Tom Theo Klemesrud - Anti-Scientology Activism

Anti-Scientology Activism

Klemesrud never joined Scientology, although he met a member in October, 1982 when he was invited to go out with some friends. He took a personality test, known as the Oxford Capacity Analysis. The woman told Klemesrud she would no longer carry on a relationship with him unless he accepted that she was a Scientology member. The woman asked Klemesrud five months later about his sister, Judy Klemesrud who worked for the New York Times. Klemesrud later found that she was a member of Scientology's Guardian's Office. During the 1980s Klemesrud made friends amongst Scientology ex-members and apostates. He also met with parents whose children had been enticed into cults, and had organized to raise awareness about cults and their illegal activities. One of the first members he contacted who helped him with research was Henrietta Crampton, the secretary of the Citizen's Freedom Foundation. Klemesrud later began to share information with the New York Times, and the IRS Criminal Investigation Division. In 1984, the New York Times published a front page story replete with a picture of Hubbard, telling that former members said Hubbard absconded with millions of dollars from the organization and channeled the funds into private bank accounts in Lichtenstein and Zurich. This was the basis for the IRS investigation of Hubbard. In 1985 Tom Klemesrud started a computer Bulletin Board System in Los Angeles called "The Cult Monitor" which ran until 1989. Klemesrud began to receive so many phone calls for help that he turned over the sysop responsibilities to Priscilla Coates, (former executive director of the Citizen's Freedom Foundation and former director of the Los Angeles Cult Awareness Network.