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Please report problems or inappropriate use to the remailer administrator at . http://remailer.segfault.net/mixmaster/ Subject: Gerald Armstrong and Clients of Michael Flynn From: Cambridge Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Message-ID: <8541e3b3afb28a69a4af49733c58783b@remailer.segfault.net> Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 11:04:35 +0200 (CEST) Mail-To-News-Contact: postmaster@nym.alias.net Organization: mail2news@nym.alias.net Lines: 676 Path: news2.lightlink.com!news.lightlink.com!gail.ripco.com!news.chaven.com!lax2-feed1.news.algx.net!jfk3-feed1.news.algx.net!allegiance!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news-hub.siol.net!newsfeed.Austria.EU.net!newsfeed.kpnqwest.at!anon.lcs.mit.edu!nym.alias.net!mail2news Xref: news2.lightlink.com alt.religion.scientology:1513796 Based on a study of the curious file called "Lost and Found," and in response to CL's questions relevant to that document addressed to the lawsuits of attorney Michael Flynn, several friends and I undertook a study of available court records and a somewhat limited media archive available to us, and I have constructed the results as a timeline. Although I ventured into this with a good deal of skepticism about collusion in lawsuits between Karno and the Lenskes on one side, and Flynn on the other, this exercise quite unexpectedly turned up something that wasn't even being looked for: an extraordinary body of circumstantial evidence suggesting that Gerald Armstrong, while inside the Scientology organizations, was acting as an agent on behalf of Boston attorney Michael Flynn as early as 1975, and as such co-conspired with at least three parties to brief them or otherwise prepare them for becoming clients of Flynn: La Venda Van Schaick, Tonja Burden, and Ronald DeWolf. A possible link to a fourth, Ed Walters, also emerged, as well as a link to Ernie and Adelle Hartwell, who testified for Flynn in the Clearwater hearings. And of course Armstrong himself became one of Flynn's most famous clients. This entirely unsought and unexpected development was quite astonishing in and of itself. But it began to assume a particularly sinister cast when merged with and compared to the dates of Norton Karno's insinuation into and involvement with the legal and business affairs of L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology organizations. That grew more disquieting still when the Lenske brothers' 1977 entrance was taken into account. Then it became downright disturbing given Armstrong's admitted involvements with "Hubbard's lawyers in LA": as evidenced in Declarations and other legal documents, Norton Karno and the Lenskes were "Hubbard's lawyers in LA" at that time. Taken altogether, it rather discloses Armstrong as a possible, nay, likely, agent acting on behalf of both Michael Flynn and the Karno/Lenske contingent. This discovery regarding Armstrong actually was quite startling. It wasn't at all anything we were looking for; I was merely putting together what research I could on the Flynn suits with some help from friends. But Armstrong's name persisted in turning up in relation to these Flynn clients, and as the timeline materialized the incidence and synchronicity of confluence of location and opportunity for collusion between Armstrong and the clients of Flynn in question soon began to defy the possibility of mere happenstance. It took on a Forrest Gump quality, with Armstrong always being in the picture. Another aspect that became perplexing was that these same Flynn clients who have ties to Armstrong all originated from Nevada: five, including the Hartwells, from Las Vegas, and one, DeWolf, from Carson City, about 12 hours from Las Vegas. I have absolutely no idea what the Nevada connection, and particularly the Las Vegas connection, is all about, but, again, I feel it cannot possibly be attributed to mere happenstance. The timeline does embrace other events and matters that I feel might be related and of importance, including the Las Vegas death of Quentin Hubbard, because it involves one of these same Flynn clients, Las Vegas resident and casino dealer Edward Walters. I therefore present the results here for further use and analysis by anyone to whom these data might be of value in research, or in investigative or law enforcement pursuits. One personal note: only after compiling and organizing all of this information and reviewing it, I took the liberty to insert somewhat speculative notations in several of the records. One is regarding Armstrong's position in the Guardian Office Intelligence Bureau. I feel that my notation there is not unreasonably divergent from an analysis of fact, because it goes only to the matter of opportunity and does not assert exploitation of such opportunity. I also inserted