Marty Rathbun - Tom DeVocht

Marty Rathbun - A Biography

siteadmin — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 01:37:47 +0000

>> Marty Rathbun: A former external affairs officer, removed from authority within the Church of Scientology eight years ago for gross malfeasance. His mug shot is courtesy of the New Orleans Police who supplied it after Rathbun was arrested for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct on July 10, 2010. Rathbun has previously admitted to obstruction of justice, suborning perjury and, for good measure, assault. The latter was inflicted on his now “best good buddy” and fellow apostate Mike Rinder who he nearly killed with his bare hands. It took five grown men to pry him off Rinder. And Rathbun is quick to confess his crimes, as in admitting to the obstruction of justice in a protracted legal case to an interviewer from a regional tabloid. Rathbun admitted to destroying evidence and coaching witnesses to lie to authorities. During the interview, Rathbun implicated fellow apostate Tom DeVocht in the same crime. All of it conveniently copped to after the statute of limitations had run out and none of it revealed to Church officials until his online revelation.

When a TV journalist called him on his behavior and asked whether he should be taking responsibility for what he now admits doing rather than blaming others, Rathbun’s response was simply, “No.”

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A Liar is a Coward. A Perjurer is a Criminal. The Rathbun, Rinder, DeVocht Conspiracy

siteadmin — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 07:00:00 +0000

“Individuals with criminal minds tend to band together since the presence of other criminals about them tends to prove their own distorted ideas of man in general.”

—L. Ron Hubbard

As is well known, liars are cowards and cowards are liars. In fact, it’s a specific part of the Scientology Scripture as contained in its ethics and justice codes.

So it is that while lying is despised in society as a whole, it’s actually considered criminal within the religion of Scientology.

However, there is a type of lie that is considered criminal by everybody, because it represents conduct that tears at the very fabric of justice and civilized society.

By definition, a lie is “a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive.” When one lies, it has consequences. When one is known to be a liar, one soon finds himself shunned by friends and associates.

But perjury is much more serious. It means “the willful giving of false testimony under oath.” It’s a criminal offense. And when one is caught committing perjury, one goes to jail. In fact the penalty is intentionally harsh so as to serve as a deterrent for those who may not possess the moral integrity to be honest or truthful. Those convicted of perjury serve up to five years in prison doing hard time.

But actually, there is an even worse type of criminal liar. That’s the person who not only tells untruths to law enforcement and the courts, but also gets others to do so as well. It’s called suborning perjury and it means “to induce a witness to give false testimony.”

People who are suborners of perjury are much rarer than the cowardly liar or criminal perjurer. That’s because it takes a great deal of persuasion to get another to lie to authorities. One typically hears of this sort of crime—suborning perjury—perpetrated by thugs, since it’s always an attempt to get others to lie to protect the real criminal. That’s why it also carries a sentence of five years in jail.

All of which begs the question: Is there any greater form of dishonesty? Actually, there is. It’s called obstruction of justice, which means “an attempt to interfere with the administration of the courts, the judicial system or law enforcement officers, including threatening witnesses, hiding or destroying evidence.”

Here is the person who not only intimidates others to lie, but who looks at evidence of the truth and, as if out of an old gangster movie, tells his posse to “lose ‘em”—that is, get rid of it. Of course, this too is a crime, yet another five years in jail, but by now what does it matter to the criminal who has long since passed the point of any self-respect and considers laws are written for “suckers.” Meaning, honest people.

More to the point here: A person who would commit perjury, who would suborn perjury and who would obstruct justice is a person with the ethics of a gutter rat—a person who could tell a lie with a straight face to his “friends” and feel no remorse “unless I was caught,” a person who could see others being falsely accused of what he had done and keep silent while “lots of people go down and remain in turmoil while I go unrecognized as the source of it and survive.”

If you’ve never seen this face of evil and have no desire to do so in the future, then be forewarned to avoid the self-proclaimed “Posse”: Marty “Kingpin” Rathbun, Mike “Corroborator” Rinder, and Tom “Con Man” DeVocht.

