I, Caroline Letkeman, declare as follows:
1. I am over the age of 18 years.
2. The statements herein are of my own personal knowledge and if called upon as a witness I can testify competently thereto.
3. This declaration follows and updates my declaration dated April 27, 2001.
4. On April 7, 2001 I called the Scientology organization in Clearwater known as “Flag.” I asked to speak with the Justice Chief. The telephone operator at Flag put me through to the correct office, but the Justice Chief was not available. I did not leave my full name or number, but asked the female person who answered the phone when I might call back to speak with the Justice Chief. The woman told me I should call back the following day after 2:00 EST.
5. About 2:00 EST on April 8, 2001, I called again to Flag and asked to speak with the Justice Chief. This time I was put through and a woman by the name of Cara Golasheshky identified herself as the Justice Chief.
6. I identified myself to Ms. Golasheshky and explained the nature of my call, which explanation follows here. I informed Ms. Golasheshky of a January 2001 telephone call with my daughter during which call she informed me she was getting ethics handling and that the Ethics Officer showed her an issue that included:
a. Information about a critical essay I had written and
b. Libelous and false information about my past.
It is a matter of Scientology ethics policy that the accused receive a copy of such issues. I told Ms. Golasheshky that I had been waiting patiently for my copy of this issue so that I could deal with it in the appropriate manner. I explained to Ms. Golasheshky that someone by the name of AJ had been conducting an investigation into the identity of an anonymously written essay called Scientology: Soul Hackers; that on January 12 2001, AJ announced my name as the author of that essay to a public newsgroup called alt.religion.scientology. I explained to Ms. Golasheshky that shortly thereafter, I received a telephone call from my daughter who was shown the aforementioned ethics issue.
7. Scientology Ethics Offices issue ethics bulletins on matters of concern such as members who have defected or who have been found guilty of violations of Scientology’s ethics codes. These bulletins are issued after being approved through a chain of command in Scientology’s international hierarchy of organizations. Sometimes these issues are published broadly, and other times the issues are published on a much smaller scale, depending on various conditions and ongoing circumstances. A published essay would by policy be a matter of concern for Scientology’s highest echelon called the Religious Technology Center (RTC); David Miscavige is the Chairman of the Board of the RTC.
8. Ms. Golasheshky told me that she was not familiar with any issue concerning me, but that she would check into the matter further and call me back. I specifically suggested to Ms. Golasheshky that she contact the Office of Special Affairs (OSA) for this information, as the poster to alt.religion.scientology was involved with OSA‘s operation on that newsgroup.
9. Ms. Golasheshky did call me back a few minutes later and said that she had checked with “various terminals” and that there was no such issue. Ms. Golasheshky suggested that I send her a confession so that she could have something in writing and follow up on this. I advised Ms. Golasheshky that my interest was not in writing a confession, but that I simply wanted to receive a copy of the issue that had already been the subject of my daughter’s ethics handling which had resulted in Ann’s apparent decision to break ties with me; she had not spoken with me since the date of our phone call in January. I advised Ms. Golasheshky that I would attempt to contact my daughter directly and ask for her assistance in obtaining that issue. Ms. Golasheshky acknowledged my plan, and we ended the conversation.
10. I then left a message on my daughter’s cell phone and followed up with an e-mail to her. I received no response to either the phone message or to the e-mail.
11. I posted my first message to alt.religion.scientology on April 8 2001. The subject title is “Message to OSA.” In that message, I requested that “AJ” send me the copy of the issue. The time stamp on that message is 11:20 PM. “AJ” continues to post messages regularly to alt.religion.scientology, but to this date has not responded to my particular request.
12. On April 15, 2001, “AJ” posted a message in response to a e- mail that was a forgery of another critic’s signature. The original forgery and its thread can be identified in alt.religion.scientology archives with the following information: From: Mistmago55ataol.com ( Mistmago55ataol.com)
Subject: I had a HUGE WIN!
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Date: 2001-04-14 23:26:05 PST
13. AJ addressed me saying, “Hello, Caroline […]BTW it didn’t take long to figure out who you were.” I responded by again asking that the real “AJ” get back to me with some straight answers to my original “ Message to OSA.”
