Johnson, Pope, Ruppel & Burns, LLP.

Lawyers representing the Church of Scientology pocket millions by helping  it achieve its ends. Perjury, victim-blaming, obstructing justice–it appears that any tactic is perfectly acceptable in the defense of Scientology.

“Kyle Brennan a Scientology death.”

Within several weeks of his son’s death Tom Brennan hired attorney Paul Johnson from the law firm of Johnson, Pope, Ruppel & Burns, LLP. It’s fairly obvious, however, that it wasn’t Brennan who was paying for the legal representation. How so?

Tom Brennan, at the time of Kyle’s death, was employed by the mega-wealthy Church of Scientology. His title was “Director of Public Book Sales.” Brennan’s salary for this illustrious-sounding position ranged between twenty and thirty dollars per week. He supplemented these meager Scientology-slave wages by working at various menial jobs. Brennan hawked rugs alongside a Florida interstate highway, and he also worked as a handyman for Gerald and Denise Miscavige Gentile. Under Denise’s direction, Brennan mowed the Gentile lawn, shopped for the family groceries, and made various repairs to one of the “news-worthy” Pinellas County rental properties owned by Gerald. (Why was this particular property “news-worthy”? According to a front-page piece published by the Tampa Bay Tribune, Denise Miscavige Gentile, in an act of charitable kindness, had been accepting from down-on-their-luck tenants marijuana cigarettes in lieu of rent.)

http://fw.to/WB9jjIF

So, who had the upper hand in the police investigation? Was it Detective Stephen Bohling of the Clearwater Police Department or attorney Paul Johnson from the law firm of Johnson, Pope, Ruppel & Burns, LLP?

Perhaps surprisingly, Tom Brennan—Kyle’s father and the surviving person who knows best what happened on the night of February 16, 2007—was interviewed by the police three times . . . and yet none of the notes taken by the interviewing police officers survive, none!

Brennan was first interviewed by Clearwater Police Officer Jonathan Yuen on the night of the tragedy. Yuen later claimed that he destroyed his notes. The second interview—conducted by Detective Stephen Bohling—took place on March 6, 2007. He also said that he destroyed his notes.

Is this standard operating procedure for the Clearwater Police Department?! If it is, it’s certainly not supposed to be. Should a police officer who arrives first at a potential crime scene destroy his notes? Not according to the U.S. Department of Justice handbook entitled “Eyewitness Evidence” (available online at https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/178240.pdf). On page 14 it states “that a preliminary investigating officer shall obtain and accurately document and preserve information from the witness(es). Preservation and documentation . . . are necessary for a thorough preliminary investigation.” Throughout the handbook, “documentation” of information obtained, and the “preservation” of that information is stressed.

What about the documentation of Brennan’s third police interview? According to Bohling, on November 8, 2007, he requested a third Brennan interview. When Bohling contacted attorney Paul Johnson to arrange a date and time, Johnson stated that he wanted to monitor the telephone conversation between Bohling and his client. This would require a three-way call, and this police interview—if conducted from the Communications Center at the Clearwater Police Department—would have automatically been recorded. However, Detective Stephen Bohling—who by 2007, had worked the bulk of his nineteen years as a police officer with the Clearwater Police—later testified that he couldn’t figure out how to utilize the police department’s three-way call system in order to record the interview.

Why didn’t he simply ask someone for help? Is Bohling so incompetent that 1) he couldn’t remember how to use equipment he’d used before, and 2) he didn’t comprehend that somebody at the police department must have known how to operate the three-way system, and 3) he was incapable of asking for help, or was there possibly a reason that the detective didn’t want the interview recorded in the first place?

According to Bohling’s police report, attorney Paul Johnson saved the day by offering to do the three-way interview using the system at his law firm. But Bohling—in perhaps a ham-handed attempt to manipulate the information—contradicted himself in his own report. On page 29, he stated that “Attorney Johnson advised [on November 8, 2007] that he did not wish to have the interview with Thomas Brennan recorded.” And, of course, the lawyer from the Scientology-funded firm of Johnson, Pope, Ruppel & Burns, LLP got his wish. The third and final interview with Brennan went unrecorded and all the notes taken by the detective were destroyed. Any reasonable person would have to wonder why.

All of this—the lies, the mishandling of information, the obstruction of justice—came at the expense of a twenty-year-old college student whose existence—to the powerful and corrupt powers-that-be in Clearwater, Florida—was absolutely meaningless.

 

Clearwater Police Department; The Fox and the Henhouse

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Mrs. Britton, I’m not trying to say anything. You have indictated in your testimony yesterday and today that you were upset with a variety of different law enforcement agencies and people because they did not conduct a very good investigation into the events surrounding Kyle’s death. And I’m asking you what investigation did you conduct and what did you do to preserve the findings of that investigation and inquiry–Attorney Lee Fugate

In February 2007 my twenty-year-old son Kyle paid a visit to his Scientologist father, Tom Brennan, in Clearwater, Florida, the site of the Church of Scientology’s world headquarters. Kyle—who was not a Scientologist—was under the care of a psychiatrist who had prescribed for him Lexapro, an antidepressant.

One of the major tenets of Scientology is that psychiatry and psychiatric medications are evil: they’re forbidden. As a practicing Scientologist, Brennan could not have a relationship with Kyle if Kyle was violating that tenet. (In fact, according to Scientology, Kyle’s use of his prescribed medication made him an “SP”—a “Suppressive Person”—someone to be reviled and avoided.) So Brennan reported this state-of-affairs to his Scientology “auditor,” Denise Miscavige Gentile—twin sister of Scientology’s leader, David Miscavige—and to his other superiors in the Church. Even though Kyle was not a Scientologist, Brennan received written orders from the Church to remove his son from his apartment and “handle” the situation per Scientology policy.

Thirty-six hours later Kyle was dead.

(Perhaps the subject of a future blog posting, “handling”—as per Scientology—may involve a wide range of actions. It’s not necessarily as innocuous a procedure as it sounds.)

Detective Stephen Bohling of the Clearwater, Florida, Police Department was the lead investigator looking into Kyle’s extremely suspicious death. His investigation, however, was careless and sloppy, even perjurious. Many quandaries were left unanswered and several deponents who’d obviously contradicted themselves walked away without further questioning. Bohling’s official police report, as can be imagined, was riddled with half-truths and lies. Facts critical to the case were omitted.

Detective Bohling was deposed on July 12, 2010, by Attorney Lee Fugate (the attorney representing defendant’s Denise Miscavige Gentile and her husband Jerry Gentile). During the direct examination the Clearwater detective comes across as compassionate and caring—in fact overly-so, like someone over compensating to counteract his real personality.

During Fugate’s questioning, too, Bohling lied about the “thoroughness” of his investigation, making it appear that he’d examined the case from every angle, pursued all the possibilities. “Apparently . . . you acted immediately upon each of the suggestions that he [Kyle’s older brother Scott] made to you and followed up on those?” asked Fugate. “I believe that I did as I documented it,” answered Bohling. “I felt that I had an obligation to the family to follow up on any concerns that they had and I did just that.” Nothing could be further from the truth. The list of unanswered questions—and obvious contradictory statements made by the defendants—presented to Bohling by Kyle’s family in the vain hope of finding the truth, fills several pages.

Most disturbing, however, was how Bohling—under oath and in official documents—fabricated a false image of me, a grieving mother. He portrayed me as borderline hysterical, someone unable to accept the death of her child, someone making unrealistic demands and absurd accusations. “It was difficult at times to try and explain things to Victoria in a manner that she would understand. . . .” stated Bohling in his deposition. “At times I was accused of things that were just not true. You know, that I had connections to the Church of Scientology. I was being paid by the Church of Scientology.” More lies by Detective Bohling—I never accused him of being a Scientologist or of being paid by the Church.

Bohling referred to these fictitious accusations when, during his deposition, he described a September 7, 2007, meeting he had with Attorney Luke Lirot (the lawyer then-representing the estate of Kyle Brennan). “[C]omplaints are being made,” Bohling said he told Attorney Lirot, complaints that are “just clouding the investigation. We can’t have that.” (Here the detective overestimated his ability to recall important facts and dates. At the time of this Bohling-Lirot meeting, no complaints had been made regarding his faulty investigation.)

Bohling claimed, too, that he told Lirot he wanted “communication to go on with Victoria.” He also claimed he said: “I wanted her [Victoria Britton] to be aware of what was going on with her son’s case. . . .” Then why is it that this meeting was the only contact between Bohling and Attorney Lirot until Bohling closed the case in November of 2009, just two months shy of the Florida statute of limitations’ deadline? Was Detective Bohling really interested in keeping Kyle’s family informed? Was he actually interested in resolving those unanswered questions?

The answer to that question is found in a July 1, 2008, letter from Attorney Lirot to Detective Bohling, a letter written almost eleven months after the above-described open-lines-of communication meeting. “After being retained in June of 2007,” wrote Lirot, “I cannot be surprised that my client thinks that I am incapable of getting any final answers on the investigation involving the death of Kyle Brennan. I will not level any criticism at you or the CPD [the Clearwater Police Department], but where does this investigation stand?” Here Attorney Lirot’s dissatisfaction with Bohling’s lack of communication is clearly evident.

The result of Detective Bohling’s fraudulent behavior was a miscarriage of justice. Bohling’s police report is a collection of misrepresentations, half-truths, and outright lies. As soon as this public document became available, the Scientology lawyers—the attorneys representing Scientologists Tom Brennan, and Denise and Jerry Gentile, as well as the Church itself—tacked it onto their motion for summary judgment (their request that the judge rule in their favor and dismiss the case before it went to trial). Detective Bohling’s fabricated police report made sure that my point of view regarding this case—my list of unanswered questions and glaring contradictions—was never heard by a Florida jury.

Indeed, Kyle’s extremely suspicious death was never properly investigated in the first place.

Detective Stephen Bohling made sure of this by falsely claiming that he’d conducted a thorough investigation. According to Bohling and subsequently the Scientology lawyers, Kyle’s death was investigated by not one, but by three separate agencies. This misrepresentation appeared in court documents filed in the Federal Middle District Court of Florida, and in court documents submitted to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals located in Jacksonville, Florida. What were the three Florida agencies that supposedly left no stone unturned while investigating Kyle’s suspicious death?: Bohling’s Clearwater Police Department, the State Attorney’s Office, and the Florida branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the FBI.

There is a kernel of truth at the core of this statement. I contacted the Florida State Attorney’s Office and the FBI regarding Detective Stephen Bohling’s unprofessional behavior and shoddy investigation. All of that correspondence I carefully saved and filed.

Here’s the pertinent question: Was Kyle’s case investigated by the FBI as claimed by the defendants’ attorneys? No, it was not.

What about the investigation supposedly conducted by the State Attorney’s Office? Following the advice of then-Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum—he wrote saying that his office did not “have the legal authority to investigate the actions of law enforcement officers as they pursue their official duties”—I contacted the Sixth Judicial State Attorney’s Office. In January of 2008 that office assigned investigator Doug Barry, himself a former Clearwater Police Officer, to “look into the investigation conducted by the Clearwater Police Department.”

Detective Bohling stated in his deposition that “I opened up my books, everything to him. . . . [He] looked over everything that I had done to that date and eventually they came up with the same conclusion that I did. I know they also conferred with the Medical Examiner’s Office as “I had early on reviewed all their documents to make sure that everything had been done properly.”

What’s disturbing about Doug Barry’s investigative work—is the lack of it. Kyle’s case was less than a year old when Barry was assigned to look into it. And it would be wrong to conjecture exactly what information Detective Bohling provided when he “opened” his books. I, too, opened my books for Barry—I wrote to him about the numerous times Kyle’s father, Tom Brennan, had contradicted himself in statements made within days of Kyle’s death.

“The result of Barry’s “investigation” In a letter dated June 27, 2008, Barry stated that, in fact, he did not conduct an independent investigation—he merely “reviewed” Bohling’s incomplete report.

The fact is: If the State Attorney’s Office had conducted an actual investigation they would have discovered the case’s many glaring contradictions. (Instead, all of this work was left to me.)

One thing is certain: The State Attorney’s Office sending Doug Barry—a former Clearwater policeman—to look into the misconduct of a detective from his former workplace is a perfect example of that popular ancient proverb about the fox guarding the henhouse.

Anybody would have to conclude that in the State of Florida justice cannot be found when it involves the Church of Scientology.

 

Scientology & the Perversion of Justice –

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My youngest son, Kyle Brennan, was declared dead from a gunshot wound to the head just past midnight on February 17, 2007, in the Clearwater, Florida, apartment of his Scientologist father, Tom Brennan. The circumstances of his violent death were—and still remain—extremely suspicious. The reasons are many: The horribly mismanaged police investigation during which crucial evidence was either not gathered, not processed, or purposely lost; The numerous lies told by Police Detective Stephen Bohling (lies to our family, lies strategically placed in his police report); And the innumerable lies told by the defendants—celebrity Scientologists that Kyle (who was not a Scientologist) had the extreme misfortune to be surrounded by in the last days of his young life.

Clearwater is the Church of Scientology’s worldwide headquarters, and Tom Brennan’s Cleveland Street apartment was in close proximity to Scientology central—across the street from the Coachman Building (a Scientology training center), and just one block from Scientology’s main building, the Fort Harrison Hotel. Just as Scientology structures dominate downtown Clearwater, the religion also dominated the subsequent police investigation, and the wrongful-death lawsuit filed in February 2009 on behalf of the Estate of Kyle Brennan. Listed as defendants were: Scientologists Tom Brennan (Kyle’s father), Denise Miscavige Gentile (twin sister of Scientology’s controversial leader, David Miscavige), her husband Gerald Gentile, the Church of Scientology itself, and Flag Service Organization, Inc. (or FSO, the Church’s so-called “spiritual headquarters”).

In the years since Kyle’s death—residing in a new world-turned-upside-down—I’ve struggled with the grief over the loss of a child, and the arduous challenge of suing the Church of Scientology. The Church of Scientology, as most people realize, is a very wealthy and litigious organization. Based on the writings of founder L. Ron Hubbard, they have no qualms whatsoever about using the most ruthless and heinous tactics when it comes to the law. To high-ranking Scientologists, lawsuits are not merely dispute resolutions, they’re acts of war. The Church of Scientology is ever willing to twist the law in order to destroy those it perceives as opponents. (Kyle was considered by Scientologists to be an “enemy of the Church” simply because he was seeing a psychiatrist and was taking psychiatric medication. See the blog post entitled “Heart of Darkness (Part I): The ‘Handling’ of Kyle Brennan.”)

“The law can be used very easily to harass,” wrote Hubbard in The Scientologist, a Manual on the Dissemination of Material, “and enough harassment on somebody who is simply on the thin edge anyway . . . will generally be sufficient to cause professional decease. If possible, of course, ruin him utterly.”

This is the stratagem they used against me. Despite the fact that they’d stopped our wrongful-death lawsuit—effectively muffling anything said legally on behalf of my dead son—they proceeded, after their victory, to sue me for just under $1 million. Fortunately the judge threw this attempt out.

Who pays the price when the rule of law is purposely distorted in order to bully honest citizens into submission? And what of Scientology’s next set of victims? How many more will suffer because the bullies haven’t been stopped?

On August 27, 2008, defendant Denise Miscavige Gentile, with her attorney in tow—Lee Fugate from the law firm of Zuckerman, Spaeder, LLP—arrived at the Clearwater Police Department for her first and only police interview. It was conducted by Detective Stephen Bohling (who headed-up the investigation into Kyle’s death). Eighteen months had passed since Kyle had died.

In the recorded interview’s opening, Detective Bohling and lawyer Fugate engage in casual conversation. Then the attorney explains that he’d told Denise that if the detective asks her a difficult question she could talk with him—Lee Fugate—before replying. “[B]ut,” Fugate adds, “I don’t think you’re gonna have anything like that.”

Bohling—forgetting that the conversation is being recorded—says: “No. And I’m more than willing to work with you, as I said, on this case.” Obviously pleased, Fugate says: “Well, that’s—that’s fine.”

This statement by Bohling—“I’m more than willing to work with you . . . on this case”—might seem innocuous, but it was made by a detective who subsequently falsified police information, committed perjury, and seemingly aided and abetted the defendants in the evasion of justice.

Extremely troubling, too, is that during this recorded interview Fugate refers to a previous conversation with Bohling, perhaps a phone conversation. The fact that this attorney/detective communication was not documented raises additional questions.

Bohling’s subsequent lie-filled police report was attached to Denise Miscavige Gentile and husband Gerald’s answer/response to the wrongful-death complaint filed by attorney Lee Fugate, and later used in court documents filed in federal court by the defendants. This is how the defendants weaseled their way out of the wrongful-death lawsuit. This is how they escaped justice. It all began with Detective Bohling helping these celebrity Scientologist defendants.

The detective later falsified information when he wrote his police report. Under the very important heading “Investigative Conclusion,” for example, Bohling wrote that Kyle “had been exhibiting early signs of Schizophrenia to include paranoia and delusions and that Lexapro had been prescribed. Kyle’s doctor, Dr. [Stephen] McNamara advised that Lexapro should be administered on a long term basis in order to attain the proper results. . . . Dr. McNamara also advised that he was not aware of any major side effects if one was to suddenly stop taking the medication. . . .”

Here are the documented facts: Dr. McNamara was deposed on June 16, 2010. Under oath Dr. McNamara expressed astonishment at the lies told by the police detective, perjury committed at the expense of an innocent twenty-year-old.

“I—I’m perplexed and dumbfounded,” stated Dr. McNamara. “Number one, I’m bound by confidentiality” to not reveal “information about someone’s treatment. . . .”

“Number two, I’m—stated here [as] stating that Kyle had a diagnosis that I did not make.”

“And lastly,” this statement regarding “major side effects if one was to suddenly stop taking Lexapro. . . . [W]e all, as a profession, have known this since the ‘90s. This—this is not something I would ever say.”

Moments later, Dr. McNamara stated under oath that he’d never spoken at all to Detective Bohling about Kyle, never!

Detective Bohling also omitted important information from his police report. In the first phone conversation I had with him, for example, the detective told me that the night Kyle died Scientologist Gerald Gentile was inside Tom Brennan’s apartment prior to the police. When I questioned this, Bohling said that Gentile had a right to be there. This crucial piece of information was left out of Bohling’s narrative of that evening’s events. (For more information about the numerous lies Bohling incorporated into his police report—an assertion that’s easily verified with testimony and documentation—see the blog post titled “Clearwater Police Department; The Fox & the Henhouse and Kyle’s Story; A Summary of the Lies & Deception.)

