,” wrote Hubbard in The Scientologist, a Manual on the Dissemination of Material, “and enough harassment on somebody who is simply on the thin edge anyway . . . will generally be sufficient to cause professional decease. If possible, of course, ruin him utterly.”

This is the stratagem they used against me. Despite the fact that they’d stopped our wrongful-death lawsuit—effectively muffling anything said legally on behalf of my dead son—they proceeded, after their victory, to sue me for just under $1 million. Fortunately the judge threw this attempt out.

Who pays the price when the rule of law is purposely distorted in order to bully honest citizens into submission? And what of Scientology’s next set of victims? How many more will suffer because the bullies haven’t been stopped?
On August 27, 2008, defendant Denise Miscavige Gentile, with her attorney in tow—Lee Fugate from the law firm of Zuckerman, Spaeder, LLP—arrived at the Clearwater Police Department for her first and only police interview. It was conducted by Detective Stephen Bohling (who headed-up the investigation into Kyle’s death). Eighteen months had passed since Kyle had died.

In the recorded interview’s opening, Detective Bohling and lawyer Fugate engage in casual conversation. Then the attorney explains that he’d told Denise that if the detective asks her a difficult question she could talk with him—Lee Fugate—before replying. “[B]ut,” Fugate adds, “I don’t think you’re gonna have anything like that.”

Bohling—forgetting that the conversation is being recorded—says: “No. And I’m more than willing to work with you, as I said, on this case.” Obviously pleased, Fugate says: “Well, that’s—that’s fine.”

This statement by Bohling—“I’m more than willing to work with you . . . on this case”—might seem innocuous, but it was made by a detective who subsequently falsified police information, committed perjury, and seemingly aided and abetted the defendants in the evasion of justice.

Extremely troubling, too, is that during this recorded interview Fugate refers to a previous conversation with Bohling, perhaps a phone conversation. The fact that this attorney/detective communication was not documented raises additional questions.

Bohling’s subsequent lie-filled police report was attached to Denise Miscavige Gentile and husband Gerald’s answer/response to the wrongful-death complaint filed by attorney Lee Fugate, and later used in court documents filed in federal court by the defendants. This is how the defendants weaseled their way out of the wrongful-death lawsuit. This is how they escaped justice. It all began with Detective Bohling helping these celebrity Scientologist defendants.

He later falsified information when he wrote his police report. Under the very important heading “Investigative Conclusion,” for example, Bohling wrote that Kyle “had been exhibiting early signs of Schizophrenia to include paranoia and delusions and that Lexapro had been prescribed. Kyle’s doctor, Dr. [Stephen] McNamara advised that Lexapro should be administered on a long term basis in order to attain the proper results. . . . Dr. McNamara also advised that he was not aware of any major side effects if one was to suddenly stop taking the medication. . . .”

Here are the documented facts: Dr. McNamara was deposed on June 16, 2010. Under oath Dr. McNamara expressed astonishment at the lies told by the police detective, perjury committed at the expense of an innocent twenty-year-old.

“I—I’m perplexed and dumbfounded,” stated Dr. McNamara. “Number one, I’m bound by confidentiality” to not reveal “information about someone’s treatment. . . .”
“Number two, I’m—stated here [as] stating that Kyle had a diagnosis that I did not make.”

“And lastly,” this statement regarding “major side effects if one was to suddenly stop taking Lexapro. . . . [W]e all, as a profession, have known this since the ‘90s. This—this is not something I would ever say.”

Moments later, Dr. McNamara stated under oath that he’d never spoken at all to Detective Bohling about Kyle.

Detective Bohling also omitted important information from his police report. In the first phone conversation I had with him, for example, the detective told me that the night Kyle died Scientologist Gerald Gentile was inside Tom Brennan’s apartment prior to the police. When I questioned this, Bohling said that Gentile had a right to be there. This crucial piece of information was left out of Bohling’s narrative of that evening’s events. (For more information about the numerous lies Bohling incorporated into his police report—an assertion that’s easily verified with testimony and documentation—see the blog post titled “Clearwater Police Department; The Fox & the Henhouse and Kyle’s Story; A Summary of the Lies & Deception.)

Truth is what drives our judicial system. Everything is based on this simple, and very necessary, virtue. For this reason, the public is always willing to give a police officer, or police detective, the benefit of the doubt. This despite the unfortunate fact that public servants sometimes lie, commit perjury, and obstruct justice. When an officer betrays his responsibilities—betrays his Oath of Honor–in this fundamental way, he makes a mockery of our judicial system. Criminals escape justice, lives are ruined and lost, families are crushed. Unfortunately, this illegal behavior by Stephen Bohling had a direct impact on the outcome of my wrongful-death lawsuit.

What became of Detective Stephen Bohling? He quietly retired from the Clearwater Police Department.

Five years after Kyle’s death, an interesting story was reported by WTSP News in Tampa. On November 9, 2012, Mark C. Rathbun—Scientology’s former number-two man—gave sworn testimony accusing Clearwater-area judges and lawyers of criminal wrongdoing regarding another Scientology-related lawsuit.