14. On April 10 2001 at 6:34 PM PST, I sent an e-mail to the Clearwater Police Department. I sent the message to contactatclearwaterpolice.org. The exact message follows (except where I have deleted private information within square brackets [ ] ):
Attention: Chief of Police, Clearwater Police Department
Dear Sir:
I am a concerned parent, and I am writing to request your assistance in a very troubling situation.
I have a daughter, Ann Reinertsen, last known address was [address] phone [phone number]. She is about [height]”, approximately [weight]pounds and has [hair color]hair and [eye color] eyes. She is a member of the Church of Scientology. She lives with her father and stepmother, who are also Scientologists. Her father is my ex-husband.
Late last year, I wrote an essay that was critical to the Church of Scientology. I wrote it anonymously so as to not incite the exact situation I now find myself in.
A department of Scientology (OSA) spent approximately six weeks trying to analyze who wrote that prize-winning essay, which is now posted at http://www.lisatrust.net/literaticontest/contest2000/00antivirus.html1 They apparently used certain software to get my literary fingerprint. I do not know what other measures they may have used to discover my authorship. I had not advised my daughter of this essay or of my dissatisfaction with Scientology. The reason for this is that I knew Scientology would force my daughter to not have contact with me if I spoke out publicly in a critical way.
When Scientology’s investigation department was satisfied that I was the author of that anonymous essay, they announced my name publicly to alt.religion.scientology.
====
From: AJ ( AJ_member@newsguy.com)
Subject: Anti-Virus identified
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Date: 2001-01-12 01:58:11 PST
It took some work to piece together all of the clues in Anti-Virus’ essay but I can confirm that the individual who placed second in the LMT 2000 Literati Contest is Caroline Reinertsen. That’s the name I knew her by some years ago. Hopefully she will declare this income on her tax return.
***
Following the newsgroup announcement Ann called me (January 29, 2001)[sic] and told me that she was being handled by Scientology’s ethics department, and that Scientology had issued a public bulletin about me. She relayed the contents of that issue to me by phone. The issue contains grossly libelous and misrepresented information from my childhood that I had never discussed with my daughter, but that I had confided in Scientology when I was a member. Ann also asked at that time whether I had written an essay against Scientology. I responded that I had written an essay. This fact had been given to her by Scientology’s ethics officer.
My daughter is not upset with me personally except as it relates to how Scn is telling her how she must not communicate with me. Her last words to me were, “I love you Mom.”
It was natural for my daughter to be very upset–she knew that she would have to break ties with me because I am a former member who spoke critically against Scientology. I did not wish to upset her further, and so I waited patiently for Scientology to send me a copy of their ethics issue, so that I could correct it. Scientology by policy must send copies of their reports and issues to the party on which it is written. The issue never came. Finally, when I had not heard from my daughter, and had received no issue in the mail for so long, I called Scientology in Clearwater, and spoke with Cara Golasheski (“Justice Chief”). I spoke with her by phone on April 7, 2001 [sic] at about 11:00 a.m. PST. She denied that Scientology had put out an issue on me, and could not explain to me how it was my daughter had received such information about me.
If you could make personal contact with Ann at the address and number above, and speak with her, I would be so grateful. I just need to know that she is okay, and healthy. We had spoken very regularly by phone and e-mail prior to this time, and now I have no way of knowing for sure how she is doing. I am very concerned for her safety.
Sincerely,
Caroline Letkeman
[address, e-mail address and phone number]
15. I made two inadvertent errors in the dates given in the letter above. The first error was in the April 7 2001 date for my telephone conversation with the Justice Chief. As explained in paragraphs 4-6 above, I had made my first attempt to contact the Justice Chief on April 7 2001, but had not left my full name or phone number with the person who answered the phone. My first contact with the Justice Chief was on April 8, 2001. I did not discover the date error until later when I reviewed my written notes of my conversation with Ms. Golasheshky. The second error was in giving the January 29, 2001 date of my last conversation with my daughter. I discovered that date error when I reviewed my phone records.
