Gerry Armstrong--Declaration February 22, 1994

§ What's New || Search || Legal Archive || Wog Media || Cult Media || CoW ^® || Writings || Fun || Disclaimer || Contact §

DECLARATION OF GERALD ARMSTRONG

I, Gerald Armstrong, declare:

1. I am over 18 years of age and a resident of the

State of California. I have personal knowledge of the

matters set forth herein and if called upon to testify

thereto I competently would.

2. I am making this declaration in response to

certain statements, principally those concerning me, made by

David Miscavige in his declaration executed February 8,

1994, and filed in the case of Scientology v. Fishman &

Geertz, United States District Court for the Central

District of California, Case No. CV 91-6425 HLH(Tx).

3. Mr. Miscavige states that I am a proven liar

because he has found a discrepancy between a finding of

Judge Paul G. Breckenridge Jr. in his decision rendered June

20, 1984 in the case of Scientology v. Armstrong, Los

Angeles Superior Court No. C 420153 (Armstrong I), and a

statement allegedly made by me and secretly recorded by Mr.

Miscavige's covert intelligence operatives in the fall of

1984. (Miscavige dec. p. 31, l. 22 - p. 32, l. 5). Mr.

Miscavige is employing one of Scientology's confusion

techniques the organization's founder L. Ron Hubbard dubbed

"dropped out time." Mr. Miscavige's incidents, which he has

linked for purposes of confusion, are years apart.

4. In this civilization fear is generally accepted to

be an emotion or state of mind which can either be present

or not present, or perhaps present in degrees. It is fairly

well accepted that a not abnormal person can be afraid one

day, when, for example there are a couple of unidentified

men at four a.m. outside the person's bedroom window where

no men ought to be at four a.m., and not afraid on another

day, when the person is, for example, watching the Dodgers

beat the Giants. That the person claimed to be afraid at

four a.m. Sunday and not afraid at the Wednesday ballgame

does not make that person a proven liar. In my case there

were more than two years between one time when I was afraid

and the next occasion when Mr. Miscavige says I said I was

not afraid.

5. In his decision, a true and correct copy of which

is appended hereto as Exhibit [A] , Judge Breckenridge states:

"From his extensive knowledge of the

covert and intelligence operations

carried out by the Church of Scientology

of California against its enemies

(suppressive persons), Defendant

Armstrong became terrified and feared

that his life and the life of his wife

were in danger, and he also feared he

would be the target of costly and

harassing lawsuits."

....

"It was thereafter, in the summer of

1982, that Defendant Armstrong asked Mr.

Garrison for copies of documents to use

in his defense and sent the documents to

his attorneys, Michael Flynn and Contos

2

& Bunch.

After the within suit was filed on

August 2, 1982, Defendant Armstrong was

the subject of harassment, including

being followed and surveilled by

individuals who admitted employment by

[Scientology]; being assaulted by one of

these individuals; being struck bodily

by a car driven by one of these

individuals; having two attempts made by

said individuals apparently to involve

Defendant Armstrong in a freeway

automobile accident; having said

individuals come onto Defendant

Armstrong's property, spy in his

windows, create disturbances, and upset

his neighbors." (Ex. A. Appendix p. 14,

l. 6 - p. 15, l. 3)

6. It is clear that Judge Breckenridge in his

statements about my fear of organization legal and extra-

legal attacks is referring to my state of mind in the period

between the organization's publication of its "Suppressive

Person Declares" on me in early 1982 and its filing of

Armstrong I in August, 1982. This fear was not irrational

or unfounded as the organization itself proved when it

harassed my wife and me as Judge Breckenridge found, and did

file harassing and costly lawsuits against me. All of these

harassing and criminal acts were carried out during Mr.

Miscavige's control of such activities, which he claims to

have wrested from the Guardian's Office, which, itself, just

as he himself, according to Mr. Miscavige, "used unscrupulous

means to deal with people they perceived as enemies of the

Church." (Miscavige dec. p. 17, l. 17).

