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Amended Raid Report, Gold Base 10-26-08

Patricia Curtis

Patron with Honors
Either I can't figure out how to edit a post or that isn't done here...but I wanted to put up the amended raid report. Vid links added and new stuff at the end.

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Official Raid Report – Gold Base, October 26, 2008

We arrived at the base at approximately 11:30 AM in a rented van. The plan was to drop two protesters at the front gate to film the security guards scramble into their base lockdown mode. The remainder of us then proceeded further down the road to the usual parking place in the open area in front of the creepy castle.

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Because our vehicle is always tampered with by the guards, we set up a little surprise for them this time. AnonOrange stayed behind in the van, hidden by the balloons we had brought as a gift to the gate guards, while Glib and I headed up the hill to the protest area. It was only a matter of minutes before the black Bronco pulled up next to the van. AO, filming the entire time, jumped up and startled the guard, who immediately shifted into reverse and sped backwards up the semi-circular dirt road. AO chased after the vehicle, still filming and narrating the action. We watched the event from our position at the guard shack, which is approximately a quarter mile from the parking area.

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We had called the police the moment we arrived to let them know of our presence, and it was approximately 11:50 AM when a Riverside Sheriff’s cruiser arrived. He parked in the middle of the street and did not get out of his vehicle. It was blazing hot (as usual) so I asked him if he wanted to come over and park in the shade near the protesters. He said, “No thanks. I’m not going to be here long.” He eventually parked his cruiser and approached Sock Puppy and me. Paraphrasing, he told SP that if he was going to wear a mask he needed to take down his name. SP balked immediately but I don’t know how that conversation ended because I headed down to the van to help AO carry his things up.

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The protest proceeded much like the prior protests with only a couple of exceptions. We had brought along a SLR with a 500mm zoom lens to get some shots deeper into the base. The camera was extremely useful in capturing several visits to the van from the Bronco driving guard. Sometimes he got out and moved about the van. On one occasion he appeared to be trifling with the back door of the van. We had also brought a video camera to leave recording inside the van. The camera was positioned on the dashboard to capture the guard snooping for the VIN# and to record any attempts they might make to enter or mechanically trifle with the vehicle.

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Another exception was that we brought a megaphone. We suspected the gold tone would be running (it was) so we compensated. In fact, the gold tone started within minutes of our arrival, however it was not as loud as the first time it was introduced. Plus, the speaker tower at the guard shack had been removed making it considerably easier for us to communicate with each other (and considerably less miserable!) The megaphone was still extremely useful in delivering our message down into the base, and especially to those inside the guard shack.

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We could see through the blinds that there were four or five guards in there throughout the day. We have a normal list of things we shout through the window at them. This time we added a couple of things. We let them know that Anonymous had effectively protested their big IAS event in Saint Hill. We told them the orgs were emptying out all over the world because of Anonymous. We heavily encouraged them to blow while they had a chance because they shouldn’t take the fall for Miscaviges’ misdeeds. We said, “Jeff Hawkins is protesting and telling the world what’s going on inside there!” We flashed a sign that said, “Marc Headley wrote a book and named names…too bad for you Danny Dunagan!”

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The cops were back at 12:55 PM; this time it was two sheriffs and a CHP. The officer from earlier had returned, so I said hello, you’re back! He replied, “Last time it was for you. This time it’s for them.” I laughed and asked what we had been called on. He just shrugged and continued toward the guard shack. The three cops chatted in front of the guard shack for a few minutes, then Danny Dunagan came out and joined them. The CHP turned to leave. I snagged him and asked what the call was about. He didn’t specify but responded in a way that made me think he thought it was lame. He said he was glad he didn’t have to be a part of it and could leave. I asked him if he would like to join our protest. He laughed and said, it doesn’t work that way. I offered to let him wear one of our masks…no one would have to know. He laughed again and went on his way.

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After a moment, Danny and the two remaining sheriffs turned and walked through the open gate leading into the base. I don’t know where they went, but they were not headed toward the back of the guard shack where the door is. They went the other direction. They were in there about 10 minutes.

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I think I initiated a conversation with Sheriff #1 (the guy who had been there earlier) when they returned, asking what we had done wrong. He never said, but he attempted to get us to move our protest down to the open area in front of the castle. Of course we politely declined his offer. He pressed the issue asking why we needed to be “up here”, why not just go “down there”? I said it’s not effective to protest down there. He asked what I meant by “effective.” I said, “protesting Scientology!” He said, “How would you like it if someone protested you in front of your private residence?” I said, “They do all the time! See that guy right there? (pointing to AO) They did a protest right in front of his home!” Sheriff #1 was visibly annoyed that we weren’t cooperating with him. He said he was concerned that we might cause an accident. I finally said, “We are peaceful protesters here to exercise our constitution rights and we’re not going down there.” He said ok, but I’m just letting you know that if there is an accident here because of this that you will be named [I can’t remember specifically the term he used here, something like “a party to the accident”]. He then stood by his cruiser and glared at us for several minutes before leaving.

