[Editor’s note: The following affidavits were made by members of Peoples Temple, all on the same day — August 20, 1977 — as the Temple realized that Tim Stoen had, in fact, defected and had allied himself with his estranged wife, Grace, in a campaign for her to regain custody of her child, John Victor Stoen.]
Affidavit of Marceline M. Jones – V-1-e-1
Affidavit of Bonnie Jean Beck – V-1-e-2 (a) – (d)
Affidavit of Eugene Chaikin – V-1-e-3 (a) – (b)
Affidavit of Sharon Amos – V-1-e-4, 4 (a) – (b)
Affidavit of Richard Tropp – V-1-e-5
Affidavit of June Crym – V-1-e-6 (a) – (b)
Affidavit of Lee Ingram – V-1-e-7
Affidavit of Jean Brown – V-1-e-8 (a) – (c)
Affidavit of Teresa J. Buford – V-1-e-9 (a) – (c)
Affidavit of June Crym – V-1-e-10 (a) – (b) [second affidavit]
Affidavit of Deborah Blakey – V-1-e-11 (a) – (b)
*****
Affidavit of Marceline M. Jones
State of California
City and County of San Francisco
I, Marceline M. Jones, being duly sworn, declare:
I was in Guyana during May and June 1977. Timothy O. Stoen was there at the same time. He was unhappy in Guyana. He made the remark that he was born into an elitist family and could not identify with the Guyanese and other struggling peoples. He made prejudicial remarks about the attorneys people and their culture. During our organizational meetings in Georgetown, he seemed completely detached and even hostile about the problems at hand as we worked to develop our agricultural mission established for the purpose of growing food & help feed, clothe, and house people in cooperative programs. Tim Stoen was not cooperative with the development of our programs and was, in fact, a sower of discord and negativity.
As time moved on he grew more and more judgmental of the PNC Government, including the Prime Minister and Cabinet. He said they were lazily, bungling “idiots” and did not want to spend any more of his time and energy in such a “backward” place.
Dated this 20th day of August, 1977.
/s/ Marceline M. Jones
Marceline M. Jones
Subscribed and sworn before me,
a Notary Public in and for the State of California
/s/ James R. Randolph
[Official seal]
*****
State of California
City and County of San Francisco
I, Bonnie Jean Beck, being duly sworn, declare:
Timothy Stoen has been known to me for a period of nine years. During this time, Stoen and I worked on various programs together and also spent long hours in discussions of his own beliefs, aspirations, and so forth.
Shortly before joining the church, Stoen and I had a long discussion at the Redwood Valley Peoples Temple. He stated that he had the personal goal of becoming President of the United States and had planned his entire life for this goal. He outlined how he had chosen Wheaton College for his undergraduate work as it would contribute to the religious and politically conservative image he was creating. He also stated it would appeal to the Midwestern and farm vote. He stated that he had chosen Stanford Law School with much the same reasoning. He knew that he would need to make contacts that would further his future political career and thus should go to a very respected school which would draw that caliber person. He decided against the Eastern Schools, stated that Harvard had too radical a political image and that there was distrust of the Ivy League schools by too many people. On the other hand, Stanford has a good image and appeal to Western voters and Western political/financial backers in the years to come. In addition to basing his educational objectives on his political goals, he outlined how he also based in social life
-2-
on the same considerations. He discussed at length the type of woman that he dated, how he would choose them entirely on how they would contribute to his image, their family and business connections, etc. I asked him how his working in the poverty law area would help him as a Republican candidate or was this a personal concern for the poor. He replied that I was naïve and needed to realize that to be elected President, a candidate had to appeal to a wide range of voters, not just Republicans. Thus while his own personal views were that of a conservative Republican, his involvement with poverty groups would counter liberal critics. At the same time, in fact, he stated that he was considering running for Congress from Berkeley and had the political and financial backing to do so. However, he was not sure that his personal campaign could stand up against a liberal candidate and he felt he needed a better image of working for the poor and minorities.