16. On April 11 2001 I received an e-mail reply from Joan Martell of the Clearwater Police Department, who redirected me to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. The reason for this redirect is that my daughter’s last known address falls under the Sheriff’s jurisdiction.
17. On April 11 2001 I therefore redirected my e-mail request for assistance to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Department. By April 14 2001 I had not yet received a response from the Sheriff’s Department, and so I re-sent the message at 4:13 PM PST on April 14 2001.
18. On April 15 2001 I had still not received a response to my message and so I contacted the Sheriff’s Department by phone. My call was forwarded to another county officer named Margie, who recorded our telephone conversation and my report and request for assistance. Later that day, at approximately 3:00 p.m., Margie called me and told me that a deputy sheriff had been dispatched to my daughter’s last known address. She relayed the following information to me: The deputy sheriff spoke with my ex-husband and my ex-husband told the sheriff that Ann was mad at me and she would call when she was ready.
19. I did not believe that my ex-husband would lie to the Sheriff if my daughter were hurt or unsafe in some way. However, I also believed that as a Scientologist, my ex-husband might not give the correct information about Ann’s actual reason for not communicating with me. I thanked Margie for the information she provided and expressed my thanks for her help in easing my mind about my daughter’s safety.
20. Shortly after 8:00 AM on April 23 2001 I received a telephone call from a Pinellas County Dep. Sheriff, whose name I did not record or remember. He explained to me that he had responded to my e-mail request sent to the Pinellas county sheriff (that would have been either the e-mail I sent to them on April 11 or resent on April 14 as mentioned above.) I understood from this conversation that this Dep. Sheriff did not know about the phone report I had made on April 15, nor was he aware that a Dep. Sheriff had already cleared my phone report.
21. The Dep. Sheriff who called me on April 23 2001 stated that he had gone out to the address I gave for Ann in the e-mail, and that he spoke with my ex- husband, Eric. This Dep. Sheriff gave me the following information: Eric told him that Ann had moved out and was living with some guy, and that it was fine for me to call her. (This obviously is a different story from what the first Dep. had reported.) This second Dep. told me that he had asked Eric to relay his request that Ann call him at the Sheriff’s Department. The Dep. said that Ann did call a couple days later. He stressed to me that when Ann called, she seemed to be “very upbeat” and said that she had been out of town, but that it was fine for me to call her. I thanked this second Dep. for the information.
22. I knew from these conflicting stories and from Ann’s “very upbeat” demeanor with the Sheriff, that Ann and Eric were misrepresenting the truth and true emotional response to the Sheriff’s visit. I know from my many years in Scientology that Scientologists are coached in these matters by Scientology’s ethics department to present an acceptable story and image, especially as it would relate to public officers. I also know from my many years of experience in Scientology that Eric’s and Ann’s behavior during these two encounters with the Sheriff’s Department were most probably the result of some sort of ongoing coaching from the Ethics Department. Scientology calls this type of coaching “Potential Trouble Source” handling.
23. On April 24, 2001 I sent an e-mail to Ann and let her know that the Sheriff had said it was okay for me to call. I reminded her that she could return my messages, but that I was glad she was okay. I did not receive a response from Ann to that e-mail.
24. Meanwhile, on April 19, 2001 I received a letter from Cara Golasheshky, Justice Chief. The envelope was addressed in handwriting and postmarked in Clearwater on April 17 2001.
25. The letter itself was dated April 7 2001 and states:
Dear Caroline,
Pursuant to our telephone conversation today, I checked into what it was that your daughter had read and am sending you a copy at your request.
Please send me your confession.
