By Peggy Rogers and Tim Johnson

St. Petersburg Times, Feb. 1, 1984

CLEARWATER - At least five prominent Clearwater business leaders thought they were holding discussions with agents of a wealthy European investor when they met in 1982 aboard an 81-foot yacht moored at Clearwater Marina.

A bank president, the director of the Chamber of Commerce and others of Clearwater's most visible figures say they were told that this anonymous European investor was prepared to pour millions - up to $100-million in cash - into Clearwater's slumbering downtown.

Tuesday it came to light that the agents were actually private detectives hired by the Church of Scientology.

The Clearwater-based church was investigating to see whether the city was conspiring to run the church out of town.

In a ruse designed to carry out this investigation, the detectives posed as agents of "wealthy foreign investors interested in real estate in Florida," according to the church's own legal documents.

Church-hired lawyers and detectives briefly outline this investigation in a legal motion filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Tampa.

The motion was filed as part of a lawsuit against the church by former member Tonja Burden, alleging she was enslaved by the church. The motion responds to allegations filed in the case last week by Boston attorney Michael Flynn, representing Ms. Burden.

Flynn and a former high-ranking church member contended in sworn statements that the church tried to compromise U.S. District Judge Ben Krentzman, who was hearing the Burden case at the time.

Private investigators for the church wanted to lure Krentzman onto a yacht, then offer him prostitutes and drugs while secretly recording and filming the scene, according to sworn statements. The plot was not carried out, Flynn said, and Krentzman has said he was never aware of any such entrapment attempt.

Tuesday, the Church of Scientology flatly denied planning to compromise Krentzman. Flynn's allegation was "a reckless, unsubstantiated, careless charge that should never have been made," said Paul B. Johnson, the church's Tampa attorney.

Johnson acknowledged, however, that church attorneys paid detectives to uncover what the church believed was a city conspiracy to deprive the church of its rights.

Three private investigators used a yacht and the cover story about the wealthy foreign investors to carry out their inquiry, he said.

Johnson wouldn't confirm or deny whether the yacht contained hidden microphones and cameras but said no drugs or prostitutes were on board.

The investigators successfully obtained evidence of a conspiracy, said Johnson, a former Hillsborough County state attorney.

"I'm convinced there was no violation of any Florida or federal laws concerning taping or electronic surveillance," he said.

Johnson refused to provide further details of the church's investigation. The evidence of a "conspiracy" will be revealed, he said, during the trial of a case involving a new city ordinance that regulates the way nonprofit groups raise money. The church has challenged the ordinance.

Neither Johnson nor the church's legal documents detailed how the church inquiry was carried out. A number of local business leaders, however, told the St. Petersburg Times they recall meeting the agents of the purported investor.

The setting for the church inquiry was the Trianon, a yacht chartered in Fort Lauderdale by the investigators. Local realtor Jim Parker, one of those invited onto the cruiser, called it a "flashy yacht" and a "gorgeous vessel."

The investigators first moored the Trianon at Clearwater Marina on March 26, a little more than a month before the city was scheduled to conduct public hearings on alleged illegal activities by the Church of Scientology.

Robert S. Keefer, a Los Angeles area private detective hired by church attorneys, appeared at then-Mayor Charles LeCher's office, at the Chamber of Commerce and at the doors of local business people.

Keefer said he was the childhood friend of an "extraordinarily wealthy" but unidentified European hunting for real estate in Florida, said Timothy A. Johnson Jr., a prominent Clearwater lawyer.

Soon Keefer had captured the interested of the downtown business community.

At a private luncheon, the tall, blond Keefer at first refused to identify his backer. Later, a telegram to Timothy Johnson identified the investor as a German. Johnson said Tuesday he could not remember the man's name.

After a local businessman told Timothy Johnson he knew of this investor, Johnson agreed to take a $2,000 cash retainer from Keefer, and represent the investor.

On a catered evening trip aboard the Trianon on April 14, realtor Lee Arnold, Bank of Clearwater President David Carley and Timothy Johnson went for a cruise.

They discussed real estate with Keefer and another agent, identified as Rollin Perry. Keefer at times would steer talk to the Church of Scientology. He said his German investor was concerned about adverse publicity about the church's presence in Clearwater, said Timothy Johnson and Carley.

At one point, Keefer offered a "subtle but clear request that we could try to postpone the (city's) hearings because of the adverse publicity," Johnson said, adding that he shrugged off the request.

A daytime cruise was also reported by some local businessmen, including chamber Executive Vice President J. Ed Robbins. Over food and refreshments, this group too discussed with Keefer and Perry possible downtown investments. The church also came up in their talks, they said.

On April 21, two weeks before the city hearings were to begin, the Trianon's crew paid its $631.80 bill and left the slip, according to city marina records.

"They said they were going to leave and think about what they were going to do, and we never heard from them again," Timothy Johnson said.

The local people who met Keefer said they were suspicious but still hopeful that his promising investment talk would pan out.

"We were looking at this as a way to completely finance the redevelopment of downtown Clearwater," said Timothy Johnson.

Told of the church's undercover investigation, realtor Parker said the boat trip he went on now appeared to him "like one of their (the church's) typical schemes."

The Chamber of Commerce's Robbins said, "I'm mostly disappointed that it wasn't a genuine downtown contact."

The church's activities have generated investigations on several fronts. Both city of Clearwater and Pinellas County law enforcement officials are conducting criminal inquiries but won't discuss specifics.

Boston attorney Flynn said he has talked to federal prosecutors in Tampa as well. U.S. Attorney Robert Merkle declined to comment Tuesday.

Flynn was paid by Clearwater to conduct the city's 1982 hearings. He is a known foe of the church, which secretly moved its international headquarters to Clearwater in 1975.

On the church's behalf, investigator Keefer and another private detective, Richard Bast, also offered sworn statements saying they investigated Clearwater but never tried to compromise Krentzman. Their affidavits say they developed a "cover story" about representing wealthy investors so they could conduct their investigation.

Neither Bast nor Keefer could be reached for comment Tuesday.