Truth is what drives our judicial system. Everything is based on this simple, and very necessary, virtue. For this reason, the public is always willing to give a police officer, or police detective, the benefit of the doubt. This despite the unfortunate fact that public servants sometimes lie, commit perjury, and obstruct justice. When an officer betrays his responsibilities—betrays his Oath of Honor—in this fundamental way, he makes a mockery of our judicial system. Criminals escape justice, lives are ruined and lost, families are crushed. Unfortunately, this illegal behavior by Stephen Bohling had a direct impact on the outcome of my wrongful-death lawsuit.

What became of Detective Stephen Bohling? He quietly retired from the Clearwater Police Department.

Five years after Kyle’s death, an interesting story was reported by WTSP News in Tampa. On November 9, 2012, Mark C. Rathbun—Scientology’s former number-two man—gave sworn testimony accusing Clearwater-area judges and lawyers of criminal wrongdoing regarding another Scientology-related lawsuit.

Statement of Mark C.  Rathbun, former senior executive of the Church of Scientology.

Federal suit: Scientologists spent $30 million to … – WTSP

archive.wtsp.com/news/local/article/282987/8/Federal-suit…

Token from Lisa McPherson’s services after her death in 1995.

Rathbun alleged that the Church of Scientology spent at least $30 million to cover up the tragic 1995 death of a woman in Scientology care. This was Scientologist Lisa McPherson, who, after a minor traffic accident, told fellow Scientologists she needed psychiatric help. Instead they took her to the Fort Harrison Hotel—the religion’s headquarters—where McPherson died seventeen days later. Her family sued the Church of Scientology saying they’d simply let her die. Criminal prosecution was brought by the Pinellas State Attorney’s office.

According to WTSP News: “The Church was charged with a second degree felony for practicing medicine without a license, and [the] abuse of a disabled adult. However, the charges were dropped after Pinellas Medical Examiner Joan Wood changed the cause of death from unknown to accidental.”

Rathbun, however, alleged that the cause of death was changed because the Church of Scientology “showered gifts on the Medical Examiner’s attorney.”

And Rathbun had something to say about attorney Lee Fugate. In his sworn testimony, Rathbun stated that Fugate, a former prosecutor, was hired by he and Scientology leader David Miscavige to have illegal ex parte meetings with judges involved in the McPherson case. (“Ex parte,” means one-sided, partisan.) According to Rathbun, those extra-legal meetings, plus the liberal rewarding of “at least $30 million,” got the charges dropped and lessened the damages in the civil suit. WTSP News claimed that the story had many other twists and turns. “Stay tuned,” they said. Unfortunately, WTSP News never provided a follow–up.

(In the case of Kyle’s death, similar wrong-doing was perpetrated by personnel in the Medical Examiner’s office. The Medical Examiner ruled Kyle’s cause of death a suicide saying that police officials told her a suicide note had been found on his person. The police later admitted there’d been no note. And—like Detective Bohling—Medical Investigator Martha Scholl lied about having contact with Kyle’s psychiatrist, Dr. Stephen McNamara.)

During my deposition in 2010 I had an interesting exchange with Lee Fugate. Following my complaint about the pathetically poor police investigation into Kyle’s death, attorney Fugate had the gall to ask: “[W]hat investigation did you conduct [Mrs. Britton] and what did you do to preserve the findings of that investigation. . . ?” Evidently, Fugate believes that in Florida private citizens are required to conduct their own police investigations. He believes that it’s a grieving parent’s responsibility to investigate the suspicious death of their child.

In the summer of 2012 I had a highly qualified expert in the field of criminology and police procedures analyze Detective Bohling’s investigation. “It is my conclusion,” he wrote, “that the [Kyle] Brennan investigation was a farce. It is clear to me that there is some connection between the Church of Scientology and [the] Clearwater Police Department, including the relationship between Detective Bohling and the [Church of Scientology], and that this investigation is replete with conflicts of interest and mishandled investigative procedures.”

In perfect lock-step with L. Ron Hubbard’s teachings, this is how the rule of law is contorted by Scientology’s lead counsellors. This is how the morally bereft and aggressively litigious Church of Scientology continuously manages to get its way legally, even when it appears that its opponents have strong cases. Lying, victim-blaming, obstructing justice–it appears that any tactic is perfectly acceptable in the defense of the Church of Scientology.

The narratives above are all copyright 2016, Victoria Britton.

In 2007 my forward-looking 20-year-old son, Kyle Brennan, died in Clearwater, Florida, under extremely suspicious circumstances while visiting his Scientologist father. (Clearwater, of course, is the site of Scientology’s headquarters.) We lost the subsequent wrongful-death lawsuit we filed against Kyle’s father, prominent Scientologists who were involved, and the Church of Scientology itself. Because of the legal expenses incurred, we’ve yet to purchase a proper headstone for our beloved son. Will you help us?

If you have any questions contact Victoria at: vbreton2062@gmail.com

Grand jury investigation of Scientology from the State’s Attorney’s office.

• Old Scientology Timeline Of Harassment – Solitary Trees

  http://www.solitarytrees.net/pickets/sp859.htm

  Sep 7, 2004 … 1985: CoS attorney, Paul B. Johnson is tried in Orlando, FL, for allegedly bribing Hillsborough County commissioners to favor his client, Hubbard Construction Co. He is later defended by F. Lee Bailey.

Excerpt from the deposition of Tom Brennan  

http://www.wtsp.com/investigators/article/282987/34/Federal-suit-Scientologists-spent-30-mil-to-cover-death

Excerpts from the Deposition of Detective Stephen Bohling

Excerpts from the Clearwater Police Report

Excerpt from the Deposition of Officer Jonathan Yuen

 

Excerpt from the Deposition of Denise Miscavige Gentile

Clearwater Police Report:Gerald Gentile Interview

Who’s Footing the Bill?

Excerpts from the Deposition of Thomas Brennan

If you have any questions contact Victoria at: vbreton2062 (at) gmail.com.

(For more information regarding the highly questionable events surrounding Kyle’s death, the extremely mishandled police investigation, and the perjured testimony given by the defendants please refer to “The Truth for Kyle Brennan” blog at vbreton2062@wordpress.com.)

Plea for information!

If someone has information—no matter how trivial—pertaining to Kyle and the evening he passed away in Clearwater, Florida, site of the headquarters of the Church of Scientology, please contact me. What you know could make a huge difference.

The Truth for Kyle Brennan

Kyle Brennan
April 2, 1986-February 16, 2007

Since the suspicious death of my twenty-year-old son Kyle on February 16, 2007, I’ve been trying to discover what really happened that evening. Kyle passed away in the apartment of his Scientologist father, Tom Brennan, in Clearwater, Florida, site of the headquarters of the Church of Scientology.

The Clearwater police claimed Kyle’s death was a suicide. All of the actual evidence, however—or rather the conspicuous lack of evidence—leads to another conclusion. What evidence was lacking? My son’s fingerprints weren’t on the weapon. In fact, there were no fingerprints on the weapon. Kyle’s hands were tested for gunshot residue—a GSR test—but the lead investigator blocked the test from being processed. Additionally, the bullet that ended my son’s life was never found. Without fingerprints on the weapon, without the GSR test results, and without the bullet, it’s impossible to know for certain who pulled the…

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Heart of Darkness (Part II): Scientologist Tom Brennan –

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Attorney Lee Fugate, Attorney Luke Lirot, Attorney Rick Alvarez, Carrie Brennan Farrell, Cathy Brennan Szekeres, Clearwater Police Department, Denise Miscavige Gentile, Detective Stephen Bohling, Gerald Gentile, Jeff Farrell, Judge Robert Beach, Judge Steven D. Merryday, Kyle Brennan, Martha J. Scholl, Officer Jonathan Yuen, The Church of Scientology, Tom Brennan

The Truth for Kyle Brennan

Heart of Darkness (Part II)

In the eight years since losing my son Kyle, I’ve never been able to understand the unfeeling behavior of Kyle’s biological father, Tom Brennan. His lack of caring—along with his seeming lack of emotion—went far beyond the boundaries of normalcy. The core of one’s humanity, in my opinion, is not difficult to define: It includes the ability to reason, to decipher between right and wrong, compassion toward others, and of course emotion and the ability to express it.

In the first few days following Kyle’s death, Tom Brennan’s indifference—his detached state of being—were obvious to family members. His inhumanity was “chilling and unnerving.” Within hours of Kyle’s death, Kyle’s step-brother Scott contacted Tom Brennan by phone. Scott wanted to understand what had gone so horribly wrong in the last days of his younger brother’s life. (Remember, we’d been told by the medical examiner’s office that…

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Kyle Brennan’s Death & the Church of Scientology –

Tags

Attorney Ken Dandar, Attorney Lee Fugate, Attorney Luke Lirot, Carrie Brennan Farrell, Cathy Brennan Szekeres, Clearwater Police Department, Denise Miscavige Gentile, Detective Jonathan Yuen, Jerry Gentile, Judge Robert Beach, Judge Steven D. Merryday, Kyle Brennan, Martha J. Scholl, Officer Rockwell Silva, Steve Bohling, The Church of Scientology, Tom Brennan, Victoria Britton

Kyle Brennan – Victoria Britton’s youngest son, Kyle Brennan, was born in Meriden, Connecticut, in 1986. Kyle was bright, creative, and outgoing. Like many youngsters, Kyle suffered from mild anxiety and depression. He was prescribed Lexapro, a well-regarded psychiatric medication, by his psychiatrist. Kyle was not a Scientologist.

Scientologist Tom Brennan (Kyle’s Father) – In 2007 Kyle’s father—a longtime Scientologist—was living in Clearwater, Florida, world headquarters of the Church of Scientology. He was working for the Church, living down the street from the Church’s main building, and was well-connected with the Church’s celebrity leadership. Brennan’s Scientology “auditor” (or spiritual advisor) at the time was Denise Miscavige Gentile, twin-sister of the organization’s controversial leader, David Miscavige. Brennan was pushing Scientology on Kyle: Kyle was resisting. When visiting Brennan in the summer of 2006, Kyle was told that Scientology was all he needed. He didn’t need college. During this visit he heard Brennan’s new wife, also a devout Scientologist, refer to him as an “enemy of the Church.”

Scientology and Psychiatry – The Church of Scientology’s hatred of psychiatry is extreme and vicious. One of the organization’s major tenets is that psychiatry and psychiatric medications are evil. Scientologists believe that psychiatry is Nazi pseudoscience. Scientology considers itself at war with psychiatry.

Kyle’s 2006-2007 Travels – Just after Thanksgiving 2006, Kyle left his home in Charlottesville, Virginia, to travel the country. Kyle first hopped a plane to Waterloo, Iowa, where he was looking into a community college. He later flew to Maui in Hawaii where he camped on the beach. Just before Kyle left Charlottesville, Victoria had filled his Lexapro prescription. In preparation for his trip, Kyle purchased another bottle’s-worth of his psychiatric medication.

Kyle in Clearwater – Kyle arrived in Clearwater on February 8, 2007. He’d decided to visit with his father before returning home to Charlottesville. Brennan put Kyle up in his apartment and gave him his own room. Over the phone Victoria asked Brennan to make sure Kyle took his medication. He said he would. Instead Brennan continued pushing Scientology on Kyle, telling him that Scientology-recommended vitamins would be better for him than his Lexapro. On Thursday, February 15, Kyle walked three miles to a branch of his bank and deposited money to keep his savings account open. On the evening of Friday, February 16, Kyle called a number of Clearwater-area personal injury lawyers seeking assistance.

Kyle’s Death – Kyle died of a gunshot wound to the head that same evening—Friday, February 16—in Brennan’s Clearwater apartment. The EMTs found Kyle’s body in what Brennan said was his bedroom, not Kyle’s. Alongside him was a Taurus .357 Magnum revolver. Kyle’s head they found lying inside a laundry basket. Kyle’s Lexapro was found locked in the trunk of his father’s vehicle. Based on what we were told initially, we believe Kyle died at approximately 11 p.m. Brennan called 911 for help at 12:10 a.m. after first calling “chaplain Denise” for advice. The horrific 1:00 a.m. phone call his Charlottesville family received describing Kyle’s death was made—not by Kyle’s father, not by the Clearwater police—but by Gerald Gentile, Denise Miscavige Gentile’s husband. They’d driven to Brennan’s apartment that night.

Scientology “Handling” – In 2010 we learned that Kyle’s death had taken place only 36 hours after Tom Brennan had been given written orders to “handle” Kyle by Scientology’s “Flag Service Organization” (the Church’s “spiritual headquarters” located in Clearwater’s Fort Harrison Hotel). In Scientology, “handling” means taking care of a situation, removing a problem. To Scientologists, my son was an “enemy of the Church” simply because he was consulting a psychiatrist and taking Lexapro. Along with its hatred of psychiatry, Scientology teaches that ethics don’t apply when “handling” an “enemy of the Church.” As founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote, “An enemy . . . may be deprived of property or injured by any means. . . . [They] may be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed.” Brennan was ordered to “handle” his son or face the consequences. One part of this Church-mandated “handling” was the seizure of Kyle’s psychiatric medication, but how far did Scientologist Brennan go to stay in the Church’s good graces?

The Criminally Mismanaged Police Investigation – Clearwater policemen and emergency medical personnel arrived at Brennan’s apartment within minutes of his 911 call. Rookie patrolman Jonathan Yuen was put in charge of the crime scene. The following day, Detective Stephen Bohling took over the investigation. He never visited Brennan’s apartment. Bohling told our family that the police “never processed the weapon or the scene for fingerprints.” He lied. The police report shows that Kyle’s hands had been tested for gunshot residue. That test was withheld from further analysis by the detective. The weapon too had been tested for fingerprints. That test came back negative—there were no fingerprints or ridge detail on the Taurus. There was no blood on it. Someone had wiped it clean. The bullet that killed Kyle was never found. The medical examiner ruled Kyle’s death a suicide saying that a suicide note was found on his person. (The police later admitted that there was no note.) With a missing bullet, no GSR test, and a weapon negative for fingerprints it cannot be determined who pulled the trigger on the weapon that killed my son, or even if he was killed by the weapon found at the scene.

Lies Tom Brennan Told About the Weapon & Ammunition – Brennan told many contradictory stories about the Taurus and its ammunition. He told patrolman Yuen: That the gun was unloaded; it was kept in a green bag; he didn’t know where the ammunition for it was; and that Kyle didn’t know it was in the apartment. He told Detective Bohling: That he did know the whereabouts of the ammunition, it was stored in the green bag with the weapon. Under oath, in his deposition, however, Brennan stated: That he didn’t know if the weapon was loaded or unloaded; that the ammunition was not in the green bag with the weapon; and that Brennan had showed the Taurus to Kyle just prior to taking Kyle and his older brother Sean to a local firing range. That’s where Brennan claimed he’d purchased the bullets. Sean, however, swore out an affidavit stating that: They’d gone to a local firing range, Fowler’s, but had not taken the Taurus .357. They instead rented a Heckler & Koch USP .45 and Fowler’s provided the ammunition. Obviously, the .357 caliber and .45 caliber ammunition are not interchangeable, so where were the .357 bullets for the Taurus purchased? The green bag was not retrieved from the crime scene.

Tom Brennan’s Various Timelines – Brennan first told Kyle’s family that the evening Kyle died he’d arrived at his apartment at 10:30 p.m. after having dinner with friends. He later changed his story, saying he’d arrived home between 11:10 and 11:15 after spending the day selling books at the State Fair, and stopping by Denise’s to borrow a book. His first story places him in the apartment when Kyle died. And it’s obvious that he changed his story to distance himself from his apartment and Kyle’s death. But even if the second story were true, why had it taken an hour for Brennan to dial 911? Why did he lie about his whereabouts? Detective Bohling was told about Brennan’s contradictory stories, but he never challenged Brennan’s veracity. In fact Bohling, in the subsequent police report, improved on Brennan’s alibi, saying: “Thomas Brennan returned home near midnight. . . .”

The Wrongful-Death Lawsuit – A wrongful death lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division on June 17, 2010. Listed as defendants were: Tom Brennan, Denise Miscavige Gentile and her husband Gerald Gentile, the Church of Scientology, and “Flag Service Organization, Inc.” The defendants filed a motion for summary judgment, and that was granted on December 6, 2011. We appealed this ruling but we lost.

Lies Told by Denise Miscavige and Gerald Gentile –The Gentiles at first denied their relationship with Brennan, denied that Denise was a Scientology “auditor,” and denied that Denise was Brennan’s “auditor.” They also at first denied that Denise rode down to Brennan’s apartment the night Kyle died. And they claimed that Gerald’s call to me was placed from their home. All of these statements were later shown to be lies: Scientology documents prove Denise’s status as a “chaplain,” and that she was indeed Brennan’s “chaplain”—meaning they’d had a very close relationship. Gerald Gentile later admitted that both had gone to Brennan’s apartment and that the call was made from that location. Pressed for details concerning the “book borrowing” alibi, Denise and Brennan made contradictory statements.

Kyle’s Laptop Computer – Suspiciously, Kyle’s computer—instead of being taken into police custody—ended up at the Miscavige-Gentile home soon after he died. When the laptop was returned to Virginia, Kyle’s sister-in-law, a computer technology specialist, analyzed its content. She found that it had been accessed but a few hours after Kyle’s death, on Saturday the 17th. Files had later been deleted.

Lies Told by Police and the Medical Investigator – Detective Bohling and Medical Investigator Martha Scholl lied about contacting Kyle’s psychiatrist, saying in the police report that: “The doctor confirmed that Kyle had been exhibiting early signs of schizophrenia to include paranoia and delusions and . . . advised that he was not aware of any major side effects if one was to suddenly stop taking Lexapro.” However, Kyle’s psychiatrist, under oath, stated that he had absolutely no contact with either Bohling or Scholl. “Perplexed and dumbfounded” by their statements, he said he was “bound by confidentiality” not to release “information about a patient’s treatment.” Under oath, he stated that “Kyle’s diagnosis was mild anxiety and depression,” and that there are major side effects from the sudden termination of taking Lexapro, especially for someone Kyle’s age.

In Conclusion – So many lies were told by the defendants—and Clearwater-area public servants—that any reasonable person is left confused and extremely suspicious. What really happened in Brennan’s Clearwater apartment on February 16, 2007, the night Kyle died? Who killed my son?

HELP US RAISE FUNDS TO PURCHASE A HEADSTONE FOR KYLE »

 

Kyle’s death and the Church of Scientology-What Really Happened ?

There are a number of still unexplained mysteries that surround the tragic death of 20-year old Kyle Brennan at the home of his Scientologist father in Clearwater, Florida in February 2007. You listen to the evidence and decide for yourself: are the police telling the truth?

