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Scientology, Deep in the Heart of Texas: The Voice at the Debbie Cook Hearing
By Tony Ortega Thu., Feb. 9 2012 at 7:20 AM

Today, former Scientology executive Debbie Cook will try to convince a Bexar County, Texas district judge to lift the strict terms of a temporary injunction as she defends herself against a lawsuit filed by her former employer. The Church of Scientology is seeking a minimum of $300,000 in damages against Cook and her husband, Wayne Baumgarten, after Cook sent out an e-mail on New Year's Eve to thousands of her fellow church members, criticizing church leader David Miscavige for Scientology's focus on "extreme fundraising."

more at http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/02/scientology_dee.php#more

Scientology In San Antonio
Thursday, February 09, 2012
Michael Board

The video, played on an old tube tv in Judge Karen Pozza's cramped courtroom, shows a woman with short blond hair, sitting at a desk, signing an agreement to never speak bad about the Church of Scientology. 

For a brief minute, Debbie Cook is shown tearing up.  The former minister says she was sad about leaving the organziation that she had dedicated 27-years of her life to.  A check for $50 thousand was handed over by a church attorney who had flown from California to Florida just to seal the deal. 

more at http://radio.woai.com/pages/michaelboard.html

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Scientology vs Debbie Cook, Day 2: More Live-Blogging by the Voice - Village Voice (blog)
10 February 2012, 9:07 am



We're heading down to the courthouse now to begin talking to folks before the action heats up again.

Yesterday afternoon, Bexar County district judge Martha Tanner said that she'd begin day 2 of the temporary injunction hearing at 9:30 am, CST.

If you're just joining us, the Church of Scientology is suing one of its former high-ranking officials, Debbie Cook, and her husband, Wayne Baumgarten, who live here in San Antonio. Cook was something of a legend inside Scientology, and for many was the "face" of the religion. But her final couple of years, she testified yesterday, featured confinement and degradation on an almost unbelievable scale. She says she gladly signed a draconian non-disclosure agreement and accepted $50,000 in payment simply in order to get away from the church. Then, this past New Year's Eve, she sent out an e-mail to thousands of her fellow church members, complaining in part about how Scientology, under leader David Miscavige, is too focused on "extreme fundraising."....

more at http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/02/scientology_vs_2.php


Church of Scientology drops motion for temporary injunction against former ... - Tampabay.com
10 February 2012, 12:27 pm
By Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin, Times Staff Writers



SAN ANTONIO, Texas — The Church of Scientology on Friday dropped its motion for a temporary injunction meant to silence former church leader Debbie Cook.

Church lawyer George H. Spencer Jr. said there was no point in trying for the injunction because the court had already allowed Cook to give public testimony that violated her nondisclosure agreement with the church.

Scientology will continue to pursue its larger lawsuit, which asserts that Cook violated that agreement when she sent an e-mail to fellow Scientologists on Jan. 1.....

more at http://www.tampabay.com/news/scientology/church-of-scientology-drops-motion-for-temporary-injunction-against-former/1214868

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From Courthouse News Service:

Scientology Drops Quest for Gag Order - Courthouse News Service
13 February 2012, 8:40 am
By DAVID LEE       

     SAN ANTONIO (CN) - After explosive trial testimony last week, the Church of Scientology abandoned its quest to silence a former church official it sued for breach of a confidentiality agreement, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
     The change of heart came Friday, on the second day of testimony in Bexar County Court, over the church's request for a temporary restraining order to silence former church official Debbie Cook, 50, and her husband, Wayne Baumgarten, both of San Antonio.
     On Thursday, Cook gave lurid testimony about abuse she endured while she was a leader of the church's spiritual headquarters in Clearwater, Fla. She testified about beatings, forced confinement and confessions of church officials who had fallen out of favor with church boss David Miscavige.
     Cook testified that church officials had held her against her will on several occassions, including a "horrific" 7-week stay in "The Hole," where members slept on the floor, ate slop, were beaten and degraded, according to the Express-News.
     Scientology attorney George Spencer Jr. told Judge Martha Tanner, "We have elected to withdraw our request for an injunction at this time. Going forward in the case this way will prevent the defendant from using the court as a pulpit for false statements."

more at http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/02/13/43809.htm

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Former Scientology executive claims abusive treatment from church leader ... - abc7.com
15 February 2012, 8:31 pm



LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Southern California is home to the largest community of Scientologists in the world, according to a church spokesperson.

The Church of Scientology, which is famously private and protective of their inner workings, maintains their main base of operations in Hollywood. But its international headquarters, also known as the "International Base," is in Riverside County.

What allegedly happened inside that compound near Hemet is being called into sharp focus because of a lawsuit making its way through the courts.