Following his move back to Ukiah, I asked why he, given our earlier conversation, had not returned to working with a poverty law program. Stoen stated that he had already worked with both a rural and urban poverty program and that it was now time for him to gain experience in civil law and government leadership. He stated that he was the number two person in the county legal system and thus would have the opportunity to make many contacts throughout the state and perhaps national government. Stoen further stated that he had had enough of the problems of the poverty people and that his association with Peoples Temple would be sufficient to answer any critics charges
-3-
of non-interest.
Stoen and I both served on the Christian Church of Northern California Board of Directors. On being confronted for not attending Board meetings, by the pastor and members of the church, Stoen replied that he was too busy and had more important things to do. Privately, he asked me after this discussion why I had confronted him as, had I not understood that his reason for being on the Board was to further his political image.
In December, 1973, several members of Peoples Temple, including Timothy Stoen and my husband, Donald Beck, visited the Republic of Guyana. Shortly after their return, Stoen asked me what Don thought about the visit and the country in general. On telling him that Don was impressed with the country’s potential, Stoen said that I must not confuse what the people say that they want to do with what they will be able to do. He then outlined how the “inherent limitations of socialism prevent achievement and success” and that he would be advising strongly against any involvement by Peoples Temple there.
On another occasion people present in a Planning Commission meeting were asked who would like to and who was able to go on another visit to Guyana over the Christmas holidays. Having no vacation time available for my job, I did not raise my hand. Stoen later congratulated me, saying that I was wise to have realized the truth of what he had told me before and not to
-4-
fall for the impossibility of a poorly run, backward country having something to offer educated and cultured people like ourselves. On arguing this with him, he said that time would tell them that he was sure that our program, as well as the country, would not be successful.
Donald Beck spent another summer in Guyana in 1976 and again returned most reluctantly to teaching in the USA. Tim O. Stoen overheard some of Don’s comments and again told me not to be deceived by either Rev. Jones’ or Don’s glowing reports of the leaders and potentials of the country. Stoen stated that he too, had had the opportunity to meet with many of the same leaders and certainly was not favorably impressed with them. He stated that they did not have an understanding of what was needed to lead people to success and that they would be doomed to the primitive jungle of existence for decades to come. He recommended that I do everything in my power to encourage Don to stay in the USA where, “with the free enterprise system, he would be able to advance and not be stuck with hard, physical labor and no chance for personal recognition and material comfort.” Stoen also stated that he was continuing in his opposition to our involvement in Guyana and was hoping that we would cease all our operations there and that he was doing what he could to facilitate that.
Dated this 20th day of August, 1977
/s/ Bonnie Jean Beck
Subscribed and sworn
before me, a Notary Public
in and for the State of California
/s/ James R. Randolph
[Official seal]
*****
State of California
City and County of San Francisco
I have known Tim Stoen since 1972. He was formed the first persons I met when I was introduced to the Peoples Temple. At that time he was or expressed himself to be an ardent socialist and loyal comrade for the peoples struggle. He professed personal loyalty to Bishop Jim Jones. Because we were the principal lawyers for the group, we often worked closely together. As I became more intimately involved in the activities of the church, it became more obvious to me that Tim had a genuine elitist mentality. He would shirk work of any kind that was not related to law or in some sense was white collar work. Tim was brought up in a bourgeois home with an intensely Calvinist religious background.
When we began the Guyana project, and he first went to Guyana he came back telling how wonderful that it was to be in a black country where there was freedom from the atmosphere of prejudice and “velvet glove fascism” that exists in the US, I really believed that he felt that way. However, I immediately thereafter left for Guyana myself and did not see him until I returned to the US more than one and one-half years later. He really seemed to have changed. He spent all of his time with law work, not wanting to participate in church activities, especially those that were not of “his profession.” He was asked to go to Guyana on two occasions and begged his way out of it. He asked me on a number of occasions to tell him what it was “really like,” implying that I myself, did not believe that it was a lovely place
-2-
that I was telling everybody about, and that I could not really feel free there. He asked if “as a white person” I had problems there. Coming from him, the question caused me much concern.
Later, in the spring of 1977, when we were both there again in Guyana, Tim was obviously uncomfortable. He was concerned that he was not going to be able to practice law there, and was uncomfortable on the agricultural project where he detested physical labor.
