Ron Miscavige Claims the Church of Scientology Hired Private Investigators to Spy on Him
Scientology Leader David Miscavige's father spoke with ABC News "20/20."
— -- Ron Miscavige, the father of the Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige, claims the Church hired two private investigators, who followed him for over a year after he left the Church in 2012, to spy on him.
In an exclusive interview with ABC News “20/20,” Ron Miscavige said he found out about the P.I.s after police in West Allis, Wisconsin, got a call about a man acting suspiciously.
According to the West Allis Police’s report on the incident, dated July 30, 2013, police questioned the man on the street and at first he told them he was looking into buying a house in the neighborhood. After they checked his wallet, the man was identified as Dwayne Powell, a private investigator from Florida, who then told police he was in the area “on a job,” the police report stated. Dwayne Powell said he and his son Daniel ran a private investigator firm together.
Police searched Powell’s rented SUV and inside they found an arsenal of hand guns, rifles, 2,000 rounds of ammunition, a stun gun, a GPS tracking device, a high zoom camera, a satellite computer, a bag of license plates for five different states, and what police said “appeared to be a rifle silencing device,” according to the police report.
“It sounds like he’s a hitman, doesn’t it?” Ron Miscavige told ABC News “20/20.”
West Allis Police officers, along with an ATF agent, brought Dwayne and Daniel Powell in for questioning and started tape recording the interrogation. According to the police report, when investigators asked Dwayne Powell who he was working for, Powell asked for the tape recorder to be turned off while he named his employers, which the investigators said they did and continued to write down Powell’s statements for the report.
“He stated that he was hired by the CA based Church of Scientology to conducted [sic] full time surveillance of a Ronald Miscavige,” the report said, adding that Powell said he was being paid by attorneys for the Church, “and that the main client is a David Miscavige.”
According to the police report, Dwayne Powell said there was an incident earlier that month when he saw Ron Miscavige grab his chest outside of a Wisconsin grocery store parking lot and he called the Church’s attorneys, thinking Ron might be having a heart attack.
Dwayne Powell “stated that he was called about two minutes later by a man who identified himself as David Miscavige,” the police report said. “David told him that if it was Ron’s time to die, to let him die and not intervene in any way. He stated that this is the only time that he has ever spoken to David Miscavige and that he has never met him.”
Investigators questioned Daniel Powell and tape recorded the entire interrogation. During questioning, Daniel Powell said his father Dwayne had been a private investigator for the Church for nine years and denied they were there to harm Ron Miscavige, according to the police report. Daniel told police he and his father were “sport shooters,” which is why they had firearms and ammunition in their rented SUV.
Daniel told police that he remembered the incident when his father Dwayne Powell thought Ron Miscavige was having a heart attack and said his father “called his contact and reported it,” according to the police report.
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