||||| From: Reposter Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: Deposition of Stacy Brooks -- Witness Exhibit 1 Date: 23 May 2002 12:15:06 -0700 Organization: Newsguy News Service [http://newsguy.com] Lines: 188 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: p-700.newsdawg.com X-Newsreader: Direct Read News 2.96 Path: news2.lightlink.com!news.lightlink.com!vienna7.his.com!news.cs.jhu.edu!yellow.newsread.com!netaxs.com!newsread.com!newsfeeds-atl2!btnet-peer1!btnet!news.maxwell.syr.edu!wn1feed!worldnet.att.net!216.148.52.17!pln-w!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!drn Xref: news2.lightlink.com alt.religion.scientology:1519009 Reposted: From: Stacy Brooks (stacybrooks@lisatrust.net) Subject: Deposition of Stacy Brooks -- Witness Exhibit 1 Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Date: 2001-09-14 13:35:09 PST Deposition of Stacy Brooks, individually September 7, 2001 Witness Exhibit 1, by Stacy Brooks I decline to answer any questions concerning my personal finances or my relationship with Robert Minton and I invoke my privilege against self incrimination pursuant to the constitutions of the United States and of the State of Florida for the following reasons: I believe that my testimony would be used to incriminate me. I have with me today a copy of a chart that Scientology has previously offered in Court. The chart shows Robert Minton in the center and many other names surrounding him, including my name and the name of the Lisa McPherson Trust, of which I am President. Scientology is trying to create a RICO scenario as evidenced by the fact that Scientology through its counsel attorney Sandy Rosen referred to this chart as an "enterprise chart." "Enterprise" is a word that is used to describe a racketeering entity under the RICO statute. There have been many instances in which Scientology has succeeded in inducing criminal prosecution of Mr. Minton, persons affiliated with the Lisa McPherson Trust, and others. Paulette Cooper, a vocal critic of Scientology's abuses was indicted on criminal charges related to a bomb threat she allegedly made against Henry Kissinger. A subsequent raid on Scientology offices by the federal government revealed that she had been framed by Scientology in an elaborate operation that included having her impersonated by a Scientologist making reckless statements about harming public figures, and stealing stationery from her home so that a threatening letter could be typed on a sheet of her letterhead bearing her fingerprints. Gabe Cazares, former mayor of Clearwater and a critic of Scientology was the victim of a Scientology operation in which a Scientologist acted as his driver, struck a Scientologist who was posing as an uninvolved pedestrian, and attempted to make Mr. Cazares complicit in a staged hit and run, with the intention that Mr. Cazares be criminally charged in the incident. September 10, 1998: Mr. Minton drove Jesse Prince down to Boston from New Hampshire to take him to the airport. They stopped at the Boston Scientology center to picket, and two Boston Scientologists, Frank Ofman and Kevin Hall, began assaulting Mr. Minton both verbally and physically. Frank Ofman in particular was screaming at Mr. Minton and pushing him repeatedly. Finally Ofman grabbed Mr. Minton's picket sign and broke the stick. Mr. Minton tossed the broken end of the stick at Ofman in disgust and then called the police. But when the police came the Scientologists showed them a video in which Ofman's assault of Mr. Minton was missing and the only thing on the tape was Mr. Minton tossing the broken piece at Ofman. Under pressure from the Scientologists, the police then handcuffed Mr. Minton and arrested him for battery. Scientology immediately posted the arrest photos on the Internet and announced that Mr. Minton was a criminal. However, on December 16, the judge dismissed the charges, directing Mr. Minton to fax a notice to the Boston Scientology center before he picketed for the next three months. Although the charges were dismissed, Scientology continued to portray Mr. Minton as a criminal who had been "arrested for assault." October 31, 1999: Mr. Minton arrived at the Tampa International Airport and was met by two Scientologists, who shouted at him, "Bob, what are you doing in our town? Get out of our town!" He and I were then followed from the airport to Clearwater, and to their hotel. Richard Howd was one of the Scientologists who followed Mr. Minton and me from the airport to our hotel. Mr. Minton stopped the car near the entrance to the hotel and got out to confront the Scientologists. While Mr. Minton spoke to the woman who was driving the car, Mr. Howd held a video camera inches from Mr. Minton's face. He continued to do this throughout the conversation, until Mr. Minton got back into his car. That evening Mr. Minton picketed in front of the Fort Harrison Hotel, and again Richard Howd was there, keeping a video camera inches from his face as he walked back and forth picketing. I was also there, videotaping so that there would be a record of what happened, as the presence of Mr. Howd was a disturbing signal that the harassment against Mr. Minton was escalating. Finally, as Mr. Minton rounded the corner of the building, two Scientologists blocked Ms. Brooks so that she could not follow with her camera. Richard Howd pushed Mr. Minton while he was sure he was not being videotaped. At this point Mr. Minton decided to call the police. He began to cross the street and pulled out his cell phone to call, but Richard Howd followed Mr. Minton across the street, holding the video camera close to Mr. Minton's ear. Mr. Minton turned around and told Howd to get away from him, thrusting his sign at him defensively. The sign grazed Howd's eyebrow. Immediately Howd fell to the ground, moaning as if he were in extreme pain. The police arrived and the Scientologists showed them the videotape of Mr. Minton thrusting his sign at Howd as he crossed the street. Because there was no videotape of Howd's earlier assault on Mr. Minton, the Scientologists were able to convince the police to arrest Mr. Minton. He was handcuffed and taken to the Pinellas County Jail, arrested for battery. Scientology immediately began to send Mr. Minton's mug shot to his friends and neighbors in an effort to identify him as a criminal.Mr. Minton was acquitted at trial in March 2000. January 25, 2000: Mark Bunker, the LMT's multi-media