Interview Summary - Charlotte Chase

Date:August 14, 1997
Pages:9

SUPPLEMENT/CONTINUATION

FLO520300/Clearwater Police Department Report No. 95-29158
Offense Death Investigation Date of Report 8/8/97

Location 644 Pierce Street Orig Incident Date 12/6/95
Victim Lisa McPherson VI Prosecute Yes X No
Investigator Jorge Carrasquillo
Previous Status
Subject None
Impound Inventory

NARRATIVE:

On August 8, 1997 Sgt. Andrews and I interviewed Charlotte Chase in the presence of Attorney Daneil McAuliffe. Attorney McAuliffe has been retained by Columbia HCA hospital to represent the hospital and employees. At the request of Attorney McAuliffe the interview was conducted at Columbia New Port Richey Hospital at 0700 hours. The following information was obtained from Chase:

Chase, Charlotte Jean W/F 08/XX/59

Residing at XXXX XXXXX XXXXX

Holiday Fl., 34690

H # 813-XXX-XXXX

Employed by Columbia New Port Richey Hospital

5637 Marine Parkway

New Port Richey, Fl. 34656

W # 813-845-XXXX

The interview was commenced at 0715 hours and record by Sgt. Andrews. The interview was concluded at 0746 hours. For additional information see transcript of interview. After the interview Attorney McAuliffe stated a lot of our concerns and questions have been addressed in the civil depositions of Attorney Ken Dandar in his case against the Church of Scientology. Attorney McAuliffe stated the deposition are


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SUPPLEMENT/CONTINUATION

FL0520300/ Clearwater Police Department Report No. 95-29158
Offense Death Investigation Date of Report 8/8/97

now public record. We will attempt to locate copies of the depositions in question.

Investigation continues.


Ofc. Reporting Det. Jorge Carrasquillo ID No. 630
Case Status Active Date Cleared
Clearance Type Exception Type
1. Arrest

Adult Juvenile

2. Exceptional

3. Unfounded
1. Extradition declined

2. AR of primary offense,

secondary offense,

w/o prosecution
3. Death of Offender

4. V/W refused to cooperate

5. Prosecution declined

6. Juv/No Custody

Ofc. Reviewing                      Date          SAO Info
Sgt. W. Andrews [signature]         8-8-97

Page 2 of 2

SUPPLEMENT/CONTINUATION

FLO520300/Clearwater Police Department Report No. 95-29158
Offense Death Investigation Date of Report 8/11/97

Location 644 Pierce Street Orig Incident Date 12/6/97
Victim Lisa McPherson VI Prosecute Yes X No
Investigator Jorge Carrasquillo
Previous Status Active
Subject
Impound Inventory

NARRATIVE:

On August 11, 1997, 1 was advised the cassette tape of Charlotte Chase's interview submitted for transcribing was of poor quality, and difficult to transcribe. Especially Attorney McAuliffe's statements and my statements. Since the interview contained no pertinent information the decision w as made not to transcribe the tape at this time. The tape will be maintained in the case file for future reference if needed. Attorney' McAuliffe was informed of the condition of the tape by Sgt. W. Andrews. Investigation Continues.


Ofc. Reporting Det. Jorge Carrasquillo ID No. 630
Case Status Active Date Cleared
Clearance Type Exception Type
1. Arrest

Adult Juvenile

2. Exceptional

3. Unfounded
1. Extradition declined

2. AR of primary offense,

secondary offense,

w/o prosecution
3. Death of Offender

4. V/W refused to cooperate

5. Prosecution declined

6. Juv/No Custody

Ofc. Reviewing                      Date          SAO Info
Sgt. W. C. Andrews [signature]      8-11-97

Page 1 of 1

SUPPLEMENT/CONTINUATION

FLO520300/Clearwater Police Department Report No. 95-29158
Offense Death Investigation Date of Report 8/14/97

Location 644 Pierce Street Orig Incident Date 12/6/95
Victim Lisa McPherson VI Prosecute Yes No
Investigator Det. Sgt. Wayne Andrews
Previous Status Active
Subject
Impound Inventory

THURSDAY, JULY 24,1997

At 1420 hours, Assistant State Attorney Mark McGarry, Executive Assistant State Attorney Doug Crowe, and I met at the State Attorney's Office to conduct an investigative deposition of the following individual:

Glen Stilo, W/M, DOB 11/XX/50

Also present were Attorneys Morris Weinberg and Lee Fugate, who were representing Glen Stilo.