And if you’ve never seen this face of evil and have no desire to do so in the future, then be forewarned to avoid the self-proclaimed “Posse”: Marty “Kingpin” Rathbun, Mike “Corroborator” Rinder, and Tom “Con Man” DeVocht. Because all you’ve just read is their case history, the statements in quotes are their exact words.

And here’s what they did:

1993: The Church is at peace, having ended its 40-year conflict with the IRS, been exonerated and recognized as a fully tax-exempt religious institution. With this and other external conflicts ended, the Church turns its attention to religious and humanitarian programs.
One month later, while the Church and its parishioners were still celebrating victory, Rathbun has a mental breakdown. It is assumed the years of external battles took their toll on him emotionally. He is given a two-year sabbatical in the Caribbean, with no work responsibilities whatsoever.

(Not for another decade, when he had his second mental breakdown, would he admit that the first breakdown wasn’t owing to the “stresses of war” but, rather, because the war was over when he actually had no desire for peace. As he himself phrased it, he only knew how to fight and was a “fish out of water” when it came to any constructive activity. But, as noted, that Rathbun confession wouldn’t come for another 10 years—in 2003.)

1995: The Church continues at peace and has entered a new era of expansion. But then, an accidental tragedy occurs. All concerned witnesses are interviewed by the police and the investigation discovers no wrongdoing.

1997: It is discovered that the witnesses interviewed by police were not truthful. Specifically, they had failed to inform authorities that the individual in question was actually psychotic. Moreover, the records detailing the psychosis were either lost or destroyed.

Longstanding policy by the religion’s Founder expressly prohibits psychotics from being allowed on Church premises. Immediate internal investigations are ordered to find out:
- Who had allowed the psychotic on Church premises.
- Who had coordinated the witnesses to lie, since they had all told the same untruthful story.
- And who had lost or destroyed the missing evidence.
- Marty Rathbun and Mike Rinder are assigned to investigate, and report their findings. Consequently:
- More than a dozen staff members are removed or dismissed, for allowing a psychotic on Church premises.
- Two senior executives are removed and assigned janitorial duties for allowing the psychotic onto Church premises.
- Two additional Church executives are removed and dismissed for destroying evidence.
- Church Counsel representing the witnesses is fired for supposedly coaching those witnesses to lie.
  (These findings are not what really happened, nor were those removed the actual perpetrators. Not for 10 years would the real truth concerning the above events be discovered.)

1997: New Church Counsel are hired and all witnesses are reinterviewed by law enforcement to provide truthful testimony. They are granted immunity from prosecution.

1997–1998: The local newspaper has long held a vendetta against the Scientology religion, and waged a decades-long campaign to not only drive the Church out of town, but also destroy it entirely. With the revelations that witnesses had been untruthful, the newspaper has a field day.

All of this is made possible for the fact that once one tells a lie, nothing one says is believed.

And so ensued 129 articles and 15 editorials, totaling some 30 newspaper pages and more than 4,000 column inches, urging criminal charges against the Church. The newspaper's allegations are bizarre in the extreme.

All articles are authored by the same reporter and editor.

The Church spokesman responsible for answering the reporter's enquiries is Mike Rinder.

1998: The local newspaper's coverage reaches a fever pitch. The paper makes a mockery of Rinder’s responses. Finally, the news organization reaches out to interview the ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion, Mr. David Miscavige. Rinder recommends he not grant the interview, but Mr. Miscavige nonetheless consents anyway. Moreover, he offers the newspaper complete and open access to the Church in Clearwater, Los Angeles and International Headquarters. It’s his first interview in six years and results in a fair and balanced Sunday edition cover story profiling him. Accordingly, after years of contentious relationship, open channels with the newspaper and Scientology are established for the first time in history if for no other reason (unbeknownst to Mr. Miscavige at this time) that all previous communications with the paper by Rinder and Rathbun were the opposite of “open” and cordial.
1998: Notwithstanding the foregoing, the one-year barrage of the newspaper's editorializing has had its effect, and the State brings criminal charges against the Church itself. Such charges are unprecedented and inexplicable. Moreover, it sets off an international wave of anti-Scientology press.