a notation questioning the actual whereabouts of Armstrong at a point in time where only his testimony stands on that count, which may or may not be significant. I felt that entering these notations was my right, having done the work, and I felt that, in light of all that followed, they had emerged as notations worthy at least of consideration. Others may disagree, but I would ask that they reserve judgment until reviewing, as I had when writing them, all the ensuing data. 5 November 1973 First confirmed involvement of Norton S. Karno's law firm in Scientology matters. James Q. Fisher of the law firm Karno, Rudnick & Fisher is representing Henning Heldt (of the Guardian Office) and Church of Scientology of California (CSC) in a hearing in "United States of America and Robert H. Cluberton, Internal Revenue Agent, Internal Revenue Service, Petitioners v. Church of Scientology of California and Henning Heldt, Vice President, Respondents." No. 73-2100-HP United States District Court; C.D. California. http://www.xenu.net/archive/CourtFiles/occf252.html 15 c. September 1975 Gerald "Gerry" Armstrong is in the Guardian Office Intelligence Bureau at the Flag Land Base. (It must be inserted here, only after having discovered and studied the information that constitutes the rest of this timeline, that this provides Armstrong with unique opportunity: almost unlimited access to information on staff and public, including ethics and "pc" file information, which could have been unethically used to select likely candidates for Flynn suits, and even to blackmail or bribe or leverage the potential candidates into cooperation.) Around this same time, La Venda Van Schaick - who has been out of Scientology for almost two years, since January of 1974, and who will become the first of Michael Flynn's clients against Scientology - purportedly is contacted by Pam Bevan of the Las Vegas church and inexplicably threatened that if she doesn't come back into the church she will be "harassed by the Church and its adherents." (Note that there is no conceivable rational explanation for this purported threat to Van Schaick. She has been uninvolved with Scientology or the church for nearly two years.) CITE: "MESSIAH OR MADMAN," Corydon; Flag "Base Personnel List" of 11 November 1975; Memorandum Opinion in La Venda Van Schaick, Plaintiff, v. Church of Scientology of California, Inc., et al, Defendants; Civ. A. No. 79-2491-G. United States District Court, D. Massachusetts. March 26, 1982 5 December 1975 Norton S. Karno personally is acting as counsel to Henning Heldt, the Guardian Office, and CSC, and also has access to and some sort of control over L. Ron Hubbard's "Trustee fund" in relation to matters being dealt with in Clearwater at the new land base. Gerald Armstrong is still in the Intelligence Bureau of the Guardian Office at Flag. Message ID: 25 May 1976 Gerald Armstrong, still in the Intelligence Bureau of the Guardian Office Flag, purportedly is sent to Culver City, California (alleged whereabouts of L. Ron Hubbard), ostensibly to set up a "communications office," including telex systems, for Hubbard. (There is no accounting at all for why Gerald Armstrong would have been selected for this unusual task. This function certainly was not part of the Intel Bureau duties. Communications duties were specifically assigned elsewhere. There were certainly others far more qualified with specialized communications expertise, which is nowhere in Armstrong's known record or background, all of which make this entry glaringly odd. It also must be noted that there is no known corroboration of Armstrong's claim that he was in Culver City, California at all, or that he was in that location for the approximate two months he was away. And the question even arises, based on later events, whether Armstrong may have spent some, or all, of that time actually in Las Vegas and/or Carson City, Nevada on other, perhaps less savory business.) CITE: "MESSIAH OR MADMAN," Corydon 5 c. July 1976 Gerald Armstrong returns to Flag in Clearwater after a little over two months away, supposedly ordered to the RPF. But Flag also happens to be where Tonja Burden is (who, like Van Schaick, is also from Las Vegas). And Burden will later become the second of the clients of Boston attorney Michael Flynn against Scientology. CITE: "MESSIAH OR MADMAN," Corydon 15 c. October 1976 Quentin Hubbard attempts unsuccessfully to contact his half-brother, Ronald DeWolf, a.k.a. L. Ron Hubbard, Jr., a.k.a. Nibs Hubbard, through DeWolf's sister and Quentin's half-sister, Kate Hubbard. DeWolf lives in Carson City, Nevada, about a 12 hour drive from Las Vegas. (DeWolf also will later become one of Flynn's clients.) CITE: DeWolf quoted in UPI story of 21 May 1982 28 October 1976 Quentin Hubbard is found in a coma in a parked car outside Las Vegas at 08:32 hours, an