Summary prepared by Fielding M. McGehee III. If you use this material, please credit The Jonestown Institute. Thank you.
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FBI Catalogue: Unidentified Individuals Speaking
FBI preliminary tape identification note: One “3/2/75, Welfare Fraud” 3×5 card & check (illegible)
Date cues on tape: None, but consistent with note on tape box
People named:
Bob (speaks)
Linda
Mike
Chris
Bible verses cited: None
Summary:
An unidentified young male in Peoples Temple calls his mother to apologize for not having written to her, and adds he won’t be able to for a while – and what he does write will be “brief and limited” – because of his work for the Temple, which he says is “pretty secret.”
The theme that recurs most often throughout this phone call is his unhappiness with a letter she has written to him which criticizes the church. He can’t understand it, he says, because the church has been so nice to her. The tone becomes somewhat harsher at the end, when he describes the letter as “slanderous,” then adds, “I wouldn’t want to see anything happen.” She replies that she doesn’t plan to say anything to anyone else about it, yet she insists that she does feel she should be able to express her concerns to him.
The balance of the conversation is on family matters – her car won’t start, etc. – and are unrelated to Peoples Temple. The mother does request that he cash a check she sent to him, and then return a money order to her for the same amount, so she can get around some welfare restrictions, an admission which the Temple noted in its own description of the conversation on the tape box. The welfare department “won’t know anything about the money order,” the mother says, “and then they won’t cut off my income. … It’s kinda not fair, but yet, they make a liar out of you.”
FBI Summary:
Date of transcription: 3/12/79
In connection with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s investigation into the assassination of U.S. Congressman LEO J. RYAN at Port Kaituma, Guyana, South America, on November 18, 1978, a tape recording was obtained. This tape recording was located in Jonestown, Guyana, South America, and was turned over to U.S. Officials in Guyana and subsequently transported to the United States.
On March 7, 1979, Special Agent (name deleted) reviewed the tape numbered 1B62 #21. This tape was found to contain the following:
Side A: Telephone call between an unidentified female and her son.
Side B: Blank.
This tape was reviewed, and nothing was contained thereon which was considered to be of evidentiary nature or beneficial to the investigation of Congressman RYAN.
Differences with FBI Summary:
The summary is accurate and meets the FBI’s purposes.
Tape originally posted May 2013