coordinator, was arrested in Chicago for criminal trespassing as he stood on a public sidewalk to film two dentists who were requesting their money back from the Scientology organization in downtown Chicago. Mr. Bunker was filming the dentists outside the entrance when two off-duty Chicago police officers hired by Scientology burst out of the building, grabbed his camera from him and handcuffed him. Mr. Bunker was taken to jail, booked, and charged with criminal trespassing despite two eyewitnesses who swore he was standing on the public sidewalk. Mr. Bunker was acquitted at trial. February 2000: LMT staff member Jesse Prince met a man in a pool hall where Mr. Prince and his fiance had gone to play pool. He introduced himself as Rinsey Trinidad and invited Mr. Prince to go outside with him to smoke marijuana. The man, whose real name was Barry Gaston, was a private investigator hired by Scientology to befriend Jesse and set him up on drug-buying charges. Mr. Prince was eventually arrested and charged with possession of marijuana based on the recovery of a plant approximately 18" in height found on his back porch. Mr. Prince's trial resulted in a hung jury, 5 - 1 for acquittal. After the mistrial, the charge was dropped by the Office of the State Attorney. In April 2000, John Fashanu, a retired soccer player from Nigeria, released a report that contained false allegations that Mr. Minton was involved in the theft of billions of dollars from the Nigerian government and that he was involved in a massive money-laundering scheme. Several articles appeared in England and Nigeria in which the media quoted this so-called Fashanu Report. Although Fashanu claimed it had taken him three years to compile the information, it was later established that Scientology private investigators had provided Fashanu with the completed report. Most of the documents appeared to have come from a burglary of the office of Mr. Minton's former partner, Jeff Schmidt. Further investigation revealed that the Nigerian head of OPEC, Rilwanu Lukman, had been a Scientologist since at least 1984 and, together with top Scientology operatives, had handpicked Fashanu to present Scientology's trumped-up charges against Mr. Minton to the public and whatever prosecutors would listen. Later, the Nigerian High Commissioner in London, Prince Bola Ajibola, wrote to a prosecutor in Geneva, Switzerland, General Bernard Bertossa, accusing Mr. Minton of money-laundering and fraud against the Nigerian government and asking Bertossa to press criminal charges against Mr. Minton. Prince Ajibola's complaint was based entirely on the Scientology-written Fashanu Report. An investigation by the Nigerian Senate cleared Mr. Minton of any wrongdoing, and the Swiss government has refused to take any action based on Scientology's allegations. However, this episode is illustrative of Scientology's unending quest to bring about criminal prosecution of those it perceives as enemies. Scientology has waged a relentless, five-year campaign to get Mr. Minton prosecuted on false criminal charges. They have sent teams of operatives to Nigeria, Turkey, England, Germany, Switzerland and other countries in a multi-million-dollar, global attempt to force Mr. Minton to stop his efforts to expose Scientology's fraud and abuse. In June 2000, Ursula Caberta, head of a task force established by the Hamburg government to investigate Scientology, visited Clearwater on vacation. Scientology operatives harassed her at her hotel throughout her stay. While Ms. Caberta ate dinner with Mr. Minton and Ms. Brooks in a hotel dining room, two Scientologists interrupted them and began to harass Ms. Caberta, telling her that she should go back to Germany. Scientologists stationed themselves outside her hotel room door so that she could not leave her room without running a gauntlet of harassive Scientologists. The next day, two people passed themselves off to the hotel desk clerks as off-duty plain-clothes police officers. In fact, these two men were Daniel Otero, a Scientology private investigator, and Robert Bossard, a process server working for Scientology. Believing them to be police officers, the hotel clerk directed them to Ms. Caberta's room. There, Otero, Bossard and several Scientologists began to harass Caberta, yelling and pounding on her hotel door and sliding subpoenas for deposition in the Lisa McPherson wrongful death case, in which Ms. Caberta had no involvement, under the door. Ms. Caberta, an official of the Hamburg government, was forced to testify in deposition in the Lisa McPherson wrongful death case based on false allegations Scientology attorney Kendrick Moxon made to the court. She was asked if she had ever been given any money by Mr. Minton. She testified that she had asked Mr. Minton to loan her a sum of money to deal with a personal matter, and that he had generously done so. Immediately after her deposition, Scientology compiled a complaintand presented it to a German prosecutor, claiming that Ms. Caberta had taken a bribe from Mr. Minton. In fact, Mr. Minton had providedthis money solely as a personal favor and had not asked for anythingin return. However, the prosecution initiated by Scientology against Mr. Minton and Ms. Caberta continues to this day. In 1997, Scientology moved a team of operatives into my neighborhood in Seattle, Washington. These paid operatives launched a campaign of harassment and intimidation against my husband and me and our entire neighborhood in an effort to silence my outspoken criticism of Scientology's fraud and abuse, including abuse of the legal system. Throughout 1997 and 1998, these Scientology operatives repeatedly tried to initiate prosecution of me on criminal animal abuse charges so that they could, per their policies, label me a criminal. They were not successful. They attempted, through false allegations to the mental health authorities in Seattle, Washington, to have me committed to a mental institution. This was also unsuccessful. I have no personal knowledge about the facts of the complaint or counterclaim in this case. For that reason, and because of Scientology's history and policy of inducing authorities to institute false criminal charges against its critics, I believe that any information gathered by Scientology concerning my personal finances or my relationship with Mr. Minton will be used to subject me to prosecution. I therefore refuse to answer any such questions.