[Roxanne Friend sued the Church of Scientology (case number BC 018003
in Superior Court of the state of California for the county of Los
Angeles). The Church settled out of court "for nuisance value."
Roxanne not much later died of cancer, which may have been cured had
she gotten medical attention sooner. Roxanne did not because she felt
that Scientology auditing could cure any ill.]
DECLARATION OF ROXANNE FRIEND
I, Roxanne Friend, make the following declaration on personal
knowledge except for those statements made on information and belief
and as to those things I believe them to be true.
I have been told that I am asking the court to determine the validity
of Scientology as a religion or the truth or falsity of Scientology's
religious concepts. If the above is true, this would include the
court's having to determine the validity of Scientology's teaching
that human beings are impaired by things called "body thetans" and
"clusters" of body thetans that are stuck together on human bodies
through no volition of their own. Accordingly, Scientology teaches
that these must be gotten rid of, exorcised if you will, through
Scientology auditing/counseling called the "Upper Levels." Scientology
also states that planet earth, millions or billions of years ago, was
originally populated by beings transported here by Xenu of the
Galactic Federation. These beings were tortured, frozen, clumped
together and electronically forced to reside in various volcanoes.
Scientology's beliefs are not the essence of my suit on fraud against
the
defendant. Is is my contention that Scientology was presented to me as
a science. It was my understanding that everything about Scientology
could be proven factually in the same manner as a scientist proves a
scientific fact. These points are discussed at length in many
Scientology publications. The Scientologist is not exposed to the
above teachings until long after he/she has been indoctrinated into
the
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group and subjected to mind control. Thus, for me, it became
impossible to see the conflict between the scientific pretenses of
Scientology and the "beliefs."
4. As I stated on page 717 of my deposition, I never accepted
Scientology as a religion or belief and I continued to consider myself
Jewish throughout my association with Scientology. I was also told
that Scientology attempted to gain its status as a religion for two
purposes--one being to avoid taxation for the organization and its
constituents; and two, being to avoid having to come under scrutiny
for its practices of Scientology and the far-out nature of the Upper
Levels while I was still a member.
5. I continually and constantly relied on the teachings of L. Ron
Hubbard, the organization and the classes, auditing and publications
of Defendants. This occurred during a period spanning twelve years and
eight months from May 1977 to January 1990.
6. Originally, I was given a book entitled Dianetics: The Modern
Science of Mental Health. I did not know it then, but this book is the
basic Scientology text, referred to as Book One, and it is re-read and
re-studied throughout the various levels of Scientology. In this book,
Hubbbard claims that all his teachings were an exact science. It was
this claim that there was an exact science that could be the answer to
all mankind's problem that seduced me into Scientology. Hubbard, and
the Defendants, also claimed that it was a truth of science discovered
by studies based on the scientific method, that unwanted emotions can
be cured forever by addressing them psychosomatically with dianetics
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auditing.
7. Sometimes it is difficult to address the difference between how I
feel now, having left the "church" of Scientology versus how I felt
while I was actually going through all this. I have had two years of
counseling that has helped to release me from some of the mind control
techniques and indoctrination techniques that were repeatedly used on
me even during times of sleep and nutrition depravation and during
times of great emotional pain and distress such as deaths in my
family.
8. While I was a Scientologist, at any points where I would have a
thought negatively or critically about a church executive, the
organization or the techniques used in Scientology, I would have to
squash these thoughts since if I shared them I would be subject to
expensive auditing or other disciplinary actions or projects. This is
another aspect of the way Scientology controls the thoughts of its
constituents. You are trained to only allow certain thoughts or it
will cost you time, money and your pride since you will be punished
for thinking thoughts that the organization does not want you to
think. For example, you are considered and labeled a criminal if you
are caught not "keeping Scientology working" and many people were
continually indoctrinated into that concept (including myself) by
being forced to take a "Keeping Scientology Working" course under
threat of being kicked out.
9. After having read the Dianetic book on my own initially, the
techniques and goals and products of Dianetics were drilled into my
head on numerous occasions:
(1) when I took the Basic Dianetics Book course;
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(2) on the Hubbard Dianetics course;
(3) on the Dianetics Internship which was at the Advanced Organization
of Los Angeles (AOLA), a division of Defendant Western United States;
(4) on the Senior Dianetics Course;
(5) on the New Era Dianetics Course which I took at the Los Angeles
organization.
10. The other book that I relied on heavily that also makes repeated
representations about Scientology as an empirical science and
statements about improvements in health, raised IQ, better
relationships and a better, happier life--i.e., that I would get all
of these benefits by following Hubbard's scientific studies in his
Science of Survival. I had to read Science of Survival three times.
Once on my "Potential Trouble Source/Suppressive Person" course in
1977 or 1978. Then I was to re-do this course between 1985 and 1989,
at least once at AOLA and on another occasion when I was required to
do so by Defendant FLAG.
11. To further show my reliance on the above books plus the numerous
people in the organizations who reiterated the above to me, my actions
and thoughts were completely attuned to what did Scientology want one
to think and do. I didn't do as well as I could have at UCLA because I
didn't have time to study since my days were composed of being on
"course" in Scientology and getting Scientology auditing. My entire
thought processes and life were completely wrapped in Scientology and
I did not have a life or thoughts of my own really except what I was
trained to think by Scientology and as a result of my indoctrination
by
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classes and auditing in Scientology, thereby becoming continually
reindoctrinated.
