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here was a time in life when I was too young and naive to have
ever come forward publicly with this story. It was unimaginable to me
then, that living might result in criminal acts on me by members of
the
Church of Scientology upset that this story could one day be told. It
is around that group that this story revolves. I would like to thank
the many people that came forward long before me telling their
experiences with Scientology on the news, to the press, and over the
internet, that I listened to, spoke with and learned from.
I read a book "Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health" by L.
Ron Hubbard in 1975 when I was 15 years old in high school. I wrote to
a Dianetics group called the Church of Scientology for more
information and a man wrote back from New York City asking me to go to
the church to meet some people there, and one morning I went. A
salesperson, Debbie Kagan Ward, interviewed me, another person gave me
I.Q. tests and a Dianetics Auditor or counselor questioned me on a
small electronic device called an E-Meter that aids the church in
verifying when correct answers are being given. A Case Supervisor or
analyst reviewed my results and sent back an estimate that I needed
over 200 hours of Auditing or counseling to improve myself. 25 Hours
of auditing in 1975 cost $3,000.00, plus certain training courses and
books were recommended at an additional cost. I took the information
home to my parents and I had barely told my folks any of this, before
Debbie Kagan Ward came to our house, without even asking us first, to
pressure me to pay $10.00 for a Communications Course. I went back the
next week and paid her $10.00 and started the course, but was taken
off the course by an Ethics Officer or disciplinarian named Sally
Allerdice and sent home. My parents and I were then called into the
church for a discussion, after which I exchanged letters and phone
calls with church staff and bought books through the mail only until I
became of legal age, meaning 18. Once a legal adult, I called the
church and made an appointment with Sally Allerdice about getting back
on course and on the day of our appointment she didn't show up and
Carmen Pino Vilinsky a receptionist, Cathy McMurray Ondrieka a
salesperson, and Susan Davis a treasurer "handled it" instead. It was
not their regular time to work, being "Foundation" staff, meaning
evenings and weekends only, and Sally Allerdice was "Day" staff,
meaning weekdays only, but this was a Thursday morning. My Day account
was "changed" to a Foundation account, without permission, to boost
Foundation "statistics" for the week and I was then put on a
Foundation hours course schedule instead. While on the course I won a
"Student of the Week" award and was offered a job at New York
Foundation as an Expediter or new staff, my training and auditing then
included free with my job. My hours were 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. M-F, and 9
a.m. to 6 p.m. Sa-Su, with mandatory overtime. I was paid about $3.85
per week. My boss's name was Bob Cucarullo and his office window had a
Confederate U.S. flag covering it instead of curtains or blinds. The
heat was not working in all of the building and in the summer it was
over 80F inside. I trained up to temporary staff member but left
before signing a standard 2 or 5 year employment contract that would
have legally obligated me to them.
Frank Tiernan, a church staff and former narcotics addict,
offered me a job "under the table", meaning without income taxes being
deducted from my salary, at a pillow making loft he worked at in New
York called Livingcraft. Raymond Baiardi, a church executive and
former
drug user, was owners and partners in Livingcraft with a Scientologist
named Marcel Femine. Carmen Pino Vilinsky worked there too, as did
other church staff, and she told me everyone there worked "under the
table". I told Raymond Baiardi I could not work "under the table" and
he laughed in my face suggesting I leave. Carmen Pino Vilinsky's
"husband" Peter Vilinsky, a church staff, offered me a tax free job at
a New York sales office he ran with a Jewish woman named Rivka that
sold Ginseng roots, that I turned down. Margaret Isaiff, a church
staff, was leaving her job at a New York company that manufactured
bedding called Loftcraft and she offered me her job. It included
income tax deductions, so I accepted. Loftcraft was owned by
Scientologist Randolph Parsons. His "spouse" Isabelle Szuldiner
Falcaro Parsons, a church staff, was Controller; and a man named
George Goodrich, a Scientologist, was General Manager. My boss Marcia
Valente Cruz, a church staff, briefed me on the non Scientologist
employees not to discuss Scientology with for security reasons.
Loftcraft was fined by the city for building code violations, and the
church founder, L. Ron Hubbard's wife Mary Sue Hubbard, was on her way
to prison with about 10 other Scientologists for breaking into U.S.
government offices to steal damaging information the government was
holding on the religion of Scientology. Loftcraft management asked me
to remove all Scientology references from anywhere in their buildings
to give the impression Loftcraft is not related to Scientology in any
way. One such reference, an "organizational planning board", fell off
the wall while being removed and the screws mounting it to the wall
gashed my arm in three places causing permanent scars which required a
Tetanus shot and dressings. Loftcraft not only never paid any of the
medical expense for the injury, not even with Workmen's Compensation
Law, but never reimbursed me or my parents for ours, never apologized
or even admitted it was their fault. Instead, Isabelle Szuldiner
Falcaro Parsons sent me to a Division of Motor Vehicles office to
register Randolph Parson's car. I had never owned a car before and was
turned away by that office because I was not aware that only an
automobile owners own signature may be used to register his or her own
vehicle. The next week, after two months of good attendance and
reports from me, Isabelle Szuldiner Falcaro Parsons fired me for being
"PTS". That was the EXACT reason given. PTS stands for "Potential
Trouble Source", a Scientology term, meaning one who associates with
an "SP", which stands for "Suppressive Person", meaning someone who
opposes Scientology. SP's are not allowed to practice Scientology and
are most often found doing battle in court with the church, which
decides who is an SP and who is not. PTS's are ordered by the church
to sever ALL ties with SP's or be declared an SP themselves. A "PTS
Type 3 Declare" is a church Ethics Department Order issued on someone
and then circulated to parishioners telling them the person is an
"institutional type case". The church can inform a PTS Scientologist
that his or her 12 year old son or daughter is an SP. I went to pick
up my last paycheck from Loftcraft and Bob Cucarullo showed up at the
same time as me and said he had been hired by Loftcraft to replace me.
I told Bob Cucarullo later at the church, I didn't think being
on staff at the church was really for me. He said a "Confessional"
that
he should deliver personally, will handle that. During the
confessional, which was done with the two of us seated in a closed off
area, I got emotional while looking down speaking recalling a
harrowing past experience. I looked up and could see he was very
annoyed and ju
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Lawrence Toomajan sums up his experience with Scientology with this:
And with that behind me, I know better what to do now the next
time someone offers me immortality for $10.00.
Indeed an interesting story.
It's absolute proof that Scientology preys on the mentally ill and
steals from them. But it's wonderful to know that the mentally ill
ocassionally gives scientology enough #@($ not to make it worth their
while.
Your story makes me believe that there really IS a God and that She
punishes Scientologists for their greed. It validates the saying,
"What goes around, comes around." Hell, if I had known that you
could screw over Scientology in this way, *I* would have been happy
to have paid that $10.00 for you to get you started.
But here's a thought for all you budding Scientologists spending
all that time and money trying to get "clear" of all those nasty
engrams and Thetans: Always remember that L. Ron Hubbard and P.T.
Barnum weren't really so different. It's just the L. Ron really
began to believe the bull#@($ that was written about him and P.T.
understood that it was all an act. But both believed that there
really was a sucker born every minute!
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