https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11584267/David-Miscavige-prosecutors-Florida-try-serve-trafficking-suit.html
Part 1 of 2 (maybe 3)
Scientology leader David Miscavige is 'nowhere to be found': Prosecutors trying to serve federal trafficking suit against him have tried to reach him
27 times over four months but have failed to locate him
Florida officials have tried 27 times to serve Scientology's leader with a lawsuit
David Miscavige is named in a trafficking lawsuit brought by former members
Scientology members have said they have no idea of his whereabouts
In the suit, three ex-Scientologists say they were forced into labor as children
Miscavige's last official address was at the church's headquarters in LA
By PAUL FARRELL FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 22:51 EST, 29 December 2022 | UPDATED: 09:41 EST, 30 December 2022
Prosecutors trying to serve David Miscavige with a federal child trafficking lawsuit say that the mysterious leader of Scientology is 'nowhere to be found.'
Authorities have attempted to serve papers to Miscavige, 62, on 27 different occasions over the course of four months in the Clearwater-area in Florida and in Los Angeles, reports the Tampa Bay Times.
When lawyers appeared at Scientology properties and asked security guards about Miscavige's whereabouts, the guards said that they were clueless. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit have even hired a private investigator in an attempt to track him down.
At one point, lawyers even took the direct route and sent an Instagram message to the church's official account to ask about Miscavige.
The lawsuit being filed by former church members, husband and wife, Gawain and Laura Baxter and Valeska Paris. The trio say that they were forced into labor on Scientology boats as children after signing a one billion-year contract in exchange for little or no money.
Paris left the church in 2009 and Gawain and Laura Baxter left in 2012.
The reclusive Scientology chief's last known address was at the controversial church's International building in Los Angeles. Similar to other members of Scientology's extremist wing, the Sea Org, Miscavige does not have a recorded address.
In court filings related to the recent lawsuit, two former members of the church said that Miscavige lives in a Scientology property in a gated community known as the Hacienda Gardens in Clearwater, Florida.
The Hacienda Gardens is a sprawling 120-unit apartment complex that hosts Scientology staff. It was purchased by the organization in 2001.
While in a motion this month, one of the plaintiff's attorneys, Neil Glazer, said, 'Miscavige cannot be permitted to continue his gamesmanship.' Miscavige is due in court on January 20 but it remains pending unless he can be served.
Glazer also said Miscavige is taking part in an 'intentional concealment of his location and evasion of service.'
In addition to the trafficking allegations, Paris alleges that she was the victim of repeated sexual assaults in her youth and that when her mother left Scientology, Paris, then 17, was locked in an engine room for 48 hours as punishment.