7. Mr. Miscavige's new Guardian's Office, the Office

of Special Affairs, did not end its criminal and abusive

tactics with the incidents listed by Judge Breckenridge, but

has added ten more years of "fair game" attacks since the

1984 decision, including, but not limited to:

a. attempted framing by entrapment and illegal

videotaping;

b. filing false criminal charges with the Los Angeles

District Attorney;

c. filing false criminal charges with the Boston

office of the FBI;

d. filing false declarations;

e. bringing contempt of court proceedings on three

occasions based on false charges;

f. making false accusations in internationally

published media of crimes, including crimes

against humanity;

g. culling and disseminating information from my

supposedly confidential auditing (psychotherapy)

files;

h. relentlessly attacking my attorney, Michael Flynn

of Boston, Massachusetts with some 15 lawsuits,

baseless bar complaints, theft of office

documents, infiltration of his law practice,

framing him with the forgery of a $2,000,000

check, an international black PR campaign, threats

to him and his family, and, according to him,

attempted assassination; all for the purpose of

driving him out of the organization-related

litigation in order to leave his clients

undefended against the organization's attacks;

i. fraudulently promising to discontinue "fair game"

against me if I settled my cross-complaint against

the organization, knowing full well that it would

continue to attack me in the courts and the

marketplace of ideas once I signed its settlement

contract, which I did in December, 1986, and once

it had contracted with Mr. Flynn to not defend me

in future litigation;

j. following the settlement, publishing a false and

unfavorable description of me in a "dead agent"

pack relating to writer and anti-Scientology

litigant Bent Corydon;

k. filing several affidavits in the case of Church

of Scientology of California v. Russell Miller and

Penguin Books Limited, case no. 6140 in the High

Court of Justice in London England which falsely

accused me of violations of court orders, and

falsely labeled me "an admitted agent provocateur

of the U.S. Federal Government";

l. delivering copies of an edited version of an

illegally obtained 1984 videotape of me to the

international media;

m. threatening me with lawsuits on six occasions if I

did not abet its obstruction of justice in the

Miller case, in the case of Bent Corydon v.

Scientology, Los Angeles Superior Court No. C

694401, wherein Corydon had subpoenaed me as a

witness, and in the case of Scientology v. Yanny,

Los Angeles Superior Court No. C 690211;

n. threatening to release my confidences, which it

had stolen from a friend, and which had been

specifically sealed by Judge Breckenridge in

Armstrong I if I did not assist it in preventing

Corydon from gaining access to the Armstrong I

court file;

o. on February 4, 1992, filing a lawsuit, Scientology

v. Gerald Armstrong, Marin Superior Court Case No.

152229 (" Armstrong II"), transferred to Los

Angeles Superior Court and given Case No. BC

052395, alleging contract breaches, which it

itself precipitated, for the purposes of, inter

alia, obstructing justice, suppressing evidence,

assassinating my reputation, retaliation and

intimidation;

p. on July 8, 1993, filing a lawsuit Scientology v.

Gerald Armstrong & The Gerald Armstrong

Corporation, Los Angeles Superior Court Case No.

BC 084642 (" Armstrong III") for the same purposes

as in o. above;

q. on July 23, 1993, filing a lawsuit, Scientology v.

Gerald Armstrong, Michael Walton & The Gerald

Armstrong Corporation, Marin Superior Court Case

No. 157680 ("Armstrong IV") for the same purposes

as in o. above;

r. twice more bringing contempt of court charges

against me based on false sworn statements.

8. The videotapes from which Mr. Miscavige claims to

quote were made in November, 1984. In order to provide a

context for how I came to be involved with his operatives

who set up the videotaping and to clarify the words of both

the operatives and myself which were recorded, and a few of

which Mr. Miscavige claims to quote, I am appending hereto

as Exhibit [B] a copy of a declaration/screenplay outline I

have just completed and called "Find a Better Basket."

