How do you catch someone in their tangled web of lies? By shining the light of truth on the multitude of inconsistencies.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement (or FDLE) Agent Barbara Mendez studied Kyle Brennan’s computer after it was handed over to her by Clearwater Police Detective Stephen Bohling. In her report, “Barbara”—as she was referred to by the detective—stated that no files had been deleted. Kyle’s family, however, knew this was untrue. His college professors, for example, had stated that Kyle had been submitting school work after he left home in the autumn of 2006. Kyle, they said, had completed his courses and his final exams—online—with this very same computer. And Kyle saved everything.

None of these papers, Kyle’s school papers, and stories, were ever recovered. Also: Scientologist Gerald Gentile—in his convoluted explanation as to how and why he had possession of Kyle’s computer—admitted that he had accidentally deleted files! Yet, in spite of Gentile’s testimony, in spite of the truth, Agent Mendez stated that she could not determine if files had been deleted.

A case of incompetence, you say? Perhaps. . . .

But let’s add to this “computer-file” confusion. Let’s add a few more tangled strands. Detective Bohling, in his narrative regarding Kyle’s PC (as written in the Clearwater Police Report), evidently took creative liberty when attributing certain statements to FDLE Agent Mendez. During her deposition, when Agent Mendez read how she was quoted in the Clearwater Police Report—how Bohling had quoted her—she vehemently denied making the statements. At this moment in her deposition, the FDLE agent seemed vexed, annoyed that she had unwittingly become entangled.

Read the excerpts from the agent’s deposition and you’ll certainly be as confounded as she was. Could this be another example of Clearwater Police Detective Stephen Bohling fabricating evidence in order to protect the sister and brother-in-law of David Miscavige? If Kyle’s case had gone to trial, imagine the massive embarrassment, the circus-like spectacle, of Detective Bohling attempting the impossible task of extricating himself from his fiction-filled police report, his tangled web.

We were all taught as children that policemen are here “To Protect and Serve.” They’re supposed to be “serving” the people by “protecting” the innocent, the weak, the helpless, those members of our society who cannot stand up for themselves. This includes, of course, those who’ve perished under extremely suspicious circumstances. In Clearwater, Florida, however, “Protect and Serve” appears to mean “serve” the wealthy and the corrupt, “protect” their interests. The interests of a twenty-year-old who ran afoul of powerful Scientologists be damned.

Copyright © 2020 by Victoria L. Britton

Excerpt from the Deposition of Detective Stephen Bohling.

Excerpt from the Deposition of Gerald Gentile.

Clearwater Police Report-page 28

Testimony of Agent Barbara Mendez-Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Excerpt from the Deposition of Detective Bohling.

Declaration of Mia Brennan