Ex-Scientology leader sues church for harassment claiming its 'squirrel people' have installed high-tech cameras near his Texas home

Marty Rathbun and his wife claim church members have rented property near their home in order to spy on them

The couple says the church has installed 'high-tech human surveillance cameras' near their property

Rathbun used to be the inspector general of Scientology's Religious Technologies Center

A former leader in the Church of Scientology - who has since left the controversial church - claims that current leaders setup high-tech surveillance cameras to spy on him and his wife in their rural Texas home, according to a lawsuit the former leader's wife has filed in a Texas district court.



Monique Rathbun, the wife of former Scientology leader Marty Rathbun, claims church members - at the apparent directive of church leader David Miscavige - rented property near a home where the couple lives in order to spy on them.

According to the suit, filed in Comal County, Texas, church members 'harassed, insulted, surveilled, photographed, videotaped, defamed and humiliated' the couple.

Scroll down for video



Former Scientology leader Marty Rathbun and his wife, Monique, claim the church has been spying on them

The Leader: The Rathbuns hope they will be able to depose Scientology leader David Miscavige in person

One group of scientologists, known as 'squirrel busters,' were seen wearing t-shirts with Rathbun's face on them as they filmed the couple near their Texas home.



'The intent was to make our life a living hell and drive us out of our hometown, which succeeded. We moved to hill country, property surrounded by woods. They tracked down the owner of a 5-acre undeveloped property behind us and leased it and put what appeared to be camouflaged game cameras,' Marty Rathbun told Page Six.

'But upon inspection they turned out to be high-tech human surveillance cameras — the same cameras used by the DEA and patrol on the Mexican border and now by drug dealers to counteract the DEA. They were camouflaged in cameras that appeared to be to alert hunters to the movement of deer.'

Controversy: Scientology is one of the more controversial religions in the world today, with many describing it as a 'cult'

Until 2004, Marty Rathbun was the 'inspector general' of Scientology's Religious Technology Center. But he and Miscavige had an apparent falling out, and he left the church.

His wife was never a member.

The couple now hopes to depose the church's leader, David Miscavige, which Scientology critic Tony Ortega says is likely going to happen.



On his blog, Underground Bunker, Ortega writes that Texas Judge Dib Waldrip 'has ordered the deposition of Miscavige with no restrictions.'

The church, Ortega writes, asked that Miscavige give his deposition in writing, a request Judge Waldrip evidently denied.



Celebs: Scientology has dozens of famous members, including Tom Cruise and Jon Travolta

'The main thing is we get the time to do discovery,' the Rathbun's attorney, Ray Jeffrey, told Ortega. 'David Miscvaige is still in this lawsuit, and has to give his deposition.'



Ortega says that 'Miscavige had argued that he had nothing to do with the harassment campaign that Monique alleges made her life miserable over the past four years.

And although one church entity, the Church of Scientology International, has admitted to running that campaign, Miscavige claims that he has nothing to do with CSI and instead only runs a different church entity, the Religious Technology Center (RTC), and should be let out of the lawsuit.

Monique argues that he runs all aspects of Scientology, and she should have the ability to depose Miscavige before Judge Waldrip can make a decision about Miscavige’s request to be let out of the suit.'

The Church of Scientology has long been suspected of harassing its critics and leading campaigns to silence those who they feel are a threat to the religion.