Inside Charlottesville with Coy Barefoot

ORIGINAL BROADCAST DATE: Tuesday, May 12, 2015.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/insidecvilleaudio/2015/MAY 2015/5.12.15/VictoriaandRick5.12.15.mp3

Inside Charlottesville with Coy Barefoot is a news-talk-and-ideas program that originates from Charlottesville, Virginia. A veteran journalist, speaker, best-selling author and historian, Coy Barefoot is the program’s creator, host and Executive Producer. Coy teaches history at the University of Virginia and serves as the President and Executive Director of the Virginia History Lab.

In this special, extended edition of Inside Charlottesville, Victoria and Rick Britton discuss the tragic death of 20-year-old Kyle Brennan at the home of his Scientologist father, Tom Brennan, in Clearwater, Florida in February 2007. Victoria is Kyle’s mother and Rick is his step-father. There are a number of mysteries and still-unanswered questions surrounding Kyle’s tragic death. Was this a suicide or something else? Rick begins the program with this preface: “My 20-year-old step-son Kyle Brennan died eight years ago—the evening of February 16, 2007—under extremely suspicious circumstances in the Clearwater, Florida, apartment of his Scientologist father Tom Brennan. (In downtown Clearwater, the nearby Fort Harrison Hotel is the worldwide headquarters of the Church of Scientology.) This path that my wife Victoria and I are on started eight years ago with Victoria asking questions of the Clearwater police. Eight years later many of those basic questions are still unanswered. Thanks to all the lying done by the police, the medical examiner’s office, and the Scientologists involved, we still don’t know how Kyle died. Of one thing we’re certain—presented with the facts of the case, and proof of the numerous lies told, any reasonable person would conclude, as we have, that something other than what was reported by the police took place in Tom Brennan’s apartment the evening Kyle died. Innocent people don’t lie.”

ORIGINAL BROADCAST DATE: Tuesday, May 12, 2015

https://s3.amazonaws.com/insidecvilleaudio/2015/MAY 2015/5.12.15/VictoriaandRick5.12.15.mp3

Tragic Death of Kyle Brennan | InsideCville.com

Grand jury investigation of Scientology from the State’s Attorney’s office.

• Old Scientology Timeline Of Harassment – Solitary Trees

  http://www.solitarytrees.net/pickets/sp859.htm

  Sep 7, 2004 … 1985: CoS attorney, Paul B. Johnson is tried in Orlando, FL, for allegedly bribing Hillsborough County commissioners to favor his client, Hubbard Construction Co. He is later defended by F. Lee Bailey.

Excerpt from the deposition of Tom Brennan  

http://www.wtsp.com/investigators/article/282987/34/Federal-suit-Scientologists-spent-30-mil-to-cover-death

Scientology & the Perversion of Justice –

Tags

6 th District Medical Examiners Office, Agent Barbara Mendez, Attorney Ken Dandar, Attorney Luke Lirot, Attorney Rick Alvarez, Bernie McCabe, Carrie Brennan Farrell, Cathy Brennan Szekeres, Church of Scientology, Clearwater Florida, Clearwater Police Department, Denise Miscavige, Denise Miscavige Gentile, Detective Jonathan Yuen, Detective Steve Bohling, Investigator Doug Barry, Jerry Gentile, Judge Robert Beach, Judge Steven D. Merryday, Kyle Brennan, Mark C. Rathbun, Martha J. Scholl, Tom Brennan

Mrs. Britton, I’m not trying to say anything. You have indictated in your testimony yesterday and today that you were upset with a variety of different law enforcement agencies and people because they did not conduct a very good investigation into the events surrounding Kyle’s death. And I’m asking you what investigation did you conduct and what did you do to preserve the findings of that investigation and inquiry–Attorney Lee Fugate

My youngest son, Kyle Brennan, was declared dead from a gunshot wound to the head just past midnight on February 17, 2007, in the Clearwater, Florida, apartment of his Scientologist father, Tom Brennan. The circumstances of his violent death were—and still remain—extremely suspicious. The reasons are many: The horribly mismanaged police investigation during which crucial evidence was either not gathered, not processed, or purposely lost; The numerous lies told by Police Detective Stephen Bohling (lies to our family, lies strategically placed in his police report); And the innumerable lies told by the defendants—celebrity Scientologists that Kyle (who was not a Scientologist) had the extreme misfortune to be surrounded by in the last days of his young life.

Clearwater is the Church of Scientology’s worldwide headquarters, and Tom Brennan’s Cleveland Street apartment was in close proximity to Scientology central—across the street from the Coachman Building (a Scientology training center), and just one block from Scientology’s main building, the Fort Harrison Hotel. Just as Scientology structures dominate downtown Clearwater, the religion also dominated the subsequent police investigation, and the wrongful-death lawsuit filed in February 2009 on behalf of the Estate of Kyle Brennan. Listed as defendants were: Scientologists Tom Brennan (Kyle’s father), Denise Miscavige Gentile (twin sister of Scientology’s controversial leader, David Miscavige), her husband Gerald Gentile, the Church of Scientology itself, and Flag Service Organization, Inc. (or FSO, the Church’s so-called “spiritual headquarters”).

In the years since Kyle’s death—residing in a new world-turned-upside-down—I’ve struggled with the grief over the loss of a child, and the arduous challenge of suing the Church of Scientology. The Church of Scientology, as most people realize, is a very wealthy and litigious organization. Based on the writings of founder L. Ron Hubbard, they have no qualms whatsoever about using the most ruthless and heinous tactics when it comes to the law. To high-ranking Scientologists, lawsuits are not merely dispute resolutions, they’re acts of war. The Church of Scientology is ever willing to twist the law in order to destroy those it perceives as opponents. (Kyle was considered by Scientologists to be an “enemy of the Church” simply because he was seeing a psychiatrist and was taking psychiatric medication. See the blog post entitled “Heart of Darkness (Part I): The ‘Handling’ of Kyle Brennan.”)

“The law can be used very easily to harass,” wrote Hubbard in The Scientologist, a Manual on the Dissemination of Material, “and enough harassment on somebody who is simply on the thin edge anyway . . . will generally be sufficient to cause professional decease. If possible, of course, ruin him utterly.”

This is the stratagem they used against me. Despite the fact that they’d stopped our wrongful-death lawsuit—effectively muffling anything said legally on behalf of my dead son—they proceeded, after their victory, to sue me for just under $1 million. Fortunately the judge threw this attempt out.

Who pays the price when the rule of law is purposely distorted in order to bully honest citizens into submission? And what of Scientology’s next set of victims? How many more will suffer because the bullies haven’t been stopped?

On August 27, 2008, defendant Denise Miscavige Gentile, with her attorney in tow—Lee Fugate from the law firm of Zuckerman, Spaeder, LLP—arrived at the Clearwater Police Department for her first and only police interview. It was conducted by Detective Stephen Bohling (who headed-up the investigation into Kyle’s death). Eighteen months had passed since Kyle had died.

In the recorded interview’s opening, Detective Bohling and lawyer Fugate engage in casual conversation. Then the attorney explains that he’d told Denise that if the detective asks her a difficult question she could talk with him—Lee Fugate—before replying. “[B]ut,” Fugate adds, “I don’t think you’re gonna have anything like that.”

Bohling—forgetting that the conversation is being recorded—says: “No. And I’m more than willing to work with you, as I said, on this case.” Obviously pleased, Fugate says: “Well, that’s—that’s fine.”

This statement by Bohling—“I’m more than willing to work with you . . . on this case”—might seem innocuous, but it was made by a detective who subsequently falsified police information, committed perjury, and seemingly aided and abetted the defendants in the evasion of justice.

Extremely troubling, too, is that during this recorded interview Fugate refers to a previous conversation with Bohling, perhaps a phone conversation. The fact that this attorney/detective communication was not documented raises additional questions.

Bohling’s subsequent lie-filled police report was attached to Denise Miscavige Gentile and husband Gerald’s answer/response to the wrongful-death complaint filed by attorney Lee Fugate, and later used in court documents filed in federal court by the defendants. This is how the defendants weaseled their way out of the wrongful-death lawsuit. This is how they escaped justice. It all began with Detective Bohling helping these celebrity Scientologist defendants.

The detective later falsified information when he wrote his police report. Under the very important heading “Investigative Conclusion,” for example, Bohling wrote that Kyle “had been exhibiting early signs of Schizophrenia to include paranoia and delusions and that Lexapro had been prescribed. Kyle’s doctor, Dr. [Stephen] McNamara advised that Lexapro should be administered on a long term basis in order to attain the proper results. . . . Dr. McNamara also advised that he was not aware of any major side effects if one was to suddenly stop taking the medication. . . .”

Here are the documented facts: Dr. McNamara was deposed on June 16, 2010. Under oath Dr. McNamara expressed astonishment at the lies told by the police detective, perjury committed at the expense of an innocent twenty-year-old.

“I—I’m perplexed and dumbfounded,” stated Dr. McNamara. “Number one, I’m bound by confidentiality” to not reveal “information about someone’s treatment. . . .”

“Number two, I’m—stated here [as] stating that Kyle had a diagnosis that I did not make.”

“And lastly,” this statement regarding “major side effects if one was to suddenly stop taking Lexapro. . . . [W]e all, as a profession, have known this since the ‘90s. This—this is not something I would ever say.”

Moments later, Dr. McNamara stated under oath that he’d never spoken at all to Detective Bohling about Kyle, never!

Detective Bohling also omitted important information from his police report. In the first phone conversation I had with him, for example, the detective told me that the night Kyle died Scientologist Gerald Gentile was inside Tom Brennan’s apartment prior to the police. When I questioned this, Bohling said that Gentile had a right to be there. This crucial piece of information was left out of Bohling’s narrative of that evening’s events. (For more information about the numerous lies Bohling incorporated into his police report—an assertion that’s easily verified with testimony and documentation—see the blog post titled “Clearwater Police Department; The Fox & the Henhouse and Kyle’s Story; A Summary of the Lies & Deception.)

Truth is what drives our judicial system. Everything is based on this simple, and very necessary, virtue. For this reason, the public is always willing to give a police officer, or police detective, the benefit of the doubt. This despite the unfortunate fact that public servants sometimes lie, commit perjury, and obstruct justice. When an officer betrays his responsibilities—betrays his Oath of Honor—in this fundamental way, he makes a mockery of our judicial system. Criminals escape justice, lives are ruined and lost, families are crushed. Unfortunately, this illegal behavior by Stephen Bohling had a direct impact on the outcome of my wrongful-death lawsuit.

What became of Detective Stephen Bohling? He quietly retired from the Clearwater Police Department.

Five years after Kyle’s death, an interesting story was reported by WTSP News in Tampa. On November 9, 2012, Mark C. Rathbun—Scientology’s former number-two man—gave sworn testimony accusing Clearwater-area judges and lawyers of criminal wrongdoing regarding another Scientology-related lawsuit.

Statement of Mark C.  Rathbun, former senior executive of the Church of Scientology.

http://www.wtsp.com/investigators/article/282987/34/Federal-suit-Scientologists-spent-30-mil-to-cover-death

Token from Lisa McPherson’s services after her death in 1995.

Rathbun alleged that the Church of Scientology spent at least $30 million to cover up the tragic 1995 death of a woman in Scientology care. This was Scientologist Lisa McPherson, who, after a minor traffic accident, told fellow Scientologists she needed psychiatric help. Instead they took her to the Fort Harrison Hotel—the religion’s headquarters—where McPherson died seventeen days later. Her family sued the Church of Scientology saying they’d simply let her die. Criminal prosecution was brought by the Pinellas State Attorney’s office.

According to WTSP News: “The Church was charged with a second degree felony for practicing medicine without a license, and [the] abuse of a disabled adult. However, the charges were dropped after Pinellas Medical Examiner Joan Wood changed the cause of death from unknown to accidental.”

Rathbun, however, alleged that the cause of death was changed because the Church of Scientology “showered gifts on the Medical Examiner’s attorney.”

And Rathbun had something to say about attorney Lee Fugate. In his sworn testimony, Rathbun stated that Fugate, a former prosecutor, was hired by he and Scientology leader David Miscavige to have illegal ex parte meetings with judges involved in the McPherson case. (“Ex parte,” means one-sided, partisan.) According to Rathbun, those extra-legal meetings, plus the liberal rewarding of “at least $30 million,” got the charges dropped and lessened the damages in the civil suit. WTSP News claimed that the story had many other twists and turns. “Stay tuned,” they said. Unfortunately, WTSP News never provided a follow–up.

(In the case of Kyle’s death, similar wrong-doing was perpetrated by personnel in the Medical Examiner’s office. The Medical Examiner ruled Kyle’s cause of death a suicide saying that police officials told her a suicide note had been found on his person. The police later admitted there’d been no note. And—like Detective Bohling—Medical Investigator Martha Scholl lied about having contact with Kyle’s psychiatrist, Dr. Stephen McNamara.)

During my deposition in 2010 I had an interesting exchange with Lee Fugate. Following my complaint about the pathetically poor police investigation into Kyle’s death, attorney Fugate had the gall to ask: “[W]hat investigation did you conduct [Mrs. Britton] and what did you do to preserve the findings of that investigation. . . ?” Evidently, Fugate believes that in Florida private citizens are required to conduct their own police investigations. He believes that it’s a grieving parent’s responsibility to investigate the suspicious death of their child.

In the summer of 2012 I had a highly qualified expert in the field of criminology and police procedures analyze Detective Bohling’s investigation. “It is my conclusion,” he wrote, “that the [Kyle] Brennan investigation was a farce. It is clear to me that there is some connection between the Church of Scientology and [the] Clearwater Police Department, including the relationship between Detective Bohling and the [Church of Scientology], and that this investigation is replete with conflicts of interest and mishandled investigative procedures.”

In perfect lock-step with L. Ron Hubbard’s teachings, this is how the rule of law is contorted by Scientology’s lead counsellors. This is how the morally bereft and aggressively litigious Church of Scientology continuously manages to get its way legally, even when it appears that its opponents have strong cases. Lying, victim-blaming, obstructing justice–it appears that any tactic is perfectly acceptable in the defense of the Church of Scientology.

Detective Stephen Bohling

Dr. Stephen McNamara

In the summer of 2012 I had a highly qualified expert in the field of criminology and police procedures analyze Detective Bohling’s investigation. “It is my conclusion,” he wrote, “that the [Kyle] Brennan investigation was a farce. It is clear to me that there is some connection between the Church of Scientology and [the] Clearwater Police Department, including the relationship between Detective Bohling and the [Church of Scientology], and that this investigation is replete with conflicts of interest and mishandled investigative procedures.”

Deposition of Mark C. Rathbun

deposition-of-marty-rathbun

Clearwater Police Department

The simple truth about lies is that there are many different types. Some, such as bold-faced lies, are so outrageous that they’re obvious to all within earshot. Another category comprises lies that are not so obvious—they lie hidden among the reams of information we ingest daily. But though these lies are obscured from sight, they’re no less pernicious. These are lies of omission—lies that represent an intentional failure to “tell the whole truth” in a situation requiring complete disclosure. Lying by omission is particularly destructive, of course, in legal and criminal matters.

Are the members of the Clearwater, Florida, Police Department guilty of lying by omission? You be the judge.

Clearwater policeman Jonathan Yuen was one of the first officers on the scene the night my son Kyle died under very suspicious circumstances at the apartment of his biological father, Tom Brennan, on Friday, February 16, 2007. At the time, Officer Yuen had been with the department only eighteen months. He’d been hired right out of college. Despite this fact, however—and despite the fact that higher-ranking officers were present at the time—Yuen was placed in charge of the crime scene.

Normally, one would expect a rookie cop to follow police procedures by the manual. One would expect a young officer to try really hard, to be attentive to every last detail. In reading other Clearwater Police Reports, for example, you’ll find an amazing amount of detail. Crime scene details are extremely important. Even the tiniest bit of information, of course, can be the determining factor in a criminal investigation. People have been convicted because of tiny details. And, of course, people have walked away from criminal acts because of the lack of a tiny detail.

In the Clearwater Police Report regarding my son’s death, Officer Yuen’s one-page narrative of the events of February 16/17 is remarkable for its inattention to detail. Later, when Yuen was deposed by attorney Ken Dandar—the lawyer representing the Estate of Kyle Brennan—his brain fog surrounding the details of that evening is incredibly suspicious.

First the big lie of omission. In his contribution to the Clearwater Police Report, Yuen omitted the fact that present at Tom Brennan’s Cleveland Street apartment the evening of Kyle’s death were two important members of Scientology’s first family—the twin-sister and brother-in-law of the church’s worldwide leader, David Miscavige.

Denise Miscavige Gentile, David Miscavige’s twin-sister—whom Tom Brennan referred to as “Chaplain Denise”—was Brennan’s Scientology auditor, his spiritual advisor or spiritual counsellor. Her husband’s name is Gerald “Jerry” Gentile. In spite of the fact that they both at first lied about Denise being at the Cleveland Street apartment that night, during their depositions Denise and Jerry finally admitted that they were both there. Jerry Gentile stated that Denise waited outside near their parked vehicle. Denise claimed she didn’t go inside because she was wearing pajamas.

Amazingly, Yuen left them completely out of his narrative. When questioned later, under oath, about people arriving at the crime scene, Yuen responded: “I believe I advised a couple of people showed up.”

“What did they do?” asked attorney Dandar.

“Basically spoke with Thomas [Brennan] and gave him some counselling or, you know, support.”

In the first few months following my son’s death, it was believed that Gerald Gentile was Tom Brennan’s roommate at the Cleveland Street apartment. This was assumed as it seemed the logical explanation for Jerry Gentile’s early presence at Brennan’s place the night Kyle died. Information pertaining to Gentile’s early appearance at the Cleveland Street apartment was omitted from the police report. No information regarding Jerry, in fact, was provided by the Clearwater Police Department, either in the police report or in the first phone interview Kyle’s Virginia family had with Detective Stephen Bohling (who took over the case on Saturday, February17). Kyle’s older brother—wondering who the elusive “Jerry” was who called our home to tell us of Kyle’s death—asked Bohling about him. (Some of our questions, naturally, were things like: Why didn’t Tom Brennan call us? Why didn’t the police make this important call?) Bohling’s response to the question about Jerry’s identity? “Some Scientology guy.”

Denise Miscavige Gentile was simply referred to as “Chaplain Denise.”

Why were these two members of the Clearwater Police Department—Officer Jonathan Yuen and Detective Stephen Bohling—not forthcoming or truthful about the presence of the Gentiles at the Cleveland Street apartment that night? Why would they not identify these high-powered Scientologists? Were these members of the police department deliberately lying by omission in order to protect two individuals with extremely close ties to the very top leadership of the Scientology organization?