1998–2000: Due to the serious ramifications of these charges to the Church, Mr. Miscavige is forced to relocate from Los Angeles to Clearwater and personally handle the matter. The tragedy is finally ruled an accident and the State drops all charges against the Church.

2000–2002: Notwithstanding dismissal of criminal charges, a civil action proceeds.

In addition to the Church itself, an attempt is made to make Rathbun, Rinder and Mr. Miscavige defendants. Mr. Miscavige is in Los Angeles attending to preparations for the Church’s Millennium (2000) New Year’s celebration. Rathbun and Rinder are the legal affairs staff responsible for handling the hearing. They attend to court arguments, whereupon they are dismissed from the case, but Mr. Miscavige is not, becoming a defendant.

2002: In a two-month hearing, an anti-Scientologist testifies against Mr. Miscavige. He accuses him of:
- Personally destroying missing evidence in the case.
- Coaching the witness to lie.
- Destroying evidence ordered produced by the Court.

He points to a previous court ruling in another case Rinder had defended, ruling that Mr. Miscavige had destroyed evidence. While that decision had been overturned, the same charge of destruction of that very evidence was once again being made. Moreover, this anti-Scientologist claimed that he witnessed the destruction of evidence by the ecclesiastical leader.

The anti-Scientologist argument was simple. Since Mr. Miscavige had destroyed evidence in another case, he would have been the one to destroy it in this case.

The hearing drags on for months. Mr. Miscavige repeatedly tells Rinder and Rathbun that he knows nothing of the missing evidence and certainly never ordered it destroyed (even if somebody else did).

Rinder and Rathbun are smug and do nothing about it. Their excuse is that the evidence is gone, no matter who did it, and how could they possibly have a way of responding to the charges?

Mr. Miscavige becomes convinced that Rinder and Rathbun must have destroyed the evidence. He orders an investigation by others to get to the bottom of it.

Rathbun was upset because the final remaining case was over and there were no more battles to fight. As he stated, “I only know how to fight. It’s all I’ve ever done.”

As it turns out, Rinder and Rathbun had not destroyed the evidence Mr. Miscavige had long been accused of destroying. In fact, all allegedly destroyed evidence—seven feet of it—was found, within one hour of the request, in pristine condition, in Rinder’s storage in Los Angeles.

Rinder was in possession of the evidence the whole time and had sat on it to the point of court rulings holding Mr. Miscavige responsible for ordering the evidence destroyed when, in fact, said evidence was sitting right in Rinder’s office. Rinder’s only excuse: He “didn’t know” the evidence was there. However, it was also clear: He never even looked.

2002: It’s the beginning of the end for Rinder and Rathbun. Mr. Miscavige orders further investigation for the missing evidence in the current case. He has all storage in Clearwater searched, literally millions of linear feet of paper. It’s not found. Rinder and Rathbun quickly blame another staff member. Who knows? At this point nobody cares about their excuses.

2002: With the hearing concluded, both Rinder and Rathbun are removed, for incompetence. Mr. Miscavige tells them he’s getting to the bottom of this case one way or the other—and their involvement in it. More to the point, from 2002 onward, neither was to ever serve in an executive capacity again.

2003: With Mr. Miscavige opening new Churches around the world, Rinder, Rathbun and—mysteriously at the time—DeVocht team up and begin what is later described as a “reign of terror” in Miscavige’s absence.

Upon his return, Mr. Miscavige takes immediate disciplinary action, dismissing Rathbun entirely and posting him in a lower-level Church.

2004: With Rinder and Rathbun now posted in low-level positions, in lower-level Churches, Mr. Miscavige orders their peers to get to the bottom of their conspiracy. As he points out, both men had botched every legal case they had handled and for some reason had become so derelict of duty they were too lazy to even look for evidence. It made no sense.

2004: No sooner had Mr. Miscavige departed again than Rathbun had a complete breakdown, beating Rinder to a pulp before five men rushed in to stop Rathbun from killing Rinder.