Debbie Cook, a former Scientology executive, is being sued for breach of contract for criticizing the church in an email after she signed an agreement promising to remain silent. Last week, she took the stand in a San Antonio courthouse and testified about what she said happened on the property near Hemet in trailers she called "The Hole."

"There's a place called 'The Hole,' the windows were barred, the one entrance was guarded by security 24 hours a day," she said on the witness stand.

For 17 years, Cook was Captain of the church's Flag Service Organization, which is Scientology's spiritual Mecca in Clearwater, Fla.

"I had a tremendous passion for what I did. I had a tremendous love for what we did every day there," she said in her court appearance.

more at http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/national_world&id=8545654

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Scientology head under fire

She's the woman who turned the Church of Scientology on its head with claims of beatings and forced detention. Now, in an Australian TV exclusive, Debbie Cook has laid the blame squarely at the feet of the church's most senior official.

Video: http://youtu.be/DI_lmI9H-so
more at http://aca.ninemsn.com.au/article/8427100/scientology-head-under-fire

There's more...
'Cult of abuse and torture'
February 28, 2012, 6:18 pm Bryan Seymour Today Tonight

A Scientology insider has turned on the religion, taking on its global leader on the witness stand to reveal what goes on inside the secretive cult.

http://youtu.be/FlSBDldlpDQ
more at http://au.news.yahoo.com/today-tonight/lifestyle/article/-/13040973/cult-of-abuse-and-torture

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Another PR Crisis for Scientology - ABC News
29 February 2012, 6:05 am
By DAN HARRIS (@danbharris) and MARY MARSH



The Church of Scientology, known for celebrity and controversy, is now in the middle of another public relations crisis as a former high-ranking official has created a firestorm, first with an email to church members and then testimony in a Texas state court alleging she saw the church's leader punch another executive in the face, and that at his direction she herself was slapped.

For 17 years Debbie Cook ran the church's spiritual mecca, the so-called Flag Base in Clearwater, Florida, where she ultimately rose to the title of captain. But Cook testified this month that beginning in 2005 she saw behavior exhibited by church leader David Miscavige that disturbed her deeply.

"I witnessed Mr. Miscavige physically punching in the face and wrestling to the ground another very senior executive at Scientology International level," Cook testified in court.

A few weeks later in an interview with ABC News, Cook repeated that assertion. She also said -- as she had testified -- that Miscavige never hit her, but that he ordered his assistant to slap her, and that slap was so hard that Cook was knocked down.

In numerous letters to ABC News, Scientology officials have denied that David Miscavige ordered Debbie Cook to be slapped, or that he punched a fellow executive. In addition, the church sent ABC News a letter signed by that executive in which he wrote, "This alleged incident did not occur and I would remember it if it had."

more at http://abcnews.go.com/US/pr-crisis-scientology-abc-news-exclusive/story?id=15813613
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/pr-crisis-scientology-15815353

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On ABC News tonight and on Nightline.

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DEBBIE COOK COUNTERSUES SCIENTOLOGY: We Have Her Counterclaim, and the Church's Legal Salvos
By Tony Ortega

The Voice has learned that Debbie Cook filed a counterclaim against the Church of Scientology Monday afternoon, the first significant development since her stunning victory against the church in a Texas courtroom on February 10.

In her counterclaim, Cook is aiming directly at Scientology's ultimate leader, David Miscavige, by attempting to add two of the church's most powerful entities to the lawsuit that was filed against her by Scientology's Flag Service Organization, her former employer.

Besides Cook's filing, we also have several other documents sent back and forth between the opposing parties which provide a revealing look at how this case is being litigated behind the scenes....

more at http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/02/debbie_cook_countersues_scientology.php

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Nightline's Scientology "Exclusive": What was Exclusive About It, Exactly? - Village Voice (blog)
1 March 2012, 8:15 am



AI had a strange and powerful case of déjà vu last night while watching Nightline's interview with Debbie Cook as she talked about being held in "the Hole" at Scientology's international base in California, where executives who fall out of favor with church leader David Miscavige are sent to rot in an office-prison for weeks, months, even years at a time.

Well, OK, it wasn't really déjà vu I was experiencing. Which fancy French term do you use when you're seeing a news organization claim it has an "EXCLUSIVE" on an interview that quite a few of us other journalists have already heard numerous times before?

I don't know. Anyone out there good with French? Anyone know how to say "cringeworthy mainstream media epic fail"?

OK, I don't want to sound too harsh. I want to make it very clear that it is thrilling to see Debbie Cook taken seriously by a national news platform with such a large audience. Her story reached millions yesterday as it appeared on both Good Morning America and Nightline.

more at http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/03/scientology_nightline_exclusive.php

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Daily Mail weighs in..

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2108460/Debbie-Cook-Top-Scientologist-repeats-claims-beaten-tortured-imprisoned-7-weeks-desert.html

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SCIENTOLOGY FILES FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AGAINST DEBBIE COOK
By Tony Ortega Sat., Mar. 3 2012 at 5:45 PM




As they promised, Scientology's attorneys have filed for summary judgment in their lawsuit against former church executive Debbie Cook, and we have the document for you.