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At one point we noticed that a flare had been set behind the van. We captured a sequence through the SLR of the guard returning to the flare and fooling around with it. When it was first placed, the flame was pointed inward toward the base. The guard returned to reposition the flare so that the flame was pointed toward the street.

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The Bronco guard trifling with the vehicle was a big source of concern for us throughout the day. We had valuable possessions inside, plus we had a real fear of the car being mechanically tampered with. The Bronco made several runs on the van, each time coming down the semi-circle dirt road, which borders a clump of trees. The young blond guard (Matt Butler) would often get out of the Bronco and move about the exterior of the van. Each time we saw the Bronco by the van, one of the male protesters would take off down the hill toward it. Each time, Butler would wait until the protester was fairly close, then he would reverse the Bronco back up the dirt road and tuck in behind the tree line. It was exasperating for the guys to keep running down there, only to have the Bronco zip away then return as soon as they got back up to the protest area.

At around 2:15 PM, just after the two sheriffs left, the guards deployed sprinkler tech to discourage AO from taking his long lens shots through the fences. AO had complained to the cops about the Bronco guard trifling with the van. When they left heading down the hill toward the van, we assumed they would have a word with the guard, who was there at the van that very minute. Both sheriffs drove past the van without stopping.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFnn2f9dTYA
This video by I’mGlib shows our arrival and some clips from throughout the day. You see the “Bronco” (not really a Bronco but I’m sticking with that for consistency) at the van and Sock Puppy immediately react by running down the hill. (Note: The weird organ sound heard throughout the video is the “gold tone,” a chord pumped at high decibels through several 6-7 foot tall speakers positioned throughout the base. One clever Anon recently turned the chord into a rap song which can be heard during the second half of the vid.)

There was a point around 2:45 PM when I noticed Glib and I were the only protesters left in the protest area. Two Anons had gone down to the van for water and AO was nowhere in sight. I was directly in front of the guard shack doing my usual thing and Glib was 50-60 feet down the hill megaphoning and taking photos through the fence. The gate opened and a little grey sedan came zooming out. The window was rolled down and I saw Dunagan driving and Kenny Seabold in the passenger seat. I yelled, “Hey, where are you going? What’s the hurry? Why are you so grouchy?” (They really did look grouchy.) They zoomed left down the hill toward the van. I watched the vehicle drive past the van, then continue around the curve out of sight. A minute later I noticed that a small green sedan with two Latino men had pulled into the shaded area where the sheriff’s cars had been earlier. I started to walk toward them, then decided I should get Glib’s attention before doing something on my own. I turned to yell for her to come up to where I was but she couldn’t hear me. I started to walk toward her, then saw the green car flip around and take off in the other direction.

A few minutes later Glib and I decided that since we had told the police we would only be there until about 3 PM that we should call it a day. We collected everything and headed down the hill. One thing to note is that every time one of us walked past the speakers they would crank up the volume. It was excruciating.

As we started loading the van Glib said, “Where’s AO?” I spotted him walking toward us on the shoulder of the road, just beyond the point where the back half of the semi-circle dirt road meets the highway (from the direction opposite the guard shack). We decided to take our official group photo as soon as AO arrived back at the van.

I was inside the van so I don’t know exactly how Sock Puppy ended up where AO was being attacked. My first clue that something was happening was when SP stepped out into the dirt road waving his arms at us and motioning us to come down there. Because we couldn’t see his face or hear anything through the mask and above the gold tone, the three of us (me, Glib, and XenuBarb) thought AO was pulling a joke on us or something. We kept loading the van. Moments later SP ran out again waving and yelling, this time he got close enough that we could hear him shouting, “They’re dog piling AO!!! Call the police!!!!!” Barb took off toward the scene at a dead run while Glib and I searched for a cell phone. Glib made the call and gave the proximate location of where we were. I headed toward the scene but stayed toward the road so I could flag the police down when they arrived.

When I got to the scene I saw the guards on top of AO trying to apply the wrist restraints. I started shouting at them to get off of him. I did a lot of colorful shouting at them, which I realize now probably had little effect, but I was so shocked at what I was seeing that I just couldn’t shut up. I saw them trifling with AO’s camera, then the attack on XB when she tried to retrieve the camera from them.