Statement of Mark C.  Rathbun, former senior executive of the Church of Scientology.

http://www.wtsp.com/investigators/article/282987/34/Federal-suit-Scientologists-spent-30-mil-to-cover-death



Token from Lisa McPherson’s services after her death in 1995.

Rathbun alleged that the Church of Scientology spent at least $30 million to cover up the tragic 1995 death of a woman in Scientology care. This was Scientologist Lisa McPherson, who, after a minor traffic accident, told fellow Scientologists she needed psychiatric help. Instead they took her to the Fort Harrison Hotel—the religion’s headquarters—where McPherson died seventeen days later. Her family sued the Church of Scientology saying they’d simply let her die. Criminal prosecution was brought by the Pinellas State Attorney’s office.
According to WTSP News: “The Church was charged with a second degree felony for practicing medicine without a license, and [the] abuse of a disabled adult. However, the charges were dropped after Pinellas Medical Examiner Joan Wood changed the cause of death from unknown to accidental.”

Rathbun, however, alleged that the cause of death was changed because the Church of Scientology “showered gifts on the Medical Examiner’s attorney.”
And Rathbun had something to say about attorney Lee Fugate. In his sworn testimony, Rathbun stated that Fugate, a former prosecutor, was hired by he and Scientology leader David Miscavige to have illegal ex parte meetings with judges involved in the McPherson case. (“Ex parte,” means one-sided, partisan.) According to Rathbun, those extra-legal meetings, plus the liberal rewarding of “at least $30 million,” got the charges dropped and lessened the damages in the civil suit. WTSP News claimed that the story had many other twists and turns. “Stay tuned,” they said. Unfortunately, WTSP News never provided a follow-up.
(In the case of Kyle’s death, similar wrong-doing was perpetrated by personnel in the Medical Examiner’s office.

The Medical Examiner ruled Kyle’s cause of death a suicide saying that police officials told her a suicide note had been found on his person. The police later admitted there’d been no note. And—like Detective Bohling—Medical Investigator Martha Scholl lied about having contact with Kyle’s psychiatrist, Dr. Stephen McNamara.)

During my deposition in 2010 I had an interesting exchange with Lee Fugate. Following my complaint about the pathetically poor police investigation into Kyle’s death, attorney Fugate had the gall to ask: “[W]hat investigation did you conduct [Mrs. Britton] and what did you do to preserve the findings of that investigation. . . ?” Evidently, Fugate believes that in Florida private citizens are required to conduct their own police investigations. He believes that it’s a grieving parent’s responsibility to investigate the suspicious death of their child.

In the summer of 2012 I had a highly qualified expert in the field of criminology and police procedures analyze Detective Bohling’s investigation. “It is my conclusion,” he wrote, “that the [Kyle] Brennan investigation was a farce. It is clear to me that there is some connection between the Church of Scientology and [the] Clearwater Police Department, including the relationship between Detective Bohling and the [Church of Scientology], and that this investigation is replete with conflicts of interest and mishandled investigative procedures.”

In perfect lock-step with L. Ron Hubbard’s teachings, this is how the rule of law is contorted by Scientology’s lead counsellors. This is how the morally bereft and aggressively litigious Church of Scientology continuously manages to get its way legally, even when it appears that its opponents have strong cases. Lying, victim-blaming, obstructing justice–it appears that any tactic is perfectly acceptable in the defense of the Church of Scientology.

Detective Stephen Bohling











Dr. Stephen McNamara








In the summer of 2012 I had a highly qualified expert in the field of criminology and police procedures analyze Detective Bohling’s investigation. “It is my conclusion,” he wrote, “that the [Kyle] Brennan investigation was a farce. It is clear to me that there is some connection between the Church of Scientology and [the] Clearwater Police Department, including the relationship between Detective Bohling and the [Church of Scientology], and that this investigation is replete with conflicts of interest and mishandled investigative procedures.”




Deposition of Mark C. Rathbun


deposition-of-marty-rathbun

Deposition of S. Brennan
























In 2007 my forward-looking 20-year-old son, Kyle Brennan, died in Clearwater, Florida, under extremely suspicious circumstances while visiting his Scientologist father. (Clearwater, of course, is the site of Scientology’s headquarters.) We lost the subsequent wrongful-death lawsuit we filed against Kyle’s father, prominent Scientologists who were involved, and the Church of Scientology itself. Because of the legal expenses incurred, we’ve yet to purchase a proper headstone for our beloved son. Will you help us?

 

 

 

                          Kyle Brennan’s Death & the Church of Scientology

·        Kyle Brennan - Born in Meriden, Connecticut, in 1986, my youngest son Kyle was bright, creative, and outgoing. He loved his family and was very fond in particular of a young niece who lived nearby. He was fascinated by Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of the Species and enjoyed taking long walks with his step-father. He was attending Piedmont Virginia Community College in Charlottesville, Virginia. He had dreams for his future. Like many youngsters his age, Kyle suffered from mild anxiety and depression. He was prescribed Lexapro, a well-regarded psychiatric medication, by his psychiatrist. Kyle was not a Scientologist.

