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Scientology leader, David Miscavige, spent $10,000 a week hiring two private investigators to stalk and spy on his father for 18 months, according to police reports.
Police discovered this in July 2013 when they arrested private eye Dwayne S. Powell, now 43, in West Allis, Wis. after local residents reported a suspicious man in an SUV in the neighborhood, according to police reports the L.A. Times obtained. Authorities found that Powell had in his possession guns, ammunition, a stun gun, laptop and a GPS tracking device. Powell told police the weapons were just for "sport shooting."
He would later tell police that both he and his 21-year-old son Daniel were hired by David Miscavige, 54, to do full-time surveillance on his father, Ronald Miscavige Sr., now 79. Ronald Miscavige was a longtime Scientologist who deflected from the church two years ago. Det. Nicholas Pye, who interviewed Powell after his arrest, wrote: "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."
The private eye duo would follow Ronald Miscavige everywhere, even to the library, go through his trash, attach a GPS tracking device to his car, and listen in on his conversations, Powell told Pye.
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However, one of the most chilling stories was when Powell detailed how he and his son one day saw Ronald Miscavige slump over his car, and it looked like he was having a heart attack. When Powell asked what he should do about it, "David told him that if it was Ron's time to die, to let him die and not intervene in any way," according to the police reports.
David Miscavige's attorney, Michael Lee Hertzberg, told the Times 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."
This news comes on the heels of HBO's recently-released, damning documentary on Scientology, Going Clear, where high-ranking deflectors detailed abuse and intimidation tactics brought on by the church, and how David Miscavige was emotionally and physically abusive.
Ronald Miscavige had introduced David to Scientology in 1972 when he was 12 in hopes to cure his asthma, according to Philly.com. Soon after, David Miscavige would work directly with L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, and eventually work his way up to the top spot in the religion.
Journalist Tony Ortega wrote in The Underground Bunker that Ronald Miscavige left (or as Ortega puts it, "managed to escape") the church in 2012, and has stayed pretty mum on the whole situation. Ronald Miscavige has since kept himself busy, penning a childhood memoir and releasing a series of YouTube marketing videos on exercise equipment. When the Times asked him about being followed, Ronald Miscavige didn't comment, but they found that he and his wife had told police last September that they were still being stalked.
