Tampa lawyer sues over anonymous online review in case with First Amendment overtones

Tampa lawyer sues over anonymous online review in case with First Amendment overtones

Tampa Bay Times
Richard Danielson, Times Staff Writer
Friday, May 29, 2015 12:45pm

If someone online makes false statements that anonymously trash your professional reputation, should you be able to find out who posted the review?

Yes, says Tampa divorce and family law attorney Deborah Thomson, a central figure in a precedent-setting case now on appeal in the state of Washington.

Thomson, 44, is a partner at The Women's Law Group in Carrollwood. Last year she filed a defamation suit against an anonymous reviewer on the attorney ratings website Avvo.com. She has asked courts in Seattle, where Avvo is based, to enforce a subpoena for information that would unmask her anonymous critic.

Among other things, she argues that the First Amendment does not protect defamatory speech.

"If there aren't some guidelines and some protections, it is very easy for any individual to go and post any kind of defamatory comment about anybody else when they feel like it, because they can hide behind the First Amendment," Thomson said Thursday after arguing her case to a three-judge panel in Seattle.

It's not a new question.

"This is a question that is sort of sweeping the country state by state," said David Ardia, an assistant professor of law and co-director of the Center for Media Law and Policy at the University of North Carolina School of Law. "Each state is kind of weighing in at its own time on this question, and not all states are in perfect agreement on what should be done."

Thomson's case has drawn opposition not only from Avvo, but from the nonprofit advocacy group Public Citizen in Washington, D.C. They contend Thomson should have to meet a multi-part test that includes showing she has a legitimate claim that is likely to succeed in order to pierce her critic's veil of anonymity.

With Amazon, Microsoft and other tech companies based in Washington state, the case is seen as having an impact beyond Avvo.

"This is one of the national tech centers in the country, and the ruling in this case could affect the rights to speak pseudonymously and anonymously on a number of platforms," said Paul Alan Levy, an attorney for Public Citizen, founded in 1971 by consumer watchdog Ralph Nader. "If it's too easy to out your critics, the result will be that one side of the debate about the quality of businesses will be suppressed."

On Avvo, Thomson has 11 reviews.

Ten former clients praise her with headlines like, "Excellent attorney," "Experienced Grade A+ Lawyer" and "Very caring."

The 11th came from a reviewer who posted a critical review under the headline "Things to consider" in September 2013.

"I am still in court five years after Ms. Thomson represented me during my divorce proceedings," it says. "Her lack of basic business skills and detachment from her fiduciary responsibilities has cost me everything. She failed to show up for a nine-hour mediation because she had vacation days. She failed to subpoena documents that are critical to the division of assets in any divorce proceeding. In fact, she did not subpoena any documents at all. My interests were simply not protected in any meaningful way."

Thomson wrote a response that Avvo posted right below her critic's review. First, she said, the reviewer "was not an actual client of mine."

"This is a personal attack from someone that I know," Thomson added. Five years before, she said, she worked at a law firm where "any cases were not my own." She also said courts have procedural safeguards in place to ensure that cases don't drag on. She also said a mediation would not have taken place if an attorney didn't show up, and mediations are not scheduled for set blocks of time as described.

Thomson also noted Avvo does not verify what users post or whether someone writing a review was, in fact, an attorney's client.

But she didn't stop there.

In May 2014, Thomson sued her critic in Hillsborough County Circuit Court. She alleged defamation and issued a subpoena to Avvo seeking identifying information about the reviewer. In her lawsuit, Thomson called her critic Jane Doe. She said she thinks she knows Doe's identity, though she declined to share it last week. In court records, not even Doe's gender is acknowledged with any certainty.

Thomson said similar critical reviews about her appeared on Google and Yelp, both based in California, a state where judges have set specific standards for those seeking to expose anonymous online posters. After her subpoena to Google, the company reached out to Doe and when Doe didn't respond, Google took down the posting, Thomson said. She said she is in contact with Yelp.

A Washington trial judge denied Thomson's request to force Avvo to turn over Doe's records, saying she failed to sufficiently establish the case behind her defamation claim. Her appeal set up Thursday's hearing.