During this time, too, it became very clear that Tim Stoen had for years failed to put his earnings in a common pool for the use of all as was the practice of those in the centermost work of the church; rather, he had kept large amounts aside as saved in bank accounts for his own personal security and benefit. I also learned from him that he has certain sexual peculiarities which make me feel that he is dangerously subject to blackmail: namely that he is a practicing transvestite, having for some years traveled out of the city in which he lived to parade on the streets in women’s clothing. (To me this is a security problem and not a problem in conventional morality.) He had apparently been either unwilling or unable to suppress these tendencies for the good of the cause.
I believe that, wherever he might have been several years ago, he is now just another selfish, bourgeois lawyer parading talk of “Christian socialism” in order to salve his conscience. In truth and fact he is a common, prejudiced middle-class professional with personal tendencies that may subject him to the possibility of blackmail, if he has not already done so (it is a favorite tool of the US Agencies)
[Editor’s note: Remaining pages missing]
*****
State of California
City and County of San Francisco
I, Sharon Amos, being duly sworn, declare:
Timothy O. Stoen is a man that is committed to destroying socialism both in the United States and in Guyana. He has attended to influence people like myself against Guyana and to portray himself as wrong by Peoples Temple Christian Church.
He spoke to me after his return from Guyana and told me that in Jonestown and in Georgetown the land is muddy and the area is full of mosquitoes and snakes and it is unfit for people to live there. I at the time was very anxious to visit Guyana and though I did not believe Timothy Stoen, he could have destroyed my positive view of Guyana if I were more impressionable. Also, my son very badly needed to be in a country that would be accepting of black, intelligent youngsters because he was having conflicts in school when he was called “nigger” and made fun of because of his small stature. Tim Stoen told me that Guyana is having difficulty keeping young people and that it was so oppressive there that the young people leave and that bright youth look for opportunities elsewhere. He said that Guyana has to pay its youth to stay there. I looked into Guyana for myself and formulated my opinions from others who had been there and the pictures that I saw, but Tim Stoen
-2-
attempted to influence me in a negative manner. He often does this. He uses his professional connections as a lawyer to influence people that may have some doubts against socialism. He has a very smooth, polished manner and people tend to respond to his demeanor.
I am very concerned about the way he uses his connections to turn people’s minds against an egalitarian socialist society such as Guyana is and also the socialist work in Peoples Temple. He lived a very self-indulgent and elegant life before joining Peoples Temple. He had a Porsche car, the most expensive model, and lived in a very expensive house overlooking the ocean. He had no leftist views at that time but instead surrounded himself with friends that were wealthy and conservative. He told me that his goal was to run for Congress and make a success for himself in the American Political machine. He dated one woman, he told me, for the sole purpose of furthering his political career as her father, he felt, could help him advance.
I feel that Tim Stoen has used People’s Temple to get information about the functioning of a socialist group in America. He told me that he had trouble relating to the poor and black people in the church and said that he wasn’t used to their ways of talking and living. He told me that in Guyana also the black people are primitive and don’t really know how to run a
-3-
country. He also told me that he felt uncomfortable in a country where so much of the leadership is black, Indian, and Asian.
He was interested in using his career as a lawyer to become aware in People’s Temple of any information he thought he could use to destroy this church and to adversely present Guyana. I am a witness to his doing this and feel that Tim Stoen will capitalize on any position he has in the future.
Dated this 20th day of August, 1977
/s/ Sharon Amos
Subscribed and sworn
before me, a Notary Public
in and for the State of California
/s/ James R. Randolph
[Official seal]
*****
State of California
City and County of San Francisco
I, Richard Tropp, being duly sworn, declare:
Tim Stoen has always been an opportunist who has aspired to high position in the American political establishment. He has shamelessly used our church movement as a stepping stone to power, and has not hesitated to turn against our church in order to do whatever was necessary to advance his personal ambitions. A meticulous status-seeker and religious conservative, he had used his position and association with Jim Jones to make anti-ranking social and political friends in order to enhance his personal prestige. He has always been secretive, and had insisted on a rather self-indulgent lifestyle with many personal privileges. He is untrustworthy and vainglorious. I consider him to be a dangerous person, anti-socialistic and anti-progressive, with delusions of grandeur and power that form a classic totalitarian personality.
Dated this 20th day of August, 1977.