·        Scientology and Psychiatry – The Church of Scientology’s hatred of psychiatry is extreme and vicious. One of the organization’s major tenets is that psychiatry and psychiatric medications are evil.  “Scientologists,” according to BBC reporter John Sweeney, “believe that psychiatry is Nazi pseudoscience. They believe that the Holocaust was planned and carried out by psychiatrists.” Scientology considers itself at war with psychiatry. Scientology teaches that it alone can save humanity from psychiatry.   

·        Scientologist Tom Brennan – Kyle’s biological father, Tom Brennan, is a talented chef prone to violent outbursts. A longtime Scientologist, Brennan in 2007 was living in Clearwater, Florida, world headquarters of the Church of Scientology. He was working for the Church, and living in an apartment across the street from the Coachman Building, a Scientology training and counseling center. Brennan’s Scientology “auditor” (or spiritual advisor) at the time was Denise Miscavige Gentile, twin-sister of the organization’s controversial leader, David Miscavige. (He referred to her, in fact, as “chaplain Denise.”) Brennan was pushing Scientology on Kyle: Kyle was resisting. When visiting Brennan in the summer of 2006, Kyle was told that Scientology was all he needed. He didn’t need to go to college. During this visit he heard Brennan’s new wife, also a devout Scientologist, refer to him as a “Suppressive Person”—someone to be reviled—an “enemy of the Church.”

·        Kyle’s 2006-2007 Travels – Just after Thanksgiving 2006, Kyle left Charlottesville to travel the country. Kyle first hopped a plane to Waterloo, Iowa, where he was looking into a community college. He traveled to California where he stayed with a paternal aunt. He flew to Maui in Hawaii where he camped on the beach. Just before he left, I had filled his Lexapro prescription. In preparation for his trip, Kyle purchased another bottle’s-worth of his psychiatric medication. Kyle took along two small duffel bags full of clothing, camping gear, an iPod, and his Dell laptop computer.

·        Kyle in Clearwater – Kyle arrived in Clearwater February 8, 2007. He’d decided to visit with his biological father before returning home to Charlottesville. Just prior to arriving, Kyle and a maternal uncle had a long telephone conversation during which Kyle talked about his plans for the future. In Clearwater, Tom Brennan put Kyle up in his downtown apartment and gave him his own room. I spoke over the phone with Brennan during Kyle’s stay, at one point asking him to make sure Kyle took his medication. Brennan said he would. Instead Brennan continued pushing Scientology on Kyle, telling him that Scientology-recommended vitamins would be better for him than his Lexapro. On Thursday, February 15, Kyle walked three miles to a branch of his bank and deposited money into his savings account to keep it open. On the evening of Friday, February 16, Kyle called a number of Clearwater-area personal injury lawyers seeking assistance. (This we know from his cellphone records.) 

·        Kyle’s Death – Kyle died of a gunshot wound to the head the evening of Friday, February 16, in Brennan’s Clearwater apartment. The EMTs found Kyle’s body in what Brennan said was his bedroom, not Kyle’s. Alongside him was a Taurus .357 Magnum revolver. Kyle’s head they found lying inside a laundry basket. Kyle’s Lexapro was found locked in the trunk of his father’s vehicle. Based on what we were told initially, we believe Kyle died at approximately 11 p.m. Brennan called 911 for help at 12:10 a.m. after first calling “chaplain Denise” for advice. The 1:00 a.m. phone call I received telling me of Kyle’s death was made—not by Kyle’s father, Tom Brennan, not by the Clearwater police—but by Gerald Gentile, Denise Miscavige Gentile’s husband. They’d driven to Brennan’s apartment that night.

·        Scientology “Handling” – In 2010 we learned that Kyle’s death had taken place only 36 hours after Tom Brennan had been given written orders to “handle” Kyle by Scientology’s “Flag Service Organization, Inc.” (the Church’s “spiritual headquarters” located in Clearwater’s Fort Harrison Hotel). “Handling,” as per Scientology, means taking care of a situation, removing a problem. To Scientologists, my son was an “enemy of the Church” simply because he was consulting a psychiatrist and taking Lexapro. Along with its vicious hatred of psychiatry, Scientology teaches that ethics don’t apply when it comes to “handling” an “enemy of the Church.” As founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote, “An enemy . . . may be deprived of property or injured by any means. . . . [They] may be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed.” Brennan was ordered to “handle” his son or face the consequences. One part of this Church-mandated “handling,” we believe, was the seizure of Kyle’s psychiatric medication, but how far did Scientologist Brennan go to stay in the Church’s good graces?   