apparent suicide attempt. As the scene is described, Quentin is slumped over the steering wheel of a white Pontiac parked off Sunset Road alongside the perimeter fence of McCarran Airport at the end of the north-south runway. All the car windows are rolled up and a white vacuum cleaner tube leads from the passenger's vent window to the exhaust tail pipe. Tissue papers have been stuffed into the window opening around the tube and the car's engine is still running. Officer Bruns of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is first on the scene. He wrenches open both the car doors and ascertains that the young man inside is still alive, though unconscious, probably because the tube has fallen off the tail pipe. The young man has no identification of any kind and there are no licence plates on the car. There is nothing in the car but a Grundig portable radio, a black tote bag containing miscellaneous clothing, and an open, partly consumed bottle of tequila. According to the police report: "The vehicle appeared as though the subject might have been sleeping in it. The subject himself was very unkempt, his clothing was dirty, and would be possibly described as a vagrant type subject. A white male, appeared in his mid to late 20s. The subject was transported to Southern Nevada Memorial Hospital via Mercy Ambulance. ..." However, Arnie Lerma has reported: "there was a carpet runner in the trunk of the car Quentin was found in, rolled up, and it had hairs belonging to Quentin on it, as if he had been incapacitated elsewhere, rolled up in the carpet runner, and driven in the trunk to the site on Sunset Road, where the 'suicide' was staged. ...Bloodwork indicated Carbon Monoxide was NOT the cause of death, it was the assumption made upon his delivery to the hospital, but was not indicated as a factor from blood work. ...What struck me also was the evidence staph infection and multiple needle marks... ." CITE: "BARE FACED MESSIAH," Miller; Arnie Lerma in message <7c3iem$jmc@edrn.newsguy.com> 12 November 1976 Quentin Hubbard dies in the Las Vegas hospital where he has been kept. His identity is still unknown; he is a "John Doe." CITE: Office of the Coroner-Medical Examiner Case No 1003-76, County of Clark; 545 Shadow Lane, LAs Vegas, Nevada 89106; Report of Investigation, Decedent JOHN DOE (with "GEOFFERY QUENTIN MC CAULLY HUBBARD" written in over) 17 November 1976 A pit boss at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas by the name of Ed Walters, who claims to have been a long-time Guardian Office operative (even though he doesn't know that it is "Guardian Office," not "Guardian's Office"), is reportedly told (by whom he pertinently does not say) to get hold of all of Quentin Hubbard's medical files. Walters additionally makes the completely unsupported claim that there was evidence in the medical files that Quentin had "had a homosexual encounter shortly before he was found." Walters further claims: "There was a girl Scientologist [whose name Walters pertinently does not say] working in the hospital in a very secure position and she got all the reports on Quentin and gave them to me and I handed them over to the Guardian's Office." (I must note the insufferably unverifiable nature of every statement, without a single exception, made by Ed Walters. The convenience of there being a "Scientologist girl" in a "very secure position" in the very hospital where Quentin Hubbard had happened to have been in a coma for several weeks prior to dying is worthy of the Brothers Grimm, if not the Brothers Lenske. Walters later becomes yet another client from Las Vegas of Boston attorney Michael Flynn in suits against Scientology-related individuals and organizations.) 1 c. January c. 1977 Sherman and Stephen Lenske are working in the law firm of Norton S. Karno, and are handling various of L. Ron Hubbard's "business interests." CITE: Declaration of Sherman Lenske, 4 February 1986 1 c. April 1977 La Venda Van Schaick is sent (by whom we do not know) from Las Vegas to Clearwater supposedly for auditing. Gerry Armstrong is in Clearwater. So is Tonja Burden. Van Schaick is in Clearwater for two months. CITE: Memorandum Opinion in La Venda Van Schaick, Plaintiff, v. Church of Scientology of California, Inc., et al, Defendants; Civ. A. No. 79-2491-G. United States District Court, D. Massachusetts. March 26, 1982 29 May 1977 While Michael Meisner is out with his only guard, John Matoon, he escapes by jumping into a taxicab. He goes to the Greyhound bus station and takes a bus to Las Vegas. Meisner's proferred reason for choosing Las Vegas? He does not have much money, but "having been there [to Las Vegas] previously, he knew a motel he could afford." CITE: Stipulation of Evidence, U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C., Criminal #78-401, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA VS. MARY SUE HUBBARD, et. al. 30 c. May 1977 In another strange twist of fate, while Michael Meisner is conveniently escaped from his Guardian Office guards and having a little Viva Las Vegas fling, La Venda Van Schaick returns to Las Vegas from Clearwater. CITE: Memorandum Opinion in La Venda Van Schaick, Plaintiff, v. Church of Scientology of California, Inc., et al, Defendants; Civ. A. No. 79-2491-G. United States District Court, D. Massachusetts. March 26, 1982 1 June 1977 By some magic unexplained, the Guardian Office learns where Michael Meisner is staying in Las Vegas and sends the Information Bureau's Chuck Reese (of Las Vegas?) to meet with Meisner and coax him to return to Los Angeles, which Meisner does, but only on promise that he can meet with Henning Heldt, which Meisner does. (Within less than a month, Meisner will again "escape," but this time he favors D.C. over Vegas, precipitating misfortune in the form of chainsaw-wielding FBI agents descending on Guardian Offices on both coast.) CITE: Stipulation of Evidence, U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C., Criminal #78-401, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA VS. MARY SUE HUBBARD, et. al. 15 July 1977 L. Ron Hubbard, almost beyond comprehension, moves furtively to the state of Nevada: Sparks, Nevada, a casino town. This is supposedly to lay low because of the 8 July 1977 FBI raid on the Guardian Office. He purportedly is accompanied by only messengers Diane Reisdorf, Claire Rousseau, and Pat Broeker. And, according to Miller, his activities are under "intense investigation by the FBI." Where else to go but to a Nevada gambling mecca? CITE: "BARE FACED MESSIAH," Miller 14 December 1977 Gerry Armstrong is "released from the RPF" at Clearwater and sent to Las Vegas, Nevada (by whom he pertinently does not reveal) supposedly to "retrieve" Tonja Burden from her parent's home in Las Vegas. La Venda Van Schaick, it must be noted, is also in Las Vegas at this time. According to Armstrong, he and Terri Armstrong (nee Gillham, now Gamboa) do not "retrieve" Burden to Clearwater, but instead drive Tonja Burden to Los Angeles. Note that Los Angeles is where Karno's office is, and where the Lenske brothers, Sherman and Stephen, are also working at the time. And one of the claimed purposes for Burden's trip to Los Angeles with Armstrong is for her to sign legal waivers. (It must also be noted that Terri Armstrong/Gamboa later will be instrumental, in 1981, in the mission that purportedly "hires" the law firm of Lenske, Lenske, Heller & Magasin.) CITE: "MESSIAH OR MADMAN," Corydon; Memorandum Opinion in La Venda Van Schaick, Plaintiff, v. Church of Scientology of California, Inc., et al, Defendants; Civ. A. No. 79-2491-G. United States District Court, D. Massachusetts. March 26, 1982 2 January 1978 L. Ron Hubbard purportedly arrives at La Quinta, California from his stay in Sparks, Nevada. Soon arrangements are being made for setting up film facilities at the Silver Sands ranch. CITE: "BARE FACED MESSIAH," Miller 1 c. July c. 1978 Las Vegas rears its sequined head again, this time in the persons of Ernie and Adelle Hartwell, show people from Las Vegas who somehow manage to get security clearance to become staff at the "Cine Org" where Hubbard is purportedly making films. And believe it or not, as fate would have it, there we find the ubiquitous and many-talented Gerry Armstrong, now busy building movie sets. The Hartwells will soon play a key role in yet another mad flight into mysterious disappearance by the flighty "Hubbard," and also become involved with yet another Flynn client, Ed Walters, also of Las Vegas. But how the Hartwells arrived at this "Cine Org" is one of the oddest stories of all the odd stories: according to their own testimony, they "were offered an escort to Clearwater in 1979," described as a "Scientology-chauffeured trip...with a promised destination of Clearwater" but which "ended up in the desert town of Indio, Calif., with the church's founder, Hubbard. The Las Vegas, Nev., couple said they do not know why they were chosen to meet Hubbard, a recluse few have ever seen." In short, the Hartwells had been shanghaied by someone, and taken to someone they were told was L. Ron Hubbard! CITE: "BARE FACED MESSIAH," Miller; Clearwater Sun article, "Sect witnesses recount fear, deception, 'suicide'" by Steven Girardi, Sun staff writer, May 8, 1982 15 c. January c. 1979 In a story that is nearly impossible to sort out, Ernie and Adelle Hartwell (yet two more people from Las Vegas), and/or Las Vegas pit boss Ed Walters, purportedly go "to the FBI" and give the FBI the alleged whereabouts of L. Ron Hubbard, which is supposedly at La Quinta, California. (One source claims it was Ernie Hartwell who approached the FBI; another says it was Ed Walters, because he was upset