Attorney Ken Dandar deposed Officer Yuen on June, 11, 2010. Yuen’s deposition lasted just over one hour.

Officer Yuen stated during his deposition that he left the crime scene in the early morning hours of February 17, and had no further involvement in the investigation.

Then he was asked: “Did you ever discuss the matter with Detective Bohling? Did he ever contact you?”

“No” responded Yuen.

(It’s important to note here that Detective Bohling never visited the crime scene. Never. So, in other words, Officer Yuen was in charge at the Cleveland Street apartment the night Kyle died—even though other officers present outranked him—and wrote the narrative of that night’s events. He then simply handed that in, and never again spoke of the matter with the police detective who took over the case. And that man—Detective Stephen Bohling—never went to the Cleveland Street apartment. Why the disconnect between Yuen and Detective Bohling? Was it done this way in order to insure Bohling’s future plausible deniability?)

During Officer Yuen’s brief deposition, he responded 28 times with either “I don’t recall” or “I don’t remember.” And it’s interesting that Officer Yuen’s memory deficit only occurred when he was questioned regarding fellow police officers, medical investigator Martha J. Scholl, or the presence of that mysterious “couple” who arrived at the crime scene during his “short-short” interview of Tom Brennan.

And amazingly, Yuen destroyed the notes he took during that interview.

Ken Dander asked him: “Did you take notes during the interview [of Tom Brennan]?”

“Yes, I did” responded Yuen.

“What do you take the notes on?” was the next question.

“I have a note pad that normally I document all my cases on,” was the answer.

“Do you save those?”

“No, I do not.”

Unfortunately, Officer Yuen, a college graduate, doesn’t really understand what the verb tense “to document” means.

What about these two members of Scientology’s first family—Denise Miscavige Gentile and her husband Jerry? According to a Tampa Bay Times article written in the summer of 2013, the couple married in 2000. They lived in Maryland for two years, then moved back to Clearwater “where Flag Land Base, Scientology’s spiritual headquarters, dominates the downtown skyline.” It was then that Jerry joined the church. Denise at the time was working at a small Scientology mission in Bellair. He continued working his Maryland technology job, commuting back and forth every week.

That tech position, however, wasn’t Jerry and Denise’s only source of income. A police investigation revealed that Jerry Gentile was the owner of a notorious drug-selling establishment—or “drug house”—located in St. Petersburg, Florida. It comprised a house on 15th Street North, and three detached apartments next door in a duplex and a separate cottage.

According to the article, “drug sales at the Gentile property got so bad police raided it twice in 14 months, busting up a marijuana den and what police called a cocaine sales operation.” Following the first raid, the city contacted the Gentiles asking them to “curb the drug activity.” Nothing changed. In fact, it appears the Gentiles had good reason not to improve the situation at their St. Petersburg pot house. According to tenants, it was Denise who’d stop by monthly for the rent or for money to cover the water, sewer, and trash bills. If cash wasn’t readily available—according to former tenant Roreco “Rico” Currie—Denise was happy to accept marijuana “blunts” instead. (Blunts are small cigars converted into fairly large marijuana cigarettes.) Currie, during this period, was distributing marijuana from the Gentile property. Denise had discovered this illicit activity but had decided to let Currie remain.

If that wasn’t enough, Currie eventually converted the cottage into an impromptu strip-club. Exotic dancers performed routines as onlookers tossed money onto the dingy floors. Admission was $10, more after midnight. Currie proudly claimed this business was “by appointment only.” He was arrested in October 2012 on several charges. He pleaded guilty and is currently serving a 38-month sentence. Denise Miscavige Gentile pleaded not guilty to the charges related to the activities at the Gentiles’ 15th Street North property. She denies receiving drugs in lieu of rent or bills.

The Tampa Bay Times piece is an extremely unflattering portrait of this Scientology celebrity couple. Obviously, in the Tampa/St. Petersburg/Clearwater area, the rule of law simply does not apply to Denise Miscavige and Jerry Gentile. These are the people the Clearwater Police Department shielded, it appears, in order to protect the Miscavige name from scandal.

The Gentiles’ involvement with Tom Brennan should have raised numerous questions. Why, for example, weren’t they pressed about the obvious lies they told regarding Tom Brennan and the night of February 16/17? Denise at first lied about being Tom Brennan’s auditor; she lied about her relationship with Brennan; and she lied about her presence at the Brennan apartment. Jerry, too, at first lied about his wife’s presence that evening. Particularly troubling as well is the fact that my son’s laptop computer ended up in the hands of Jerry Gentile. Why wasn’t Kyle’s computer taken into custody by the police?

My son Kyle deserved to have a fair and unbiased investigation. He deserved to have his day in court. Thanks to the defendants’ multitudinous lies—and thanks to the police report’s lies of omission—he got neither.

Excerpts from the Deposition of Officer Jonathan Yuen

Excerpts from the Deposition of S. Brennan

Officer Jonathan Yuen’s Clearwater Police Report Narrative

A sample of the careful narrative and abundance of detail within a Clearwater Police Report. When reading the report the negligence of the Clearwater police on the scene the evening Kyle died becomes glaringly obvious.

This is the html version of the file http://www.artharris.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/nick-bollea-clearwater-police-report1.pdf.
Google automatically generates html versions of documents as we crawl the web.

Kyle Brennan, 1986-2007

When a child dies unexpectedly and violently the impact on the family is one of complete devastation. Anguish and despair become your close companions. It’s a heartbreak like no other.

After losing my son Kyle, I felt—along with my overwhelming grief—a powerful urgency to make sense of the senseless, to understand what had happened and how the tragedy in Clearwater, Florida, had unfolded. That urgency—that need—has not subsided. There are numerous questions that still need to be answered.

In the weeks and months after Kyle’s passing, something completely unexpected made the pain immeasurably worse—the incomprehensible treatment I received at the hands of Detective Stephen Bohling of the Clearwater Police Department (the CWPD). Losing a twenty-year-old son is horrific enough. Bohling’s unconscionable handling of the investigation into Kyle’s death, however—his deceitful behavior and his immoral actions—not only sullied Kyle’s image but also devastated Kyle’s family and ultimately obstructed justice in the wrongful-death lawsuit that ensued.

According to the CWPD, Kyle’s death was reported to the department at 12:10 a.m. on Saturday, February 17, 2007. Detective Bohling took over the investigation sixteen hours later. It’s important to note that Bohling never visited the crime scene to garner further evidence. Instead he relied on the meager evidence gathered by the responding officer, Jonathan Yuen. Yuen was working the midnight shift when he responded to the 12:10 a.m. 911 call placed by Kyle’s biological father, Tom Brennan. Officer Yuen later admitted that he only spent a maximum of 20 minutes interviewing Brennan—a very short period of time considering the fact that he was collecting information regarding a suspicious death. He later stated that—contrary to proper police procedure—he destroyed the notes he had taken that night.

As can be imagined, the subsequent Clearwater Police Report (or CWPR) written by Detective Bohling is filled with misinformation, half-truths, and outright fabrications. Some of these fabrications are completely fictionalized conversations—conversations that never occurred. And a great number of these lies are miss-paraphrased statements. By misrepresenting statements made by individuals questioned during his shoddy investigation—by assigning fabrications to others—Bohling twisted the truth into a mass of lies that obstructed justice and protected a number of parties who should have been questioned further.

The unscrupulous detective took this illegal behavior to an unprecedented level when he paraphrased me, Kyle’s mother, into saying things about my son that I never said. These deceptions executed at the hands of a police detective—a public defender who’s supposed to be seeking the truth—piled additional grief and suffering onto Kyle’s family. The aftermath is deeply disturbing.

As an example, on page 15 of the Clearwater Police Report (or CWPR), Bohling took liberties when describing the telephone conversation I had had with an FBI agent. (In January of 2007, while Kyle was traveling the country, FBI Special Agent Jeff Atwood called to tell me that Kyle had visited his Des Moines, Iowa, office that day. According to Atwood, Kyle came in to report a crime—a crime that could not be substantiated. Agent Atwood expressed concern for Kyle, saying that he looked good, was well-mannered and well-spoken, and that he could tell Kyle came from a good home. When he saw that my son was traveling with valuable items—expensive electronics, and gold and silver coins—as well as a large sum of cash, Atwood became concerned for his welfare. When Kyle said he was going to stay at a shelter to save money, the detective recommended a hotel because it would be safer. Atwood told me that Kyle seemed to be suffering from mild paranoia, but that it was a good thing in this case as it would keep Kyle away from those who might harm him. Agent Atwood said he got my phone number by asking Kyle who he should call if something happened to him.)

The falsified CWPR information appears in the form of a March 5, 2007, telephone conversation between Bohling and Detective Carl Brown of the Albemarle County (Virginia) Police Department, and an e-mail supposed sent from Brown to Bohling. (Detective Brown first made contact with Kyle’s family soon after the missing persons report was filed. He later helped locate Kyle when he was in Maui, Hawaii.) Here Bohling claimed that I had been advised by Agent Atwood that Kyle said “he was being followed by people who were after him.” According to Bohling, Atwood said that Kyle “appeared as if he had not been eating, was emaciated and appeared to be having delusions.” (These are statements Bohling claimed I made to Officer Brown regarding my discussion with Atwood, and that Brown passed along to Bohling.) Perhaps not surprisingly, Detective Bohling never asked me for information or details pertaining to my conversation with Atwood.

Here’s the truth: I never stated that Agent Atwood told me Kyle entered his office saying that “he was being followed by people who were after him.” Agent Atwood never said Kyle looked as if he had not been eating and appeared to be having delusions. All of this information referring to my conversation with Atwood is false. Why would a police detective falsify information like this?

Bohling’s police report becomes even more twisted when one reads the e-mails attributed to Detective Brown at the bottom of page 15. (And it should be noted here—as was discovered by attorney Ken Dandar during Bohling’s deposition—that the very appearance of these e-mails is extremely suspicious. For, rather than digitally copying these supposed e-mails into his report, Detective Bohling printed them onto paper then physically cut the paper and pasted them into his narrative. Was Bohling as computer illiterate as Tom Brennan, or were these e-mails fabricated out of whole cloth?)

According to Bohling, these e-mails stated I had met with Detective Brown on a certain date, and that at that meeting I stated to Brown that Kyle had been diagnosed with “depression and periods of delusion and paranoia.” I supposedly also said that I was told by police—after reporting Kyle’s departure from home—that “there would have to be more information regarding Kyle’s condition to enter him into NCIC as endangered.” (“NCIC” is the FBI’s National Crime Information Center, a reporting database that can also be used to help find missing persons.)

Here’s the truth: I never met with Detective Brown during the time period noted in Bohling’s falsified e-mail. The first time I met with the Albemarle County detective to discuss the death of my son was two years after he had passed. Kyle’s psychiatrist, Dr. Stephen McNamara, never diagnosed him as delusional and paranoid. Detective Bohling—or possibly Hillsborough County, Florida, Medical Investigator Marti Scholl—fabricated this diagnosis. This statement is a lie.

The statement referring to the reason I could not file a missing person’s report immediately after Kyle left home is also a lie. (On the day Kyle left home I called the Albemarle Police Department to file a missing person’s report. I had been worried about Kyle since his return from a tumultuous visit with his father, Scientologist Tom Brennan, in September of that year.)

Here’s the truth, here’s the real reason a missing person’s report could not be filed. Kyle was an adult who left home on his own fruition. According to law you cannot file a missing person’s report unless foul play is suspected or the missing individual is declared—by physician or by a court of law—to be a danger to themselves or to others.

I told the Albemarle County officer that I was worried about Kyle, that he’d lived a sheltered life and had in his possession thousands of dollars in cash, gold, and silver. I did not know where Kyle was so I pleaded with the officer: Could they please help me find him? The officer sympathized but said that because of the law he could not write a report. When I told him that Kyle was taking medication, he told me to look to see if Kyle had taken it with him—he had. When he asked how much he had taken, I stated more than one prescription’s worth.

The laws regarding missing person’s reports, therefore, are what initially prevented me from filing one, not the lack of information. I knew this, Detective Brown knew this, and what’s more important: Brown would have never lied like this to Bohling. Bohling’s statement regarding the NCIC, therefore, is a lie.

Why would Bohling misrepresent the truth in his report? Could it be that the profile of Kyle fictionalized by Detective Bohling—a profile of a troubled young man suffering from delusions and paranoia—better fit the image of someone likely to commit suicide, someone whose tragic death was entirely his own fault?

It is absolutely certain that the truth would not have benefitted the defendants in the wrongful-death lawsuit—Scientologists Tom Brennan, and Gerald and Denise Miscavige Gentile. On February 17, 2009—two years after Kyle’s death—the Clearwater Police Department released the report regarding Bohling’s investigation, one day after the wrongful-death lawsuit was filed and the news had made the front page of the St. Petersburg Times. When the defendants answered the wrongful-death complaint, their lawyer, Lee Fugate, attached Bohling’s police report to their response.

Excerpt from the Deposition of Dr. Stephen McNamara

Clearwater Police Report, Pasted email

Deposition of Detective Bohling

Excerpt from the Clearwater Police Report

Note: The Narratives above are all Copyright@2014 Victoria Britton. The documents posted below each narrative are in the public domain.

 

 

Kyle’s Bank Statement

 

 

Kyles’s Last Phonecalls

 

Scientology “SEC Check”

 

 

Excerpt from the Deposition of Tom Brennan

 

Excerpt from the Deposition of Victoria Britton

 

In 2007 my forward-looking 20-year-old son, Kyle Brennan, died in Clearwater, Florida, under extremely suspicious circumstances while visiting his Scientologist father. (Clearwater, of course, is the site of Scientology’s headquarters.) We lost the subsequent wrongful-death lawsuit we filed against Kyle’s father, prominent Scientologists who were involved, and the Church of Scientology itself. Because of the legal expenses incurred, we’ve yet to purchase a proper headstone for our beloved son. Will you help us?

If you have any questions contact Victoria at: vbreton2062 (at) aol.com.

(For more information regarding the highly questionable events surrounding Kyle’s death, the extremely mishandled police investigation, and the perjured testimony given by the defendants please refer to “The Truth for Kyle Brennan” blog at vbreton2062.wordpress.com.)

[Edit]

In 2007 my forward-looking 20-year-old son, Kyle Brennan, died in Clearwater, Florida, under extremely suspicious circumstances while visiting his Scientologist father. (Clearwater, of course, is the site of Scientology’s headquarters.) We lost the subsequent wrongful-death lawsuit we filed against Kyle’s father, prominent Scientologists who were involved, and the Church of Scientology itself. Because of the legal expenses incurred, we’ve yet to purchase a proper headstone for our beloved son. Will you help us?

If you have any questions contact Victoria at: vbreton2062 (at) aol.com.

Heart of Darkness (Part II): Scientologist Tom Brennan –

Tags

6 th District Medical Examiners Office, 6th District M.E.O., Attorney Ken Dandar, Attorney Lee Fugate, Attorney Luke Lirot, Attorney Rick Alvarez, Judge Steven D. Merryday, Kyle Brennan, Rick Ross, The Church of Scientology, Tom Brennan

Heart of Darkness (Part II)

In the nine years since losing my son Kyle, I’ve never been able to understand the unfeeling behavior of Kyle’s biological father, Tom Brennan. His lack of caring—along with his seeming lack of emotion—went far beyond the boundaries of normalcy. The core of one’s humanity, in my opinion, is not difficult to define: It includes the ability to reason, to decipher between right and wrong, compassion toward others, and of course emotion and the ability to express it.

In the first few days following Kyle’s death, Tom Brennan’s indifference—his detached state of being—were obvious to family members. His inhumanity was “chilling and unnerving.” Within hours of Kyle’s death, Kyle’s step-brother Scott contacted Tom Brennan by phone. Scott wanted to understand what had gone so horribly wrong in the last days of his younger brother’s life. (Remember, we’d been told by the medical examiner’s office that Kyle had committed suicide.)

Why had this forward-looking twenty-year-old taken his own life? Scott was immediately taken aback by how his step-father came across. Expecting him to be shaken, engulfed with grief, Scott was shocked when Tom Brennan answered the phone in a celebratory mood. “[W]hen I called him . . .” stated Scott in his deposition, “he thought I was a different person. . . . When Tom picked up, he said ‘hey, Scott, how’s it going, what’s going on, buddy?’” Evidently, when Brennan realized which Scott he had on the phone—his step-son and not some everyday acquaintance—“[h]is voice became somber. . . .” Scott explained how this “threw” him at first, “because it sounded like he had won the lottery, and I just couldn’t figure [it] out . . . of course I was grief stricken at the time.” “He told me at least twice,” said Scott, “that he didn’t understand how it could happen, that he hadn’t pushed or talked about Scientology with Kyle and that Scientology didn’t have anything to do with it [Kyle’s death]. It struck me as being very odd because it [Scientology] was the furthest thing from my mind, and I had never brought it up. I didn’t bring it up, and he kept injecting it [Scientology] into the conversation.”

It was so soon after the death of his only son, and yet Tom Brennan, an employee of the mega-wealthy Church of Scientology, had already returned to work. (It’s important to note that Tom Brennan lied repeatedly in this conversation. He had indeed “talked about Scientology” with his son, and he had indeed “pushed” Scientology on him.

When Kyle visited Brennan in Clearwater, Florida, in the summer of 2006, Brennan told him that Scientology was all he needed in life, he didn’t need to go to college. Brennan also “pushed” Scientology on his son in February 2007 by seizing Kyle’s prescribed psychiatric medication, his Lexapro, and locking it in the trunk of his vehicle. Tom Brennan lied about “talking” up and “pushing” Scientology on Kyle, so why should any reasonable person believe that “Scientology didn’t have anything to do with” Kyle’s death? Just as William Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet in 1602, Tom Brennan “doth protest too much.” It’s obvious that he kept injecting these statements into his conversation with Scott Brennan because he was trying to convince Scott of these lies.)

Life does not prepare you to lose a child, it’s a blow that brings you to your knees and leaves you with lifelong bruises. It’s a heartache like no other.

During those first months after losing Kyle, I could not wrap my head around how or why Tom Brennan behaved so coldly toward him. I knew that Brennan was with Kyle when he died. Tom Brennan first told Kyle’s Virginia family that he’d arrived home the night of February 16, 2007—at his Clearwater, Florida, apartment where Kyle was staying—at 10:30 p.m. He later changed his time of arrival to 11:15. Brennan’s 911 call for help did not go out until 12:10 a.m. How can a parent be so disconnected from their child—and from their own humanity—to not call immediately for help? And what was happening in Brennan’s apartment between 10:30 p.m. and 12:10 a.m. anyway?