·        The Criminally Mismanaged Police Investigation – Clearwater policemen and emergency medical personnel arrived at Brennan’s apartment within minutes of his 911 call. Rookie patrolman Jonathan Yuen, despite being outranked by other police officers present, was put in charge of the crime scene. The following day, Detective Stephen Bohling took over the investigation. He never visited Brennan’s apartment. Bohling told our family that the police “never processed the weapon or the scene for fingerprints.” He lied. The police report revealed that Kyle’s hands had been tested for gunshot residue (or GSR). That test was withheld from further analysis by the detective. The weapon too had been tested for fingerprints. That test came back negative—there were no fingerprints or ridge detail on the Taurus .357. There was no blood on it. Someone had wiped it clean. The bullet that killed Kyle was never found. (The Taurus .357 found alongside Kyle held four unfired bullets and one casing. Five more rounds were found in one of Kyle’s pockets. No fingerprints or ridge details were found on any of these cartridges—not even Kyle’s fingerprints.) The medical examiner ruled Kyle’s death a suicide saying that a suicide note was found on his person. (The police later admitted that there was no note.) With a missing bullet, no GSR test, and a weapon negative for fingerprints it cannot be determined who pulled the trigger on the weapon that killed my son, or even if he was killed by the weapon found at the scene.

·        Lies Tom Brennan Told About the Weapon & Ammunition – Brennan told many contradictory stories about the Taurus .357 Magnum and its ammunition. He told patrolman Yuen: That the gun was unloaded; it was kept in a green bag; he didn’t know where the ammunition for it was; and that Kyle didn’t know it was in the apartment. Then he told Detective Bohling: That he did know the whereabouts of the ammunition, it was stored in the green bag with the weapon. Under oath, in his deposition, however, Brennan stated: That he didn’t know if the weapon was loaded or unloaded; that the ammunition was not in the green bag with the weapon; and that Kyle not only knew about the Taurus, but that Brennan had showed it to Kyle just prior to taking Kyle and his older brother Sean to a local firing range. That’s where Brennan claimed he’d purchased the bullets. Sean, however, swore out an affidavit stating that: The three had gone to a Fort Myers-area firing range, Fowler’s, but had not taken the Taurus .357. They instead rented a Heckler & Koch USP .45 and Fowler’s provided the ammunition. Obviously, the .357 caliber and .45 caliber ammunition are not interchangeable, so where were the .357 bullets for the Taurus purchased? The green bag was not retrieved from the crime scene.

·        Tom Brennan’s Various Timelines – Brennan first told Kyle’s Virginia family that the evening Kyle died he’d arrived at his apartment at 10:30 p.m. after having dinner with friends. He later changed his story, saying he’d arrived home between 11:10 and 11:15 after spending the day selling books at the State Fair, and stopping by Denise’s to borrow a book. His first story places him in the apartment when Kyle died. And it’s obvious that he changed his tune to distance himself from his apartment and Kyle’s death. But even if the second story were true, why had it taken an hour for Brennan to dial 911? What was he doing during that hour? Why did he lie about his whereabouts? Detective Bohling was told about Brennan’s contradictory stories, but he never challenged Brennan’s veracity. In fact Bohling, in the subsequent police report, improved on Brennan’s alibi, saying: “Thomas Brennan returned home near midnight. . . .”

·        The Wrongful-Death Lawsuit – On behalf of the Estate of Kyle Brennan, a wrongful death lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division on June 17, 2010. Listed as defendants were: Tom Brennan, Denise Miscavige Gentile and her husband Gerald Gentile, the Church of Scientology, and “Flag Service Organization, Inc.” (or FSO, the Church’s so-called “spiritual headquarters”). The Estate was represented at varying times by Clearwater First Amendment lawyer Luke Lirot and Tampa attorney Kennan Dandar. The defendants filed a motion for summary judgment, and that was granted by federal judge Steven D. Merryday on December 6, 2011. We appealed this ruling but we lost.

·        Lies Told by Denise Miscavige and Gerald Gentile – In order to distance themselves from Kyle’s death, the Gentiles told numerous lies. They at first denied their relationship with Brennan, denied that Denise was a Scientology “auditor,” and denied that Denise was Brennan’s “auditor.” They also at first denied that Denise rode down to Brennan’s apartment the night Kyle died. And they claimed that Gerald’s call to me was placed from their home. All of these statements were later shown to be lies: Scientology documents prove Denise’s status as a “chaplain,” and that she was indeed Brennan’s “chaplain”—meaning they’d had a very close relationship. Gerald Gentile later admitted that both had gone to Brennan’s apartment and that the call was made from that location. Pressed for details concerning the “book borrowing” alibi, Denise and Brennan made contradictory statements. Denise claimed Brennan had borrowed her Scientology e-meter manual, while Brennan said he’s gotten Gerald’s electrical handyman repair book.

·        Kyle’s Laptop Computer – Suspiciously, Kyle’s computer—instead of being taken into police custody as evidence—ended up at the Miscavige-Gentile home soon after he died. When the laptop was returned to Virginia, Kyle’s sister-in-law, a U.Va. grad now working in Internet technology, analyzed its content. She found that it had been accessed but a few hours after Kyle’s death, on Saturday the 17th, and files had later been deleted.

