Shelly Miscavige: More about the place where she registered to vote, but is she still there?

[Shelly and the vault at Petrolia]

Last month, those of us interested in the whereabouts of Scientology leader David Miscavige’s wife Shelly Miscavige — who has not been seen at Scientology events since 2005 — were surprised to learn from an anonymous tip at Reddit that she had been registered to vote in 2017 at an address in Petrolia, California.

Marc and Claire Headley picked this up in a memorable video, and then we independently confirmed that Shelly is currently registered to vote at the address of the secretive Petrolia facility operated by Scientology’s most hush-hush subsidiary, the Church of Spiritual Technology (CST).

This created quite a stir, but after consulting with our sources, we think it may be likely that Shelly is still being held at CST’s headquarters facility near Twin Peaks, California, in the San Bernardino Mountains about 70 miles northeast of Los Angeles, the place we believe she has been located for almost all of the time since she vanished in late summer 2005.

If Shelly did spend some time at CST’s Petrolia location, it may have been for only a short duration, but long enough for her to perhaps renew a drivers license and therefore have her voter registration also renewed. (Records show that Shelly has not actually cast a ballot in an election since the 1990s.)

While we are still trying to find out more about Shelly’s current location, and whether she is still at CST’s Twin Peaks headquarters, we do have more information about the Petrolia location, thanks to the same reader who put together a really informative three-part series for us last year about CST’s properties and people (part 1, part 2, part 3).

Here’s our reader’s information about the Petrolia CST location, where, again, we suspect that Shelly may have only spent a short time on a special assignment, and perhaps more than once in the years she’s been “missing” since 2005…

Petrolia: Microcosm of Scientology’s Sea Org

Humboldt County, which sits along the Pacific coast of Northern California, is a densely forested, mountainous and rural county. It has an estimated population of approximately 136,000 people and is perhaps best known for its impressive redwood trees.

Scientology’s Petrolia compound, one of the sites managed by its Church of Spiritual Technology (CST) division, and staffed by Scientology’s Sea Org members, sits in a remote section of this county. It is a small, extremely isolated compound, where staff are largely cut off from support systems and interaction with others. Public records show only a handful of CST employees have any association with the small Petrolia facility, but these records help shed some light on how Scientology’s CST and Sea Org manage its people.

[CST’s properties: 1. The CST Headquarters compound, “Twin Peaks,” which has a vault. 2. Creston Ranch, where L. Ron Hubbard lived his final days (CST logo, but no vault). 3. Lady Washington Mine (vault only). 4. Petrolia, CA (logo and vault). 5. Trementina Base, New Mexico (logo and vault). 6. Sweeney Ranch, Wyoming (construction abandoned).]

The Petrolia compound comprises seven adjacent parcels of land forming a combined 1,375 acres in the county. The most recent tax assessed value of this land lists it at $3 million. While the market value of this land and its facilities is considerably higher, this property benefits from Scientology’s status as a religious non-profit in its county tax assessments, as do all of Scientology’s properties.

In addition to the land itself, public records also show this property has five different mineral rights, taxed at $13,704 annually. This is the only identified CST property known to have mineral rights. According to Humboldt County’s Government website, gold mining became one of the first important industries in this area. Other minerals such as copper, chromium, silver, and zinc were also once produced. Current mineral resource production in the area is primarily limited to sand, gravel, and rock extraction. The purpose of CST’s mineral rights are unclear, but were part of the original deal when Scientology purchased the property.

In the years before the pandemic, Jim and Joyce Isaacson (now age 82 and 85, respectively) were known caretakers of this property, including most recently between 2015-2018. This included the time when Shelly Miscavige’s California voting address was first reportedly changed to the Petrolia compound in 2017. However, records show the Isaacsons were relocated to Scientology’s notorious Gold Base (also known as the Int Base) compound in Gilman Hot Springs, California sometime around 2018-2020. Similarly, Tania Skrabak (now age 85), is another long-time Sea Org member who was assigned to Petrolia as far back as 2016. She was also relocated to the Gold Base compound around the same timeframe, 2018-2020.

These individuals are actually fairly representative of elderly members of CST, who are not permitted to retire or reunite with family members on the outside after their time as CST caretakers concludes. Instead, they are relocated to Gold Base, surrounded by razor wire and allowed even less contact with the outside world when compared to Petrolia.

Today, aside from the recent voting registration located on Shelly herself, records show at least two other CST individuals associated with the Petrolia compound. Mark Locke, age 66, has been associated with CST in various roles since at least 1999. He likely first moved to the Petrolia compound between 2017-2018. Mark is believed to have a spouse, Jacqueline Locke, age 74, who likely first moved to the United States on a Religious (R1) visa. While Jacqueline is believed to be a member of the Sea Org, there are no records showing she is assigned to Petrolia or currently part of the CST division at all.

Similarly, Alfredo Gracida (also known as Alfredo Cuevas, age 57), has been associated with CST since 1998. Alfredo likely first moved to the Petrolia compound around 2020-2021. There are indications he also first came to the US on an R1 visa, which is becoming more common across many different CST properties, particularly as older US members age out and are moved back to the Gold Base. Records indicate Alfredo is separated from his wife and daughter, who are posted elsewhere.

In Shelly Miscavige’s own case, records indicate she likely has little financial independence and is not permitted to even have a credit card in her name. Just like others, she too is separated from family and has a sister housed at the Gold Base.

Scientology’s Sea Org has perfected its various hooks of control in the personnel it sends to such remote locations. From paying its Sea Org staff only $50 per week to the separation of family members to the control of visas and immigration status, this small compound appears to be a microcosm of trends occurring at many Scientology locations around the globe.

[CST’s mandate is to create underground vaults where founder L. Ron Hubbard’s words and lectures can be stored to last millennia. This is an image inside the vault at the Twin Peaks headquarters, from a Scientology publication. A vault similar to this is also located at the Petrolia facility.]

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Ideal Org updates

The Austin Ideal Org continues to look like its grand opening will be happening tomorrow. Not only has Pan been keeping an eye on the progress visible on a webcam over at our dot org site, but our helpful reader on the spot has sent us some photos of the ribbons going up, a sure sign that an opening is imminent…

Meanwhile, in Chicago, we’re still puzzled by the claim that its grand opening is happening next week, on Sunday March 3.

Our helper there reports that the building on Clark Street remains unchanged, and “the incomplete film application , the lack of a street closure, and the remaining dumpster in front make me wonder.”

Well, perhaps all sorts of work there will get completed at the last minute. We’ll keep an eye on it.

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Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history

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