12. As I stated on pages 624-630 of my depositions, I believed that
Scientology cured illnesses as this was taught to me in Scientology.
13. As I stated on pages 643 and 668, I truly believed it when I was
told that Scientolgy was a science and not a belief system. It is only
after two years of counseling that I can really even begin to face the
idea that the things I was trained to practice as a science was not a
science. It is very traumatic to be facing these falsehoods and the
detriment the fraudulent claims have cause me.
14. During my relationship with Scientology, I was referred by
Scientology to the Shaw Health Center for regular medical treatment. I
was told that all of the doctors at Shaw were practicing
Scientologists who used Scientology principles and techniques in their
diagnosis and treatment. I was consistently dissuaded by my auditors
and case supervisors from obtaining treatment from nonScientologist
physicians.
15. The "Church" of Scientology forced me to participate in what they
are calling religious practices that I myself did not want to
participate in. For example, in the spring and summer of 1987 I was
given auditing that I didn't want and was not allowed to leave Flag
when I wanted to. I was made to stay there for months to undergo
auditing that I did not want and even though I told them I wanted to
go back to Los Angeles because my father was visiting from the east, I
was not permitted to do so. During this time I went from having mono
to having pneumonia and getting
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very ill. Still, I was made to do auditing and was not allowed to
leave. I also missed being Maid of Honor at my girlfriend's wedding
because the case supervisor would not let me leave to go to the
wedding. The fact that being at Flag was against my will is in my
deposition on page 334.
16. Then around October 1988 I was told by Flag staff member Arda
Froese that I was ordered by Senior Case Supervisor International,
Jeff Walker, to go down to Florida to do a special program he had
written. I was then ordered to go back down and do more "Introspection
Rundown". At that point I said NO.
17. In December 1989 I went back to Florida for the purpose of doing a
process called the Purification Rundown but was again forced to do the
Introspection Rundown auditing. I left without Case Supervisor
approval which was always required prior to leaving the Flag Land Base
in Florida. I left in the middle of the night and took a taxi to a
hotel near Tampa airport because I did not want to be on Scientology
premises or continue the Introspection Rundown. Also, I made phone
calls to the Clearwater, Florida or Tampa, Florida police saying that
I was being held against my will. The Scientologists had the phone in
my room cut off when I did this.
18. During the period the organization had place 2-5 staff in the room
next to mine who constantly watched me and intruded on my life. I had
absolutely no privacy. The followed me to breakfast, lunch and dinner.
If I tried to talk with police, the switchboard cut my phone off for
hours on end which is mentioned in my deposition on pages 471 and 472.
The "Church" of Scientology staff members. They refused to allow me
even to have
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meals with my friends who were in Florida at the same time.
Additionally, the organization did not allow me to move around freely
as I wished as mentioned in my deposition on paged 476 and 477.
19. After I left Flag without permission in December 1989, I believe
the organization then felt it necessary to force me into their
procedures with greater force than before. This started with sending
several staff members from Florida who came to my apartment in Los
Angeles to try to persuade me to have auditing.
20. The staff members of the Florida Scientology organization
subsequently drugged me (deposition pages 532-535) with the approval
of Flag and senior officials of the "Church" of Scientology. Then they
woke me up in the middle of the night (deposition page 511), took me
in a recreational vehicle against my will (deposition pages 529 and
540) and subsequently held me in the rv and then in a room in Florida
(deposition page 510) for a period totalling about four weeks, all
against my will. I made at least two attempts to escape but I was
bodily forced by the guards to return.
21. None of the above events happened with my consent. And I was kept
imprisoned in Florida even after numerous written requests on my part
to the staff of defendant FLAG, specifically my case Supervisor
Richard Reese, stating I was being held against my will, that I wanted
to leave and that I believed that what they were doing was illegal.
See Exhibits 33 and 34 to Deposition of Roxanne Friend.
22. In addition to the trauma of the kidnapping and
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imprisonment, the Scientologists took away my privacy. In December
1989 and January 1990, I was spied upon constantly, 24 hours a day. My
phone calls were monitored (when I had a phone in December); my
comings and goings were reported on; and, of course, in January when I
was completely imprisoned, every aspect of my life was under constant
surveillance.
23. Prior to the kidnapping, I went to work, kept up with all the
other regular facets of life, paid bills, and kept regular and
excellent care of my horse. I had a social life, albeit one that was
stifled by Scientology control. I went out regularly on Friday nights
to dinner and a movie.
24. After I was released, I was unable to function at all. I could not
work, I could not take care of personal business matters. I couldn't
think properly or have any social intercourse what-so-ever. I was so
unbalanced by the experience that I was arrested for an assault and
ended up under observation at U.S.C. Medical Center.
25. It is difficult to talk about and describe the feeling of being
held by the Scientologists down in Florida. I felt like a hostage or a
prisoner. I felt that nothing I could do could make a difference and
that I better be quiet so as to protect my self. Today I am trying to
pick up and arrange the fragments of my life and go forward.
Sworn to under penalty of perjury under the laws of the state of
California this 6th day of December 1991.
Roxanne Friend
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"The idea that one can 'push' Scientology and get no penalty is a false one." Russell Shaw
"To punish to the fullest extent of my power anyone misusing or degrading Scientology to harmful ends" (The original Code of a Scientologist)
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