/s/ Richard Tropp
Subscribed and sworn before me,
a Notary Public in and for the State of California
/s/ James R. Randolph
[Official seal]
*****
State of California
City and County of San Francisco
I, June Crym, being duly sworn, declare:
Over the past seven years I have been a member of Peoples Temple, working in the legal services office of the Temple with volunteer lawyers, I had many occasions to work closely with Timothy O. Stoen.
My first impression of him was that he was an elitist classist snob and my impressions were confirmed when he returned from a trip overseas to our agricultural project in Guyana. Instead of praising the project and explaining to those who had not yet seen it the wonders of socialist Guyana, Tim was very critical of the government structure and made several scathing critiques. He told me for one thing about how young people in Guyana were all leaving, that there is a “brain drain” on intellectual growth there and that they know opportunities are in the States, not in Guyana. He said Guyana was just another puppet . His snobbery was evident; he said he felt out of place in such an uncultured, barbaric place; the “jungle” was no place for him.
I know from personally working with him that he has traditionally been very competitive and ruthless with people. Tim enjoys “combat” and is insensitive to his selfishness. For the most part, the years he worked in our legal services project, he was very aloof from the people who sought assistance. He rarely came to Temple services, and had no involvement with the masses. He kept himself apart, working down in his fancy lawyers office which he furnished
-2-
with plush carpets, a stereo, explicit furniture, and original art works. This attitude continued when he traveled to Guyana; he resented having to place himself on what he considered “the same level” with the Guyanese, which to him was lower. He constantly thought in terms of class, distinction, levels. He had no conception of Guyanese people being as or more accomplished than he; he always referred to them as “backward.”
Dated this 20th day of August, 1977.
/s/ June Crym
Subscribed and sworn to
before me, a Notary Public
in and for the State of California
/s/ James R. Randolph
[Official seal]
*****
State of California
City and County of San Francisco
I, Lee Ingram, being duly sworn, declare:
There’s not much I can say for Tim Stoen other than he was seldom at church or involved in church matters – and even then judgment and advice on legal matters was certainly less than professional, i.e. we had to buy one large home after it had been given as a gift was one of the typical messes orchestrated by Stoen procedurally speaking. There were other instances that the church, then depending on his legal mind, lost large sums of money because of misinformation or lack of his following through in regards to insurance on property and other legal matters that I’m sure, had he fouled up on his job, termination would have ensued it is oft’ times poor decisions.
The thing that was most disturbing personally (I’m black) was his reflection on the project in Guyana – he referred to the government there as slow and quite backwards. Too, the working of the land (physical work) I gathered it was too much for him and those involved in that effort were considered by him only indentured slaves, who were no different or better off than my ancestors.
Dated this 20th day of August, 1977.
/s/ Lee Ingram
Subscribed and sworn
to before me, a Notary Public
in and for the State of California
/s/ James R. Randolph
[Official seal]
*****
State of California
City and County of San Francisco
I, Jean Brown, being duly sworn, declare:
I was present in Guyana during the Christmas holidays, 1973, in the company of Bishop Jones and the Temple delegation. Timothy Stoen was also a member of our delegation on this initial fact-finding trip to Guyana in which we sought a location for our church’s agricultural mission.
Tim Stoen reacted to Guyanese society in a manner that caused myself and others much alarm. Though he met political and community leaders cordially when face-to-face, he assumed the mentality of a “white boss” when we were only among ourselves. He expected to be catered to by the black officials who showed us around Georgetown and Matthews Ridge. He talked about exploiting the women and how easy – as a white male – it would be. He made caddy [catty] and condescending remarks about people we met, comments which were racist and showed no sensitivity toward the emergence of the country from severe deprivations under colonial rule. He was impressed only with the white foreigners he met, including Aaron Dror from Israel, and Father Campbell-Johnston, a Jesuit as I recall. He laughed at the Rotarians with whom he had dined, calling them the “Step ‘n Fetchits” of Guyana. He maligned the PNC government and leaders we talk to as incompetent demagogues who were merely “playing government” and preferred to ride around in Land Rovers than conduct serious business. In many late-night discussions he protested we were foolish to take the country seriously as a location for an overseas mission, unless we intended to “take the
-2-
place for all it was worth.”