Anonymous free speech has a long history in the United States, going back to the Federalist Papers and beyond, and courts have protected anonymous speech under the First Amendment. They've also worked to create standards in defamation cases that balance the interests of people who have suffered real harm from false statements with the rights of anonymous speakers writing about important matters.

Generally, courts that have set these standards require some sort of proof showing that the plaintiff's claim is legitimate and likely to succeed on its merits, Ardia said. They also have required that the plaintiffs make an effort to notify the anonymous poster that their identity could be disclosed through a subpoena so they have a chance to defend themselves. And that can be hard, because the poster is, well, anonymous.

A Delaware court introduced a modified version of those standards, though its case was political, not commercial. A key question in Washington is what standard that state will adopt. Thomson and Levy said it could be months before they get a ruling.

"It has been a struggle," Thomson said, and there's "a feeling of helplessness when you find something like this online, and you realize that there's really nothing that you can do about it, which is why I'm pursuing this matter as hard as I am."

There were a rash of these cases a few years back, Ardia said, though the numbers seem to have tapered off. He said there might be a couple of possible reasons for that.

As judges set standards that require plaintiffs and their lawyers to meet certain requirements, some may be thinking twice about the expense of heading to the courthouse.

Also, there's the idea that court battles over online speech might be not be effective — and can even be counterproductive.

This is known as the "Streisand Effect," named for movie star and pop diva Barbra Streisand. In 2003, she filed an invasion of privacy suit over an aerial photo of her Malibu beach mansion posted on an environmental website that documents changes to the California coastline. In the three months before she sued, the photo of her home had been downloaded six times, twice by her lawyer. In the month after, the number of views rose to 420,000.

"Now," Ardia said, "it's part of the lore of the Internet that sometimes if you complain about something, you bring more attention to it."

Information from the San Jose Mercury News was used in this report.

Philadelphia Police-Corruption Probe story

Philadelphia Police-Corruption Probe story


Associated Press
April 16, 2015 3:39 PM

By MARYCLAIRE DALE

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A disgraced ex-police officer testifying against his drug squad colleagues acknowledged Tuesday that he stole drug money, planted evidence and lied on police paperwork too many times to count.

Jeffrey Walker told jurors that the Philadelphia Police Department drug squad targeted white "college-boy ... khaki-pants types" who were "easy to intimidate."

That matches the description of some of the drug dealers who have testified at the six-week police corruption trial that the squad stole as much as $110,000 at a time during violent, no-warrant raids.

Lead defendant Thomas Liciardello always got a cut of the stolen money, while the others split "jobs" that they worked, Walker said. The city's police brass often celebrated the squad's work with splashy news conferences to announce large seizures.

"They liked that, as far as the bosses and supervisors were concerned. It made them look good. It was nothing but a dog and pony show," Walker testified.

More than 160 drug convictions have been overturned since Walker pleaded guilty and the others were named in a 26-count indictment. Scores of civil-rights lawsuits are pending over the arrests. Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey has voiced his disgust with the squad's alleged crimes while continuing his effort to clean out and reform the 7,000-member department.

Walker, 46, said he first stole money as a uniformed patrolman when he chased a dealer into a house and spotted a large bag of cash on top of the refrigerator.

"I never saw that much money. I was a young kid," Walker told jurors. "I took some money, put it in my jacket pocket."

Defense lawyers have attacked his credibility and will no doubt point out on cross-examination Wednesday the times he admits acting alone, even before he joined the elite undercover drug unit. He also said he developed a drinking problem and became forgetful.

Walker had nearly 24 years in when he was arrested in an FBI sting in 2013. He was making $119,000 a year, and padding overtime for court appearances and undercover work. The illicit drug money provided yet more "gravy."

Walker and defendant Linwood Norman were known as "The Twin Towers," often assigned by Liciardello to rough people up.

In one of their more memorable assignments, Norman leaned drug suspect Michael Cascioli over a high-rise balcony to elicit the passcode for his Palm Pilot, according to Walker, who helped scare the suspect.