·        Lies Told by Police and the Medical Investigator - Detective Bohling and Medical Investigator Martha Scholl lied about contacting and consulting with Kyle’s psychiatrist, saying in the police report that: “The doctor confirmed that Kyle had been exhibiting early signs of schizophrenia to include paranoia and delusions and . . . advised that he was not aware of any major side effects if one was to suddenly stop taking Lexapro.” However, Kyle’s psychiatrist, under oath, stated that he had absolutely no contact with either Bohling or Scholl. “Perplexed and dumbfounded” by their statements, he said he was “bound by confidentiality” not to release “information about a patient’s treatment.” Under oath, he stated that “Kyle’s diagnosis was mild anxiety and depression,” and that there are major side effects from the sudden termination of taking Lexapro, especially for someone Kyle’s age.

·        Destroyed Police Evidence - Tom Brennan was never closely interviewed by the police. Patrolman Jonathan Yeun, the police officer in charge of the crime scene, testified that he only conducted a “short-short” interview with Brennan. He stated that he shredded the notes from this encounter. Detective Bohling also destroyed the notes of his first interview with Tom Brennan. Martha Scholl, told to bring her notes to her deposition, said that she had forgotten to do so.

·       In Conclusion – So many lies and glaringly contradictory statements were told by the defendants—and Clearwater-area public servants—that any reasonable person is left confused and extremely suspicious. What really happened in Brennan’s Clearwater apartment on February 16, 2007, the night Kyle died?  Anybody would have to conclude that in the State of Florida justice cannot be found when it involves the Church of Scientology.

 

In 2007 my forward-looking 20-year-old son, Kyle Brennan, died in Clearwater, Florida, under extremely suspicious circumstances while visiting his Scientologist father. (Clearwater, of course, is the site of Scientology’s headquarters.) We lost the subsequent wrongful-death lawsuit we filed against Kyle’s father, prominent Scientologists who were involved, and the Church of Scientology itself. Because of the legal expenses incurred, we’ve yet to purchase a proper headstone for our beloved son. Will you help us?



If you have any questions contact Victoria at: vbreton2062 (at) aol.com.
(For more information regarding the highly questionable events surrounding Kyle’s death, the extremely mishandled police investigation, and the perjured testimony given by the defendants please refer to “The Truth for Kyle Brennan” blog at vbreton2062.wordpress.com.)

In The Name of Miscavige; A Scientology "Knowledge Report"

 

                                           Kyle Brennan 2006-2007

 

      On February 8, 2007, my twenty-year-old son Kyle arrived in Clearwater, Florida, to visit his Scientologist father, Tom Brennan. Kyle died in Brennan’s apartment eight days later from a gunshot wound to the head. Despite what it says in the Clearwater Police Report—that Kyle committed suicide—because of criminally mishandled police procedures it’s actually impossible to say who pulled the trigger on the weapon that killed my son. It’s also impossible to identify the weapon that was used.

It’s a horrible family tragedy, one that—thanks to all of the lying done by the Scientologists involved—is inescapably tied to the Church of Scientology and its highly questionable practices. On the night of my son’s passing, for example, Brennan told Clearwater policeman Jonathan Yuen that he had taken control of Kyle’s prescribed psychiatric medication. It was found locked in the trunk of Brennan’s vehicle. Kyle’s death took place only thirty-six hours after Tom Brennan had been given direct orders to “handle”1 Kyle by Scientology’s “Flag Service Organization.” 2 (See endnotes)

The police investigation into Kyle’s suspicious death was woefully mismanaged, replete with conflicts of interest. The Clearwater Police Report is a tissue of omissions, half-truths, and outright lies. A myriad of questions asked by Kyle’s family remain unanswered.

In February 2009 a wrongful-death lawsuit was filed in the Middle District Federal Court in Tampa, Florida. Named as defendants were:

1) Kyle’s father, Tom Brennan,
2) Denise Miscavige Gentile, Brennan’s Scientology “auditor” (or “psychotherapist”) and twin sister of Scientology’s controversial leader, David Miscavige,
3) Denise’s husband, Gerald “Jerry” Gentile,
4) The Church of Scientology, and
5) Flag Service Organization (hereafter referred to as “Flag”).

The “Knowledge Report” - One of the many documents submitted during the litigation was a “Knowledge Report” allegedly written by Jerry Gentile and dated February 17, 2007, the day after Kyle passed away. At the top of the report it names its subject matter—Tom Brennan and Kyle Brennan—and it purports to be an account of the evening of February 16. It features a word-by-word recounting of an interview between Brennan and police officer Jonathan Yuen—which it misspells as “Yen”—and a telephone call Jerry Gentile made to my home. This “Knowledge Report” is one of only a few official Scientology documents that became a part of the case file, and is now in the public domain. Far from imparting actual “knowledge,” however, it was written with an obvious agenda, and it’s chock-full of lies.

What is a “Knowledge Report”? To get an answer, Attorney Ken Dandar, the lawyer representing the Estate of Kyle Brennan, deposed Peter Mansell in 2010. Mansell, a Scientologist since 1977, became a member of the Clearwater division of Scientology’s “Office of Special Affairs” (or OSA, which handles legal matters), in 1986.3 In mid-2007 he was named director.