Background: Glen Stilo is the designated custodian of records for the Church of Scientology in Clearwater. During this deposition, he was to answer subpoenas #40-86-661 and #40-86-662, which were dated 7/17/97. These subpoenas were re-issued by the State Attorney's Office when they looked for missing documents that have not been supplied by the Church. Glen Stilo will be explaining the Church of Scientology's attempts to find the missing records.

Involvement With Lisa McPherson: In February of 1997, subpoenas were issued to the Church of Scientology, specifically to Attorney Morris Weinberg, for information on the caretakers and anyone else having involvement with Lisa McPherson during


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FL0520300/ Clearwater Police Department Report No. 95-29158
Offense Death Investigation Date of Report 8/14/97

her stay at the Ft. Harrison Hotel. In response to those subpoenas, Attorney Lee Fugate turned over numerous caretaker reports. After State Attorney investigative depositions with people involved with Lisa McPherson, it was found that the following reports for day-to-day care were missing:

Rita Boykin's caretaker report

Hayde Cezare's caretaker reports (2)

Sylvia Delavaga's caretaker report

Valarie Demange's caretaker report

Sam Ghiora's security guard reports (3)

Heather Petzold's caretaker report

Emma Schemmerhorn's caretaker report

Joan Stevens' caretaker report

Patricia Stracener's caretaker report

Alice Van Groidelle's caretaker report

Barbro Wennberg's caretaker report

Janis Johnson's report written to security after trip to hospital

Paul Greenwood's report written to security after trip to hospital

Laura Arrunada's report written to security after trip to hospital

Glen Stilo was subpoenaed to the State Attorney's Office to either produce the documents listed above or to explain why they could not be found. He advised that he has been a Scientologist since joining the Church in 1974 in Austin, Texas. He was on staff in 1977 after serving time in Germany with the military. He lived in Clearwater from 1981 to 1985. He has worked in public relations and legal matters with the Church. On 1/15/96, he was sent to Clearwater with Attorney Elliott Abelson to investigate what happened to Lisa McPherson. Attorney Abelson stayed in Clearwater until approximately February 1996 and returned to Los Angeles while he


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FL0520300/ Clearwater Police Department Report No. 95-29158
Offense Death Investigation Date of Report 8/14/97

(Glen) remained in Clearwater and reported to Attorneys Paul and Robert Johnson in Tampa. On 4/23/96, he became the custodian of records for the Church. Assistant State Attorney Mark McGarry asked Glen Stilo if he had found any of the missing reports and was going to turn them over to us on this date. He stated no, that his exhaustive search did not turn up any of the missing reports. We continued questioning him about the extent of his search. He stated that he sent out memos to people in different offices in an attempt to find records on Lisa McPherson. He stated that the reports of the caretakers we have received were found in the seven pre-clear folders of Lisa McPherson that were located in Los Angeles. He stated that he could not provide a reason why the reports were in the pre-clear folders and why the folders were in Los Angeles, and that he had no idea when and where they were transferred there. He stated that he did not find the caretaker reports as they were turned over by Carolyn Oakes to Attorneys Weinberg and Fugate. When asked if he looked in the pre-clear folders, he stated that he was not allowed to since he was only a Level 4 and Lisa was clear. Executive Assistant State Attorney Doug Crowe asked why they would assign someone to look for the missing reports that was not allowed to look in the folders. He was unable to provide an answer for that question. It was apparent after thorough questioning that Glen Stilo did not do an exhaustive search and simply sent memos to the offices where the reports may have been and waited for those people to send their replies back. When questioned about simply talking to the runner, Lacey Spencer, who was handling all of the reports at the time, he stated that he did not interview her. He also did not interview Brian Anderson, Janis Johnson, Paul Greenwood, or Laura Arrunada. He briefly spoke to Paul Kellerhals, who told him that he did not have any of the reports. Glen Stilo did say that he had found one of the missing reports. This report was a knowledge report written by Alice Van Groidelle and was found by Glen Stilo during a hand search in the ethics folder of Leslie Woodcraft. In an earlier testimony, Alice Van Groidelle indicated that she had


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FL0520300/ Clearwater Police Department Report No. 95-29158
Offense Death Investigation Date of Report 8/14/97

turned over two copies she kept in the library where she works to security. However, those copies were not found. Executive Assistant State Attorney Doug Crowe asked Glen Stilo why he would do a physical hand search for that one report but not the caretaker reports. He stated that he did not know, but that the Church has a tendency to misplace reports.