City police officials later held a news conference to announce that the 2007 search had yielded more than $1.5 million in marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms, and $440,000 in cash. Federal prosecutors now say the squad raided the apartment before they got a warrant.

In another episode, Walker admitted carrying a heavy safe full of drug money down 17 flights of stairs to avoid being seen on the elevator security camera. And he described another heist when he stuffed so much bundled cash into his police vest that he had to wear Liciardello's vest over his to cover the bulges.

Walker agreed to cooperate after the FBI caught him stealing $15,000 from a suspect and planting drugs in his car. He has been in custody ever since and hopes to avoid a life sentence through his testimony.

Liciardello, he said, warned squad members not to change their spending habits so dramatically that they attracted attention. The other ex-squad members on trial are Brian Reynolds, Michael Spicer, Perry Betts and John Speiser.

Walker said he once worked closely with Liciardello and Reynolds but was ostracized as he went through a divorce, weight loss surgery and other personal problems. Assistant U.S. Attorney Maureen late Tuesday introduced a series of threatening texts Liciardello sent Walker once he suspected Walker was talking to Internal Affairs.

"Your now a rat I hope you die," Liciardello wrote. "I will have you locked up by midnight. Goodbye loner."

"You will be in jail before me," Walker replied.

That didn't quite prove true. Liciardello — the only defendant denied bail after the July 2014 indictment — was jailed a year after him.

LINK: > Philadelphia Police-Corruption Probe story

  

Woman submits profanity-laced tirade after lawsuit is dismissed ... " FUCK THIS COURT "

Woman submits profanity-laced tirade after lawsuit is dismissed ...  " FUCK THIS COURT "

Atlanta - After a woman's civil rights suit, filed on behalf of her son and husband, was tossed out in court, she responded with a nine-page, profanity-filled submission to the court

Link to Document: > FUCK THIS COURT

In September 2010, Tama Jada Clark was pulled over in Camilla, Georgia. Police searched her vehicle and discovered she had a AK-47 rifle and a .45-caliber pistol, both fully loaded, plus wilderness survival gear. Officers also allegedly heard cell phone recordings suggesting Clark was trying to break her husband — currently serving a 30-year sentence — out of jail, and she was arrested.

In 2014, Clark filed a lawsuit, saying her civil rights were violated. She claims she was not in the same city as the jail her husband is being kept in, though the town she was pulled over in is close by. She also says she legally owned the two guns.

During her court appearance, she apparently claimed to be born in Pensacola, Florida, though she says she's not a "citizen or national" of the United States. Her lawsuit was dismissed by U.S. District Court Judge Willis B. Hunt on March 31. In response she submitted a nine-page legal filing accusing the court of favouring authorities and ignoring her more than 100 pages of "proper rebuttals."

"F*ck this court and everything it stands for," Clark said in the document. "Look here, old man, when I told you I AM Justice – I meant it." She goes on to say she took a month to study the "history of the world" and "American jurisprudence" and that the FBI and CIA have been trying to recruit her. She also said she thinks the court ignored her because it couldn't defend itself against her legal arguments.
She also submitted 25 pages of supplementary materials, including an article she wrote called "Why Most Americans Do Not Inherently Owe Federal Income Taxes."



 

FBI admits flaws in hair analysis over decades

FBI admits flaws in hair analysis over decades

The Washington Post
By Spencer S. Hsu
April 18, 2015 

The Justice Department and FBI have formally acknowledged that nearly every examiner in an elite FBI forensic unit gave flawed testimony in almost all trials in which they offered evidence against criminal defendants over more than a two-decade period before 2000.

Of 28 examiners with the FBI Laboratory’s microscopic hair comparison unit, 26 overstated forensic matches in ways that favored prosecutors in more than 95 percent of the 268 trials reviewed so far, according to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) and the Innocence Project, which are assisting the government with the country’slargest post-conviction review of questioned forensic evidence.

The cases include those of 32 defendants sentenced to death. Of those, 14 have been executed or died in prison, the groups said under an agreement with the government to release results after the review of the first 200 convictions.