(There are no still shots of these events, but there is video.)

Shortly thereafter, when I looked up the hill to see if the police were coming yet, I saw an ambulance pulled to the side of the road facing the scene. I waved my arms and shouted to them, “Over here! Over here! They’re hurting him!” The ambulance slowly crept toward me, then went past me and did a slow u-turn. It pulled up next to me (I’m still yelling, “Hurry, get down there! They’re hurting him!”), the window was rolled down and there were two young guys with dark hair inside. The one in the passenger seat said, “Don’t worry. It’s ok. It’s just the security guards.” I yelled, “I don’t care! Get down there! It’s your job!” They drove away with me calling them one of my little pet names of the day. Assholes.

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Back at the scene Glib had arrived and I heard them order her, SP, and XB (who had narrowly escaped their clutches) away. They joined me on the shoulder of the highway. The four of us carped our lungs out at those guys, trying to get them to see the error of their ways. Finally the police/fire department/CHP/ambulance arrived and we were actually a bit disappointed to see that Sheriff #1 was among them. He was looking mighty smug.

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XB complained of back pain after being slammed against the Bronco and tussled pretty aggressively. And she broke a nail. Dunagan appeared to have an injury on his hand. Someone said XB had bit him but that is not true.

I’mGlib’s excellent video tells more of the story:
http://vimeo.com/2078327

(Note: this video was originally posted on YouTube but was pulled “due to terms of use violations.”

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Surprisingly to us, AO was not immediately released from the wrist restraints by the cops. In fact, he was kept in those restraints until they replaced them with handcuffs. Statements were taken from several of us. They did not let us talk to AO or approach the scene at all. Glib and I did finally manage to get some water over to him and this is when he asked us to call Graham Berry (which we did).

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Eventually all of the police presence left with the exception of the two Riverside Sheriffs. Sheriff #1 clearly had jurisdiction. I approached him and asked where he would be taking AO. He sarcastically replied that he would be taking him to a detention facility. I asked if he could give me directions to the facility. I forgot his exact words but it was something to the effect of it wasn’t his job to be my tour director. I asked if we could follow him in our car. He said it wasn’t his responsibility to escort us around. He left with AO before we were able to finish loading the van. We had no idea where AO was being taken.

We had promised to visit Ida Camburn so the decision was made to go to her place and start making calls to find AO. Ida was a delight to visit with and I think she kinda liked all the excitement, being a champion protester herself. Glib found out that AO was being processed, but they didn’t say where. They did say it would take several hours, so we continued with our plans to have dinner with Ida. Afterward, we learned in another call that AO would possibly be released around 3 AM. We would have stayed in Hemet until then, but we didn’t know that he actually was in Hemet. At one point we were told he was in Riverside and at another, Murietta. We had no choice but to head home and wait for his call. (Turns out he was in Murietta.)

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===============================================

Addendum to the report:

The prior narrative was my eyewitness account. The following is a description of the events surrounding the attack collected from those personally involved.

Starting during the time period between 2:45 and 3 PM, AnonOrange had apparently met up with Sock Puppy at or near the van. They spotted the grey sedan (that had flown by me up at the guard shack) parked on the shoulder of the road a few hundred feet away facing them. They did not know that security guards Danny Dunagan and Kenny Seabold were in the vehicle. AO decided to check the car out and began to walk toward it, filming as he went.

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As AO moved toward the car, it began to slowly reverse away from him. He realized at this point they were Scientologists. When the car reached a slight curve in the road, it suddenly moved forward into a u-turn and took off down the road away from AO.

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AO turned around and headed back toward the van. When he got to the north entrance of the semi-circular dirt road he saw the Bronco parked there and decided to have a word with the security guard about tampering with the van.

(This photo is given for perspective on where he entered the dirt road and where the Bronco was parked.)
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During his brusque exchange with the guard, Matt Butler, the grey car pulled up very rapidly to the right side and forward of the Bronco. Dunagan emerged excitedly from the driver’s seat and ran toward AO shouting, “Trespassing! You’re under arrest!” Dunagan tackled AO at a full run, knocking him to the ground. Seabold next joined the attack, then Butler, the three of them exerting extreme force to restrain him. AO fought back for several minutes attempting to escape their hold. He was eventually overpowered and forcibly held face down, Seabold’s left knee pinning his head down, while zip ties were applied to his wrists. A fourth guard arrived on the scene on a motorcycle and the four Scientology security guards physically retrained AO for several more minutes until the sheriffs arrived.