Mansell defined a “Knowledge Report” as something “a person would write to communicate some knowledge about a subject that the author of the report thinks is of relevance to the ethics department.” The “Ethics Department” is a branch of the Church of Scientology that, because of its power, keeps most Scientologists in fear and paranoid.4 In Scientology lingo, “ethics” relates to the survival of the organization. Anything that benefits Scientology is “ethical”—anything—and anything that’s anti-Scientology is “unethical.” A “Knowledge Report,” therefore, is a brief or memo written to Scientology’s legal arm regarding an important matter that may affect Scientology’s future.

Asked by Attorney Dandar who he reported to, Mansell responded with: “the OSA office above me in the Church of Scientology International.”
Amazingly, that’s exactly who the “Knowledge Report” pertaining to my son’s tragic death is addressed to: “OSA International,” Scientology’s international “Office of Special Affairs.” OSA International is located in Hollywood, California, and—according to Mark C. Rathbun, a former senior Scientology executive, in a sworn affidavit—is “carefully micromanaged by David Miscavige” himself. “He exercised his control through me,” affirmed Rathbun, “and Mike Rinder, Commanding officer of OSA International. . . . No OSA operation . . . could be undertaken on any matter potentially involving the name ‘David Miscavige,’ without Micavige’s fully-informed and direct authorization and direction.”

Peter Mansell also stated under oath that other such dispatches or “Knowledge Reports” were written about Kyle and Tom Brennan. Does that mean, perhaps, that David Miscavige knew of Kyle and Brennan’s situation? Interestingly—and suspiciously—these other reports were not produced as the Church of Scientology asserted priest penitent privilege under Florida Statute 90.505.

Florida Statutes 90.505
http://www.lawserver.com

Why would the Church release one “Knowledge Report” and claim priest-penitent privilege for all the others? The answer lies within the first paragraph of this shoddy work of fiction: “On Friday, Feb 16, 2007 Denise [Miscavige Gentile] received a phone call at 12 midnight from Tom Brennan that his son had committed suicide. Tom had been over [to our house after] his work just before that and had left at 11:50PM. Denise and I immediately left the house and arrived at the Coachman [Building] parking lot at approximately 12:10am, Feb 17, 2007.” (The Coachman Building is close to Brennan’s apartment on Cleveland Street.)

Statements given by two of the defendants themselves—Denise Miscavige Gentile and Tom Brennan—contradict the content of these opening sentences. Denise first told the police that Tom had arrived at her home, after work, at 11 p.m., remained “a short time,” then, after leaving, called her ten minutes later to say that Kyle had shot himself. The timeline Brennan gave the police is also off the “Knowledge Report’s” mark. Brennan told Attorney Ken Dandar that he left the Gentile home at 11:05 p.m. The drive to his apartment on Cleveland Street takes—at the most—only ten minutes. That places Brennan at home at approximately 11:15 p.m.

What’s apparent is that the defendants were consumed with establishing a storyline that would remove them from the vicinity of the Cleveland Street apartment at the time of Kyle’s death. In their haste they forgot a piece of documented information that’s important to that evening’s timeline—the 911 call made by Brennan after calling Denise took place several minutes after midnight, in the early morning of February 17, 2007. This gap of time—the 45 minutes, at least, between Brennan arriving home and dialing 911—begs the following questions: What really happened inside the Cleveland Street apartment that evening? And, why are so many people lying about it?

Here’s another extremely important piece of information: Twelve hours after Kyle’s death, Tom Brennan—in his first account of the previous evening’s tragedy—told step-son Scott Brennan that he had arrived home at 10:30 p.m. after having dinner with friends. This was completely omitted from the police report. And, of course, Detective Bohling didn’t question Brennan about this serious discrepancy. This account places Brennan in the apartment with Kyle while Kyle was still alive. Within one day Brennan’s story changed from “having dinner with friends” and arriving home at 10:30 to selling Scientology literature at the State Fairgrounds in Tampa.

When reading the concocted “Knowledge Report” one is amazed by Jerry Gentile’s gifted memory. He seemingly had the ability to recall minute details of a crime scene conversation. And, if we believe Gentile, he recorded the entire interview between police officer Jonathan Yuen, one of the first policemen to arrive at the scene, and Tom Brennan. But did he really?
According to Officer Yuen, his “short-short” interview with Tom Brennan was free-flowing. It started inside Brennan’s apartment, and then moved into the hallway, downstairs and outside. During Officer Yuen’s deposition he was asked if anyone was with Brennan when he interviewed him. “Nobody [was] nearby,” responded Yuen. “It was just between me and him.” Gentile, however—in his deposition and in the “Knowledge Report”—contradicted Yuen’s statement by claiming that he was standing close by, within earshot, while the entire interview took place.