over Hartwell's mistreatment at the hands of Hubbard. It all conflicts. It hardly matters. Probably no one went anywhere near the FBI. But it did provided an excuse of "L. Ron Hubbard" to disappear yet again, purportedly fearing a raid by the FBI this time, purportedly accompanied only by Mike and Kima Douglas, purportedly to disappear to Lake Perris (misspelled "Paris" by Miller in his interview with David Mayo) or to Lake Elsinore in a motor home. Or wherever you would like him to have been. The point is that Ed Walters is involved in this very messy business, all based entirely on unverifiable accounts, as is unvarying with Walters, and Walters soon somehow becomes a client of a Boston, Massachusetts attorney, Michael Flynn, whose offices are thousands of miles away from Las Vegas. And both Walters and the Hartwells, within a few years, turn up testifying for Flynn at Clearwater city hearings. How? It is probably better not to ask.) CITE: "BARE-FACED MESSIAH," Miller; "The Bare-Faced Messiah Interviews;" Interview with David Mayo, Palo Alto, California, 28 August 1986 1 c. March 1979 La Venda Van Schaick of Las Vegas is declared a "Suppressive Person," and, for no explainable reason, flees "to Boston," supposedly "in fear of harassment from the Church." Note that there is no known former connection with Van Schaick to Boston, but it is, after all, where attorney Michael Flynn is located. CITE: Memorandum Opinion in La Venda Van Schaick, Plaintiff, v. Church of Scientology of California, Inc., et al, Defendants; Civ. A. No. 79-2491-G. United States District Court, D. Massachusetts. March 26, 1982) 15 c. July 1979 La Venda Van Schaick purportedly approaches Michael Flynn for the purpose of obtaining a refund of monies paid by her to "the Church" in the amount of approximately $12,800. Note that no indication is given of why she did not simply ask for a refund herself, which, according to policy, would have to have been given to her. Flynn ostensibly sends a letter to the "Church of Scientology" for the purpose of obtaining the money. They purportedly refuse to pay. Note that no reason is given for this violation of refund policy. Also, according to a later story in the Associated Press: "A statement issued by Robert E. Johnson, a local church president, said Ms. Van Schaick had been offered a refund of her money but that her attorney refused it." CITE: "MESSIAH OR MADMAN," Corydon; The Associated Press December 13, 1979, Thursday, "Woman Sues Scientologists for $200 Million over 'Mind Control'" by THOMAS S. BROWN, Associated Press Writer. 13 December 1979 Attorney Michael Flynn files suit on behalf of La Venda Van Schaick against the Church of Scientology of California (CSC, which Norton S. Karno and the Lenskes are involved with), the Church of Scientology of Nevada, the Church of Scientology Florida (Flag?), the Founding Church of Scientology of Washington, D.C. (FCDC), L. Ron Hubbard (who Karno is business partners with, and whose "business interests" the Lenskes are handling), Mary Sue Hubbard, and "numerous other individuals as officials of the various churches." In addition to damages, Van Schaick is "asking the court to unseat 17 top church leaders and place the organization's finances in the hands of a court-appointed receiver." CITE: Memorandum Opinion in La Venda Van Schaick, Plaintiff, v. Church of Scientology of California, Inc., et al, Defendants; Civ. A. No. 79-2491-G. United States District Court, D. Massachusetts. March 26, 1982; The Associated Press 14, 1979, Friday, "Former Church Member Seeks $200 Million" by THOMAS S. BROWN, Associated Press Writer 15 December 1979 A Will written by Sherman Lenske is purportedly signed by L. Ron Hubbard naming Norton S. Karno as Executor and as Trustee of the irrevocable L. RON HUBBARD INTER VIVOS TRUST of same date. The Will also waives conflict of interest for Karno's firm in representing Norton Karno should Norton Karno decide to put the interests of a partnership between him and Hubbard ahead of the interests of Hubbard's estate. Two of the people working in Karno's firm at the time, and therefore beneficiaries of that waiver of conflict of interest, are Sherman and Stephen Lenske. Of interesting additional note, a Michael M. Smith is named as successor Executor to Norton S. Karno. In searching for attorneys in California, only one Michael Smith appears to be a likely possibility as this named individual. This attorney named Michael Smith has no attributed middle initial, but is of Temecula, California. Temecula is only about 15 miles from Hemet, where both L. Ron Hubbard and Gerry Armstrong purportedly were residing at the time of the signing of the Will. CITE: Copy of the 1979 Will; Declaration of Sherman Lenske, 4 February 1986 3 January 1980 Approximately three weeks after the commencement of the Van Schaick case, without