The FBI errors alone do not mean there was not other evidence of a convict’s guilt. Defendants and federal and state prosecutors in 46 states and the District are being notified to determine whether there are grounds for appeals. Four defendants were previously exonerated.

The admissions mark a watershed in one of the country’s largest forensic scandals, highlighting the failure of the nation’s courts for decades to keep bogus scientific information from juries, legal analysts said. The question now, they said, is how state authorities and the courts will respond to findings that confirm long-suspected problems with subjective, pattern-based forensic techniques — like hair and bite-mark comparisons — that have contributed to wrongful convictions in more than one-quarter of 329 DNA-exoneration cases since 1989.

In a statement, the FBI and Justice Department vowed to continue to devote resources to address all cases and said they “are committed to ensuring that affected defendants are notified of past errors and that justice is done in every instance. The Department and the FBI are also committed to ensuring the accuracy of future hair analysis testimony, as well as the application of all disciplines of forensic science.”

Peter Neufeld, co-founder of the Innocence Project, commended the FBI and department for the collaboration but said, “The FBI’s three-decade use of microscopic hair analysis to incriminate defendants was a complete disaster.”

“We need an exhaustive investigation that looks at how the FBI, state governments that relied on examiners trained by the FBI and the courts allowed this to happen and why it wasn’t stopped much sooner,” Neufeld said.

Norman L. Reimer, the NACDL’s executive director, said, “Hopefully, this project establishes a precedent so that in future situations it will not take years to remediate the injustice.”

While unnamed federal officials previously acknowledged widespreadproblems, the FBI until now has withheld comment because findings might not be representative.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a former prosecutor, called on the FBI and Justice Department to notify defendants in all 2,500 targeted cases involving an FBI hair match about the problem even if their case has not been completed, and to redouble efforts in the three-year-old review to retrieve information on each case.

“These findings are appalling and chilling in their indictment of our criminal justice system, not only for potentially innocent defendants who have been wrongly imprisoned and even executed, but for prosecutors who have relied on fabricated and false evidence despite their intentions to faithfully enforce the law,” Blumenthal said.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and the panel’s ranking Democrat, Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.), urged the bureau to conduct “a root-cause analysis” to prevent future breakdowns.

“It is critical that the Bureau identify and address the systemic factors that allowed this far-reaching problem to occur and continue for more than a decade,” the lawmakers wrote FBI Director James B. Comey on March 27, as findings were being finalized.

The FBI is waiting to complete all reviews to assess causes but has acknowledged that hair examiners until 2012 lacked written standards defining scientifically appropriate and erroneous ways to explain results in court. The bureau expects this year to complete similar standards for testimony and lab reports for 19 forensic disciplines.

Federal authorities launched the investigation in 2012 after The Washington Post reported that flawed forensic hair matches might have led to the convictions of hundreds of potentially innocent people since at least the 1970s, typically for murder, rape and other violent crimes nationwide.

The review confirmed that FBI experts systematically testified to the near-certainty of “matches” of crime-scene hairs to defendants, backing their claims by citing incomplete or misleading statistics drawn from their case work.

In reality, there is no accepted research on how often hair from different people may appear the same. Since 2000, the lab has used visual hair comparison to rule out someone as a possible source of hair or in combination with more accurate DNA testing.

Warnings about the problem have been mounting. In 2002, the FBI reported that its own DNA testing found that examiners reported false hair matches more than 11 percent of the time. In the District, the only jurisdiction where defenders and prosecutors have re-investigated all FBI hair convictions, three of seven defendants whose trials included flawed FBI testimony have been exonerated through DNA testing since 2009, and courts have exonerated two more men. All five served 20 to 30 years in prison for rape or murder.

University of Virginia law professor Brandon L. Garrett said the results reveal a “mass disaster” inside the criminal justice system, one that it has been unable to self-correct because courts rely on outdated precedents admitting scientifically invalid testimony at trial and, under the legal doctrine of finality, make it difficult for convicts to challenge old evidence.