2004: Rathbun promptly blows and is next discovered drunk in a ditch. Once again it is assumed (erroneously) that external wars had caused his mental breakdown.

He would finally admit that in both 1993 (his first blow) and now, he was upset because the final remaining case was over and there were no more battles to fight. As he stated, “I only know how to fight. It’s all I’ve ever done.”

Rathbun claims he’s a “warrior” and that he’ll be back when the next war starts. He’s informed there won’t be any further wars.

He swears he’ll prove his competence by helping people, whereupon he’s next heard, literally, asking where his 9mm gun is. He is written off as the psychotic he is.

2005: Tom DeVocht, in charge of Church construction projects, is discovered to have signed millions of dollars in unauthorized work orders. He too, with this discovery, promptly blows. The only person he speaks to before leaving is Rinder, who later tells colleagues that he shook DeVocht’s hand as a parting message. Shook his hand? Leaving staff and the Church’s religious order is not only despised by all Scientologists, it’s cause for automatic expulsion from the religion.

Why would Rinder shake DeVocht’s hand? Rinder provided no answer. But it remained a mystery nobody forgot, repeatedly probing to get to the bottom of it.

2006–2007: With the Church once again at peace, and all external legal battles having long since been terminated, investigations have dead-ended as to how the last case concerning the accidental tragedy could have even occurred. That’s when another legal staffer involved in defending the case confesses something he must get off his chest. Namely, that every time Mr. Miscavige would ask Rathbun and Rinder to investigate why witnesses had lied, and why evidence had gone missing, Rinder and Rathbun would wink at each other as soon as Mr. Miscavige left the room. Rathbun has long since been gone, but Rinder is confronted with the report.

He finally admits that both he and Rathbun knew the entire time what happened to the evidence discovered in Los Angeles. In fact, he and Rathbun were the ones who put it there—and said nothing about it while Mr. Miscavige was being accused of having destroyed it.

Rinder makes another stunning admission: that it was Rathbun himself who had violated Church policy and ordered the psychotic onto Church premises, overriding all other staff who had refused to do so, since it was an obvious violation of the Church Founder’s policy.

Finally Rinder admits that he had conspired with Rathbun to point the finger at others who, once dismissed for their supposed misconduct, would no longer be around to expose Rathbun as the culprit. Rinder and Rathbun had let dozens go down or be dismissed—ordering their dismissal—to cover up that they, Rinder and Rathbun, were the actual perpetrators.

(As for the real reason they covered up who had allowed a psychotic on Church premises, it was because both Rinder and Rathbun knew they would be dismissed from the Church for violating the Founder’s policy on psychotics not being allowed on Church premises. And that was all in addition to a possible 10 years in jail for destroying evidence and suborning perjury, in forcing every witness to not be truthful. As for why Rathbun would allow a psychotic on Church premises, in contravention of the Founder’s specific policies, that would only be discovered years later. Specifically, it was Rathbun’s familial history of insanity—never revealed by him, although required on his application for Church staff—which prompted him to act irrationally in allowing a psychotic on Church premises in a misguided effort to attempt more than was done during his upbringing when his mother and both brothers were institutionalized.)

This was all Rinder admitted to in 2007—although, two years later, both he and Rathbun would finally confess to something even more startling.

For Rinder was a man who lived for the glory of walking in the shadow of power, and his fall in disgrace was more than he could tolerate.

Nevertheless, Rinder’s fate was sealed and he knew it. He would never again hold an executive position in any capacity and should he not complete an ecclesiastic ethics program, he would be transferred to a local Church parish to service parishioners and regain a sense of the Church’s religious mission.

2007: Rinder is in England, serving in an assistant capacity to Church spokespersons. Having completed a particular media assignment, he requests approval to return to the Church’s International Headquarters. He is told to remain in England for the time being and is reminded his “services” are not needed and maybe he can do something in England that would demonstrate his value should he be allowed to return. He says he will do so. Whereupon, he blows without so much as a word.

