| Patrick D. Broeker | |
| Birth Date: | 1950 |
| Birth Place: | United States |
| Spouse: | Annie Tidman (Divorced) |
| Nationality: | American |
Pat Broeker (born 1950) is a former high-ranking member of the Church of Scientology who, along with his wife Annie Broeker, was one of the few people in direct contact with L. Ron Hubbard in his final years. He and his wife, and driver Steve "Sarge" Pfauth, left with Hubbard from his home in Hemet, California in 1980 and travelled around California in a motorhome until buying and settling at a ranch in San Luis Obispo County in 1983. The Broekers and Pfauth stayed with Hubbard until his death in January 1986.[1] [2] Due to ongoing investigations by the FBI and IRS following the arrests of high-ranking Scientologists, including Hubbard's wife Mary Sue Hubbard over Operation Snow White, the location of the ranch was kept secret and visits from Church management were forbidden while Hubbard was alive.
In April 1979, Scientology's Watchdog Committee (WDC) was created out of senior executives from the Commodore's Messenger Organization (CMO) to become the most senior management body for the Church and its entities. Until this time, the CMO was attached directly to Hubbard. Under WDC, CMO took the title "CMO International" and became the "execution arm for Watchdog Committee."[3] In 1981, the All Clear Unit was set up at CMO International to deal with ongoing civil litigation and investigations by the Internal Revenue Service. The purpose was to ensure an "All Clear" for Hubbard to emerge from hiding. As head of the unit, David Miscavige took orders from and relayed information to Hubbard via Broeker.
From his motorhome, Hubbard would dictate communiques for Church management at Gold Base in Gilman Hot Springs, California. The tapes from the dictation would be delivered by Broeker to the Commanding Officer of the CMO at a pre-arranged location away from Church management and Hubbard's ranch, who would then take the tapes to Gilman Hot Springs where a stenographer would then transcribe the recordings into hard copy form for distribution to the relevant executives and staff within the network of Scientology corporations. Initially David Miscavige was the CO CMO's driver but eventually he became the intermediary for Church management directly, and Broeker and Miscavige continued to conduct regular off-site meetings directly to exchange information.[4] [5] Hubbard otherwise spent this time writing fiction and researching Scientology. Those works included the science-fiction novel Battlefield Earth and the 10-volume series Mission Earth.
A second ranch purchased in Newberry Springs, east of Barstow, California saw Broeker gradually move from Hubbard's ranch to the second ranch, while Annie stayed with Hubbard as his caregiver. Broeker spent the majority of his time at the second ranch during the last year of Hubbard's life. After Hubbard's death Broeker continued to work from the Newberry ranch.
At the January 27, 1986, ceremony where it was announced that Hubbard had died, David Miscavige introduced Broeker and his wife Annie as Hubbard's "two most trusted friends and companions". The Broekers presented a memo, said to have been written by Hubbard before he died, in which Hubbard specified that Pat and Annie Broeker should succeed him as the heads of the Church following his death in Flag Order 3879, 19 January 1986, "The Sea Org and the Future", promoting himself to Admiral and appointing them as First and Second Loyal Officers, two new positions not on any existing Scientology Organization chart.[6] [7] [8] 14 months later however, the Broekers were removed and Miscavige assumed the leadership position himself, giving himself the title of "Chairman of the Board." On 18 April 1988 Miscavige published a follow-up memo stating that the original memo was a forgery and was cancelled.[9]
Robert Vaughn Young was assigned to the ranch after Hubbard's death and had got to know Broeker in the following months. In a 1994 court case Young stated that "... A power struggle ensued after Hubbard's death between Broeker and Miscavige." He alleged that anyone seen to be in the "Broeker camp" was purged leading to Miscavige eventually taking control of the Church by force.[10]
In a speech given in Hamburg in 2010 Jesse Prince admitted that Miscavige had no choice but to oust Broeker. He said of Pat Broeker: "But he’s insane, too. I mean, this guy, you can’t have a rational conversation with him. I mean, you start talking to him about apples and the next thing you know we’re talking about growing pineapples, you know? It was very difficult to talk to this person. I mean, he was not lucid in his mind. And Miscavige had a valid problem: what would happen if this guy took over Scientology? He’s nuts; he’ll tear it all up. ... Well, he made the decision: I’m getting rid of him."[11]
In 2009, Tampa Bay Times reported that after Broeker left the church in 1989 and moved to Colorado, David Miscavige hired private detectives for $32,000 a month.[12] They followed him for the next two decades to Wyoming and ten years in the Czech Republic, where he went to medical school and worked as an English teacher.[13] In early 2012, at an apartment complex owned by the Church of Scientology, his ex-wife Annie Tidman died of cancer.[14]
In 2012, Paul Marrick and Greg Arnold, the two private detectives who had followed Broeker for 25 years, were later assigned to follow and record Marty Rathbun. They sued the Church of Scientology for breach of contract when the organization failed to pay them for their investigations.[15] [16] [17] [18]