“The tools don’t exist to handle systematic errors in our criminal justice system,” Garrett said. “The FBI deserves every recognition for doing something really remarkable here. The problem is there may be few judges, prosecutors or defense lawyers who are able or willing to do anything about it.”

Federal authorities are offering new DNA testing in cases with errors, if sought by a judge or prosecutor, and agreeing to drop procedural objections to appeals in federal cases.

However, biological evidence in the cases often is lost or unavailable. Among states, only California and Texas specifically allow appeals when experts recant or scientific advances undermine forensic evidence at trial.

Defense attorneys say scientifically invalid forensic testimony should be considered as violations of due process, as courts have held with false or misleading testimony.

The FBI searched more than 21,000 federal and state requests to its hair comparison unit from 1972 through 1999, identifying for review roughly 2,500 cases where examiners declared hair matches.

Reviews of 342 defendants’ convictions were completed as of early March, the NACDL and Innocence Project reported. In addition to the 268 trials in which FBI hair evidence was used against defendants, the review found cases in which defendants pleaded guilty, FBI examiners did not testify, did not assert a match or gave exculpatory testimony.

When such cases are included, by the FBI’s count examiners made statements exceeding the limits of science in about 90 percent of testimonies, including 34 death-penalty cases.

The findings likely scratch the surface. The FBI said as of mid-April that reviews of about 350 trial testimonies and 900 lab reports are nearly complete, with about 1,200 cases remaining.

The bureau said it is difficult to check cases before 1985, when files were computerized. It has been unable to review 700 cases because police or prosecutors did not respond to requests for information.

Also, the same FBI examiners whose work is under review taught 500 to 1,000 state and local crime lab analysts to testify in the same ways.

Texas, New York and North Carolina authorities are reviewing their hair examiner cases, with ad hoc efforts underway in about 15 other states.



LINK >  Federal review stalled after finding forensic errors by FBI lab unit spanned two decades


 

V. Stiviano to appeal order to return $2.6 million to Sterling Family Trust

V. Stiviano to appeal order to return $2.6 million to Sterling Family Trust

LA Times
By Matt Hamilton
April 15, 2015

V. Stiviano, the former companion of Donald Sterling, will appeal a Los Angeles County judge’s tentative decision that she return more than $2.6 million in cash and gifts to the former NBA team owner, her attorney said.

On Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Richard Fruin Jr. ruled a home worth $1.8 million and more than $800,000 in luxury cars and cash gifts that Sterling gave his 32-year-old companion were assets he shared with his wife, Shelly. He ordered Stiviano to turn them over to the Sterling Family Trust.

Her attorney, Mac Nehoray, said Stiviano would appeal.

"We are very disappointed," Nehoray said. "Judges are supposed to interpret the law, not make them."

Stiviano contended the gifts were made when the Sterlings were separated.

The judge was not swayed, however, finding that the couple didn’t live separately “during any part” of 2011 through 2014.

“Their marriage had difficulties,” wrote Fruin, noting Shelly Sterling’s interview with Barbara Walters in which she admitted being estranged from her husband.

“However, the parties continued to live together, to travel together, to hold parties together and to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries together.”

The court decision bookends a tumultuous year for 80-year-old Donald Sterling, a real estate magnate who owned the NBA’s Clippers franchise for 33 years.

Shelly Sterling’s attorney, Pierce O’Donnell, announced the court decision Tuesday night.

"Shelly is thrilled with the decision,” said O’Donnell, who also called it “a victory for the Sterling family.”

Public outcry erupted in April 2014 after TMZ.com posted a recording of Donald Sterling scolding Stiviano for associating with blacks in public. On the recording, Sterling warned Stiviano not to bring blacks to Clippers games.

In the ensuing uproar, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver fined Sterling $2.5 million, banned him for life and moved to force the sale of the team, which was held by the Sterling Family Trust.

Following a probate trial, a Los Angeles County judge ruled Shelly Sterling had acted properly when she ousted her husband from the trust and said she had the authority to sell the Clippers. Former Microsoft executive Steve Ballmer subsequently paid $2 billion for the team.