For here was a man who lived for the glory of walking in the shadow of power, and his fall in disgrace was more than he could tolerate. Over the preceding five years, he’d been given dozens of opportunities to reform and always thought he’d be given another. Finally realizing he’d have to earn his own way back up, he instead left his colleagues, his wife of 35 years, his children.

>> Continue

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admin — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 03:51:46 +0000

>> Mike Rinder: An erstwhile external affairs officer for the Church of Scientology removed from post for gross malfeasance. Rinder walked away from his Church, his wife and two children. When Rinder’s wife, daughter and brother, who flew in from Australia, went to see him, Rinder’s “welcome” was an attack that left his brother injured and the mother of his children in the care of paramedics. She sustained nerve damage to her arm still healing almost a year later and a dislocated shoulder requiring surgery to repair.

Then, to show he’s a real family man, he went on a paid anti-Scientology media junket to Australia and tricked his way into his elderly mother’s retirement home while she was away on vacation. He rifled through her belongings, snapping photos as trophies.

And with that he chalked up another abuse for his résumé, as the senior Mrs. Rinder is a founding member of Scientology in Australia going back five decades and wants nothing to do with her estranged son, owing to his vicious attacks on the Church she helped establish in Australia.

Rinder can now be seen in online videos fishing with his “best good buddy” Marty Rathbun—the man who almost killed him with his bare hands. When asked about the violent incident by a reporter and if it was in fact true Rathbun had nearly choked Rinder to death requiring five grown men to pull Rathbun off him, Rinder’s response was, in all seriousness, “I think it was four guys, not five.”

Yet it was later discovered that this was not Rinder and Rathbun’s only collaboration. That is, they had both conspired for years to hide from the Church’s ecclesiastical leader their roles in the conspiracy to conceal Rathbun and DeVocht’s suborning of perjury and obstruction of justice. (See A Liar is a Coward; A Perjurer is a Criminal at whoismichaelrinder.com.)

More about MIKE RINDER >> WhoIsMichaelRinder.com

>> Amy Scobee: She was dismissed from the Church of Scientology in 2005 for sexual misconduct. According to her own sworn affidavits, while a member of the Church’s religious order, a then-married Scobee pursued extramarital affairs on at least five occasions. In the process, she committed one of the gravest offenses of Church ecclesiastical law. In her own words, “I committed a severe violation of Church scriptures and engaged in an affair; in fact with the person whom I was supposedly helping. … I was also this person’s auditor [counselor], and my actions were a serious violation of the Auditor’s Code, a sacred ethics code that governs the conduct of auditors.”

Prior to that, in 2003, she had been removed from any position in Church management for gross incompetence. Now reveling in her apostate role, she’s a well-practiced “source” whose services are open to all and sundry. In particular, she willingly renders said services to her cohorts in the cyberterrorist organization Anonymous, a group currently under investigation by the FBI, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Attorneys’ Office, Department of Justice Hate Crimes division and other local and international law enforcement agencies with 40 arrested in the UK, Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Turkey so far, not to mention 16 just recently arrested in the U.S..

More about AMY SCOBEE >> WhoisAmyScobee.com

>> Tom Devocht: A former Church of Scientology construction manager. By his own admission, he is an unrepentant liar and is proud of it. Indeed, he boasts there is nothing wrong with lying for financial gain, so long as “you don’t get caught.” After having already been given multiple chances to redeem himself for past failings and work related mess-ups, he was caught making unauthorized expenditures of large sums of Church funds on failed construction projects. He was immediately removed from any position of authority. This pathological liar then left the Church in 2005, never to return.

Uncovered after his departure, courtesy of Marty Rathbun, was that Rathbun and DeVocht had coached witnesses to lie in a protracted legal case in Florida. DeVocht had kept this from everyone while he was in the Church, even his wife. Yet again, keeping things from his wife wasn’t new for DeVocht who admitted to having sold two of his wife’s cars while she was out of town, then pocketing and spending the money. He also frittered away over $100,000 of her inheritance and shortly before he left the Church forever, admitted to having stolen cash from his now ex-wife’s grandmother on their wedding day.

