Aaron Saxton: Scientology's Sea Org recruits minors

Transcript:

Good evening. My name is Aaron Saxton. I'm a previous member of the Sea Organization and member of the Church of Scientology International.

The purpose of this audio presentation is to present information to media outlets, the general public, and politicians, primarily of the United States, and to release information that can be verified and used to prosecute the Church of Scientology International for violations of labor laws in the United States.

A brief introduction about myself: My name is Aaron Saxton, previously known as Aaron Tweddell. I served in the Sea Organization from 1989 to early 1996. I spent the years 1992 through to 1996 in the United States. I am now outside of the United States in Australia and I am presenting this information as follows.

This audio presentation will be brief, approximately 15 minutes in length, and will cover the following areas:

(1) The names of my recruits, so that they may be contacted and verify that this information is true and correct;

(2) The Cadet Organizations of the Sea Org, their true purpose, and incidents involved in the Cadet Organization that were not reported to the police by the Church of Scientology International;

(3) I will advise why the CMO and certain divisions of the Sea Organization used young children, as opposed to adults, for recruitment;

(4) I will provide information on the illegal certificates provided;

(5) I'll provide the results of our activities.}}

Firstly, who did I recruit? During the years 1992 through to 1996, I served primarily as the Division 1 Secretary of the Commodore's Messenger Organization International Extension Unit, which is located at the Hollywood Guaranty Building, 6331 Hollywood Boulevard, in Los Angeles. As the Division 1 Secretary, my prime responsibilities were for the ethics of that organization and to see that it correctly policed all of middle management. I was also responsible for the personnel of that organization.

During that time, the following people were recruited by myself, primarily, or I assisted in. Of the following list of names, I directly recruited more than 90 per cent mentioned. I do not have a complete list of those people, and this represents approximately 50 per cent of all people recruited by me. The list is as follows:

Melissa Bylsma Chrystal Cisco Edward Dickey Marissa Profittlich Eric Profittlich Jamie Guay Mike Valiente Tyrone Webb Hender Alvarez Dorian Andriette Dan Bosa Jessica Bulet Shawna Christiansen Javier Montez Deborah Downing Robbie Downing Robert Fulmer Wayne Furnell David Gutierrez Zane Hollingsworth Andrea [surname I do not remember] Jenny Lenacheck Page [surname I do not remember] Rob Willett Jenny [surname I do not remember] Mandy [surname I do not remember] Javier Montez Dan Modras Suzanne Mochrie Christina MacDaniel Barbara [surname I do not remember] Kendra Lister

Most of the people that I have just named were between the ages of 13 and 17 years of age.

The next topic I will record is that of the Cadet Org. The Cadet Org. What is the Cadet Org? In every major Sea Org International location, an organization was established to house, furnish, feed, educate, and train all young members of the Sea Organization. Whilst not considered young members of the Sea Organization, being the children of Sea Org members entitled them to such a title, and as such, they were financed and protected by the Sea Organization. Branches were established: one in the Flag Land Base and one in Los Angeles. The one in Los Angeles, out in Ventura County, where some 30 to 50 odd young Sea Org members were housed between the ages of 4 to 13. During this time they received "an education in the real world" and "an education in Scientology." However, as young members, they were given instructions and treated like Sea Org members. They had jobs, positions to do, wore hats, and slept in berthing not unlike what Sea Org members also went through. They were allowed and permitted very little time with their parents. The Ventura location County was so far away from the Sea Org location in Los Angeles that it was a physical impossibility for the children to really associate with their parents in any great extent.

The advantage of a Cadet Org is that it gave the Sea Organization a very unique resource pool: people that have not been exposed to the outside world, people that were fully indoctrinated in Scientology and had already agreed to join the Sea Organization at a later date when they are old enough to legally be able to be permitted. It should be noted here that, "legally permitted" ... I mean ... when we felt ... in the Sea Org, we could get away with it, legally enough to avoid prosecution.

At the Cadet Org, several illegal activities were undisclosed, such as... Often, Sea Org cadets would be involved in sexual activities at a young age of 13. While it's not illegal to do this with another underage person, there were instances, such as the Flag Land Base of one particular recruit, Sarah is an example, from the Cadet Organization, in 1992, having sex with people over the ages of 16 and 18. Primarily, this occurred during the Estates Project Force training. Here, all details of these were withheld from the police and not reported. This also occurred at the Ventura County, and all unusual relationship activities of all children were never reported to the police, even if they involved adults.