We were unable to continue the deposition with Glen Stilo on this date because of time and it was concluded at approximately 1700 hours. It was scheduled to begin again on Thursday, 7/31/97, at 1400 hours.

THURSDAY, JULY 31, 1997

At 1400 hours, we continued the deposition of Glen Stilo. Executive Assistant State Attorney Crowe was able to ascertain from Glen Stilo that all seven of Lisa's pre-clear folders were in the Church of Scientology's Office Of Special Affairs in Los Angeles. However, Glen Stilo indicated that he had no idea why they were there or who requested them, but that there were no pre-clear folders in Clearwater. He again indicated that Carol Oakes in Los Angeles had looked in the pre-clear folders and told him that there were no further caretaker reports to be found. He stated that security checks had been done on Lisa McPherson and were put in the pre-clear folders, but that he has not seen them since he can not look in the folders. He stated that he has not talked to Len Farney, who has been identified earlier as assisting with caretaker reports to the caretakers prior to their depositions. However, he spoke to Ben Shaw, who is now the Commanding Officer at the Church's Office Of Special Affairs in Clearwater, and Ben told him that he had no idea where the reports were. He also indicated that a Ken Long has been helping him look for the missing documents but


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SUPPLEMENT/CONTINUATION

FL0520300/ Clearwater Police Department Report No. 95-29158
Offense Death Investigation Date of Report 8/14/97

they have not been found. He believes that Judy Fontana (formerly Judy Johnson) may have transported some of the missing documents but was not sure.

The deposition with Glen Stilo was concluded at 1700 hours.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 1997

At 0917 hours, Assistant State Attorney Mark McGarry, Det. J. Carrasquillo, and I met at the State Attorney's Office to conduct an investigative deposition of the following:

Attila Toth, W/M (Hungarian Citizen), DOB 6/XX/67

Also present was Attorney Kevin Darkin, who was representing Attila Toth.

Background: Attila was a security guard at the Fort Harrison Hotel at the time Lisa McPherson stayed there. He has not been working since that time due to a serious illness and presently lives in an apartment in Dunedin. He has been a Scientologist since June 1992 and has a meter level grade of 0. He began working security at the Church in 1993.

Involvement With Lisa McPherson: He was a security guard on the night shift when Lisa was staying in the cabanas of the Fort Harrison Hotel. Also working security with him was Sam Ghiora, who was sometimes supervised by Attila. Attila usually came into work sometime between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. When the Security Chief went home at midnight, Attila sat in the security office of the parking area and acted as Security Chief until approximately 6 a.m. or 7 a.m. He told Sam Ghiora to write reports about anything unusual and Sam wrote three of them. Sam turned the


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SUPPLEMENT/CONTINUATION

FL0520300/ Clearwater Police Department Report No. 95-29158
Offense Death Investigation Date of Report 8/14/97

reports, which were addressed to the Senior Case Supervisor, Alain Kartuzinski, over to Attila, who put them in the security office in the parking garage area. Arthur Baxter was Attila's supervisor and gave him instructions. When questioned about other Hungarian security guards that were working with him at the time, he gave the following names:

Sandor Bogdan

Sandor Barna

Istvan Hecmeczy

Attila indicated that these three security guards were working at the Fort Harrison Hotel at the time Lisa was there. He believes that Sandor Bogdan and Sandor Barna still work at the Church but is not sure about Istavan Hecmeczy. When asked about writing reports, Attila believes he may have written three reports but was not sure. He was on duty on 12/5/95 when Lisa was taken to the hospital. When asked about reports written, he described an area in the security office, the same as Paul Greenwood did, about a small place where people would be asked to write reports. He was not sure if the three people mentioned above were asked to write reports but stated that it would be normal and not out of the ordinary. When asked if he would sign the reports he wrote, he stated that he would put his name at the top of the report and sign his name at the bottom. I advised him that we have not yet received any of his reports from the Church. He stated that someone is always in the security office and there are cameras. When asked about security being pulled off of Lisa's room, he was not sure but believed it was four or five days prior to 12/5/95.

The deposition with Attila Toth was transcribed by a Court Reporter. For further details, please see the transcript.


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