I am no closer to finding answers to these questions than I was eight years ago. On the police recording of Brennan’s 911 call his voice is flat, without emotion. Ken Dandar, a lawyer representing the Estate of Kyle Brennan, described it as “a voice of depravity.” Dandar told me that “Brennan was cold, unemotional, not what you’d expect to hear from a parent who’s calling to say their child is dead. It sounded like Brennan was ordering a pizza.”

In my darkest days after Kyle’s passing, I was extremely troubled, haunted by innumerable questions. I couldn’t grasp how the horrific tragedy in Clearwater had unfolded. I couldn’t understand Brennan’s behavior. Broken, overwhelmed with grief, I searched for a counselor who could help me understand. How does someone lose their humanity? Why were Brennan and his fellow Scientologists—the people around Kyle on his final days—so cold and unfeeling?

Not knowing anything about the Church of Scientology, I looked online and found the phone number of cult expert Rick Alan Ross. Private consultant, lecturer, and cult-intervention specialist, Ross began working as an anti-cult activist in 1982. Since then he’s worked with the FBI, and has been qualified and accepted as an expert court witness in eleven different U.S. states. He’s also worked with the governments of Israel and China. (For more information see http://www.culteducation.com, the web-site of the Cult Education Institute founded by Ross in 1996.)

Over the phone I asked Ross why Scientologists behaved the way they did. Why was Brennan so unfeeling? Before answering he asked how long Tom Brennan had been involved with the Church of Scientology. (The answer was at least eight years.) Ross then explained that, after being involved for so long, Brennan’s main concern in life would be the Church. As a devoted follower, Brennan put Scientology first in his life. Everything else was secondary, including his only son’s well-being.

Compassionate yet blunt, Ross told me—and I now understood for the first time—that Kyle would have been unwanted, a problem source for his father because of his medication and connection to psychiatry. Ross explained, too, why Kyle’s death meant so very little to his father. From a Scientology point-of-view, it meant merely that Kyle had “dropped his body.” He could pick up another one soon.

The Church of Scientology’s dictatorial control over its adherents is not just deeply disturbing—it’s also immoral and dangerous. Brainwashed by their religion, Scientologists seem to lose concept of the boundary separating right from wrong. They’ve been told by the Church’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard, that in the pursuance of a “just cause”—Scientology, of course—it’s perfectly acceptable to step across that boundary at will. They’ve been taught that the collective, the organization—the Church of Scientology—comes first. It comes before them, before their families, and sometimes even before the lives of their children.

If you have any questions contact Victoria at: vbreton2062 (at) aol.com. (For more information regarding the highly questionable events surrounding Kyle’s death, the extremely mishandled police investigation, and the perjured testimony given by the defendants please refer to “The Truth for Kyle Brennan” blog at vbreton2062.wordpress.com.)

Heart of Darkness (Part I): The “Handling” of Kyle Brennan –

Tags

Attorney Ken Dandar, Attorney Lee Fugate, Attorney Luke Lirot, Attorney Rick Alvarez, Clearwater Police Department, Denise Miscavige Gentile, Detective Jonathan Yuen, Honorable Steven D. Merryday, John Sweeney, Kyle Brennan, L.Ron Hubbard, Martha J. Scholl, Scientology, Steve Bohling, Tom Brennan

Heart of Darkness (Part I)

When my son, Kyle Brennan, first stepped into his psychiatrist’s office in Charlottesville, Virginia, in January of 2006, he could not have imagined that his life would end only thirteen months later as an enemy of the Church of Scientology.

Kyle was declared dead from a gunshot wound just past midnight on February 17, 2007, in the Clearwater, Florida, apartment of his Scientologist father, Tom Brennan. Scientology-owned buildings dominate the Clearwater cityscape, and Brennan’s Cleveland Street apartment was located within spitting distance of Scientology central. It sat across the street from the Coachman Building—a Scientology training center—and just one block from the Fort Harrison Hotel, the religion’s worldwide headquarters.

That fateful night the EMTs discovered Kyle’s lifeless body in what Tom Brennan claimed was his bedroom, not Kyle’s. Alongside Kyle’s body was a Taurus .357 Magnum revolver. He’d been shot in the head. And that head—my twenty-year-old son’s handsome head, now shattered—they found callously stuffed inside a laundry basket.

They ruled his death a suicide, but because of criminally mismanaged police procedures, it’s impossible to say what weapon was used, or—most importantly—who pulled the trigger. The bullet that killed my son was never recovered. There was no blood on the Taurus: no fingerprints either. Forensic Investigator Jennifer McCabe performed a gunshot residue (or GSR) test on Kyle’s hands, but the Clearwater police blocked it from being processed. They subsequently lied, saying that a GSR test had never been done.

Did my son commit suicide? Was he murdered by his own biological father? Did someone else kill him? Did Kyle die in his father’s bedroom, or was he moved from his own bedroom—the actual scene of the crime—and the laundry basket somehow played a part in this evidence tampering? None of these questions were ever answered, or even pursued, by the Clearwater police.

How had Kyle gone from being a well-dressed, forward-looking, community-college-attending American kid, to passing away in Clearwater, Florida—an enemy of the Church of Scientology—in only thirteen months?

The first step—innocuous as it sounds to the average person unfamiliar with Scientology—was seeing a psychiatrist. A very creative youngster, Kyle was a bit shy (the two often go together), and he had unresolved issues regarding his on-and-off-again relationship with his biological father, Tom Brennan.

Kyle’s psychiatrist, Dr. Stephen McNamara, diagnosed him with mild depression and social anxiety, conditions not uncommon among college students. McNamara prescribed for Kyle the anti-depressant Lexapro.

And that’s the second step—which may surprise some readers—taking a clinically tested, prescribed psychiatric medication.

One of the major tenets of Scientology is that psychiatry and psychiatric medications are evil: they’re forbidden. Scientology’s hatred of psychiatry is extreme and vicious. Scientologists believe, for example, that there’s an epidemic of psychiatrists raping their patients. According to BBC reporter John Sweeney, “Scientologists believe that psychiatry is Nazi pseudoscience. They believe that the Holocaust was planned and carried out by psychiatrists.”[i]

From Scientology’s point of view, Kyle’s Lexapro use made him an SP—a “Suppressive Person”—someone to be reviled and avoided. To Scientologists, SPs are not merely ideological “enemies of the Church,” their very being is capable of contaminating a Scientologist, causing him to make errors, have accidents, and even become sick.

As a practicing Scientologist, Tom Brennan could not have a relationship with his son if Kyle was violating Scientology’s anti-psychiatry tenet. So, when Kyle arrived in Clearwater to visit his father on February 8, 2007, Brennan was faced with a troubling situation—he had an SP staying in his apartment. Brennan no doubt immediately reported his dilemma to his Scientology superiors, including, of course, his Scientology “auditor” (or spiritual advisor), Denise Miscavige Gentile—twin sister of the organization’s controversial leader, David Miscavige.

One week later, on February 15, the Church of Scientology’s Flag Service Organization (or FSO) issued an order to Tom Brennan to “handle” his son. (Located in Clearwater’s Fort Harrison Hotel, FSO is a high-level Scientology division, its spiritual center.)

“Handling,” a well-known Scientology term, means taking care of a situation, removing a trouble source. “Handling,” according to Scientology’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard, can include a wide range of actions. Enemies of the Church—like Kyle—“May be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist. . . . May be tricked, sued or lied to, or destroyed.”[ii] Hubbard—in “The Code of Honor,” Scientology’s ethics code—writes: “Never fear to hurt another in a just cause [i.e. Scientology].”[iii] As witnessed by what happened to my son, “handling” is not as innocent as it sounds.

If a Scientologist fails at “handling” an SP, he is then required to “disconnect”—that is, permanently break off all communication.

These Scientology policies—according to Lance Marcor, a former high-level Scientologist—“placed Thomas Brennan up against a wall. He had to handle his son or face the consequences, which would cut him off from Flag, his wife Wendy, his employers and friends, Denise [Miscavige Gentile] and Gerald Gentile, all dedicated Scientologists, and end his high celebrity status of being audited by David Miscavige’s sister.”[iv] Additionally, Brennan’s failure to handle Kyle could result in Brennan becoming a Potential Trouble Source (or PTS), a person who is connected to and being adversely affected by a Suppressive Person.

Potential Trouble Source, Suppressive Person, Handling, Disconnection—It’s obvious that Scientology is an extremely troubling and potentially dangerous philosophy. Any serious study of its beliefs and practices reveals a dark portrait of an authoritarian organization with psychopathic underpinnings. What other religious organization, for example, would demand that its members throw away a child, “disconnect” from a family member in need?

What measures would an extremely dedicated Scientologist take to “handle” his own child? We can prove that Tom Brennan lied, repeatedly, and that he committed perjury (he lied under oath), how far did he go in order to receive eternal salvation from the Church of Scientology?

“If Kyle was being considered as an Enemy/SP,” stated former Scientologist Lance Marcor, “Tom may have taken matters into his own hands . . . and possibly expedited the disconnection by having ‘a hand’ in his [Kyle’s] demise. . . .” Murder is certainly not out of the question, “since,” noted Marcor, “Tom Brennan stated in his answer filed in this case[v] that his son died as a result of suicide or homicide” (emphasis added).

Thanks to the antics of celebrity Scientologists, Americans have come to think of the Church of Scientology as a benign organization that’s unfortunately attracted an oddball collection of unhinged followers. The point-of-view from the other side of the equation, however—how Scientology looks at the rest of the world—is altogether different. “We’re not playing some minor game in Scientology,” wrote founder L. Ron Hubbard (in a policy letter called “Keep Scientology Working”). “It isn’t cute or something to do for lack of something better. The whole agonized future of this planet, every Man, Woman and Child on it and your own destiny for the next endless trillions of years depend on what you do here and now with and in Scientology. This is a deadly serious activity.”[vi] Deadly, indeed. How many people have perished thanks to the soulless teachings of the Church of Scientology?

Note: The Narratives above are all Copyright(c)2015 Victoria Britton. The documents posted below each narrative are in the public domain.

——————————————————————————–

[i] Quoted in http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2259131/Scientologists-believe-Holocaust-planned-carried-psychiatrists-claims-BBC-rant-reporter-John-Sweeney.html

[ii] See Operation Clambake web-site: http:/www.xenu.net/fairgame-e.html

[iii] See Operation Clambake web-site: http:/www.xenu-directory.net/practices/threats.html

[iv] See attached document, “Declaration of Lance Marcor.”

[v] In this phrase, “his [Brennan’s] answer in this case,” Lance Marcor is referring to Brennan’s first response to the wrongful-death lawsuit through his lawyer, attorney Rick Alvarez (see attachment).

[vi] Quoted in: Urban, Hugh B., The Church of Scientology: A History of a New Religion (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011), pg. 124.

Excerpts from the deposition of Gary L. Robinson

Excerpts from the Deposition of S. Brennan

Excerpt from the Deposition of Victoria Britton

Copy of Kyle’s Bank Statement; Deposit made on February 15, 2007 (Thursday).

Scientology, “SEC Check” issued to Tom Brennan.

Excerpt from the Deposition of Tom Brennan

Excerpt from the Deposition of Officer Jonathan Yuen

Scientology Privilege Log

Kyle’s last phone calls were placed to Clearwater attorneys who practice in personal injury .

2/16 10:24 727-507-8999 Attorney Frank Verdi
2/16 10:24 727-461-2947 Law Firm of Beltz & Ruth
2/16 10:25 727-796-2706 Teresa Williams

Hearts of darkness; Tom Brennan, Denise Miscavige Gentile

Denise Miscavige Gentile

Excerpt from the Deposition of Peter Mansell; Director of Special Affairs, Flag Service Organization

Excerpt from the Depostion of Tom Brennan

Excerpt from the Deposition of Jerry Gentile

Excerpt from the Deposition of Denise Miscavige Gentile

Excerpt from the Deposition of Detective Jonathan Yuen.

Tom Cruise, Scientology Video: Defining an SP

Scientology’s Suppressive Person (SP) doctrine

http://www.xenu-directory.net/practices/sp.html – Similar to Scientology’s Suppressive Person (SP) doctrine

May be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without …. “A POTENTIAL TROUBLE SOURCE [PTS] is defined as a person who while …

Declaration of Lance Marcor:

1. I Joined the Sea Org in 1978 after being public at Pasadena Mission, California did my EPF (basic training) at the Cedars Hospital renovating it into the PAC Base in LA. Next I was trained in treasury policy and ran a GO Mission handling Celebrity Center LA Treasury records in case of an IRS Audit. I was slated to be the Assistant Guardian for Finance at CCLA which held the same rank as Commanding Officer CCLA. I was to go to England for training but didn’t want the job and requested to come to FLAG in Florida instead. I arrived at FLAG in 1980 and took the post of Director of Inspections and Reports for the FSO. That post is the Department Head of Department 3, and is located in Division I which is a senior division on the Scientology Organization Board.

I know Matteo Rosetti, the Ethics Officer of Thomas Brennan.

I was in charge of 300 staff members’ ethics and was fully trained on ethics policy. The Public MAAs were in my department under me.My next post was working in Division 4 (Technical Division) in Dept.10 – Technical Services. I worked around the auditing and Case Supervisor Office, I acquired knowledge of the lines and terminals involved with the PC, where he goes and why. These terminals include the D of P (Director of Processing, Director of Training, Cramming Officers, Medical Liaison Officer, Registrars, Ethics Officer, Chaplain, etc. (everyone the PC could possibly be involved with in the FSO).

2. I worked my way up in rank to Chief Petty officer and was in charge of Petty Officer Council, Secretary of Officers Council, a member of the Permanent Board of Review, On several Justice Committees, In charge of the entire FLB Messing System, In charge of the entire FLB Berthing Inspections, I worked in the Reg Office and was in charge of the SO Call in Admin Unit. I worked in the Public Course room as Course Administrator, was on several CMO missions as a CMO Missioner, I was the Division 7 (Executive Division) Financial Planning Representative, Worked part time as an FLB Security Guard, and was in Senior HCO, Flag Land Base running the Cadet Sailing Academy. After leaving the Sea Org I became public and was Captain of the Dianetics Windsurfing Team and later became in charge of the entire Dianetics Athletic Association, was on the OT Committee and Clear Expansion Committee. I left the church in 2007.

3. I have been asked to review the Privilege Log, and the redacted “List of Actions,” the title of the document in the Privilege Log, but actually entitled “SEC CHECK KR HANDLING,” and compare it to my expertise and experience and knowledge of Scientology policies in this area. I do so voluntarily.

4. First and foremost, the Ethics Folders are never privileged in Scientology. I understand that this court did not rule on privilege, but had the List of Actions redacted based on relevancy. If true, then much of the ethics folder materials, including the List of Actions, were culled or created just for the court. From what is produced, compared to the Privilege Log and written church policy, it is obvious to me that much is missing that must exist at Flag concerning Kyle Brennan.

5. It’s apparent that the communication from OSA, (Office of Special Affairs in charge of legal and avoiding public relation problems, PR Flaps), is missing in reference to Thomas Brennan and his son, Kyle Brennan. The EO (Ethics Officer) sent two communications to OSA and neither are answered by OSA. This does not happen.

6. Those communications are not confidential as OSA deals in organizational security per the policy and the CIS (Case Supervisor) deals in confidential confessionals. This entire PTS scene with Tom being “connected” to Victoria and Kyle and the connection to Psychiatry (Per HCOPL 6 Dec 76RB ILLEGAL PCs, ACCEPTANCE OF – HIGH CRIME PL), would have come up early on in Tom’s auditing or Confessional, meaning that OSA would have been informed of the “security risk” of Tom’s “connection” and Tom would have been monitored by OSA while having been pulled into Ethics (the EO) per HCO PL 18 June 1968, ETHICS, and ordered to do Conditions Handlings at least by starting with the condition of Doubt as this PTS condition was obviously hanging Tom up in Doubt in his wavering back and forth in his dealings with Victoria and Kyle.(HCOPL 18 Dec 1982 ETHICS CONDITIONS: HANG-UP AT DOUBT).

7. Also, there is no explanation as to why so many reports are sent to the EO from the auditor (Denise Gentile) without an ethics handling. What were all of those reports about? (HCOPL 7 Mar 1965RA OFFENCES AND PENALTIES makes it a “Crime” in Scientology – “Failing to report a potential trouble source to local HCO”)

8. The reports should have concerned Kyle’s connection to Psychiatry and acted on immediately, per policy, because Psychiatry and anti-depressant medication are the utmost evil to Scientology with the goal of eliminating both. Tom would have been advised to determine his condition for the Suppressive Act of “continued adherence to a person or group pronounced a suppressive person or group by HCO” per the Scientology Ethics conditions: HCOPL2 Nov 1982 CONDITIONS HANDLINGS and HCOPL 3 Aug 1985 COMPLETING CONDITIONS FORMULAS and the fact that Wendy (Tom’s Wife) referred to Kyle as “enemy of the church,” shows that there was awareness by Tom that Kyle was an “enemy” per the Scientology ethics conditions and would have had to handle his own connection to Kyle.

9. Tom would have had to move up the Conditions through the Condition of Liability (HCOPL 6 Oct 1967 CONDITIONS OF LIABILITY AND DOUBT) and HCO POLICY LETTER OF 14 MARCH 1968, in which case he would have had to apply step “2. Deliver an effective blow to the enemies of the group one has been pretending to be part of despite personal danger”. (Tom pretending to “care” about Kyle’s future (the family group) when in fact he is regarding him as an enemy of the church group). There are two opposing groups here – The the church group with its policy and orders and Victoria and Kyle as his family group).

10. Tom’s auditor, being a veteran Scientologist, has an “intimate” relationship with Tom (“intimate” as in the auditor, through the process of auditing, becomes aware of intimate details of one’s life despite the professional viewpoint the auditor must maintain while “in session”). It is well known that a Scientologist develops an intimate rapport with the auditor and in many cases wants to do “extra” favors for the auditor as an appreciation of the “help” that is being rendered by the auditor in terms of “spiritual relief’ from things hindering or bothering the PC. In my many years working in and around the auditing divisions of Scientology, I have witnessed this to be the case, which is why all gifts to auditors from their PCs must be reported. An example of this relationship is Tom calling Denise before calling 911. Tom was asking advice on how to handle a “mental decision”, i.e.,”what do I do now?” “my son is dead on the floor and I can’t make a decision on my own”. “Call my auditor” (not my wife or Kyle’s mother, but my auditor).