During the nearly 2-½ years that Stiviano and Sterling were companions, he gave her a Bentley, a Range Rover and a Ferrari. He also bought her a Los Angeles duplex valued at $1.8 million.

Shelly Sterling contended Stiviano was her husband’s mistress, but they denied it.

At trial, Stiviano argued family members contributed a portion of the home’s payments. But the judge, after analyzing banking records and ledgers from Sterling’s company – along with testimony from both Sterling and Stiviano – found the octogenarian alone had bought the property. 

“Ms. Stiviano testified that Donald Sterling made payments to her or for her benefit that she acknowledged were gifts,” Fruin said.

The judge gave the parties 15 days to file objections or seek changes before his order becomes final.


LINK: >  V. Stiviano to appeal order to return $2.6 million to Donald Sterling

LA Times Exclusive: Scientology head's father was spied on, police report says

Exclusive Scientology head's father was spied on, police report says

LA Times
Kim Christensen
April 8, 2015


For 18 months private detectives tracked every move made by the father of David Miscavige, leader of the Church of Scientology, as they eavesdropped, spied on his emails and planted a GPS unit on his car, according to police records.

The church paid the two detectives $10,000 a week through an intermediary, the records indicate, all because Miscavige feared that his father would divulge too much about the organization's activities.

The episode, detailed in documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times, is the latest in a decades-long series of allegations that the church has intimidated, harassed or abused current and former members, at times going to great lengths to dissuade them from discussing their experiences or knowledge of the secretive religion.

The surveillance of Ronald Miscavige Sr., a longtime Scientologist who had recently parted ways with the church, was described by Florida private eye Dwayne S. Powell, after he was arrested in July 2013 near Milwaukee with two rifles, four handguns, 2,000 rounds of ammunition and a homemade silencer in his rented SUV.

When confronted by West Allis, Wis., police responding to a report of a suspicious man in the neighborhood, Powell said he was house-hunting, according to the documents.

"Do I have to give you my name?" he asked the officers. "What law did I break?"

Police placed Powell, now 43, under arrest on suspicion of obstruction and in his pockets found a folding knife, a flashlight and his Florida driver's license and private investigator credentials. His Ford Edge also contained two laptop computers, binoculars, a GPS tracking device and a stun gun.

Powell initially declined to name his employer. But at the police station, he told Det. Nicholas Pye that he was hired by the Church of Scientology to conduct "full-time" surveillance of the elder Miscavige, now 79, who lived in a nearby town, the records state.

David Miscavige and the church deny any connection to Powell.

"Please be advised that Mr. Miscavige does not know Mr. Powell, has never heard of Mr. Powell, has never met Mr. Powell, has never spoken to Mr. Powell, never hired Mr. Powell and never directed any investigations by Mr. Powell," Michael Lee Hertzberg, Miscavige's attorney, said in an email to The Times.

Gary Soter, an attorney for the church, said Scientology lawyers hire private investigators "in matters related to litigation" but he called the allegations involving David Miscavige "blatantly false." He declined to answer questions about David Miscavige's relationship with his father.

Once, while tailing Miscavige on a shopping trip, Powell and his partner watched him grasp his chest and slump over while loading his car. After his arrest, Powell told police he'd thought Miscavige was having a heart attack and might die. He said he phoned his intermediary for instructions.

Two minutes later a man who identified himself as David Miscavige called him back, according to records.

"David told him that if it was Ron's time to die, to let him die and not intervene in any way," the records state, noting that the apparent emergency passed "and nothing further happened."

Miscavige's lawyer, Hertzberg, did not specifically respond to The Times' question about the incident.

Scientology was founded in 1954 by L. Ron Hubbard, a science fiction writer who parlayed his self-help system, Dianetics, into a worldwide religion-without-a-deity. It has its own "study technology" developed by Hubbard, a quirky vocabulary and long held secret story of Xenu, a soul-stealing galactic overlord from 75 million years ago.

The church teaches that spiritual freedom — the state of "clear" — can be reached through one-on-one counseling known as auditing, aided by a polygraph-like device called an "e-meter." The sessions, along with extensive training courses, can cost Scientologists hundreds of thousands of dollars.