9. When I state on the 1984 videotape that I am not

afraid, I am answering one of the operatives' questions or

challenges which he has been drilled to state. In

responding the way I did I am honestly communicating one of

the changes I had perceived in my psyche over the almost

three years since I left the organization. Because the

organization teaches its members to put their faith in what

cannot protect them; e.g., data, wins, attacks, hatred,

disconnection, leverage, lawsuits, private investigators,

fair game, L. Ron Hubbard or David Miscavige; it leaves them

with a seemingly irreducible fear. Those who put their

faith in God, Wherein lies perfect protection, give up their

fear. There will still be times when fear will arise, but

the reestablishing of faith in God will every time cause

that fear to disappear into the nothing it is. I was

beginning to learn that wisdom by the time of the 1984

videotaping. In fact it was that learning which seemed to

move me to associate with the operatives who only sought my

destruction. I have stated many times that I have an

undeniable concern that before it comes to its senses or

saner minds prevail in the organization its power structure

headed by Mr. Miscavige will have me assassinated or do

something else diabolical and dangerous, and this has

produced in me an awareness of threat and is a fact of my

present psychological condition. The power structure is

quite capable of violent and criminal acts, or of purchasing

such acts. The power structure is armed, and its head PI

Eugene M. Ingram has threatened to kill me. The power

structure makes a religion of terrifying countless

vulnerable and innocent people who do not have my certainty

and do not have my skills to fight the organization's

tyranny. For these reasons I oppose its tyranny and its

suppressive doctrines and practices. Mr. Miscavige should

not be pointing out imagined inconsistencies in whether one

of his victims in one year or another was afraid or not of

his vicious organization, but should be eliminating all of

its viciousness so that no one ever again is made afraid by

it.

10. Mr. Miscavige calls the videotaping of me "a

police-sanctioned investigation." (Miscavige Dec. p. 31, l.

28) This is a lie Mr. Miscavige must tell as if his life

depends on it. I provided the truth in "Find a Better

Basket."

"Organization lawyers, Earle Cooley and John

Peterson, claimed (during the 1985 trial of Julie

Christofferson v. Scientology, Circuit Court of

the State of Oregon, Multnomah County, No. A7704-

05184, that) the Armstrong operation had been

authorized by the Los Angeles Police Department,

and they produced a letter dated November 7, 1984,

..... signed by an officer Phillip Rodriguez,

directing organization private investigator Eugene

M. Ingram to electronically eavesdrop on me and

Michael Flynn.

On April 23, 1985, Los Angeles Police Chief

Daryl F. Gates issued a public statement, .....

denying that the Rodriguez letter was a

correspondence from the Los Angeles Police

Department, denying that the Los Angeles Police

Department had cooperated with Ingram, and stating

emphatically that all purported authorizations

directed to Ingram by any member of the Los

Angeles Police Department are invalid and

unauthorized. On information and belief, the

officer, Phillip Rodriguez, who signed Ingram's

letter was paid $10,000.00 for his signature.

Also on information and belief, following a Los

Angeles Police Department Internal Affairs

Division investigation and a Police Department

Board of Rights, Officer Rodriguez was suspended

from the Los Angeles Police Force." ("Better

Basket," p. 13, paras. 22 and 23)

A copy of Officer Rodriguez's "authorization" is appended

hereto as Exhibit [C], and a copy of Chief Gates' public

announcement is appended hereto as Exhibit [D].

11. Mr. Miscavige claims that his illegal videotapes

of me capture me acknowledging my real motives, to overthrow

his organization's leadership and gain control of it.

(Miscavige Dec. p. 32, l.1 - l.3) This is absurd. His own

people, operated by him, came to me with their idea,

approved by him, as outlined in "Better Basket," of wresting

control of the organization from what they called the

" criminals" running it. I have never had a desire control

the Scientology organization or Scientology, although I

recognize that its leaders should be restrained from further

abuse of anyone. My real motive in my day-to-day

relationship with its leaders is to get it out of the

litigation business and get it to cease its assault on the

justice system, its abuse of innocence and its threatening

of me, my friends and people of good will everywhere. I

know David Miscavige personally. I know him to be a bully,

a liar and a perfect replacement for L. Ron Hubbard at the

controls of his empire. I also know that God is in him as

He is in everyone else and that bullying and lying are just

mad and useless efforts to fight that fact.

12. Mr. Miscavige states that I advise one of his

covert operatives to accuse the organization of various

criminal acts and when I am told that no evidence exists to

support those charges I respond to "just allege it."

(Miscavige Dec. p. 32, l. 5 - l. 8) "Better Basket"

describes something of the context in which I make a

statement differentiating between "allegations" and "proof."

The operative I'm talking to is Mike Rinder. Before this

meeting I had already, on request of the "Loyalists,"

provided them with a "bare bones" draft of a complaint.