When we returned to the States, Tim Stoen became increasingly antagonistic to the idea of committing finances to build a mission in Guyana. He did “research” on the country, which consisted of reading all the opposition documents he could find. He frequently cited such documents as Caribbean Contact to impress on the church governing board that the Guyanese talked about doing everything but could actually do nothing but fall into social and racial chaos. He tried to discredit the country by telling of incidents of “choke-and-rob” and black-market profiteering.
His negative comments influenced some members, but the vast majority were all too familiar with Stoen’s bourgeois tastes and personal ambition to give his statements much credence. In contrast to the utter support of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana and praise of the country’s government made consistently by Bishop Jones, Stoen’s comments largely fell on deaf ears. He acquired massive debts by surrounding himself with the finest furnishings, works of art, and finally made clothes. He expected poorer black members to pay off his debts in return for the legal assistance he gave them. To this day I am convinced his interest in associating with the Peoples Temple and Rev. Jones was to boost his own personal image by being the Bishop’s attorney. He never once conformed to the simplistic, egalitarian lifestyle which sincere members of the Temple assume.
-3-
When the membership did decide to make a full-scale commitment to develop the Guyana project, Stoen accelerated his attacks. By this time he had separated himself from the center of church activities and ceased to attend regularly. He accused Prime Minister Burnham, on one of the last occasions I saw him, of being a Stalinist-type dictator who had created forced labor camps for Guyanese youth and blocked all opposition. By this time, however, too many Temple members had themselves been to Guyana and to the Jamestown project and witnessed with their own eyes that these accusations are absolutely untrue.
Dated this 20th day of August, 1977.
/s/ Jean Brown
Subscribed and sworn before me,
a Notary Public in and for the
State of California
/s/ James R. Randolph
[Official seal]
*****
State of California
City and County of San Francisco
I, Teresa J. Buford, being duly sworn, declare:
I have known Tim Stoen for the last five years. As his legal secretary for some time I have inadvertently found some things out about Tim that I feel to be dangerous to the growth of any organization striving for a socialist cause. Tim prides himself in his rich-white background and his education. He is the kind of person who writes virtually everything down. On one occasion, when Tim asked me to organize his files, I found some news clipping about him that I worried about. It was a story about him where he is claiming in the US press that he had been very badly treated in East Germany when he was caught illegally taking pictures within their borders. He also kept a log of this trip and talked about how horrible the loss of freedom is in a socialist state. He said in regard to socialism, “all I can do is anguish about the problem and pray to God that it won’t last forever.” His log is a detailed analysis of the faults of socialism abroad. Naturally every country has its problems but Tim chose to embellish on every fault and to contrive others to persuade listeners against the “Horror of socialism.” Shortly after he made a trip to Guyana in December 1973 I came into the place where Tim work in the evening at Eva Pugh’s home, and I heard him on the phone with someone talking about Guyana, saying that Prime Minister Burnham was simple minded and that he felt that the Guyanese could be easily influenced and that he wondered why Jim Jones have chosen such a backward country for his people. I walked into the room and he quickly said goodbye and hung up. I asked him who he was talking to and he said “oh my mother, it’s her birthday.” I did not believe him – but did not pursue the matter. On another occasion he asked me
-2-
if I thought that perhaps Guyana would not have been better off with Cheddi Jagan and I said I have no problem with the present leadership. He answered me by saying “you don’t really plan to go there to stay, do you?” I said “yes.” Another thing that I found unusual about Tim is that on one occasion (he was separated from his wife) I went by his home to pick up some legal work to type and I found a gadget lying on the corner of the room. It had a long wire on it, a small microphone and a couple of D batteries hooked to it. When I went home I asked a friend of mine who knew something about electronics what that might be and he told me that he thought it was some sort of electronic bugging device. Tim is a person who demanded perfection on his job. He often talked to me about how he had wanted to be president of the United States but right now he wanted to be an outstanding District Attorney with future hopes of perhaps being the Attorney General of California.
Tim Stoen is not someone who I would trust. Once Tim was in a room with a young black child about four years old. They both had a milkshake and Tim knocked his by accident on the floor. When I entered the room Tim proceeded to yell at the child for doing it. The child looked bewildered and protested. The child protested so strongly Tim said that was in fact him that did it. I find such a grown man who will blame something as insignificant as that on a child to be characterless.