Gerald Gentile’s account of the evening of February 16 and the early morning hours of February 17 changed with each retelling. When first deposed by Detective Bohling—on December 5, 2008—he stated that when he arrived at the apartment Brennan and Officer Yuen were just walking out. Gentile claimed that another policeman told him “You can’t go near the place,” meaning, “stay away from the apartment.” This statement also means, of course, that Gentile had already missed the first portion of the Yuen/Brennan interview.

The author of the “Knowledge Report,” whoever he may be, crossed a line into moral repugnancy when he fabricated the content of the conversation Jerry Gentile and I supposedly had when he called to inform me that my young son was dead. The truth is there was no conversation—there were only a few cold words from an unidentified stranger in the middle of the night.

In Jerry Gentile’s first version of the phone call—as told during his first interview with Detective Stephen Bohling—he said twice that Tom Brennan was so shook up he couldn’t dial the phone. “Yeah,” stated Gentile. “So he [Tom Brennan]—he was downstairs, uh, when he was smoking a cigarette and his hands were shaking, uh, really bad. And he said, ‘I can’t dial my phone’. . . . And I dialed the—you know, he had to tell me where the number was in the phone. Dialed the phone.”

The so-called “Knowledge Report” supposedly written by Gentile contradicts that story. In it, after Gentile offered to call Kyle’s family, it states: “Tom dials phone, gives [it] to me.” The defendants and the “Knowledge Report” ghostwriter couldn’t even get their locations straight: According to the report Gentile placed the phone call from just outside of Brennan’s apartment on Cleveland Street. Denise Miscavige Gentile, however, told the police that the call was made from the Gentile home, ten minutes away by car.

The fictional eavesdropping scenario represented in the Scientology “Knowledge Report,” along with its phony telephone conversation and its phony timeline, are simply not plausible. So, why was it written? More importantly: Why was Kyle’s death—a death that took place in Clearwater, Florida—of interest at all to Scientology’s “Office of Special Affairs” in Hollywood, California, all the way across the country?

In a 2010 deposition this very question was asked of the OSA overseer in Clearwater, Director Peter Mansell. “Why would Jerry Gentile who lives in Clearwater send a Knowledge Report to OSA Int. in California?” Mansell’s response was “no idea.”

The purpose of the fabricated “Knowledge Report” is transparent. It was a feeble attempt to correct the mistakes made by the overzealous defendants when they half-wittedly miscalculated the evening’s time sequence. Kyle’s family strongly believes that the defendants’ most accurate statements were those made closest in time to Kyle’s tragic passing. They later created alibis with alternate timelines. The “Knowledge Report” was created to back up these fictitious alibis. It’s blatantly obvious that the concocted document was created to distance Denise and the “Miscavige name” from the Brennan apartment—the scene of a crime on the evening of Kyle’s death.

So who collects the lying prize for the false “Knowledge Report”: Jerry Gentile, OSA, or perhaps the master himself?

1. “Handling,” as per Scientology, means taking care of a situation, removing a problem, and may involve a wide range of actions. And—as is witnessed by what happened to my son—it’s not as innocuous a procedure as it sounds. To Scientologists, my son was a “Suppressive Person” (or “SP”), and “an enemy of the Church,” simply because he used prescribed psychiatric medication. As Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote in “Fair Game Law”: “An enemy . . . may be deprived of property or injured by any means. . . . may be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed.” Brennan was ordered to remove Kyle from his apartment—“handle” him—or else face the consequences.

2. According to Scientology’s official web-site, “Flag Service Organization” (or “FSO”) located in the Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater, “is a religious retreat which serves as the spiritual headquarters for Scientologists from all over the world. It is the hub of the Scientology worldwide community . . . with well over 1,000 staff members.”

3. According to Mansell, the Clearwater division of OSA “is responsible for the activities outside the church itself” such as “legal matters, public relations matters and our community programs.”

4. In Scientology, the Ethics Department, and Ethics Officers, wield tremendous power. As noted by Margery Wakefield (in “Understanding Scientology” published by Carnegie Mellon University): “This is because the Ethics Officer holds the ultimate power in Scientology, the power to apply the dreaded label of ‘Suppressive Person’ and to cast a member out of Scientology and into spiritual oblivion for millions of lifetimes to come. A Scientologist will do almost anything to stay out of trouble with Ethics.”

Jefferson Hawkins, explains the “Knowledge Report”

http://tonyortega.org/2014/01/02/scientologys-snitching-culture-jefferson-hawkins-explains-the-knowledge-report/

The narratives above are all copyright 2014 Victoria Britton. The documents posted below are in the public domain.

Knowledge Report written to OSA International









Excerpt from the Clearwater Police Report: Denise Miscavige Gentile Interview



Excerpt from FBI submission



Excerpt from the deposition of Detective Steve Bohling



Excerpt from the deposition of Denise Miscavige Gentile





Excerpts from the Deposition of Tom Brennan





There were no incoming calls placed on the evening of Kyle’s death.



Excerpt from the Clearwater Police Report: Narrative written by Detective Steve Bohling.




