Interview Summary - Judy Goldsberry-Weber
Date: | August 19, 1997 |
Pages: | 4 |
SUPPLEMENT/CONTINUATION
FLO520300/Clearwater Police Department | Report No. | 95-29158 | |
Offense | Death Investigation | Date of Report | 8/19/97 |
Location | 644 Pierce Street | Orig Incident Date | 12/6/95 |
Victim | Lisa McPherson | VI Prosecute | Yes No |
Investigator | Det. Sgt. Wayne Andrews | ||
Previous Status | Active | ||
Subject | |||
Impound Inventory |
TUESDAY, AUGUST 19, 1997
At 0900 hours, an investigative deposition was conducted at the State Attorney's Office with the following:
Judy Goldsberry-Weber, W/F, DOB 5/XX/46
Background: She was a Deputy Medical Liaison Officer at the Church of Scientology and worked under Janis Johnson. Her job was normally to assist parishioners in getting medical care. She has been a nurse for 35 years as an L.P.N. and a respiratory therapist and has previously worked in doctors' offices. During her career, she has been involved in the home care of terminally ill patients. She is originally from Portland, Oregon and has been with the Church of Scientology since 1993. She was staff at the Church in Oregon before coming to Clearwater in 1994 as staff. She was the Medical Liaison Officer until Janis Johnson arrived, at which time Janis became the Medical Liaison Officer and she became the Deputy Medical Liaison Officer along with Laura Arrunada.
Involvement With Lisa McPherson: She first saw Lisa during July of 1995, at which time Lisa was staying at the cabanas at the Ft. Harrison Hotel due to trouble she was having. It appeared that Lisa was having trouble with the climate in this area and was not feeling well. Lisa was also suffering from some type of behavioral dysfunction and stayed at the cabanas for a while. She had recommended some
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SUPPLEMENT/CONTINUATION
FL0520300/ Clearwater Police Department | Report No. | 95-29158 | |
Offense | Death Investigation | Date of Report | 8/19/97 |
doctors for Lisa to see. She found out later that Lisa had gone to see a chiropractor/nutritionist named Dr. Jeannie Decuyper. She was called to Morton Plant Hospital the day of Lisa's accident. I asked her to describe what Lisa looked like in July of 1995 and later on. She gave the following descriptions:
JULY 1995 Brown hair, approximately 5'8", 140-150 lbs, athletic and liked to run, solid built with no body fat.
SEPT 1995 Same as above
NOV 1995 (at Morton Plant Hospital Emergency Room) Same as above
She continued to say that she has dealt with Morton Plant Hospital for quite a while and has built a rapport with most of the doctors there. She has visited there thousands of times to assist with ill or injured parishioners. On 11/18/95, she was busy with one parishioner when she received a call from Arthur Baxter, Chief of Security at the Church of Scientology, asking that she immediately respond to Morton Plant Hospital to see a parishioner that needed help. She tried to explain to him that she could not respond because she was busy but was told she had to go. She arrived at Morton Plant Hospital and saw Lisa there with Dr. Lovett. Also at the hospital at that time were Alain Kartuzinski, Humberto Fontana, Annie Mora, Dr. Jeannie Decuyper, Emma Schemmerhorn, and several other parishioners. Dr. Lovett appeared to be very agitated and was treating her (Judy) in an unusual manner. When she learned that Lisa had no medical reason to stay at the hospital, she told Dr. Lovett that she would take care of Lisa 24 hours a day. After some arguing between herself, Joe Price, and Dr. Lovett, Lisa signed a form against medical advice (witnessed by Judy) allowing her to leave the hospital. Lisa then left the hospital with Alain Kartuzinski and was driven away by Humberto Fontana. She was not able to take care of Lisa or see her as Janis Johnson kept telling her that it was none of her business. She became very angry over that and got into several arguments with
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SUPPLEMENT/CONTINUATION
FL0520300/ Clearwater Police Department | Report No. | 95-29158 | |
Offense | Death Investigation | Date of Report | 8/19/97 |
Janis. It should be noted that she stated she has done isolation watches before that have led to introspection rundowns, and that she knew this isolation watch was not being handled correctly. She felt it was also being handled unusually because she had reports from Lisa's caretakers that she was not eating or drinking. During a previous isolation watch, I.V. fluids were ordered by Dr. Karow of St. Petersburg and given to an individual in the watch. I asked how a violent PTS3 person should be handled. She stated that, if a person was mentally disturbed and being violent, they had to be strapped down, heavily sedated, and give I.V. fluids and/or food through a stomach tube. Her concern was that none of this was being done. At one point, she was called by Arthur Baxter and told to respond to Eckerd Drugs on Missouri Avenue to pick up a prescription for Lisa. She became even more suspicious because that was not the usual drug store they used. She went to Eckerds and obtained the prescription, which was in Lisa McPherson's name and prescribed by Dr. Minkoff. The prescription was for a vial of five Valium tablets she believed were 10mg each. She turned those over to security at the Church and was not allowed to see Lisa. During her second meeting with Janis Johnson about Lisa's condition, a screaming match ensued in the hallway and Janis told her to "stay the hell out of it" as it was none of her concern. Once when she was at the Medical Liaison Office, she overheard a conversation between Laura Arrunada, David Haughton, and Janis Johnson about Lisa. This conversation indicated that they were holding Lisa down and forcing aspirin down her throat. She attempted to tell them that this was not the way it should be handled and they slammed the door in her face. She once saw that Joan Stevens had a black eye and Joan told her that Lisa gave it to her. Alice Von Grondell called her once and asked about medical symptoms such as a temperature and disorientation. She asked Alice what type of symptoms she was looking for and Alice said "I would like to know what the symptoms are for someone who may be dehydrated." This was approximately the tenth day of Lisa's stay at the
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SUPPLEMENT/CONTINUATION
FL0520300/ Clearwater Police Department | Report No. | 95-29158 | |
Offense | Death Investigation | Date of Report | 8/19/97 |
cabanas. She called Judy Fontana on two occasions to find out why she was being left out of taking care of Lisa and Judy said she would look into it. Regarding her participation in other isolation watches, she stated that some had lasted three to four days and worked out well and one had lasted three and a half weeks. After the isolation watch and the person was calmed down, the person was supposed to get some type of auditing.
The interview with Judy Goldsberry-Weber was transcribed by a Court Reporter. Please see transcript for further details.
Ofc. Reporting | Det. Sgt. W. Andrews/elg | ID No. | 603 |
Case Status | Active | Date Cleared |
Clearance Type | Exception Type | |
1. Arrest Adult Juvenile 2. Exceptional 3. Unfounded |
1. Extradition declined 2. AR of primary offense, secondary offense, w/o prosecution |
3. Death of Offender 4. V/W refused to cooperate 5. Prosecution declined 6. Juv/No Custody |
Ofc. Reviewing Date SAO Info
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