Most people haven’t heard of Marc Headley. He’s not a celebrity, but he has met Tom Cruise. In fact, Tom and Marc audited one another during their Scientology training courses at Gold Base. Tom may not remember Marc, but he’ll know him soon enough.

Marc Headley is a former Scientologist who worked at the Hemet, California desert compound called Gold Base. For 15 years, Marc worked long hours at the 500 acre guarded facility, also referred to as Int Base, or International Base. Marc was a member of the Church’s paramilitary group called Sea Organzation, or Sea Org. Sea Org members are recruited from within the organization’s ranks of poorly paid workers and volunteers, they are made to sign a “billion year contract” and are often forced to live away from family and friends doing the type of manual labor typically reserved for slaves, inmates of illegal immigrants.

It is at Gold Base, where the now infamous story of the “flowered meadow for Nicole Kidman” occurred. As the story goes, Scientology President David Miscavige forced Sea Org members to work round the clock creating a flowered meadow for Tom Cruise and his second wife Nicole Kidman to frolic in, simply because Cruise mentioned it to Miscavige as a fantasy he had for the two.

To understand what drove Marc Headley to confront one of the most litigious organizations in the world, you must understand Scientology’s leader David Miscavige. What Miscavige lacks in size (he’s reportedly only 5′2″) he makes up for in blinding fits of rage. Perhaps driven by a deep-seated insecurity, Miscavige uses his power and rage to intimidate and “motivate” those beneath him.

Unfortunately for Miscavige, he underestimated one such subordinate.

Reports of Miscavige abusing Sea Org members are nothing new. Glosslip detailed such first-hand accounts in our interviews with former members of the group, including Jeff Hawkins, another long time ex-member who was also physically abused by Miscavige.. When we interviewed Headley, he corroborated Jeff’s claims, stating he witnessed Miscavige abusing members during his time at Int/Gold Base. Here’s an excerpt of that Glosslip interview (full transcript here):

Well, from the time I showed up at Golden Era Productions in 1990, I had been there maybe a few months when I saw David Miscavige physically beat somebody up. And that was in 1990. So it’s not like this just developed over the past five years, there’s a pattern going on.

All the way up until I left in 2005 I’d say that I saw David Miscavige physically strike somebody or slap as you say or punch in the face, I’d say I witnessed myself at least thirty different occasions, myself. And I heard from other people second hand many more instances that occurred. That was the turning point was for me. In late 2004 I was walking through the main factory facility with David Miscavige and I had made a smart-alec comment in response to one of his questions, apparently he’d not had a good day already and my comment was not well received and he proceeded to unload on me.

He punched me in the face at least ten times and my glasses fell off, I was thrown up against a desk unit, a counter top, and that was the moment right then when I realized I could go no further down than this, to be beaten by the leader of my so-called church. What else could I do that could get me in a lower status than that? And I decided that I would strike back. As soon as he saw that in my eyes, I was grabbed and escorted out of the building and made to take a walk for about an hour or so. He sent several people off to console me, that he really shouldn’t have done that and he was really sorry. While I was being escorted out of the room I heard him say to his staffers, “He was going to hit me back”.

And I thought to myself, “Do you know what? I really was, I really was going to hit you back”. At that point that I started figuring out what I was going to do because I wasn’t going to be staying there much longer. And in January 2005 I left. A lot of people, a lot of Scientologists think that Dave Miscavige is the savior of the church and all those things that he’s done have kept it alive, basically the reason they are still around. That might also be the reason why they’re not going to last, because of the crimes, the physical violence, the emotional and mental torture, that he puts people through, its mind-boggling.”

Marc has written a book titled “Blown For Good” detailing his experiences inside the cult and what has happened to him since he left in 2005. Marc has been fair-gamed (a tactic of intimidation Scientology officials claim they no longer use) and he has been disconnected from family and friends (another tool used to keep ex-members from talking about the abuses they suffered). Marc has many grievances against the Church of Scientology and has a pending lawsuit which is set to blow to lid off of the super-secretive organization. We will be doing a multi-part series on Marc’s allegations against the Church of Scientology in what we believe will be the most damaging blow to Miscavige and his followers since the infamous Time Magazine article titled “Scientology, Cult Of Greed” hit newsstands in 1991.

For those who don’t believe a so-called “church” is willing to break laws to keep its secrets in tact, we offer a police report from the Riverside County Sheriff’s office, detailing Headley’s escape from Gold Base in January of 2005. For a recounting of that day, click here for an excerpt from Marc’s upcoming book.

POLICE REPORT AFTER THE JUMP.

Source: D