11. This fact of the PC losing mental control of his own ability to make decisions shows the involvement that Scientology has on individuals in controlling their lives. One famous Scientology set of Processes are the CCHs (Control, Communication, Havingness) where in the early stages of Scientology “processing” the auditor gains control over the PC’s mind through communication and thus the PC regains his “Havingness” for the physical universe in his new reality (under the control of the auditor and thus the organization of Scientology). This is promoted as “Helping the PC regain control over his own life,” however, if he now has to remain “connected up” to the Scientology organization to continue “up the Bridge to Total Freedom” and this is his ultimate salvation for this lifetime and all future lifetimes, he now must, per “the greatest good,” comply to the organizational policy and “command intention” of the current Scientology leader: Denise Gentile’s brother David Miscavige. These are the facts of Scientology and how Scientology is involved in the death of Kyle Brennan.

12. Every Scientologist must follow the written policy of the founder, L. Ron Hubbard. per HCOPL 7 Feb 1965 KEEPING SCIENTOLOGY WORKING. 1 say this because it cannot be overstated that his policies must be followed. In order for a non-Scientologist to understand what I am about to say, certain policies and definitions published by Scientology must be explained. First, in listening to someone who is a devoted Scientologist, one must understand that the Scientologist’s first goal is to protect the church at all costs. This includes telling an “acceptable truth,” which is saying whatever needs to be said to attain the desired result, including lying.

It has been defined by Scientologist, Dr. David Minkoff, M.D., (a former defendant in the wrongful death case of Lisa McPherson in the state court of Hillsborough County, Florida, Case # 52-2000- ea-005682), where he testified in his 10-22-1997 deposition that an acceptable truth is “one that works,” “when it works, its ethical, when it does the best good for the most number of people.” It includes lying to serve the greater good.

13. The words or phrases “Handle,” “Handle the Hell Out of It,” “Handle It,” “Handling,” and “Handling Situations” are very specific terms of direct orders compelling one to get it done or else face consequences. Modern Management Technology Defined. This term, “handle,” is well known among Scientologists. One situation which must be handled is a “Potential Trouble Source,” a/k/a PTS.

13. “THIS HANDLING IS DONE BY THE ETHICS OFFICER OF AN ORG…” “If a PTS situation actually exists, the interview must result in a written program agreed upon by the person (Tom) with copies to the person and to his ethics file.” “As the person does the steps of the program, he reports their accomplishment to the org officer (E0) who interviewed him.” “If the person fails to do the program or the program results in no real change in the situation, the interviewing officer must investigate thoroughly to find out what the person is doing instead of the program…”

14. In Kyle’s case, the EO, Ethics Officer, Matteo Rosetti, whom I know, did not choose to “Handle” as there were no steps on the program “to handle.” The E0 by evidence chose to have Tom “Disconnect” (move Kyle out) Per HCOB 10 Sept 1983 PTSness and Disconnection – “Example: A PC is connected to a person or group that has been declared suppressive by HCO in a published ethics order. He should disconnect and, if he wants to inform the SP of the fact, he may write a letter of disconnection.” In Tom’s case, he simply informed Kyle of the fact that he would have to be finding a new place to live. That may be why the bed linens of Kyle’s bed were stripped at he time of the death. If Kyle was being considered as an Enemy/SP, Tom may have taken matters into his own hands, or others, and possibly expedited the disconnection by having “a hand” in his demise, since Tom Brennan stated in his answer filed in this case that his son died as a result of suicide or homicide.

15. The Defendant in this case, FSO, without question forbids any psychotic person on FSO property. “Handling Psychotics at the FSO.” The main reason the List of Actions included ordering Thomas Brennan to move his son out of the apartment and “Handle” him is for Thomas Brennan to secure his future in the church which, per “KSW Policy {Keep Scientology Working), guarantees his spiritual freedom for an eternity. It also protects his auditor, Denise Gentile. Policies which demand the move out of the son.“A PC is connected to a group that has been declared suppressive by HCO.(In Kyle’s case, Psychiatry as a group has been declared suppressive by HCO); HCOPL 23 December 1965 SUPPRESSIVE ACTS SUPPRESSION OF SCIENTOLOGY AND SCIENTOLOGISTS “Suppressive Acts” require disconnection.

“Here are some “suppressive acts:”

Kyle is guilty of this suppressive act: remaining connected to psychiatry through his use of psychiatric drugs.
“Continued adherence to a person or group pronounced a suppressive person or group by HCO. (Psychiatry as a group has been pronounced suppressive by the church: i.e., CCHR, a front group for the church to attack Psychiatry)
Tom Brennan’s son’s continuing adherence to psychiatry now becomes suppressive in the church’s eyes (Tom’s wife, Wendy, referred to Kyle as an “Enemy” in September 2006 when she learned that Kyle was seeing a psychiatrist and taking psych drugs, Lexapro).

Tom Brennan’s failing to handle…i.e., disconnect, would then make him be labeled “Suppressive Person, SP.”

“failure to handle or disavow and disconnect from a person demonstrably guilty of suppressive acts.”
Tom as a first step in being handled by the church is given the ultimatum to disconnect falling short of being able to handle Kyle’s taking his meds. On orders by the Ethics Officer, he tried to Handle by removing Kyle’s connection to Psychiatry by removing his meds.“a potential trouble source may receive no processing until the situation is handled.”

16. The term “enemy” are those who oppose and those who can damage the organization or person. Modern Management Technology Defined. [Exhibit 17].

17. From the declaration of Victoria Britton, Exhibit 18, Tom Brennan knew that his son, Kyle, was seeing a psychiatrist and taking Lexapro as early as May or June 2006. This coincides with the first entry on the Privilege log. He invited his son to come to Clearwater, offering him a job and going to college. While in Clearwater in August and September 2006, Kyle hears Brennan’s new wife call Kyle an “enemy.” Kyle rapidly leaves Clearwater. (Per the declaration of Scott Brennan]. When Kyle comes to Clearwater for the last time in February 2007 to rest before returning to Virginia, Tom Brennan is in conflict with being a father to his son and being a dedicated Scientologist due to the above policies.

18. The above policies placed Tom Brennan up against a wall. He had to handle his son or else face these consequences, which would cut him off from Flag, his wife, Wendy, his employers and friends, Denise and Gerald Gentile, all dedicated Scientologists, and end his high celebrity status of being audited by David Miscavige’s sister. Denise Gentile also had a strong interest in having the son handled for her own benefit of her class auditing and being connected to Tom Brennan, her friend and employee.

19. OSA became involved in this matter early on because not only is Denise Miscavige Gentile the twin sister of the leader of all of Scientology, David Miscavige, but the privilege log shows that the EO, Matteo Rosetti, on May 3 2006, wrote a report to OSA to get approval for Tom Brennan to become Flag public. This is no small matter. OSA would have responded to this request in writing. That has not been produced nor is it listed in the Privilege Log. It is very important to this case. Also, on May 5, 2006, Matteo wrote another comm (communication) to OSA, re: Tom Brennan. Again, there is no mention of a comm back from OSA. That simply does not happen at Flag. On September 7, 2006, Matteo writes to the CIS, (Case Supervisor), which had to concern clearance for Flag auditing of Thomas Brennan. There has to be a reply in writing as to the reason Tom Brennan is accepted for auditing. This is not privileged. It would show the relationship between Denise Gentile and Tom Brennan. It would more likely than not also show Denise’s knowledge about Tom Brennan’s family, including his only son, Kyle, and what was known about Kyle’s psychiatric treatment and medication.

20. As I stated in my first Declaration, before I saw the redacted List of Actions, I opined that Tom was ordered by an EO to handle his son per the written policy of Scientology known as a PTS A Handling (Potential Trouble Source Handling), [Exhibit 13]. Now that we see that the List of Actions confirms what I previously stated, the CIS, Case Supervisor at Flag, would have ordered “PTS A Handling,” and OSA at Flag, having jurisdiction over the Tech lines for overall security, ordered the E0 at Flag to order Tom Brennan, per that Policy (Illegal PCs Acceptance Of High Crime PL, attached to first Declaration and attached here for convenience, [Exhibit 3], to make sure Kyle Brennan was “handled.”

21. It can not be overemphasized that Kyle Brennan’s presence was potentially a huge PR Flap to Flag by his taking an anti-depressant, Lexapro, acting in such a manner that Tom Brennan was afraid to leave him alone, and calling government offices, while Thomas Brennan was living at an apartment building occupied by Scientologists, a Flag public being audited by Denise Miscavige Gentile, a 1/2 block from the Coachman Building, and a block from the Ft. Harrison Hotel.

22. The privilege log shows that OSA is involved not only before Kyle Brennan arrived in Clearwater on February 7, 2007, but also while he was at his father’s apartment, which most definitely would continue not only through the day Kyle died, but also after his death and until this matter is concluded. There is no reason OSA at Flag would send a communication about Thomas Brennan other than with regards to that policy on handling a PTS. They have no other involvement to the public other than the fact of “Organizational Security”. OSA comm has not been produced and that is for sure not confidential.

23. In further evidence of OSA at Flag’s involvement and OSA Int (OSA International in Los Angeles, CA), the KR (Knowledge Report), [Exhibit 19], allegedly typed by Gerald Gentile and sent to OSA Int and then copied to OSA at Flag, with the addition of the List of Actions and the missing OSA comm, confirms USA’s and Flag’s involvement and control over Tom Brennan, Denise Gentile, and Kyle Brennan before Kyle Brennan’s death.

24. Per Scientology Policy HCOPL 22 July 1982 Knowledge Reports: “I .Anyone who knew of a loafing or destructive or off-policy or out-ethics action and WHO DID NOT FILE A KNOWLEDGE REPORT becomes an ACCESSORY in any justice action taken thereafter.” Per this policy, the fact of Tom Brennan being connected to his son Kyle who is involved with a known suppressive group (Psychiatry) requires anyone who knew about the connection to write a Knowledge Report. In other words, the Church’s own policy substantiates the fact that there are missing reports as those reports are required flying back and forth from Denise the auditor, to the Ethics Officer, and to and from OSA not excluding the Case Supervisor. The “out ethics situation” is, per the church policy, the connection of Tom Brennan to his son Kyle for months (May 2006 – Feb 16 2007) without “Handling or Disconnection”. Per HCOPL 11 May 1965 ETHICS OFFICER HAT – “The activities of the Ethics Officer consist of isolating individuals who are stopping proper flows by pulling withholds with ethics technology and by removing the potential trouble sources and suppressive individuals off org comm lines and by generally enforcing Ethics Codes.” Exhibit 21.

25. The Ethics Handling which ordered Torn Brennan to move Kyle out was based on a “Security Check” This Sec Check is not “priest-penitent privilege” per HCOPL 7 Jan 1985 HCO Confessionals, which states: “Overts disclosed in the course of Confessionals done for investigatory or justice purposes are always the subject of Knowledge Reports to HCO and are actionable on the person.” “At the beginning of the first session of an HCO Confessional or any auditing action to be done as an HCO Confessional, the auditor gives the PC the R-Factor (reality factor) , “I am not auditing you.” The session is then begun as usual…” [Exhibit 22].

26. “The fact that a Sec Check or False Purpose RD (Rundown) form is being done as an HCO Confessional does not mean that the procedure is changed. The Auditor’s procedure is the same. But the overts are reported to Ethics for handling and are actionable. It should be clearly marked on the Knowledge Report that it is from an HCO Confessional action.” (note: this is also evidence that the Ethics Files are not confidential).(HCOPL 7 Jan 1985 HCO CONFESSIONALS) (Exhibit 25). What this shows is that it is impossible for these reports to not have been made.(HCOPL 10 Mar 1982 CONFESSIONALS-ETHICS REPORTS REQUIRED). Exhibit 23. This is evidence that Tom Brennan was under pressure from the Church to “handle” his son. Some Church philosophy that applies to a Scientologist’s mental conditioning are as follows: The Code of Honor by L. Ron Hubbard: “Never fear to hurt another in a just cause.” “Your self determinism and honor are more important than your immediate life.” “Your integrity to yourself is more important than your body.” Also, “Your value as a being is to your group and not to your self at all”. HCOPL 23 DEC 65 RB SUPPRESSIVE ACTS SUPPRESSION OF SCIENTOLOGY AND SCIENTOLOGISTS -”Suppressive Acts” (as follows)…”Failure to handle or disavow and disconnect from a person demonstrably guilty of suppressive acts”. [Exhibit 16]. Tom would have to apply this policy to Kyle, per Kyle’s connection to the “suppressive group,” – Psychiatry. “Continued adherence to a person or group pronounced a suppressive person or group by HCO.” Kyle is guilty of this Suppressive Act by his default connection to Psychiatry and his Meds.

27. Kyle’s death was a direct result of the application of the policy of the church which is to “Handle or Disconnect” and that includes by whatever means necessary. It all started with Denise Gentile reporting to Flag’s Ethics Officer. Driving Kyle over the edge when he was in a depressed state and without his coeds by suggesting he move out is one way of getting rid of the problem. “Never fear to hurt another in a just cause” Kyle, per Scientology philosophy, can always go and pick up another body and it would be considered the “Greatest Good” to move him out of Tom’s and the Gentile’s life. Every Scientologist early on in Scientology is required to do the PTS/SP Course – HOW TO CONFRONT AND SHATTER SUPPRESSION by L. Ron Hubbard and the term PTS and SP are household nomenclature used on a daily basis amongst Scientologists. This is not some isolated case as this is the “GLUE” that keeps Scientology together and tight as, per L. Ron Hubbard, “a kind of juggernaut builds up” running through a free society. With the purpose of every Scientologist to “add to this POWER”. In the Scientology reference on the condition of Power RESPONSIBILITIES OF LEADERS – Section on “seven things about power,” HCO PL 12 February 1967, it states in reference to being “open to the taunts of any enemy of the power who dare not really boot the power but can boot you.”…”you must yourself gather and USE enough power to hold your own – without just flattering to the power to “kill Pete” in straightforward or more suppressive ways to him, as these wreck the power that supports yours, He doesn’t have to know all the bad news, and if he’s a power really, he won’t ask all the time: “What are all those dead bodies doing at the door?” … Well, boss, about all those dead bodies, nobody at all will suppose you did it. She over there, those pink legs sticking out, didn’t like me.” “Well.” he’ll say, if lie really is a power, “why are you bothering me with it if it’s done and you did it…” L. Ron Hubbard HCOPL 12 Feb 1967 Responsibilities of Leaders.

28. What is driving Denise Gentile, Gerald Gentile, Thomas Brennan and Flag is that in making decisions church policy must always be heeded: HCOPL 7 FEB 65 Keeping Scientology Working 1 – “We’re not playing some minor game in Scientology. It isn’t cute or something to do for lack of something better. The whole agonized future of this planet, every man, woman and child on it and your own destiny for the next endless trillions of years depend on what you do here and now with and in Scientology. This is a deadly serious activity. And if we miss getting out of the trap now, we may never again have another chance”.

Under penalties of perjury, I declare that the above is true.

Lance Marcor

Dated this 27th day of September, 2010.

The “Handling” of Kyle Brennan-

A letter from one of Kyle’s many childhood friends: “My heart goes out to you. I have this idea—a fantasy, really—that if all your family & friends surrendered just two months of their lives (and I’m sure we all would), and gave those days to Kyle, so that he could live to be 70 or 80, then everything would be okay, we could undo this impossible situation. I wish we could. It’s only right.” – February 23, 2007 (shortly after Kyle’s death)

In 2007 my forward-looking 20-year-old son, Kyle Brennan, died in Clearwater, Florida, under extremely suspicious circumstances while visiting his Scientologist father. (Clearwater, of course, is the site of Scientology’s headquarters.) We lost the subsequent wrongful-death lawsuit we filed against Kyle’s father, prominent Scientologists who were involved, and the Church of Scientology itself. Because of the legal expenses incurred, we’ve yet to purchase a proper headstone for our beloved son. Will you help us?

If you have any questions contact Victoria at: vbreton2062 (at) aol.com.

Perjury; Clearwater’s Pollution

Tags

Attorney Ken Dandar, Attorney Lee Fugate, Attorney Rick Alvarez, Denise Miscavige Gentile, Detective Jonathan Yuen, Flag Service Org., Judge Steven D. Merryday, Martha J. Scholl, Steve Bohling, The Church of Scientology, The Clearwater Police department, Tom Brennan

“Fool me Twice” Shame on the Justice System

Honorable Steven D. Merryday

When the Tampa-based federal judge presiding over the wrongful-death lawsuit—Steven Merryday for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida—ruled in favor of the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, he noted the following:“Assuming that Kyle’s father [Tom Brennan] and the others [Gerald and Denise Miscavige Gentile] are liars, Scientology’s responsibility is possible, but this theoretical and remote possibility is unsupported by evidence or any reasonable and direct inference from the evidence. If the witnesses are ignored in gross as liars, the fact finder is left to guess. Attenuated and compound inferences and speculation uniformly fail to create a genuine issue of material fact sufficient to avoid summary judgment.”

Obviously, we strongly disagree.

Not only did the defendants in the case lie, but the Clearwater, Florida, detective investigating Kyle’s suspicious death—Stephen Bohling—lied in his police report. Both of these assertions are easily verified with testimony and documentation.

Did these individuals commit perjury (a felony in the State of Florida)? According to The Law Dictionary, available online: In criminal law, perjury is “The willful assertion as to a matter of fact, opinion, belief, or knowledge, made by a witness in a judicial proceeding as part of his evidence, either upon oath or in any form allowed by law to be substituted for an oath, whether such evidence is given in open court, or in an affidavit, or otherwise, such assertion being known to such witness to be false, and being intended by him to mislead the court, jury, or person holding the proceeding.

(See The Law Dictionary [athttp://thelawdictionary.org/perjury/#ixzz2qURWg1aC%5D, featuring Black’s Law Dictionary.)

Obviously, if a witness deliberately chooses to lie, twisting the testimony in one way or the other, the false testimony may bring about a very skewed outcome in a case.It’s been shown that Detective Stephen Bohling deliberately lied in his Clearwater Police Report (the CWPR). This has been supported by documents and testimony. His investigation is replete with conflicts of interest and mishandled standard investigative procedures. By twisting statements made by others—in other words, assigning the lies to others such as Marti Scholl of the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner’s Office, or FDLE Agent Barbara Mendez, or Kyle’s psychiatrist Stephen McNamara—he may have believed that he could wheedle his way out of perjury charges. Perhaps he thought he could turn the entire situation into a “he said, she said” scenario.

Unfortunately, all of this illegal behavior had a direct impact on the outcome of the wrongful-death lawsuit.

Here’s how:

On May 29, 2009, Lee Fugate—the attorney representing Gerald and Denise Miscavige Gentile—attached Bohling’s CWPR to his “Motion to Dismiss Complaint.”