It bears repeating how the Riverside Sheriff’s Department reacted to seeing a citizen brutally assaulted and forcibly restrained for potentially trespassing on private property:

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Free to shine

Shiny & Free
Thanks once again RIF! I really want to see justice on this one!

(You can send Emma a PM to merge the threads, or edit any posts you want to bring together.)
 

Patricia Curtis

Patron with Honors
Thanks for the tip, FTS. I'm hoping this board gets linked in some the upcoming media reports. I'll PM Emma now.

BTW, I read some of your story while I was busy not sleeping last night. You're pretty hot stuff yourself, ya know? By any chance to you happen to have a big cheesy grin too?
 

Free to shine

Shiny & Free
Thanks for the tip, FTS. I'm hoping this board gets linked in some the upcoming media reports. I'll PM Emma now.

BTW, I read some of your story while I was busy not sleeping last night. You're pretty hot stuff yourself, ya know? By any chance to you happen to have a big cheesy grin too?

Thanks girlfriend, you made my day. I'll put up a cheesy grin for a day! :coolwink:

(ps I kinda do the Sponge stuff here, though I couldn't keep up with him if I tried!)
 

anonmom

Patron with Honors
Hi, Free to be Hot Stuff and 7 of 9! I just saw these videos for the first time. WOW.....beyond words really. (Except for cuss words :grouch:) I feel so angry right now and I'm not angry very often! I hope that Anonorange comes out of this alright. You guys did a fantastic job dealing with this crap. Please keep us posted!

BTW, making a song out of Gold Tone is epic!
 

Patricia Curtis

Patron with Honors
Anonmom, about those cuss words...

I don't know what got into me. I don't normally use that kind of language, but something inside me snapped when I got over there and saw what was going on. I had to stay by the road to flag down the police so all I could do was stand there and scream at them. The name calling I did, lawdy... where did that come from????

My apologies ahead of time to those with sensitive ears when the full version of the vid comes out. I was REALLY ticked at Kenny Seabold and let him have a nice big earful of my lowly opinion of him. :redface:
 

anonmom

Patron with Honors
Anonmom, about those cuss words...

I don't know what got into me. I don't normally use that kind of language, but something inside me snapped when I got over there and saw what was going on. I had to stay by the road to flag down the police so all I could do was stand there and scream at them. The name calling I did, lawdy... where did that come from????

My apologies ahead of time to those with sensitive ears when the full version of the vid comes out. I was REALLY ticked at Kenny Seabold and let him have a nice big earful of my lowly opinion of him. :redface:

HAHAHAHAHA!!! That was you?! If I was there I would have been right next to you cussing as well. All that adrenalin does it to you! I think we all understand. What if you just said stuff like, "Hey, you big dummies! That's soooo not OK!" It just doesn't work.
 

byte301

Crusader
Could you just imagine if Daywatch had been there?:omg:

I lol'd so hard at a comment Daywatch made about AnonOrange. He said;

"I think AnonOrange is a tard, but he's OUR tard." hahaha

Anonymous now owns it's very own tard.
:hysterical:

:dancer:
 

byte301

Crusader
I had a big mu on the Big Cheesy Grin Club. I thought it was this :D big cheesy grin that was being referred to.
 
Do the local police really think it's OK for civilians to throw a man down on the ground and tie his hands behind his back because he was walking on their grass?
 

KnightVision

Gold Meritorious Patron
Do the local police really think it's OK for civilians to throw a man down on the ground and tie his hands behind his back because he was walking on their grass?

Apparently if you donate to their annual fund and drop 'hints' about doing noisy investigations of their private lives... you can own quite a few 'pretty little policemen in a rowwwww'.
 

alex

Gold Meritorious Patron
Do the local police really think it's OK for civilians to throw a man down on the ground and tie his hands behind his back because he was walking on their grass?

Not only do they think that, but they are backed up by the laws on the books in the state of Califonia.

Anyone has the power of arrest for things they witness, and force can be used to affect it.

IF the guards told him he was tresspassing and he didnt leave, they were acting within the law.

Property does not have to be posted, notification of the trespass can be given verbally.

Not saying it was a good thing.

Its more like physical trolling, by both the guards and by anonorange...

And trolling in real life has real life consequences.
 
I think the CoS is trying to pile up restraining orders and petty charges like trespassing against protesters like AnonOrange, Greg Housh, and Angry Gay Pope so they can try to present some kind of legal argument that they are being threatened by Anonymous as a group and Anons should not be allowed to protest near CoS buildings.

I look for more bullbaiting and trying to lure protesters onto CoS property.
 
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