filing a counterclaim, and without filing a timely Motion to Dismiss, the Guardian Office (with which Norton S. Karno is known to be involved in legal matters), through attorney Steven Burris, files Church of Scientology of Nevada, Inc. v. Thomas Hoffman et al., Civil #KV-80-10-HEL, Nevada Federal District Court. Plaintiffs are La Venda Van Schaick, Kevin Flynn (brother and employee of Michael Flynn), Thomas G. Hoffman (colleague of Michael Flynn working with Flynn in the same suite of offices), and the bottom-dealing Edward Walters of Las Vegas. The suit alleges a conspiracy by the plaintiffs to deprive "Scientology" of its First Amendment rights. (It would be of the greatest interest to pursue information on Steven Burris and any connection to the law firm of Norton Karno, but I have not been able to get to this.) CITE: United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Michael J. Flynn vs. Lafayette Ronald Hubbard a.k.a. L. Ron Hubbard," C.A. No. 83-2642-C 25 January 1980 Tonja Burden files an affidavit about the Rehabilitation Project Force in a court case. (I can only presume that it is in La Venda Van Schaick's suit, but do not know for a fact.) CITE: BRAINWASHING iN SCIENTOLOGY'S REHABILITATION PROJECT FORCE (RPF) by Stephen Kent 1 c. February 1980 Gerry Armstrong relocates from the Hemet/Gilman Hot Springs desert area to Los Angeles, partly because of his need to be "dealing with Hubbard's lawyers in LA." Note that "Hubbard's lawyers in LA" are Norton S. Karno, purported business partner with Hubbard and named as Executor of Hubbard's estate, and Sherman and Stephen Lenske, who work in Karno's firm and are handling Hubbard's "business interests." CITE: Declaration of Sherman Lenske, 4 February 1986; Gerry Armstrong in Message ID: <34c522e1.437924384@news.dowco.com> 1 c. March 1980 L. Ron Hubbard goes "into seclusion," purportedly in the company of only Pat and Anne Broeker. This time, it is permanent, and he is never seen alive again, except as claimed by, or claimed for, a very few people. CITE: "BARE FACED MESSIAH," Miller; Numerous sources 15 c. March 1980 L. Ron Hubbard purportedly has a lawsuit filed: "Church of Scientology of Boston, Inc. v. Michael Flynn et. al., Civil #40906 in the Massachusetts Suffolk Superior Court." The suit is against Michael Flynn and "four of his clients." (The four clients are unnamed in the available source. This suit almost certainly was arranged not by "Hubbard," but by Karno's law firm. Hubbard had recently gone into "seclusion." One thing that is quite odd about this suit is that it alleges that Flynn's "clients had stolen materials" from the Church of Scientology of Boston and turned them over to Flynn. This is curious indeed, because it is exactly what will happen with Gerry Armstrong about two years later, when he takes 30,000 of L. Ron Hubbard's personal manuscripts and documents and turns them over to Flynn.) CITE: United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Michael J. Flynn vs. Lafayette Ronald Hubbard a.k.a. L. Ron Hubbard, C.A. No. 83-2642-C 2 April 1980 Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Samuel Adams rules that he wants to look at records allegedly taken from the Boston offices of the Church of Scientology by former church employees before he acts on the church's demand for these documents. Adams sets April 10 at 2 p.m. for Boston attorney Michael J. Flynn to bring into court card files of church memberships, financial data, confidential bulletins and files containing information about present and former church members. CITE: Boston Globe article of 3 April 1980 10 April 1980 Suffolk Superior Court Judge Samuel Adams allows "three former members of the Church of Scientology" to use church documents as part of their damage suits against the church. The Church of Scientology of Boston had charged that "two men and a woman from New Hampshire" had no authority to take the records from the church's Boston office at 448 Beacon Street and turn them over to their lawyer, Michael J. Flynn. Flynn had denied they took the records. (Note that this sets a crucial precedent, or at least foundation, for the issues to be raised in the later Armstrong trial. This almost seems as if it were merely a dry run, a "trial balloon" for Flynn's later case with Armstrong, but with much less important documents at stake.) CITE: Boston Globe article of 11 April 1980, CHURCH PAPERS ALLOWED IN SUIT 25 April 1980 Michael Flynn files suit seeking $3 million in Tampa, Florida, for Tonja Burden of Las Vegas. (One interesting, if ridiculous, note is that Stewart LaMont, in "Religions, Inc." claims: "This was the case which forced Hubbard to go into hiding from Gilman in 1980." If so, Hubbard must have been possessed of enormous prescience, since the suit was not filed until almost two full months after "Hubbard" went "into seclusion." As with Ms. Van Schaick, we have utterly no information how Ms. Burden of Las Vegas came to be a client of Flynn. We know only that they both are from Las Vegas, and we know of strange confluences of their lives crossing paths with Gerry Armstrong, who will become among Michael Flynn's most celebrated clients.) CITE: The Associated Press April 26, 1980, DATELINE: TAMPA, Fla. 1 May 1980 Upon dismissal of Church of Scientology of Nevada, Inc. v. Thomas Hoffman et al., Civil #KV-80-10-HEL from Nevada Federal District Court, attorney Steven Burris commences an action against La Venda Van Schaick, Kevin Flynn, Edward Walters, and "other clients" of Michael Flynn in the state court in Nevada, which is "nearly identical to the federal action." CITE: United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Michael J. Flynn vs. Lafayette Ronald Hubbard a.k.a. L. Ron Hubbard, C.A. No. 83-2642-C 1 c. September 1980 Yet another suit is filed against Michael Flynn: Church of Scientology of Nevada, Inc v. Michael Flynn Civil #202573 (Nevada Circuit Court), alleging that the Flynn was "engaged in a conspiracy against Scientology and abusing the judicial process." (I am curious now, since three "church"-side actions have been filed in Nevada, if this might offer some clue as to why these clients of Flynn were from Nevada. Is there some unique characteristic of Nevada law that might have played well to collusive suits between only speciously opposing parties?) CITE: United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Michael J. Flynn vs. Lafayette Ronald Hubbard a.k.a. L. Ron Hubbard, C.A. No. 83-2642-C 20 c. November 1981 Gerald Armstrong visits Ronald DeWolf in Carson City, Nevada, ostensibly to interview DeWolf for the biography of Hubbard. (This is itself extremely odd since "Hubbard" had quite thoroughly disinherited DeWolf in the prevailing 15 December 1979 Will written by Sherman Lenske, in which Karno is named as Executor and Trustee. Armstrong has already stated that he was working with these attorneys. But once again we have Armstrong having a meeting with someone who will soon become a client of Michael Flynn, and once again it is someone from Nevada, only about a 12 hour drive from Las Vegas.) CITE: "MESSIAH OR MADMAN," Corydon 12 December 1981 Gerry Armstrong leaves Scientology, having somehow secretly delivered approximately 30,000 originals of L. Ron Hubbard's personal papers and manuscripts into the possession of Omar Garrison. CITE: Various accounts by Armstrong and later newspaper accounts from AP and UPI, cited elsewhere herein. 22 April 1982 An amended "Suppressive Person Declare" is issued on Gerry Armstrong. One of the things he is accused of in the Declare is theft. CITE: Gerald Armstrong's "Appendix" to the Breckenridge memorandum 1 c. May c. 1982 Without permission from Hubbard, Gerry Armstrong takes possession of the approximately 30,000 originals of L. Ron Hubbard's personal papers and manuscripts from Omar Garrison, and transports them into the possession of Michael Flynn. (It is unknown where Flynn is at this time, but it is believed that he is in Clearwater, Florida preparing for public city hearings on the subject of Scientology. His offices are in Boston, Massachusetts. One interesting note is that a 5 May 1982 Clearwater Sun article says that a Clearwater police officer is being kept in Flynn's hotel suite "to protect documents the lawyer brought from Boston.") CITE: Various accounts by Armstrong; Gerald Armstrong's "Appendix" to the Breckenridge memorandum; Clearwater Sun article of 5 May 1982 6 May 1982 Ronald DeWolf is the second witness to testify in the Clearwater city hearings being conducted by attorney Michael Flynn. Flynn is being paid $80,000 by the city of Clearwater to conduct the hearings. The first witness is another Flynn client, former Las Vegas casino dealer Ed Walters. A newspaper account of the hearings says that Dewolf has stated in a recent magazine article that he believes that his father is dead. Also testifying for Flynn in the hearing are Las Vegas residents Ernie and Adelle Hartwell. CITE: Clearwater Sun articles of 5 and 6 May 1982 10 May 1982 Michael Flynn "has 27 legal suits pending against the Church of Scientology around the country." CITE: U.P.I. May 10, 1982, Monday, Regional News, Florida, DATELINE: CLEARWATER, Fla. 25 June 1982 Gerry Armstrong files an affidavit in Michael Flynn's Tonja Burden case, which is filed in Tampa, Florida. (Note that this appears to place Armstrong in Florida near Clearwater within a month of the Clearwater hearings that were conducted by Flynn.) CITE: BRAINWASHING iN SCIENTOLOGY'S REHABILITATION PROJECT FORCE (RPF) by Stephen Kent 1 c. August 1982 A suit is filed by Church of Scientology of California (CSC) against Gerald Armstrong: "CSC v. Armstrong," Los Angeles Superior