Here's our first impression: After Cook's explosive testimony in a Bexar County, Texas courtroom made news around the world and has more people than ever talking about the shocking and strange abuse allegedly dished out by Scientology's leader, David Miscavige, the church's attorneys are trying their best to convince a San Antonio judge that this is a much drier, less interesting dispute, summed up best in one of their opening lines:

"This is a dispute regarding the enforcement of contracts."

more at http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/03/scientology_fil.php

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Scientology, Deposed? Debbie Cook Goes on the Offensive - Village Voice (blog)
6 March 2012, 8:09 am
By Tony Ortega



On Friday, the Church of Scientology did as promised and filed a motion for summary judgment in its lawsuit against former executive Debbie Cook. The church is asking the Bexar County, Texas district court to see this lawsuit as a simple contract dispute, and one the church deserves to win without going any further.

Cook's attorney, Ray Jeffrey, told us that he thinks there's enough disagreement over the basic facts that a judge won't grant Scientology's motion -- the church maintains that when Cook sent out a New Year's Eve e-mail complaining about how Scientology is now betraying its original principles with a focus on "extreme fundraising," she violated the terms of a 2007 non-disclosure agreement she signed when she left the church's employ. But in a stunning February 9 hearing, Cook told a very different story -- that she signed that agreement only under extreme duress, and that she had literally been under guard when she was forced to sign it before she could go free from what had become a nightmare of abuse.

Jeffrey predicted that not only would a judge not cut the case short by granting the church an easy victory, but that the case would get even messier for the church....

more at http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/03/debbie_cook_ups.php

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Scientology: Dear Judge, Protect Us from Rathbun and Rinder! - Village Voice (blog)
By Tony Ortega Wed., Mar. 7 2012 at 8:00 AM




Yesterday, we reported that Debbie Cook had gone on the offensive in the lawsuit filed against her by the Church of Scientology.

The church had earlier filed a motion for summary judgment, asking the Bexar County, Texas court to award it an early win in the case; Cook answered back that she wants the church's motion delayed as she requests documents from Scientology in the discovery process. She also asked to depose someone representing the church this coming Monday, and gave notice that during that deposition she plans to have along with her former high-ranking Scientology executives Marty Rathbun and Mike Rinder -- both of whom are highly visible and effective critics of church leader David Miscavige.

Last night, we learned about the church's countermove: its attorneys asked the court to
delay the production of documents until their motion for summary judgment has been adjudicated. And if the motion is not granted, to delay the deposition and limit it in scope.

Oh, and one more thing: "That Rathbun and Rinder be excluded from the deposition."

We can imagine the church's concern....

More, including docs at http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/03/scientology_dea_1.php


Ex-Scientology leader Debbie Cook tells of fear and pursuit by church officers - Tampabay.com
6 March 2012, 10:55 pm
By Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin, Times Staff Writers
In Print: Wednesday, March 7, 2012



Starting new lives in San Antonio, Texas, after working decades for the Church of Scientology, they picked up the phone in August 2009 and were stunned when church security officer Kathy True said she and two other staffers were in town to see them.

Could they come to the couple's home?

No, said Cook. She had thought True was coming alone. Cook suggested a public place, a restaurant.

It was a tense time for Scientology. A few weeks earlier, four high-ranking defectors had spoken out about abusive practices in church management ranks. Now, three big names wanted to make sure Cook and Baumgarten were still in the fold.

more at http://www.tampabay.com/news/scientology/ex-scientology-leader-debbie-cook-tells-of-fear-and-pursuit-by-church/1218697

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Battle with Church of Scientology not over - San Antonio Express
9 March 2012, 11:56 pm
By Brian Chasnoff

Debbie Cook is not alone.

I mean this in two ways.

First, Cook believes people are following her. As a former top official of the Church of Scientology whom the church has expelled and sued, she considers this de rigueur.

I spoke with her this week at the office of her attorney, Ray Jeffrey, in Bulverde.

“The surveillance of my office, as far as I can tell, is limited to when Debbie is here,” Jeffrey said. “They've come through the parking lot before with video cameras and videoed the license plates.”

Cook agreed.

“They know where I am,” she said, “and also who else is here.”