Complaints contain allegations. Complaints do not contain

proof. Rinder, who had been represented to me as the

Loyalists' " best legal mind" couldn't seem to get the

distinction between allegations and proof in the complaint,

and I was frustrated in our conversation because he seemed

so dense. Now, of course, his denseness is fully

understandable. He had to appear stupid and had to deny

that there was any "proof" of the sort of allegations that

would be made in a complaint because he knew he was being

recorded on a videotape which was going to be used to

attack, and if possible destroy me. Even what the

organization has done to me alone (see, e.g., crimes listed

by Judge Breckenridge and the list in paragraph 7 above) is

enough for actual true-hearted reformers to bring a lawsuit

to take control of the organization from the criminals now

in charge.

13. During Mr. Miscavige's videotape operation a

briefcase containing a book of my original drawings and

writings and other documents was stolen from the trunk of my

car. My attorney made a demand on the organization for the

return of these materials. The organization denied having

them. I have recently been advised by Vicki Aznaran, a

former organization executive who carried out operations

against individuals on Mr. Miscavige's orders, that he told

her at the time of their theft that he had them and he

described them to her. Knowing that this declaration will

be seen by Mr. Miscavige, I herewith renew my demand to him

for the return of my materials to me.

14. I will also take the opportunity to advise this

Court that Mr. Miscavige's organization considers that it

has me under a contract whereby it may sue me for filing

this declaration, not because it is untrue or libelous, but

because that is what the organization insists its contract

permits. This contract was obtained by Mr. Miscavige as the

result of his organization's years of attack on my attorney

Michael Flynn, as stated in paragraph 7 subparagraph h.

above. In order to get the organization to cease its fair

game against Mr. Flynn I had to sign its contract, which,

according to Mr. Miscavige, allows him and his agents to say

whatever they want about me in any court proceeding or in

the media and I may not respond. If I do respond I become

subject to a $50,000.00 liquidated damages provision for

every utterance, and the target in another Miscavige-ordered

costly and harassing lawsuit. The three lawsuits, Armstrong

II, III and IV described in paragraph 7, subparagraphs o, p

and q, and the contempt of court proceedings at subparagraph

r, are all pursuant to this contract. The contract is

against public policy and illegal. Mr. Miscavige, moreover,

entered into a separate illegal contract with Mr. Flynn,

which prohibits Mr. Flynn from assisting me in any

litigation against the organization. If Mr. Flynn were to

assist me he would again be subjected to "fair game." Mr.

Miscavige would be wise to rescind all these illegal

contracts and discontinue his abuse of the legal process and

totally eliminate from his organization the doctrine and

practice of fair game, and not merely deny its existence.

15. Mr. Miscavige claims to know a great deal about

the IRS dropping me as a witness because of his videotapes.

In truth I was not dropped as a witness at all, and my

credibility, despite more than twelve years of his

organization's attacks on it, is intact. One of the

conditions of the 1986 "settlement" with Mr. Miscavige's

organization was that in order for the organization to

discontinue the "fair game" against Mr. Flynn I had to sign

a knowingly false affidavit, essentially stating that Mr.

Miscavige's new regime had discontinued the organization's

criminal activities. Mr. Flynn claimed that the

organization had already tried to murder him and he felt his

life and his family were in danger. I fully believed Mr.

Flynn because I had myself been the target of fair game for

five years by then and had likewise been threatened with

murder. I, along with several other of Mr. Flynn's clients,

therefore signed these false affidavits which the

organization had prepared. The organization then filed the

false affidavits in its IRS litigations. Mr. Miscavige

makes much of the IRS granting his organization tax exempt

status. Our government's turning its back on this

organization's thousands of victims and apparently ignoring

its obnoxious, irreligious and criminal core nature,

however, does not make this victimization and antisocial

nature either right or religious.

16. Mr. Miscavige also claims that Scientology's

philosophy and practice of opportunistic hatred, called

"fair game" by L. Ron Hubbard, its originator, doesn't

exist. It does.

I declare under the penalty of perjury under the laws

of the State of California that the foregoing is true and

correct.

Executed at San Anselmo, California, on February 22,

1994.

[signed]
GERALD ARMSTRONG

Exhibit [A]
Breckenridge Decision | .pdf

Exhibit [B]
"Find a Better Basket"

Exhibit [C]
Rodriguez "authorization" | .pdf

Exhibit [D]
LAPD Police Chief Daryl Gates' Announcement | .pdf

§ What's New || Search || Legal Archive || Wog Media || Cult Media || CoW ^® || Writings || Fun || Disclaimer || Contact §