On June 11, 2009, Attorney Kennan Dandar—the attorney representing the Estate of Kyle Brennan—filed a motion to strike the report.

On June 24, 2009, Judge Stephen Merryday granted the Estate of Kyle Brennan the motion to strike the police report.

Did this stop the defendants from using the content of the police report? Absolutely not!

Excerpt from the deposition of detective Stephen Bohling

Statement of Mark C. “Marty” Rathbun, former senior executive of the Church of Scientology.

http://www.wtsp.com/investigators/article/282987/34/Federal-suit-Scientologists-spent-30-mil-to-cover-death

Recorded exchange between Attorney Lee Fugate and Detective Steve Bohling.

Note: The Narratives above are all Copyright 2014 Victoria Britton. The documents posted below each narrative are in the public domain.

Attorney Luke Lirot

Affidavit of Lance Marcor: The Handling of Kyle Brennan

http://wp.me/P3pDjv-UL

 

Old-fashioned sincerity

Merryday

In January 1994, U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday was arrested for DUI near his home in Palatka. A Florida State trooper saw Merryday driving erratically near construction on U.S. 17. Merryday, then a federal judge for two years, declined interviews but offered an unambiguous statement after he was released from jail.

“I made an inexcusable and dangerous mistake in judgment, for which I accept full responsibility,” he said. “I apologize to my family and friends, as well as the public, for this incident.”

Merryday vowed that his first offense would be his last. He said he was “committed unalterably to remaining free at all times from any and all intoxicants.”

He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one year’s probation, ordered to pay $688 in fines, perform 50 hours of community service, attend DUI school and give up his driver’s license for six months.

US federal judge and Florida judge clash over Scientology wrongful death case.

A United States federal court judge and Florida state court judge are enmeshed in a conflict against each other regarding a wrongful death lawsuit involving Scientology.

     Scientology building in Clearwater, Florida (2009)

A federal judge for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Steven Douglas Merryday, ordered Pinellas County Senior Circuit Judge Robert E. Beach not to intervene regarding appearance of an attorney in a federal court case involving Scientology. Lawyer Kennan Dandar is representing the estate of Kyle Thomas Brennan in a wrongful death claim against the Scientology organization.

The suit asserts that members of the Scientology organization, including the father of Brennan, removed access to the deceased’s anti-depression medication, and provided him with means to utilize a loaded gun. Brennan had been staying with his father for a week prior to his death. Police in Clearwater, Florida investigated the 2007 death of Brennan, and determined it was a suicide. Kyle Brennan was himself not a member of Scientology. The lawsuit, filed in 2009, was filed by Brennan’s mother on behalf of her son’s estate. Named as defendants in the lawsuit include the Scientology organization, its subdivision the Flag Service Organization, twin sister of Scientology leader David Miscavige – Denise Gentile, and her husband Gerald Gentile.

Attorney Dandar had previously represented the estate of Lisa McPherson in a separate civil wrongful death claim against the Scientology organization. After being under the care of members of the Scientology organization for 17 days, McPherson died in Clearwater in 1995. The wrongful death suit claimed that Scientology officials permitted McPherson to deteriorate to a dehydrated state, where her condition was such that she did not have the energy to fend off cockroaches from biting her skin.

Scientology management settled the McPherson wrongful death case in 2004; lawyers representing the organization stated the settlement included a confidential arrangement with Dandar to never again represent clients in lawsuits against Scientology entities. The settlement included an agreement that both sides would never speak again about the case; California lawyer Ford Greene commented, “The church bought silence.” The Scientology organization had also filed a countersuit against the estate of Lisa McPherson, and named Dandar a party to that lawsuit. The organization claimed Dandar had inappropriately tried to add the head of Scientology David Miscavige as a party to the wrongful death lawsuit.

	I’m stuck in the middle of two courts.
—Kennan Dandar

Scientology legal representatives requested Judge Beach to see to it that Dandar abide by the secret settlement agreement, and Beach subsequently issued an order in June 2009 that Dandar be removed from the Brennan wrongful death case. Dandar faced sanctions from Judge Beach including suspension of Dandar’s license to practice law, a US$130,000 judgement to be given to the Scientology organization, and a fine of $1,000 per day. Judge Beach ruled that all money from the sanctions imposed against Dandar – were to go directly to the Scientology organization. The Tampa Tribune noted that Judge Breach made his ruling, “in an inexplicably closed hearing from which Beach tossed a St. Petersburg Times reporter”.

Faced with these possible sanctions, Dandar filed an “involuntary” motion to withdraw from the Brennan wrongful death case in federal court, but Judge Merryday denied this request. Dandar stated to The Tampa Tribune, “I’m stuck in the middle of two courts.”

D. Wallace Pope, a lawyer for the Scientology organization, stated that he wished to show evidence regarding the settlement in the McPherson wrongful death case. However, Judge Merryday emphasized his main issue was determining whether or not Dandar was being penalized for obeying the federal court’s order denying his request to be withdrawn from the Brennan wrongful death case. Judge Merryday stated he would prevent the Scientology organization along with Judge Beach from punishing Dandar for representing his client in US federal court. Merryday stated Beach had attempted to usurp control outside of his jurisdiction, thereby “aggressively” interferring with the US federal court process through imposing sanctions on Dandar.

Merryday has served as a US federal judge based in Tampa, Florida since 1992. The St. Petersburg Times noted that Judge Merryday, “has presided over some of the region’s most noteworthy cases.” Judge Merryday’s court order creating an injunction against Beach was 29-pages long, and criticized the “stunning severity” of Beach’s sanctions imposed on Dandar. Merryday explained that the federal court needed to “act in defense of the (federal) court’s jurisdiction”, due to Beach’s actions. Referencing Judge Beach, Merryday wrote in his court order, “A judge should not undertake, directly or indirectly, overtly or through a surrogate, to compel an act by another judge, especially in a different jurisdiction.”

Judge Merryday stated to Scientology lawyers, “have forced my hand on this issue.” Merryday stated to Scientology lawyer, Robert Potter, “I don’t like being put in this position. When people start to squeeze, other people can squeeze back.” Potter asked him to seal the proceedings from public view, and Judge Merryday responded, “I’m not going to be entering any seals unless I see a lawful reason, and I can’t even see the beginning of a reason”. Merryday stated he would not allow his court to be influenced by “some circuit judge somewhere who appears for all I can tell to have sealed something for some unknown reason”.

Judge Beach responded to Judge Merryday’s injunction which “permanently enjoined” him from imposing sanctions on Dandar, by filing a motion on Thursday in federal court in Tampa. Beach asked Merryday to rescind his order so that he may recuse himself from acting as a judge on the Scientology case related to Dandar. Beach’s motion argued that he was denied due process because he was not given notice by Merryday of the hearing which occurred before Merryday issued his ruling. In addition, Beach asserted Merryday did not have power to issue the ruling restricting him from sanctioning Dandar, because Beach was not a party to the Brennan wrongful death case, and Merryday lacked authority to restrict powers of a judge from outside his federal court jurisdiction. In response, Judge Merryday has scheduled a hearing for October 12 in federal court to hear state court judge Beach.

Martin Errorl Rice is an attorney in St. Petersburg, Florida who represented Beach in the motion before the US federal court. Rice stated his client’s motivation in requesting the ruling by Judge Merryday be rescinded was to allow Beach to recuse from the Scientology case. Rice told the St. Petersburg Times that his client’s conflict with the US federal court has “cast kind of a cloud” over Beach’s position in the Scientology case.

Stetson University College of Law constitutional law professor Michael Allen analyzed the clash between the US judge and Florida judge for The Tampa Tribune. Allen observed that it was “very, very rare” for a US federal judge to order a state judge. He noted that a 1793 federal law contravenes such orders – except in “extraordinarily narrow” cases where the federal judges are permitted to create rulings in order to safeguard the jurisdiction of their federal court proceedings.

Related news

• “Author Amy Scobee recounts abuse as Scientology executive” — Wikinews, October 11, 2010
• “Women reveal accounts of forced abortion in Scientology” — Wikinews, June 15, 2010
• “Author of My Billion Year Contract reflects on life in elite Scientology group” — Wikinews, January 15, 2010
• “Blown for Good author discusses life inside international headquarters of Scientology” —Wikinews, November 13, 2009
• “Banned film ‘The Profit’ appears on Web” — Wikinews, March 23, 2008

Sister links

• Lisa McPherson

• List of deaths related to Scientology

Sources

This article features first-hand journalism by Wikinews members. See the collaboration page for more details.

• Thomas C. Tobin. “It’s judge vs. judge in battle over Scientology lawyer” — St. Petersburg Times, October 9, 2010
• Steven Douglas Merryday. “Order for hearing by Judge Merryday” — United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, October 8, 2010
• Robert E. Beach. “Objection by Judge Beach” — United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, October 7, 2010
• Elaine Silvestrini. “Scientology suit takes ‘very, very rare’ turn” — The Tampa Tribune, September 29, 2010
• Thomas C. Tobin. “Federal judge tells Pinellas judge to back off in Scientology lawsuit” — St. Petersburg Times, September 29, 2010
• Elaine Silvestrini. “Fed judge to state judge: Butt out of Scientology case” — The Tampa Tribune, September 28, 2010
• Steven Douglas Merryday. “Injunction by Judge Merryday” — United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, September 28, 2010
• “In court with Scientology” — The Tampa Tribune, September 20, 2010
• Craig Pittman. “Federal judge suspends state judgment against lawyer in dispute with Scientology” — St. Petersburg Times, September 4, 2010
• Craig Pittman and Curtis Krueger. “Lawyer in Scientology case is stuck between state and federal judges” — St. Petersburg Times, September 1, 2010
• “Florida mom sues Scientology over suicide” — United Press International, February 17, 2009
• Jonathan Abel. “Mom sues Church of Scientology in son’s death” — St. Petersburg Times, February 17, 2009
• Robert Farley. “Church settlement brings relief” — St. Petersburg Times, June 6, 2004
• Robert Farley. “Church requests that trial be moved” — St. Petersburg Times, May 23, 2003

 

“Lies of a Scientologist Father”

Fair Game; May be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed.
(ref: HCO Policy letter of 18, October 1967, Issue IV)

My twenty-year-old son, Kyle Brennan, died in the Clearwater, Florida, apartment of his Scientologist father, Tom Brennan, on the evening of February 16, 2007. The Clearwater Police Department (the CWPD) ruled it a suicide, but the circumstances surrounding his death were, and remain, highly suspicious. Over the course of the subsequent investigation, for example, Tom Brennan, his Scientologist associates—and the Clearwater police—changed their descriptions of what had transpired that fateful night. Brennan told one of the first policemen on the scene that he had taken control of Kyle’s psychiatric medication, his Lexapro. He later recanted, saying that Kyle had voluntarily handed it over. The CWPD at first claimed that Kyle had left a suicide note. They later admitted there was no note. And thanks to what we believe to be criminally mishandled police procedures it’s actually impossible to identify the weapon used, and—most importantly—who pulled the trigger. For these reasons, we’re certain that the actual events of the evening of February 16, 2007, were very different from those detailed in the Clearwater Police Report.

Medical Misinformation (Part II)

As described in “Medical Misinformation (Part I),” the Estate of Kyle Brennan filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in February 2009. Named as defendants were: Tom Brennan; Denise Miscavige Gentile, Brennan’s Scientology “auditor” (or advisor); Denise’s husband, Gerald Gentile; the Church of Scientology; and Flag Service Organization, Inc. (hereafter referred to as “Flag”). In June 2009, Flag’s lawyers filed a motion for Rule 11 sanctions against the Estate of Kyle Brennan and the Estate’s legal representative, Kennan “Ken” G. Dandar.

Flag’s motion states that: “Thomas Brennan advised that Kyle had not been taking the Lexapro on a regular basis prior to his arrival in Clearwater, Florida.” (This assertion we disproved in “Medical Misinformation [Part 1].” See.) In this piece we’ll cover a few of the other Lexapro lies.

“There is no evidence to the contrary,” the motion continues. “Nor will there be. The two witnesses to what transpired with respect to the medication are Thomas Brennan and Kyle Brennan. Kyle Brennan is deceased and Thomas Brennan has already provided the police with the facts about what happened to his son. No witness exists who is competent to contradict him.” The “facts,” according to Flag’s motion, “do not support the allegation that Thomas Brennan took away his son’s Lexapro without his knowledge and consent.”

But “facts,” like chameleons, can very often change their appearance—especially “facts” concocted by pathological liars seeking to escape culpability.

Flag’s assertion that Kyle’s father “provided the police with the facts” is laughable, absolutely preposterous. Irrefutable is the fact that Tom Brennan lied—repeatedly, and evidently without conscience. Tom Brennan’s stories regarding the circumstances surrounding Kyle’s death are riddled with lies and inconsistencies. In his various recountings of the events of February 16, 2007, for example, Brennan changed his whereabouts, changed his purpose for going out that evening, and changed the time of his arrival home (making sure, of course, that it was later, after Kyle passed away). He also lied about calling Kyle that evening—no call was recorded—and he told numerous lies about the weapon and its ammunition. (For more information regarding Brennan’s lies, see “Kyle’s Story; A Summary of the Lies & Deception,” and “A Weapon and Bullet List of Contradictory Statements.) Tom Brennan lied about so many things: Why should anyone believe what he said about the Lexapro?

The Church of Scientology’s claim that there is no witness “competent to contradict” Brennan is also ridiculous. In reality, no other witness is needed: Because Brennan did a startling job of contradicting himself. Reading through his various statements—to Kyle’s family, to the various policemen, his deposition under oath—one is immediately taken by the fact that they don’t add up, they’re amazingly inconsistent. These lies are boldfaced—not secretive, not creative—and yet the fact that he told wildly differing stories was not questioned by the police. Why not?

In the early stages of the investigation, Kyle’s family was told by Clearwater Police Detective Stephen Bohling, the lead investigator, that Brennan had in fact taken away Kyle’s prescribed psychiatric medication. (One of the precepts of Scientology is that psychiatrists and psychiatric medication are evil: they’re forbidden.) Police Officer Jonathan Yuen—one of the first to arrive at the crime scene—stated in his 2010 deposition that Brennan, on the night Kyle died, “advised that he [Brennan] took the prescription bottle from him [Kyle] about three days ago.”

Yuen also said, under oath, that Brennan admitted that “he did not believe in psychiatric medications based on his beliefs,” and claimed that Kyle “was not taking his medication.” If Kyle wasn’t using his Lexapro, why was it necessary for Brennan to lock it in the trunk of his vehicle? Why wasn’t this obvious line of questioning pursued by the police?

During his deposition, Officer Yuen was asked the following: “Did you ask him [Brennan] further about the circumstances surrounding the taking of the [Lexapro] prescription bottle?” Yuen response was, “I didn’t get into a full discussion about that.”

Then the attorney representing the Estate of Kyle Brennan asked Yuen: “Did it make any sense to you as the on-scene officer [what] Thomas Brennan [was] telling you; Kyle didn’t like to take his medicine, but the medicine is locked in his trunk? Did that make sense?”

Yuen reply was, simply, “I don’t know.”

When Tom Brennan was deposed in 2010, his Lexapro story took a sharp turn from what Kyle’s family had been told three years earlier. Brennan stated under oath that “Kyle gave him the medication.” Without hesitation, the morally challenged Brennan concocted a crude, false, and damaging impression of his only son when he claimed that Kyle stated “I hate this shit” as he handed over the Lexapro.

Unfortunately, Brennan’s fabricated Lexapro story dominated the court documents, the oral arguments, and the pleadings presented by the defendants in both the United States District Court (Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division) and the United States Court of Appeals (for the 11th Circuit).

What’s obvious is that Brennan’s fictionalized Lexapro story was created to avoid liability. And yet the Clearwater Police Department—amazingly—decided that Brennan was telling the truth. Then they proceeded to hide proof to the contrary: Officer Jonathan Yuen—contrary to recommended police procedures—shredded the notes of his first interview with Kyle’s father. Detective Stephen Bohling—who took over the investigation the day after Kyle died, and never visited the crime scene—also destroyed the notes of his first interview with Brennan.

In September of 2007, Clearwater Attorney Luke Lirot (representing the Estate of Kyle Brennan) had his first and only interview with Detective Stephen Bohling. In an e-mail written the next day, attorney Lirot stated that Bohling told him that “the medication was either taken away by the father [Tom Brennan], or the father ‘influenced’ Kyle to abate the use of the prescriptions” (sic). Kyle’s family believes that some of Brennan’s earliest statements are the most accurate. And the information gleaned from this Lirot-Bohling interview is faithful to the first Lexapro story told by Tom Brennan to Kyle’s Virginia family.

Undebatable, too, is the simple revelation found in the statement: “to abate the use of the prescriptions.” It clearly means that Kyle was taking his Lexapro. If Kyle was not taking the medication—if he indeed “hated this shit”—there would be no need for Brennan to have a conversation with him trying to get him to stop taking it.

Brennan’s lying knew no bounds when it came to the events surrounding Kyle’s death. In his 2008 deposition, Tom Brennan admitted that he’d lied to me over the phone. The attorney then representing the Estate of Kyle Brennan, Ken Dandar, asked him: “Did you ever have a conversation with her [Victoria Britton] where she told you to make sure Kyle had his Lexapro and was taking it?” Brennan’s response was “Yeah, she said something like that. She said make sure Kyle is taking his Lexapro.”

Dandar’s next question was: “So you decided not to follow her request; is that right?”

“You’re right,” was Brennan’s answer.

Lying, evidently, comes easily to the likes of Tom Brennan. It’s striking, too, that he showed no remorse for the outcome of his behavior.

The most pernicious and injurious of the Lexapro-related lies, however, is found in the Clearwater Police Report: It’s a concocted story concerning Kyle’s psychiatrist—Dr. Stephen M. McNamara—and his diagnosis of Kyle’s condition. Detective Stephen Bohling and Medical Investigator Martha J. Scholl lied about contacting and consulting with Dr. McNamara, saying in the police report that: “The doctor confirmed that Kyle had been exhibiting early signs of schizophrenia to include paranoia and delusions and . . . advised that he was not aware of any major side effects if one was to suddenly stop taking Lexapro” (emphasis added).

Dr. McNamara, stated emphatically under oath, however, that he had absolutely no contact with either Bohling or Scholl. Not only had they lied about contacting and consulting with him, they had also fabricated a diagnosis.

“Perplexed and dumbfounded” by their statements, McNamara said he was “bound by confidentiality” not to release “information about a patient’s treatment.” He said that “Kyle’s diagnosis was mild anxiety and depression”—not schizophrenia and paranoia—and that there are major side effects from the sudden termination of taking Lexapro, especially for someone Kyle’s age (emphasis added).