More about TOM DEVOCHT >> WhoisTomDeVocht.com

>> Jeff Hawkins: A former Church of Scientology copywriter who was dismissed in 2005 for sordid misconduct. Hawkins holds the dubious distinction of not only lying to his wife and colleagues about said aberrant conduct, he also blatantly lied about his execution of the directions of Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard. When that most egregious act came to light, together with his generally dismal performance, it led to his removal from the Church altogether.

He is now a member of the cyberterrorist organization known as Anonymous. The group is under federal investigation for hate crimes against the Church of Scientology—with two of its members serving time in federal prison for destruction of Church property—not to mention 40 of its members arrested in Europe while 16 were recently arrested during a one-day raid by the FBI in the U.S. Despite this fact, Hawkins continues to be a regular fixture at the group’s attempts to harass Scientologists at their place of worship.

More about JEFF HAWKINS >> WhoIsJeffHawkins.com

>> Marc and Claire Headley: The apostate husband-and-wife team and card carrying members of Anonymous. The Headleys have not only attended gatherings of Anonymous, but Marc regularly posts on their sites (often scatological hate-filled rants), helps organize and participates in their events and proudly carries on posing for photos at Anonymous get togethers.

Not satisfied with just being party to hate crimes against their former religion, the apostate couple recently filed suit against the Church of Scientology. The only problem, their suits were resoundingly dismissed by a federal judge. The Headleys were further required to pay the Church $40,000.

Moreover, during the case Headley was forced under oath to reveal his sideline career as paid “tabloid source.” From the stand he had to name the publications and the payments he’d received. Among them was a $10,000 payday with the lowest of them all, the now defunct News of the World.

Despite his Internet-based fantasy tales about his departure from the Church, the real story is Headley took off on the eve of an internal investigation into his selling Church-owned property on eBay. The scheme ultimately netted over $15,000 in Church funds, all of which landed in his personal bank account.

Unwilling to face the ramifications of his crime, Headley took off, without a word.

More about MARC AND CLAIRE HEADLEY >> WhoIsMarcHeadley.com

>> Jason Beghe: No stranger to law enforcement, here is apostate Beghe after being convicted of battery on an officer of the court, to whom he was ordered to pay $11,625.37 in medical costs. Beghe pled no contest and now has a criminal record. He was sentenced to a year of probation and restitution of all damages. If he violates any of the court-ordered conditions, it’s off to the slammer.

Yet even the threat of jail time hasn’t curbed Beghe’s violent tendencies. He’s reportedly under investigation, again for alleged assault—this time against a handyman who Beghe felt had mishandled a weed-whacker while working on his property.

That Beghe is now running with the Anonymous criminal terrorist group makes perfect sense. As if to prove himself worthy of the group’s company, he posted an Internet video rant in which he used a certain expletive more than 300 times. He further described himself in these terms: “I was a drug indulger,” and “You know what I do, you know, Internet porn. ...” Given all of the above, there is little question as to why Rathbun decided to use a photo of him and Beghe arm in arm to launch his website, announcing Beghe as his poster boy. Cut from the same violent and perverted cloth, they are a perfect match.

More about JASON BEGHE >> WhoIsJasonBeghe.com

>> Steve Hall: A former Church of Scientology scriptwriter with a dismal production record. He serves as “webmaster” for the Rathbun “Posse” and ekes out a living scooping doggie droppings from suburban lawns. He is further known within the “Posse” for apparently creating the universe (not necessarily in seven days) and claims he was previously both Jesus and the Buddha (not necessarily in that order).

More about STEVE HALL >> WhoIsSteveHall.com

>> Paul Haggis: A status-driven screenwriter who exploited a tenuous connection with Scientology to grab headlines via a publicity stunt whereby he “resigned” from the Church—when he had not been an active parishioner for decades. Haggis, whose betrayals include accepting millions for scripts that he never delivered, was himself exploited by the New Yorker’s Lawrence Wright, who approached him for a “profile” that simply used Haggis to tell a slanted story about the Church of Scientology.

More about PAUL HAGGIS >> WhoisPaulHaggis.com