Why did the Sea Org like to enjoy the recruitment of young people? The answer lay in the history of the CMO. The CMO, the Commodore's Messenger Organization, was established on the ship by L. Ron Hubbard, aka the "Commodore" of the Sea Org. Young children provided a very unique perspective: one, they were easily taught, easily trained, and could easily be made to worship or deify a senior authority or person. When they saw the horrors of the Sea Organization, such as heavy ethics and justice, it wasn't hard to convince a person to join the CMO. CMO typically, from continent to continent, and particularly in Los Angeles, enjoyed a higher level of berthing conditions, food conditions, and welfare conditions above any other members of the Sea Org. Also, being children, they would naturally have a fear of adults. Being in the CMO was of a great advantage, because here they were made authoritative and given total authority over all other Sea Org members. This gave them the authority they needed to feel protected. Also, love-bombing, a commonly documented technique in cults, was very prevalent in the CMO. CMO ate away from the rest of the Sea Org, we berthed away from the rest of the Sea Org, and we had our own separate quarters, our own separate musters and conditions. Such an environment was very conducive to young children. As an example, in the Commodore's Messenger Organization in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Guaranty Building, very few messengers were over the age of 18. This created a good, unique environment for children to thrive in, where they felt they were part of a similar group of people.

Policies in the Sea Org that allowed us to bring the children in at such an early age did not exist. Simply, what existed was the desire to have Sea Org members. I recruited public Scientologists as young as 15 years of age to come into the Sea Org and join the CMO. Why did the parents permit this? The parents permitted this because, primarily, they knew that if their children joined an organization such as Bridge Publications Incorporated or Celebrity Center International, they would receive some form of status and better treatment than the average Sea Org member. However, allowing them into the CMO offered their children a very unique chance to be part of a more elite group.

Also, within the CMO, we provided and guaranteed education to our children. However, none of this was ever delivered. In fact, the moment a person started working for the CMO, no education was allowed at all. However, we had a legal responsibility in regards to allowing children to be educated. How we got around this is that there were several educators involved in the WISE group, called "World International Scientology Enterprises Incorporated", around the world, and these educators existed in Los Angeles, and what would happen is we would pay them and we would send one of the Messengers out. And what they would do is what was known as a pre-examination, where they were actually given the actual exam required to pass the legal requirements. They would always fail, because they hadn't received an education. What would then happen is the answers were fed to the children over a period of several hours and then they were given the exam "for real." Of course, they would pass the examination. Passing the examination, they were then given a certificate of educational requirements. The Office of Special Affairs in Los Angeles and all Church of Scientology International directors were well aware of the scam. However, legally, it couldn't be rebuffed, as the parents of Scientologists would not refute that this had actually happened, and they would stand by their children and say they had received an education, even when they had not. The last known example of this that I was involved in was the sending of Suzette Barnett to the International Base. Her mother, a prominent Scientologist out in the field, condoned and accepted her daughter to go through illegal certification of her educational requirements in order to facilitate her daughter rising through the ranks of Scientology.

I want to outline to the politicians and the media that may be listening to this audio presentation the severe results of our actions. The result of these actions resulted in children that no longer pursued sports, no longer pursued arts, crafts, or any other form of career, and as a result, the children grew up without having any other options in their life, other than to pursue careers within the Sea Organization. In particular, children that had grown up in the Cadet Organization were literally condemned to a life within the Sea Org, regardless of what they wanted, because their parents were in it, and they hadn't known anything in their entire lives. Children that were recruited publicly and then put into the CMO had a second option: if they did leave the Sea Organization, they could hypothetically get another career. However, if years had passed between these dates, they were now young adults and would no longer be qualified to go through standard educational lines. This is one of the reasons why parents of Sea Org members, particularly young Sea Org members, often assist and keep their children within the Sea Org after this, and once they decide to leave. It is because they know that they can't particularly have much of a career outside of the Sea Org.

I have provided this very brief information as a guide to others out there about just how many children were involved in this in Los Angeles and the ages of those children. There isn't a single person I have named that cannot be contacted and have verified through their personnel records that they were in fact in the Sea Org at too early an age. Such staff members such as Dan Modras and Zane Hollingsworth are clear examples, including Tyrone Webb, of people being allowed in at far too early of an age.

It would be impossible for the Church of Scientology International to deny the existence of such a program to recruit young people, and I stand by to assist with anybody who wishes more information.

Thank you.

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