Sincerely,
Cara Golasheshky
FLB Justice Chief
The enclosures that came with the letter are photocopies of various posts to alt.religion.scientology, as follows:
a. From: AJ AJ_member@newsguy.com
Subject: Anti-Virus identified
Date: 12 Jan 2001 01:0023-0800
b. From AJ AJ_member@newsguy.com
Subject: More on Anti-Virus
Date: 5 Jan 2001 01:49:42-0800
c. From AJ AJ_member@newsguy.com
Subject: A closer look at the LMT criminal fraud contest
Date: 19 Dec 2000 22:37:53 –0800
d. From judges@lisatrust.net
Subject: LMT Literati Winners
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 20:08:35 –0500
e. From bobminton@lisatrust.net
Subject LMT Literati Contest 2000 Update as of 11-30-00
Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2000 16:35:40 –0500
f. From bobminton@lisatrust.net
Subject: LMT Literati Winner-Second Place: “Anti-Virus”
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 20:12:18 –0500
Note: The essay which was originally posted in its entirety on alt.religion.scientology. However, in the photocopy sent to me as an enclosure, there is a note after the first paragraph of the essay showing that 23 pages were excluded from the photocopy. The last two paragraphs of the essay were also included on this photocopy.
26. The only places where I made the mistake in the April 7 2001 date were on my e-mails to the Clearwater Police Department and later to the Pinellas County Sheriff Department. I did not forward a copy of that e-mail to anyone in Scientology. Yet, the Justice Chief’s letter was written as though “today” was April 7, 2001, and it was postmarked 10 days later.
27. I responded to the Justice Chief’s letter on April 19, 2001 as follows:
Senior HCO
Flag Land Base
PO Box 31751
Tampa, FL 33631-3751
Attention: Cara Golashesky, Flag Land Base Justice Chief
Re: Your letter dated 7 April, 2001, postmarked 4/17/2001
Dear Ms. Golashesky:
Thank you for your letter and attached copies of alt.religion.scientology correspondence that you say were shown to my daughter, Ann Reinertsen. As I recall now, my conversations with you took place on April 8, 2001. Also, my records show that my last conversation with Ann took place on 1/20/2001.
In the conversations I had with you on 4/8/2001, I specifically stated that my daughter was shown an issue. What you forwarded was not an issue, but six pages of copied posts by “AJ” to alt.religion.scientology, as well as one page of what appears to be a severely truncated essay posted by bobminton@lisatrust.net to alt.religion.scientology. My daughter was shown an issue that not only mentioned the essay, but reported specific information about my past.
Please forward all documents and issues that were shown my daughter by the Ethics Officer who interviewed Ann Reinertsen. I further request that the Ethics Officer provides a signed and detailed summary of the ethics handling my daughter received, including everything that was stated to my daughter. The Ethics Officer’s statement should include an attestation that the documents that accompany his/her statement represent the complete list.
Please also contact “AJ” and have that party present me with a detailed and truthfully signed report (signed by that party’s true and legal name and post title) as to what exact steps taken to “confirm” my identity.
Sincerely,
Caroline Letkeman
PS. As your letter did not include an address to the PAC Justice Chief, please provide me with the name and address for that party, as well as the names and addresses of any other Scientology members who may be on this routing.
28. On April 30 2001, I received a telephone call from my daughter. Though she did not immediately disclose her location, I eventually learned she was called from Flag’s ethics office, in the presence of Flag’s MAA, Alfonso Barchenas. Contrary to the report she had given to the Pinellas county Sheriff, she told me that she was upset and that she may have to disconnect from me so she could make progress with her Scientology training. She asked me if I wanted to be in touch with someone from Scientology about my situation, and I told her that I was already in touch with the Justice Chief, and that I was waiting for a response to a letter I had sent the Justice Chief. Ann had not been informed of my dialog with the Justice Chief.
29. During that conversation, Ann handed the phone over to the MAA. I asked the MAA twice whether he was the person who had been handling Ann in January. He twice refused to answer my question. Later on in the conversation, he told me he did not remember whether he had been handling Ann in January. He told me that he had spoken with the Justice Chief (Cara Golasheshky) the day previous and that the Justice Chief had already replied and mailed a response to my latest letter. To date I have received no letter from the Justice Chief.
I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America and the state California that the foregoing is true and correct.
Total pages: 6
Executed in Sunland, CA this 5th day of May 2001.
Caroline Letkeman
Notes
- Now archived at http://lisatrust.freewinds.be/home.htm ↩