I glanced outside at my beat-up Toyota and decided to stay.....

more at http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/news_columnists/article/Battle-with-Church-of-Scientology-not-over-3396036.php

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The QueQue: SA Scientology spat may rope Cruise's best man, Child trafficking ... - San Antonio Current
7 March 2012, 12:12 am



Published: March 7, 2012
SA Scientology spat may rope Cruise's best man

Last week saw a flurry of legal wrangling in the Church of Scientology lawsuit against a former leading member here earlier this year. The church, as promised, filed a motion for summary judgment Friday against Debbie Cook, targeted by the church for supposedly breaking a sweeping non-disclosure agreement. Last week Cook filed her own counterclaim, seeking to draw the whole of Scientology leadership, including frontman (and best man at Tom Cruise's wedding) David Miscavige, into the fight, not just her former employer, the church's Flag Service Organization, part of the church's spiritual mecca in Clearwater, Fla., which filed the original suit against her in January.

more at http://sacurrent.com/news/the-queque-sa-scientology-spat-may-rope-cruise-39-s-best-man-child-trafficking-fight-needs-resources-1.1282043

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Former Clearwater Scientology leader settles lawsuit with church - Tampabay.com
24 April 2012, 7:34 pm
By Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin, Times Staff Writers

Debbie Cook, who ran the Church of Scientology's Clearwater operation for 17 years and recently spoke out against alleged abuses in the organization, has reached a legal settlement with the church, her lawyer confirmed today.

The church sued Cook in January after she sent out a New Year's Eve e-mail to thousands of Scientologists, criticizing its money raising tactics, questioning church management and calling on parishioners to push for reforms.

The lawsuit alleged she violated a confidentiality agreement she signed when she left the church staff in 2007. But the suit backfired on Scientology when a judge allowed Cook to testify in a Feb. 9 hearing in San Antonio, Tex.

For several hours, under oath, Cook went far beyond what she had said in her e-mail. She gave a riveting account how she and other religious workers were physically and mentally abused at Scientology's desert compound near Los Angeles. She said she was detained and otherwise controlled when she and her husband, also a former church staffer, tried to leave the church's Clearwater campus in 2007.

At the time, church spokeswoman Karin Pouw called Cook's testimony a collection of "wild tales" by a bitter apostate who is "falsely vilifying the religion she was once a part of."

Cook said her testimony represented only a small part of what she wanted to say, "the tip of the iceberg." But it appeared Tuesday that the settlement will prevent her from ever speaking again about her experience in the church.

Her Texas lawyer, Ray Jeffrey, said the church's case has been dismissed and that neither he nor Cook could say anything about it. Jeffrey declined to answer even the most fundamental questions about the case.

Cook's personal web site, which was operating Monday, was shut down by Tuesday afternoon. Her Facebook page was dark as well.

Pouw declined to comment Tuesday, saying the settlement, called a stipulated injunction, speaks for itself. The Bexar County court system in San Antonio did not immediately make a copy of the document available.

more at http://www.tampabay.com/news/scientology/article1226702.ece

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Church of Scientology drops Bexar suit against ex-member - San Antonio Express
25 April 2012, 7:37 pm



A breach of contract suit in which the Church of Scientology used Bexar County courts to target a high-ranking former member of its organization quietly ended this week with a settlement.

The case was dropped Monday, according to court records.

Debbie Cook, who received $50,000 as part of a nondisclosure agreement when she left the Florida-based organization in 2007, violated that agreement with a mass email last New Years Eve that disparaged church practices, the lawsuit contended.

But the suit became almost a textbook example on how litigation can sometimes backfire after Cook was called to the witness stand for a pre-trial injunction hearing in February and, with a courtroom full of reporters, outlined under oath a history of alleged oddities and abuses by the organization....

more at http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Church-of-Scientology-drops-Bexar-suit-against-3510603.php

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Abuse fits into teachings of L. Ron Hubbard - San Antonio Express
By Brian Chasnoff, Express-News columnist
27 April 2012, 11:18 pm

....“The only way to defend anything is to ATTACK,” Hubbard wrote more than five decades ago.

It was unsurprising, then, that the church had sued a high-ranking former member, Debbie Cook, accusing her of violating a nondisclosure agreement when she sent an email to thousands of Scientologists, questioning the church's practices.

But Hubbard's doctrine of defense, beyond antagonistic, is also unwise. This was revealed in a Bexar County courtroom, where Cook at a pretrial hearing recalled on the stand a series of abuses she endured as a church executive.

These included imprisonment for weeks at “The Hole,” a series of double-wide trailers at a desert base in California, where Cook testified she was beaten and made to sleep on the floor with ants and stand for hours in a trash can while being doused with cold water, among other forms of torture.

Cook's lawyer, Ray Jeffrey, argued that she'd signed the nondisclosure agreement after church officials had tortured and kidnapped her, rendering the document not valid.

What made the case so fascinating — and what inspired me to read Janet Reitman's recent exposé of the church, “Inside Scientology: The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion” — was that it could have forced the church to defend publicly the apparent cruelty it inflicts on its members.

Jeffrey certainly seemed ready for Battlefield Bexar County.

more at http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/news_columnists/article/Abuse-fits-into-teachings-of-L-Ron-Hubbard-3517061.php