Scientology’s leader hired private eyes to spy on father: report

The head of the Church of Scientology hired private investigators to spy on his father out of fear that he might leak closely guarded secrets, according to a new report.

Florida private investigator Dwayne Powell, now 43, divulged his role in tracking Ron Miscavige, who had recently left Scientology, to police after an arrest on suspicion of obstruction in West Allis, Wis., in July 2013, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The church allegedly paid Powell and his 21-year-old son $10,000 a week to go through the elder Miscavige’s emails, track his car through GPS, eavesdrop on his conversations, and conduct other “full-time” surveillance for 18 months, according to police documents obtained by the Los Angeles newspaper.

Scientology has come under fire for allegedly harassing and intimidating current and former members who it fears might speak ill of the organization or divulge its secrets.

The church applies the label of “suppressive person,” or SP, to individuals it considers enemies of its organization — often apostates like the elder Miscavige.

David Miscavige, 54, who became leader of Scientology upon founder and science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard’s death in 1986, denies any involvement with Powell.

The younger Miscavige’s attorney, Michael Lee Hertzberg, wrote an email to The Times dismissing the accusations as patently false.

“Please be advised 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,” Hertzberg wrote.

Powell told police that while following Ron Miscavige on a shopping trip, he called his intermediary to the church for advice after seeing him grab his chest and slump over in what appeared to be a heart attack.

According to police records, David Miscavige allegedly called Powell back two minutes later and told him not to intervene to save his father’s life.

“David told him that if it was Ron’s time to die, to let him die and not intervene in any way,” according to police records.

Powell had six guns, a homemade silencer, and 2,000 rounds of ammunition in his vehicle at the time of his arrest, authorities said.

Last month, HBO released a documentary called “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief,” based on a book by journalist Lawrence Wright.

The film presented a brief history of Scientology, including its relationships with celebrities and the allegations of harassment.

According to the film, some members of Scientology’s Sea Organization are sent to a “prison camp” for re-indoctrination, called the Rehabilitation Project Force, if they fail to live up to the church’s expectations.

Members who made mistakes during auditing sessions were allegedly thrown overboard the ship they used while spreading Scientology in the 1970s.

Former member Paul Haggis, director of “Crash,” explains in the documentary that members get to read Scientology’s creation myth — written on paper by Hubbard — after spending a lot of money and reaching a high level within the organization.

Related: ‘SNL’ skewers Scientology with ‘Neurotology’ music video

Scientologists believe that 75 million years ago, a galactic dictator known as Lord Xenu froze alien life forms and shot them to Earth on spacecrafts that resemble DC-8 airliners, as seen in “Going Clear.”

The frozen aliens were dropped into volcanoes in Hawaii, and later their spirits, or thetans, attached themselves to humans, which is the root cause of mankind’s suffering and anxiety, according to Scientology.

Comedy Central’s animated series “South Park” also famously recounted this creation myth for its controversial episode “Trapped in the Closet.” A caption reading, “This is what Scientologists actually believe” accompanied the section on Lord Xenu.

According to Wright, the church also has enough personal information about movie star and prominent Scientologist John Travolta to make life difficult for him if he ever wanted to leave.

Travolta told the Tampa Bay Times that he does not intend to see the documentary, saying he has not experienced anything to substantiate the “hearsay.”