Dr. McNamara was perplexed and dumbfounded, but that doesn’t begin to describe the outrage Kyle’s family feels over the contemptible treatment he received at the hands of a police detective and a medical investigator—supposed public servants. They evidently had very little regard for either Kyle or their duty. They chose instead to protect a line-up of defendants that included powerful members of a wealthy, and litigious, religious organization. We’re left with an important question: What was in it for them?

Excerpts from the Deposition of Dr. Stephen McNamara

Excerpts from the Deposition of S. Brennan

Excerpts from the Deposition of G. Robinson

Excerpts from the Deposition of Tom Brennan

Excerpts from the Deposition of Detective Jonathan Yuen

Excerpts from the Deposition of Victoria Britton

Luke Lirot Email; Notes on my meeting with Detective Steve Bohling

Excerpt from the Deposition of Detective Steve Bohling

Attorney Ken Dandar, email; Martha Scholl, Medical Investigator

Plea for information!

Tags

Attorney Ken Dandar, Clearwater Police Department, Judge Robert Beach, Judge Steven D. Merryday, Kyle Brennan, Martha J. Scholl, Officer Rockwell Silva, Steve Bohling, The Church of Scientology

Kyle Brennan
April 2, 1986-February 16, 2007

Since the suspicious death of my twenty-year-old son Kyle on February 16, 2007, I’ve been trying to discover what really happened that evening. Kyle passed away in the apartment of his Scientologist father, Tom Brennan, in Clearwater, Florida, site of the headquarters of the Church of Scientology.

The Clearwater police claimed Kyle’s death was a suicide. All of the actual evidence, however—or rather the conspicuous lack of evidence—leads to another conclusion. What evidence was lacking? My son’s fingerprints weren’t on the weapon. In fact, there were no fingerprints on the weapon. Kyle’s hands were tested for gunshot residue—a GSR test—but the lead investigator blocked the test from being processed. Additionally, the bullet that ended my son’s life was never found. Without fingerprints on the weapon, without the GSR test results, and without the bullet, it’s impossible to know for certain who pulled the trigger. Without that evidence it’s also impossible to say that the weapon found at the crime scene was the actual weapon used.

The investigation into Kyle’s death conducted by Detective Stephen Bohling was riddled with conflicts of interest and mishandled police procedures. Bohling’s subsequent police report is full of half-truths and outright lies. Facts critical to the case were omitted.

In 2012 I had an expert criminologist analyze Detective Bohling’s work, how the investigation was conducted and the conclusions that can be drawn from his police report. He concluded that Bohling’s investigation was a farce. He noted that, because of Bohling’s seemingly purposeful mishandling of the case, and the myriad sophomoric lies told by the defendants—obvious lies that were unquestioned, unpursued by the police—“it is evident that there is a connection between the Church of Scientology and the Clearwater Police Department.”

The Clearwater Police Department’s investigation into my son’s death was a travesty of justice. Of that there is no question. Also indisputable is the criminality of Tom Brennan and two of the other defendants: Gerald Gentile and Denise Miscavige Gentile (the twin sister of the Church of Scientology’s leader, David Miscavige). These three miscreants lied to police officials, gave incorrect and false information, tampered with evidence, and committed perjury.

Irrefutable documentation regarding the mishandling of the case and the criminal actions of the defendants has been submitted to the FBI, the Department of Justice, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (the FDLE), and the head of Florida Governor Rick Scott’s legal department, Susan Smith.

My son Kyle deserves to have his day in court. To this day, the combined efforts of the Church of Scientology and the Clearwater Police Department have succeeded in silencing anyone speaking up on his behalf. Every day that passes, my heart breaks anew over my son’s sad fate, and especially the shabby treatment he received at the hands of those sworn to “serve and protect.” There needs to be accountability for those who believe they’re above the rule of law.

It is my hope that someone with new information pertaining to the events of February 16, 2007, will step forward. If someone has information—no matter how trivial—pertaining to Kyle or the above defendants, please contact me. What you know could make a huge difference.    vbreton2062@gmail.com

If you have any questions contact Victoria at: vbreton2062 (at) aol.com.

(For more information regarding the highly questionable events surrounding Kyle’s death, the extremely mishandled police investigation, and the perjured testimony given by the defendants please refer to “The Truth for Kyle Brennan” blog at vbreton2062.wordpress.com.)

 

Kyle’s Story; A Summary of the Lies & Deception

Tags

Attorney Ken Dandar, Attorney Lee Fugate, Attorney Luke Lirot, Attorney Rick Alvarez, Carrie Brennan Farrell, Clearwater Police Department, Denise Miscavige Gentile, Detective Jonathan Yuen, Jerry Gentile, Judge Robert Beach, Judge Steven D. Merryday, Markus Thoess, Martha J. Scholl, Officer Rockwell Silva, The Church of Scientology, Tom Brennan

My son, Kyle T. Brennan—a twenty-year-old college student from Charlottesville—died under very suspicious circumstances in Clearwater, Florida, on February 16, 2007, while visiting his Scientologist father Thomas Brennan. Kyle was a bright and creative young man who suffered with mild depression and anxiety. He was prescribed Lexapro by his Charlottesville-based psychiatrist Dr. Stephen McNamara. Kyle died from a gunshot wound to the head. His medication was found locked in the trunk of his father’s vehicle.

During Kyle’s brief stay in Clearwater—site of Scientology’s headquarters—his father was under the supervision of what is known as a Scientology “auditor” or “chaplain.” This person was Denise Miscavige Gentile, the twin sister of the Church of Scientology’s leader, David Miscavige. As you may be aware, Scientology is vehemently opposed to psychiatry and psychotropic medications. Kyle was not a Scientologist. We later learned that, due to Scientology’s convoluted beliefs regarding mental health, the church had issued an order to Kyle’s father to “handle” Kyle. He would be dead within thirty-six hours. Kyle was traveling with thousands of dollars. All of it was taken.

A wrongful-death lawsuit was filed against Thomas Brennan, Denise Miscavige Gentile and her husband Gerald Gentile, the Church of Scientology, and Flag (another Scientology organization). They filed a motion for summary judgment, and that was granted by a federal judge on December 6, 2011.

The police report written by Detective Stephen Bohling of the Clearwater Police Department is full of fabrications and half-truths. We want the investigation reopened. We want to know what really happened to Kyle on February 16, 2007.

Here are but a few of the red flags raised by Detective Bohling’s investigation and police report. (All of the following can be verified by statements made in the police report and in the available depositions.)

• Lies concerning contact with Kyle’s doctor and his diagnosis – Bohling and Medical Investigator Martha/Marti Scholl lied about contacting and consulting with Dr. Stephen McNamara, saying in the police report that: “The doctor confirmed that Kyle had been exhibiting early signs of schizophrenia to include paranoia and delusions and . . . advised that he was not aware of any major side effects if one was to suddenly stop taking Lexapro.” However: Dr. McNamara, under oath, stated that he had absolutely no contact with either Bohling or Scholl. “Perplexed and dumbfounded” by their statements, he said he was “bound by confidentiality” not to release “information about a patients treatment.” Under oath, he stated that “Kyle’s diagnosis was mild anxiety and depression,” and that there are major side effects from the sudden termination of taking Lexapro, especially for someone Kyle’s age.

• Lies and red flags concerning police procedures – Asked by Kyle’s family whether a gunshot residue test had been performed on his hands, Bohling answered “no.” Asked if the weapon that killed Kyle had been tested for fingerprints, Bohling answered “No, we never processed the weapon or the scene for fingerprints.” However: The police report revealed that Kyle’s hands and the weapon had been tested. The GSR test was withheld from further analysis by the detective. The weapon tested for fingerprints came back negative of fingerprints or ridge detail. Also: At Thomas Brennan’s apartment, where Kyle died, the bullet that killed Kyle was never found. (Neither was the box of ammunition.) With a missing bullet, no GSR test, and a weapon negative for fingerprints it cannot be determined who pulled the trigger on the weapon that killed my son, or if he was killed by the weapon found on the scene.

• Additional police red flags – Notes taken by the police have been destroyed. Officer Jonathan Yeun, one of the first to arrive at Brennan’s apartment that night, shredded the notes of his first interview with Brennan. Detective Bohling destroyed the notes of his first interview with Brennan. Marti Scholl, told to bring her notes to her deposition, said that she had forgotten to do so.

• Red flags concerning the cause of death – Kyle’s death was ruled a suicide. Medical Investigator Scholl told family members that she ruled his death a suicide because she was told that a suicide note was found with Kyle’s body. Detective Bohling, however, stated under oath that no suicide note was found. A reporter for the St. Petersburg Times, who presumably interviewed someone at the Clearwater police department, wrote that there were two suicide notes. Also: Kyle’s actions in the time just before his passing don’t sound to us like those of someone considering suicide. He made a bank deposit in Clearwater to make sure his checking account stayed open, and in the hours before his death he called several Clearwater-area personal injury lawyers.

• Brennan’s lies concerning the night of Kyle’s death – It was estimated that Kyle died at Brennan’s apartment at 11:00 p.m. The 911 call went out at 12:10. Detective Bohling was informed by family members that Brennan had told us different arrival times for that evening. We were first told that he arrived home at 10:30 p.m. after having dinner with friends. Brennan later changed the time and story, saying he arrived home between 11:15 and 11:20 after spending the day selling books at the State Fair. Of course if his first story is true, it places him in the apartment at the time of Kyle’s death. This would also increase the length of time before 911 was called. Which one of these stories is true? These multifarious stories, convoluted time-lines and lies went unchallenged by the detective. To top it off, Bohling wrote in the police report “Thomas Brennan returned home near midnight. . .”

• Lies told to protect Denise Miscavige Gentile – The Gentiles at first denied their relationship with Brennan, denied that Denise is a Scientology “chaplain,” and denied that Denise was Brennan’s “chaplain.” All of these statements were disproved: Scientology documents prove Denise’s status as a “chaplain,” and that she was indeed Brennan’s “chaplain”—meaning they had a very close relationship. Also: Denise at first denied that she went to Brennan’s apartment the night of Kyle’s death. Her husband, however, revealed that both had traveled to Brennan’s apartment.

• Other red flags concerning events the night Kyle died – As stated above, Bohling, in the police report, said that: “Thomas Brennan returned home near midnight. . .” However: On another page of the police report, Denise Miscavige Gentile—Brennan’s Scientology “chaplain”—said that: “Tom had, um, stopped by my house to borrow a book. It was around 11 … when he got home in like ten minutes, he called me up.” This places Brennan at his apartment, the location of Kyle’s death, at 11:10. Also: In Gerald Gentile’s deposition he said that after Brennan called his wife: “I quickly threw on a pair of pants … threw on my sneakers, and was in my pajamas. We just ran out the door and jumped in the car and ran down” [to Brennan’s apartment]. This statement places both the Gentile’s at Brennan’s apartment at 11:20 or maybe 11:30 p.m. Again, the 911 call went out at 12:10 a.m. What were these three individuals doing in Brennan’s apartment for the 30–40 minutes prior to someone finally calling 911?

These are but a few of the lies, half-truths, and contradictions easily found in the police report and depositions. Told about these things, Detective Bohling did nothing. My son’s right to a fair investigation has been denied by the Clearwater police. My family’s right to know exactly what happened to Kyle that night has also been denied. We believe something very different happened that evening, something different from the explanation found in the Clearwater police report. The false information written by the detective has been used in court documents by the attorney’s representing the Church of Scientology.

The death of my young son has been devastating enough-the aftermath has been horrific.

 

Clearwater, August of 2006: Kyle Under Pressure to Join Scientology

                                                

 

 

 

In June of 2006 Kyle’s father, Tom Brennan, first learned that Kyle was seeing a psychiatrist in Charlottesville. Brennan was very unhappy about it, but I didn’t think much of it at the time as he was not directly involved in his son’s life.

Soon after this Kyle and I started receiving letters—and anti-psychiatry hate literature—from the Church of Scientology about the evils of psychiatry and psychotherapeutic drugs. I found these annoying, but I didn’t think much of it. At the time I regarded Scientology as a goofy, harmless organization.

In July of 2006, Tom Brennan convinced Kyle that he should come and stay with him in Florida at his apartment. He promised Kyle that he would take him to look at the Florida State and the University of South Florida campuses.
Kyle traveled to Florida the following month, arriving on August 15. Within three days he called me complaining that his father had duped him. Brennan at the time didn’t even have an apartment—he had lied to Kyle.

Instead, Brennan was living in Tampa, in what Kyle called a “Scientology flop-house.” Kyle said he felt uncomfortable being around Scientologists. They have their own vocabulary, he told me, and they were pressuring him to take a Scientology personality test—something he absolutely refused to do.

Within a few days of this conversation Brennan and Kyle moved from Tampa into an apartment at 423 Cleveland Street in downtown Clearwater. This place is near the old Fort Harrison Hotel, Scientology’s main headquarters. Things seemed to be going a little better after their move from the flop-house.

Within a week I received another distressing call from Kyle. I could hear a lot of noise at the other end of the phone line, and I asked, “Kyle, are you on campus?”

“Hell no,” he responded, “I’m at a mall watching my father make an ass out of himself. He’s chasing people down trying to sell them L. Ron Hubbard books.” (A third-rate science fiction writer, Hubbard founded Scientology in the 1950s.)
“Kyle,” I said, “you’re kidding about this, right?”

“Heck no, Mom,” came his answer. “ Please . . . tell me that I’m not sharing the same DNA with this dude.”
Kyle told me again that his father had duped him. Brennan, Kyle said, had no intention of taking him to look at colleges. Furthermore, according to Kyle, Brennan said that a college education was a waste of money, and that what he needed to improve his life was to get involved with Scientology.

Kyle wanted no part of Scientology. Despite this, however, Tom Brennan and his Scientologist girlfriend, Wendy Jill Borden, had been placing a great deal of pressure on Kyle to take a personality test. (Borden was a staffer at the New York City Org—or Scientology “church”—in Clearwater for training. Borden and Brennan were introduced by their mutual friend Denise Miscavige Gentile, the twin sister of the organization’s head. The two married soon after Kyle returned to Charlottesville in September.)

At this point Kyle wanted to come home. He wanted to go back to school in Charlottesville, at Piedmont Virginia Community College, but the fall semester was already underway. He asked me if I would talk with his professors to see if he could start the semester late, as he did not want to waste any more time.

Kyle called again the following day. He was upset. The previous evening, everybody in the apartment—Kyle, Brennan, and Borden—had gotten into a huge argument. Kyle said they were pushing him to pay for a personality test, and they wanted him to take Scientology courses. They also told Kyle that his mother was “evil” for allowing him to see a psychiatrist. Kyle told me that the argument had been extremely heated. At one point, Kyle said, he told Brennan and his girlfriend what he really thought of Scientology—he thought it was ludicrous—and also how he felt about his father spending all of his money on it.

When Kyle returned home he said that he had overheard Borden tell his father he was now “an enemy of their church.”
Kyle returned home without telling his father he was leaving—he took a cab to the airport on September 7th and left without saying goodbye.

Kyle was never the same after this visit.

Clearwater, August of 2006: Locked Out, Kyle Befriends a Trio of Unlikely Angels

When Kyle returned home to Charlottesville after his tumultuous visit to Clearwater, Florida, in August of 2006 he related the following: One evening in Clearwater, Kyle—who enjoyed a good cup of coffee—went out to a Starbucks. This particular shop is just down the block from the apartment Kyle’s father, Tom Brennan, had rented at 423 Cleveland Street.

Kyle said that when he returned, the apartment building’s outer door was locked. He tried to call his father who was inside at the time, but Brennan had turned off his cell phone. This meant, of course, that Kyle was locked out for the night.

Heading back towards the coffee shop, Kyle was approached by a disheveled man begging for money. Kyle gave him five dollars, and the man asked: “Are you one of those f—ing Scientologists?” Taken aback for just a split second, Kyle replied, “If I was, I wouldn’t have been able to give you that five.”

During the conversation that followed, Kyle discovered that the man was a homeless veteran, and that he was living in a park not far from Cleveland Street. Kyle had a soft spot in his heart for veterans. Military personnel, and law enforcement officers, were Kyle’s heroes. Back home in Charlottesville, Kyle enjoyed attending military events. He loved hanging out with veterans, and would often draw them out so he could hear their stories.

Kyle and the old veteran, enjoying each other’s company, sat up against the building, under a flickering light.

Two Clearwater police officers, spotting the unusual couple—an older man down on his luck, and a well-dressed 20-year-old—stopped and asked Kyle if he was OK. When Kyle told them about being locked out, the policemen tried to open the outer door. Finding it sealed tight, they told Kyle to stay close by as they would check up on him throughout the night while they were on duty. This promise they kept.

The two officers—who Kyle later said were great guys—actually spent their break time that night chatting with Kyle. The homeless vet stayed out on the sidewalk with Kyle all night long. The two passed the time talking war stories.
__________________________________________________________________

In 2007 my forward-looking 20-year-old son, Kyle Brennan, died in Clearwater, Florida, under extremely suspicious circumstances while visiting his Scientologist father. (Clearwater, of course, is the site of Scientology’s headquarters.) We lost the subsequent wrongful-death lawsuit we filed against Kyle’s father, prominent Scientologists who were involved, and the Church of Scientology itself. Because of the legal expenses incurred, we’ve yet to purchase a proper headstone for our beloved son. Will you help us?

If you have any questions contact Victoria at: vbreton2062 (at) aol.com.

(For more information regarding the highly questionable events surrounding Kyle’s death, the extremely mishandled police investigation, and the perjured testimony given by the defendants please refer to “The Truth for Kyle Brennan” blog at vbreton2062.wordpress.com.)

Excerpt from the deposition of Dr. Stephen McNamara

Excerpt from the deposition of Tom Brennan

Copy of Kyle’s Bank Statement

Copy of Kyle’s Phone Bill

Copy of Scientology “SEC” Check

Excerpt from the Clearwater Police Report;Exchange between Attorney Lee Fugate and Detective Steve Bohling

Excerpt from the deposition of Detective Steve Bohling

Dr. Stephen McNamara

Kyle Brennan

In 2007 my forward-looking 20-year-old son, Kyle Brennan, died in Clearwater, Florida, under extremely suspicious circumstances while visiting his Scientologist father. (Clearwater, of course, is the site of Scientology’s headquarters.) We lost the subsequent wrongful-death lawsuit we filed against Kyle’s father, prominent Scientologists who were involved, and the Church of Scientology itself. Because of the legal expenses incurred, we’ve yet to purchase a proper headstone for our beloved son. Will you help us?

If you have any questions contact Victoria at: vbreton2062 (at) aol.com.