And here's the E! News story covering that article:
http://www.xenutv.com/cruise/enews-katie-070805.htm

This story shares the front page, and the article includes a number of pictures. I'll obtain and scan the hard copy later.

http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/25352.htm

June 19, 2005 -- KATIE HOLMES' new Sciento logy "handler" is church "royalty" whose family made millions in business and the stock market --- and went on to be plagued by charges of religious harassment and linked to Medicare fraud, The Post has learned.

Jessica Rodriguez has emerged as the woman who's been irking Warner Bros. Pictures by shadowing the "Batman Begins" star 24/7 during Holmes' press blitz.

Since meeting Holmes in April, Rodriguez --- who believes in reincarnation and wears a Navy-like uniform while on duty at the church --- has been her constant companion, shadowing the next Mrs. Tom Cruise wherever she goes on both sides of the Atlantic.

Earlier this month, she was spotted trying on shoes at Barneys in Manhattan, as Holmes gabbed away on her cellphone. She was reportedly disruptive during Holmes' interviews with the British press a few weeks ago. And yes, she was in France last week when hyper movie star Cruise popped the question to the perky starlet in Paris.

Some have described her as Holmes' new best friend. But others see her more as Katie's Scientologist mentor --- or is it monitor?

The 29-year-old was born Jessica Feshbach, daughter of "stock buster" Joe Feshbach.

The elder Feshbach --- along with brothers Matt and Kurt --- earned his moniker during the go-go '80s by managing a hedge fund that shorted stocks. He attributed the millions he amassed to his adherence to Scientology and, in return, lavished the church with equally rich contributions.

But not everyone was enamoured of his business practices.

After Feshbach and his siblings took control of the San Francisco-area chocolate company Chocolat in 1990, 13 managers quit, reportedly claiming they were disturbed by the Feshbachs' use of Scientological management techniques. Another six said they were axed for not toeing the Scientological line.

Yet another manager filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claim against Chocolat, charging religious harassment.

Nine years later, the Justice Department charged Curative Health Services --- where Feshbach then served as chairman --- with Medicare fraud.

That caused the Long Island company's stock to tumble 60 percent, which in turn led to a $10.5 million class-action suit by shareholders.

Although Feshbach dismissed the suit as being "without merit," Curative eventually paid up.

Neither Feshbach, Jessica Rodriguez nor the Church of Scientology returned repeated phone calls and e-mails seeking comment.

Feshbach, 52, and wife Cindy raised their kids as Scientologists, enrolling them in the controversial religion's many obligatory courses as young as 15 years old.

Now Holmes' camp is downplaying Rodriguez's involvement with the former "Dawson's Creek" star's life, calling her a friend rather than religious adviser.

But just days after Holmes announced she was converting to Scientology, others who have been privy to the church's innermost workings say that's hardly the case. And friends have complained that Holmes, an unassuming and loyal Midwesterner who once turned down a Hollywood audition to be in the school play, is now not returning their phone calls.

"Jessica is reporting back to top-level people on a daily basis about how Katie is faring," said a source who spent three decades working with celebs like Kirstie Alley and Nicole Kidman before leaving the church in 2003.

"In all my years with the church, I never saw them assign a handler to travel with a celeb and sit in on interviews like Jessica's doing," the source added. "They're obviously worried that Katie's conversion will backfire."

One of three Feshbach children, Rodriguez was born in the Bay Area. She has an identical twin sister, Melissa.

Like her father, Rodriguez's uncles Matt and Kurt and their broods are committed to Scientology.

"The Feshbachs are considered royalty within the church," said a family friend who spoke confidentially.

Rodriguez attended the Delphian School, a high-priced boarding school in Sheridan, Ore., funded by the Church of Scientology.

After graduation, she worked briefly at another Scientology institution, Los Gatos Academy in Los Gatos, Calif., but soon left to pursue a higher calling.

In 1998, sources say, she attained membership in the "Sea Org" group, the highest stratum of Scientology, whose members commit to the church for life --- or, more specifically, a billion years.

When they die, the belief goes, their souls slip out of the body and float around seeking another to inhabit. Once that happens, they can serve the church over and over again in reincarnated states.

Chuck Beatty, who served as a Sea Org for 27 years before being leaving the church in 2003, noted how passionately Rodriguez believes in this transmigration.

Four years ago, soon after Sea Org Jill Burkhart had died of cancer, Rodriguez spent half an hour explaining to him and 90 fellow members that Burkhart had already found a home in the unborn baby of a young Scientologist couple. "It was an immensely uplifting speech. By the time she finished, everyone was weeping with joy," Beatty told The Post.

Sea Orgs dress in Navy-like outfits while on duty and --- whether male or female --- must be addressed as "sir" by all lower-level believers.

Science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, who founded Scientology in 1950 and served in the Navy, modeled the group on his branch of the military.

The religion --- which has 8 million followers worldwide --- focuses on individuals as spiritual beings, stating that all people can cleanse their souls and exorcise their demons if they look into themselves and analyze their pasts for the source of their impurities. Part of the brain-bending belief system is that humans are infested with the souls of dead space aliens who were brought to Earth 75 million years ago.

The goal of Scientologists is to rid themselves of these negative souls and achieve a state of "clear." At the highest level, believers say you can control thought, energy and even time.

Life as a Sea Org was monastic for Rodriguez, who lived at a converted hospital in L.A. known as "Big Blue," which is part of the church's headquarters.

In the late '90s, before marrying her first husband, fellow Scientologist Fredrick Paolo, she bunked with eight other women in one room.

And like her fellow 2,500 Sea Orgs in the complex, she worked 14 hours a day, six days a week, while earning just $2,500 a year.

"Jessica didn't have time for anything other than her duties. No outside friends, no hobbies," a former Sea Org told The Post.

Still, Rodriguez's privileged background caused some friction within the group, many of whom come from poor families.

"She always had a car, expensive clothes, the best equipment --- which I'm sure she got from her parents," said another former Sea Org. "A lot of people were jealous."

Rodriguez married current husband Andres Rodriguez, also a Sea Org, about two years ago.

While her job helping ensure that Holmes and Cruise get hitched without a hitch will no doubt earn her an even higher place in the church, some are less than thrilled about it.

"I remember a regular teenager, excited about life," a boarding-school friend told The Post. "Now all I see is a steely glare and determination to keep the truth about Scientology away from Katie."

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