Tim Stoen warned me that if I were to ever go to Guyana, I shouldn’t expect too much. The people are slow and backwards, he said, and that trying to get work done is like trying to get school children to do a “man’s job.” Of course, I have been to Guyana and I can easily say I would much prefer to be Guyanese than North American. Further, I love Guyana and found no basis for
-3-
Tim Stoen’s criticism.
Dated this 20th day of August, 1977.
/s/ Teresa Buford
Subscribed and sworn to
before me, a Notary Public
in and for the State of California
/s/ James R. Randolph
[Official seal]
*****
State of California
City and County of San Francisco
I, June Crym, being duly sworn, declare:
In December 1974 I traveled to Guyana, to the Peoples Temple agricultural project, with several other members of Peoples Temple, including Grace Stoen. We spent about two weeks there, settling in the temporary quarters at Port Kaituma. We visited Jonestown several times and on December 24, 1974 I spent the night at Jonestown with Chuck Beikman and Grace Stoen while the rest of the group went back to the Port Kaituma quarters for the evening. We ate dinner together, and Chuck Beikman made us hot chocolate, and we talked together about the jungle around us and the settlement being built. Grace was nervous about the jungle and the bugs and didn’t like sleeping in the open air. She complained a lot while we were there; she preferred city life and wanted to return to her home in the states. She was also afraid of the Amerindians and was afraid to walk the streets in Georgetown because she was convinced one of the “black natives” would rape her.
The tractor return for us in Jonestown around 10 AM next morning and we all spent the day at different projects in Jonestown. Then we returned to Port Kaituma for dinner and spent the evening talking with Bishop Jones about the project.
The Port Kaituma settlement was a series of buildings enclosing about six or seven rooms each, which housed the settlers, their kitchen, radio room, and the like. Those of us who were visiting from the states were temporarily quartered in the rooms with the residents, and Grace Stoen and I shared the same room for much of the time that we were there.
-2-
We eventually all returned to the states on the same flight, and we stopped in Los Angeles where we picked up some Los Angeles Peoples Temple members. I remember Grace Stoen talking on the microphone describing our experiences overseas at the project while we were enroute home on the plane.
Dated this 20th day of August, 1977.
/s/ June Crym
Subscribed and sworn to before
me, a Notary Public in and
for the State of California
/s/ James R. Randolph
[Official seal]
*****
State of California
City and County of San Francisco
I, Deborah Blakey, being duly sworn, declare:
Timothy O. Stoen was never an [a] man who cared for people, as the title of attorney should represent. He had many character flaws shich [which] were tolerated by members of the congregation as it was thought that after participating in the organization and assisting in the work theory of this socialist movement, that he could change to become more a part of us.
It became evident to me that he had too much of the capitalist selfishness in him when he argued about the suggestion of visiting Guyana and starting an agricultural mission there. He was adamant that – especially after visiting there – the country was backward with little advantage for him in his legal/political career. He tired [tried] to undermine members by saying there were political factions in Guyana that were being produced from racial and other influences, such as outside intrusion from unfriendly nations. He had no love for socialist calues [values] and was extravagant in his own life-style.
In one of the more controversial trials here in San Francisco, Charles Garry, an eminent socialist attorney and ranked among the three top attorneys in the US, was defending Black truck drivers for their rights here in the States. These men were up against the racist regulations of predominantly white truckers and their unions who discriminate against blacks in their policies. These Black truckers were imprisoned for actively standing up for the rights, were given excessive bails that even the wealthiest citizens could not afford. Timothy Stoen, then Assistant District Attorney for San Francisco was the one who chose to set the bails for these men at approximately $50,000 to $100,000 dollars. It is impossible for a poor person, white or black, to pay such a bail. This incident well depicts the insensitivity that Mr. Stoen was showing towards the suffering of minorities in recent months when he severed his relations with Peoples Temple.
Dated this 20th day of August, 1977.
/s/Deborah Blakey
Subscribed and sworn before me,
a Notary Public in and for
the State of California
/s/ James R. Randolph
[Official seal]