David Miscavige, 54, who spent his teenage years as an aide to Hubbard, has divided his time between the church's international headquarters near Hemet in Riverside County, known as the Gold Base, and its facilities in Clearwater, Fla.

He rose to the head of Scientology after the founder's death in 1986 amid a federal tax investigation that was later settled, resulting in the church's tax-exempt status. As chairman of the board of the Religious Technology Center, which holds the lucrative rights to the Scientology and Dianetics trademarks, he is the church's ultimate authority.

Ex-members, including four former top officials who told their stories to the St. Petersburg Times in 2009, have accused Miscavige of physical assaults and other violent behavior — all previously denied by Miscavige and the church.

Among other things that day in West Allis, Det. Pye quizzed Powell about the guns in his SUV.

"I asked Powell if he was hired as a hit man to kill Ron if the Church of Scientology ordered such action and he stated that he was not," Pye wrote in his report.

The weapons were for "sport shooting," Powell told Pye. He said his only mission was to keep a close watch on Ronald Miscavige, the records state.

"He explained that Ron and his younger wife, Becky, left the church and David is worried that they will divulge details about the church's activities and that their job was to know who Ron talked to, emailed with, where he went, what he did, etc.," Pye wrote.

Powell told police the church paid him through another Florida investigations firm, Terry Roffler and Associates. Although he reported directly to that firm — hourly, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. — "the main client is a David Miscavige, who is the son of Ronald Miscavige," the records note.

Roffler, reached by telephone, said he was "not too familiar" with the case and declined to discuss it.

In a brief telephone interview, Powell said he had let his investigator's license expire and no longer worked for the church. He declined to comment further.

Ronald Miscavige Sr. also declined to comment, although he and his wife told police as recently as last September that they believed they were still being followed.

"They advised that Ronald's son, David Miscavige, the leader of the Church of Scientology, is obviously having them watched because they left the church two years ago and David is afraid that Ronald will speak with the media about the negative inner workings of the church and David's abuse of the members of the church," a police report states.

In his July 2013 interview with police, Powell said he and a second investigator, his 21-year-old son Daniel, searched the elder Miscavige's garbage, photographed him wherever he went and tracked him with a GPS device attached to his car and linked to an iPad that read out his location, the documents state. Police found marks on the underside of the car that they concluded were made by the magnetic GPS device, the records say.

"When Ron would go to the library to check his emails, they would stand behind him and take pictures of the screen," one report notes. "When he would be eating at a restaurant, they would sit nearby or at his table and listen to his conversations. If Ron was in his vehicle on the phone, they would pull up next to him and monitor his conversation."

Powell's son, in an interview with police, corroborated key details of his father's story, including that they worked for the church, records state. He also recalled the incident in the parking lot and David Miscavige's purported response, the documents say.

"Who could let their father die like that?" he said, according to the records.

Dwayne Powell was indicted last year on one count of possessing an illegal silencer, a federal offense. The indictment was dismissed when prosecutors agreed to allow him to enter a pre-trial diversion program.

His son was not arrested or charged.


LINK: > Scientology head's father was spied on, police report says

Rolling Stone Apologizes, Retracts UVA Rape Article After CJR Review

Rolling Stone Apologizes, Retracts UVA Rape Article After CJR Review

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism conducted an independent review of the Rolling Stones article, Rape on Campus (at the University of VA), written by Rolling Stone "investigative journalist" Sabrina Rubin Erdely.

According to the investigative report, Rolling Stone:
(1) Failed to engage in basic, even routine journalistic practices,
(2) Failed to check even the most basic details of the story,
(3) Failed to give the accused a fair opportunity to respond,
(4) Allowed their trust of one source to override their basic tenets of investigative journalism,

Additionally, Police found No Witnesses, No Victims, No Corroboration

The UVA President, Teresa Sullivan said, "Irresponsible journalism unjustly damaged the reputations of many innocent individuals and the University of Virginia."

The reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely called the review "brutal and humbling".  I wonder how much more brutal than her article? 