Excerpt from the Clearwater Police Report: Interview with Jerry and Denise Miscavige Gentile







Excerpts from the Clearwater Police Report:Gentile-Bohling Interview





Excerpt from the Clearwater Police Report:Detective Bohling interview with Jerry Gentile



Excerpts from the deposition of Jerry Gentile







Excerpt from the Deposition of Officer Jonathan Yuen















From Clearwater to Hollywood

Excerpt from the Deposition of Peter Mansell















Matteo Rosetti-Ethics Officer to Tom Brennan
 
















Excerpt from the Deposition of Peter Mansell



Excerpt from the deposition of Tom Brennan







Questions asked by Ex Scientologist Chuck Beatty





Excerpt from Affidavit of Mark Rathbun-Monique Rathbun vs. Scientology
17. “The Office of Special Affairs (OSA) is the legal, public relations, and intelligence network of CSI. One or more network representatives are employed by every Scientology organization across the world. Each of them is operated and managed by OSA International (OSA INT) which is housed within CSI. Although OSA is formally answerable to CSI’s management, from OSA’s inception in the early 1980s, until my departure in December 2004, the formal management structure was a sham. OSA was carefully micromanaged by David Miscavige. he exercised his control through me, Inspector General of RTC, and Mike Rinder, Commanding Officer of OSA International.
20. “For 22 years, my schedule was to wake up at least an hour before David Miscavige’s scheduled wake up time so that I could collect all important information on any matter of concern to him being handled by the OSA network. Every morning, I was required to brief Miscavige verbally on any major developments on matters handled by the OSA network around the world or matters concerning security. My briefing to him would begin with major problems which he insisted he know about. My briefing included reports about handling the media stories, investigations, legal cases, security breaches, and potential security situations. That briefing would last anywhere from a few minutes on a quiet day with no major developments, to all day when something was afoot that riveted Miscavige’s attention. Miscavige would issue orders to OSA that I had to accurately note on paper.
21. “After the conference with Miscavige, there were a number of options available for issuing his orders, depending on their scope and the level of security required. Most often, I would call Mike Rinder, into my office and I would brief him verbally on Miscavige’s directives. Mr. Rinder would then return to his own office and type up the orders as written directives to OSA. Those directives would be worded as if the orders were originated by him, with no reference to me or RTC, and especially not to Mr. Miscavige. On many occasions, Mr. Miscavige would require Mr. Rinder’s presence during briefings in which he wanted more detail than usual, or wanted to issue more detailed orders than usual. In such cases, it would be my responsibility to follow up to verify that Mr. Rinder relayed Mr. Miscavige’s orders to OSA as Rinder’s own orders.
22. “Mr. Rinder and I were ordered by Mr. Miscavige to keep secret virtually all of our communications, and to specifically keep them secret from any other managers or staff with CSI and RTC. All other CSI managers had little to no knowledge of any matters affecting Scientology from the world outside of the Church. Except for OSA staff, Sea Org members have little contact with the media or the world outside of their corporate duties.
23. “The highest priority OSA matters that I had to monitor and report on several times a day to Mr. Miscavige were ones that involved his name. If a staff member left unannounced from the Scientology corporate headquarters, and the person had any personal knowledge of Mr. Miscavige by way of regular contact with him, I was required to personally direct a massive dragnet utilizing Sea Org staff from RTC and CSI, and private investigators, to hunt down that staff member. This occurred on average a couple of times per year. I was micromanaged on such manhunts by Mr. Miscavige personally. I would make sure the person was contacted, and put under control and sometimes order ongoing surveillance through OSA that could last up to several years.
24. “If a journalist mentioned anything about interest in Mr. Miscavige, I directed and monitored every conversation between a church representative and that journalist. I prepared the staff member in advance and debriefed him afterward, all of which I reported directly to Miscavige.
25. “If a lawsuit named or sought discovery that involved Miscavige, I oversaw every aspect of that litigation until Miscavige was no longer subject to inquiry. During my tenure of more than 20 years, Miscavige micromanaged every single action that was taken by any OSA staff member, intelligence officer, private investigator or attorney related to that matter. No OSA operation, whether or not it involved outside professionals, could be undertaken on any matter potentially involving the name ‘David Miscavige,’ without Miscavige’s fully-informed and direct authorization and direction. That rule included even the potential defection of a staff member with only tangential information about Mr. Miscavige. OSA was founded on this policy, and I instituted it and carried it out painstakingly for 22 years, from 1982 to 2004, when I departed RTC.
26. “For more than 20 years, the Office of Special Affairs (“OSA”) of the Church of Scientology International answered to me. Under the close supervision of Mr. Miscavige, I directed OSA’s extensive, ongoing security, intelligence, “black ops,” public relations, and criminal and civil legal matters. Mr. Miscavige obsessively micromanaged OSA’s handling of perceived threats, including the threat of former Scientologists who complained of abuses occurring in the Church.
27. “I have read the Declaration of David Miscavige in Support of Special Appearance in this case. Mr. Miscavige’s Declaration is false, for the factual reasons stated above and below:

Excerpt from the Depostion of Peter Mansell