Court No. C 420158. Michael Flynn soon files a cross-complaint. CITE: Gerald Armstrong's "Appendix" to the Breckenridge memorandum; Breckenridge memorandum in CSC v. Armstrong, July 23 1984 24 September 1982 Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Cole places the contested LRH documents in the Armstrong suit ("21 boxes of personal letters and journals of the sect's reclusive founder L. Ron Hubbard") under the control of the county clerk. "The church claims Armstrong stole the material, but Armstrong claims Hubbard had permitted him to use it under a contract to produce a biography of the church founder." CITE: UPI story of 26 April 1983 10 c. November 1982 Gerald Armstrong, Kima Douglas, and Ronald DeWolf are interviewed for a story in the Riverside Press-Enterprise newspaper and by UPI and AP. Armstrong states that L. Ron Hubbard may be dead. He says that Hubbard suffered "numerous medical problems, twice requiring hospitalization in the 1970s." AP story of 13 November 1982; UPI story of 14 November 1982 12 November 1982 Ronald DeWolf, a.k.a. L. Ron Hubbard, Jr., a.k.a. "Nibs," files a petition in Superior Court in Riverside County, California--with 30,000 accompanying documents--saying that he believes that his father is dead or mentally incompetent, and asking the court to appoint him trustee, and or give him conservatorship power, of his father's affairs to "protect the assets." (It can hardly be overstated that 30,000 documents are mentioned as "accompanying" DeWolf's suit, when that is the exact same figure attributed to the number of documents Gerald Armstrong, another Flynn client, took.) DeWolf is being represented by the office of Michael Flynn, who is also representing Armstrong. DeWolf alleges that "officials of the church have stolen millions of dollars, gems and securities from his 71-year-old father or from his estate in the past year." DeWolf says, "The only way he (Hubbard) can contest all of this is to show up physically in court. But I expect he may have trouble doing that because I don't think he is alive." Other claims made by DeWolf, either in the petition, and/or in a story about it that appeared in the Riverside Press-Enterprise newspaper include: "While living in La Quinta in Riverside County, Hubbard made secret plans for his death...and instructed [Kima] Douglas to 'bury him in the date fields' in the area and not to disclose his death. 'Shortly thereafter,' DeWolf said in his petition, 'my father disappeared.' DeWolf says the petition was filed in Riverside County because his father's last known whereabouts was Gilman Hot Springs, a former resort near Hemet. DeWolf contends that since October 1981, millions of dollars have been removed from Hubbard's bank accounts with forged signatures. He says the New England Merchants Bank froze Hubbard's account after determining that a $2 million check written against it in June had a forged signature. His petition claims attempts also have been made to sell about $1 million worth of Hubbard's gems in Los Angeles and that Scientology officials 'surreptitiously acquired all of the copyrights' to Hubbard's books and articles spanning 30 years. Finally, DeWolf says he filed the petition after a "longtime Hubbard aide" [Armstrong or Douglas] submitted a 21-page court affidavit in another case swearing that Hubbard had repeatedly fled Southern California residences in fear of federal agents, that he was obsessed with cleanliness, ordering that living quarters be dust-free and his bedroom tiled. CITE: AP story of 13 November 1982; UPI story of 14 November 1982; AP story of 15 November 1982; Newsweek story, 6 December 1982 This is all I am able to do on this at the moment, many other things demanding my time. I have not included anything on the Julie Christofferson-Titchbourne suit because I have no information on when and how she became a Flynn client. The rather sketchy information I have is that her original suit, ruled on in August of 1979, was not with Flynn, and that she became a client of his only later as the case was amended, appealed, or went through other transformations. I hope someone else more knowledgeable than I and with better resources can supply information on her involvement with Flynn. As an afterword it must be pointed out that the Armstrong and the DeWolf cases filed by Flynn were both utilized to enormous benefit by Sherman Lenske to produce letters and a Declaration purportedly from L. Ron Hubbard, and certified as genuine by at least two men with connections to the United States Treasury Department (Doulder and Brunelle), which not only gained endorsements by two courts that L. Ron Hubbard was alive and in control of his affairs, but also got media coverage of endorsements by "Hubbard" of Sherman Lenske, Norman Starkey, Lyman Spurlock, and David Miscavige among others. Cambridge