Rolling Stone has issued a retraction of the story, however they DID NOT fire the writer, Sabrina Rubin Erdely or the editors. 

I wish the media in general would take note ... we may not have had a Ferguson, if reporters had merely dug a little deeper which would have revealed "key eyewitnesses" were liars.  Or Duke lacrosse, etc., etc., etc.



******************************************************************************


Rolling Stone Apologizes, Retracts UVA Rape Article After CJR Review

Apr 6, 2015, 12:45 AM ET
By KATHERINE FAULDERS


 Rolling Stone issued an apology for a November 2014 article that detailed allegations about a gang rape at the University of Virginia, retracting the article and posting a critique of the magazine's editorial process on the story in its place.

The Columbia University Journalism School review published Sunday on the Rolling Stone web site said that it found the journalistic failure was avoidable, and encompassed problems with reporting, editing, editorial supervision and fact-checking.

Sabrina Rubin Erdely, the author of the article, "A Rape on Campus," also issued an apology.

"The past few months, since my Rolling Stone article 'A Rape on Campus' was first called into question, have been among the most painful of my life. Reading the Columbia account of the mistakes and misjudgments in my reporting was a brutal and humbling experience. I want to offer my deepest apologies: to Rolling Stone’s readers, to my Rolling Stone editors and colleagues, to the U.V.A. community, and to any victims of sexual assault who may feel fearful as a result of my article," she said in the statement.

Erdely concedes that she "didn't go far enough to verify her story."

"I allowed my concern for Jackie’s well-being, my fear of re-traumatizing her, and my confidence in her credibility to take the place of more questioning and more facts. These are mistakes I will not make again," she wrote in the statement.

“Reporting on rape has unique challenges, but the journalist still has the responsibility to get it right. I hope that my mistakes in reporting this story do not silence the voices of victims that need to be heard.”

The article prompted an investigation by police in Charlottesville, Virginia, that concluded last month with officials saying they found "no evidence" that the allegations were true.

The woman, identified as "Jackie," alleged in the article that she was gang-raped by seven men at a UVA Phi Psi fraternity party in September 2012.

After the article was published, the magazine backpedaled on the story and Rolling Stone Managing Editor Will Dana said Erdely did not talk to any of the students involved in the alleged rape before publishing the story out of respect for Jackie.

Alex Pinkleton, a friend of Jackie's and advocate for sexual assault victims, shared her own story with Erdely.

"I did encounter skepticism with Sabrina because it seemed like she was unwilling to listen to anyone besides Jackie," Pinkleton said.

"I think in the report, the most surprising part of it was that there seemed to be a lack of ownership on the terms of the Rolling Stone. They still talked a lot about Jackie and what she had supposedly done wrong, when in reality the article should not have been written at all," Pinkleton told ABC News. "I don't think the review can help the damage that was done to Jackie and I think it's been an unfortunate situation and something that should not have been published."

University of Virginia Student Council President Abraham Axler said he did not find the report particularly shocking, and was pleased to see that it vindicated particular university figures.

"I think the most important lesson to be learned from all this stuff is that when we read something really evocative, we read something that really hits us at a visceral level that we wait until we hear all of the facts before rushing to judgement," Axler told ABC News. "I think one lesson that our community has learned is that we cant target people on the basis of a narrative."

University President Teresa A. Sullivan addressed the review, and the article's negative impact, in a statement.

"Rolling Stone’s story, 'A Rape on Campus,' did nothing to combat sexual violence, and it damaged serious efforts to address the issue," the statement reads. "Irresponsible journalism unjustly damaged the reputations of many innocent individuals and the University of Virginia. Rolling Stone falsely accused some University of Virginia students of heinous, criminal acts, and falsely depicted others as indifferent to the suffering of their classmate. The story portrayed University staff members as manipulative and callous toward victims of sexual assault. Such false depictions reinforce the reluctance sexual assault victims already feel about reporting their experience, lest they be doubted or ignored."

LINK > Rolling Stone Apologizes, Retracts UVA Rape Article After CJR Review