“This has been a nightmare that I desperately needed to wake up from.” Read TonyOrtega94's story about a widow—and mother of two—from Texas who was convinced to send over $800,000 to people claiming to be “Leonardo DiCaprio” enslaved by Scientology.
n the summer of 2018, a 54-year-old woman living in a Houston suburb—a woman I’ll call Denise—decided to expand her social media horizons.
“My Twitter profile wasn’t exceptional. My picture certainly wasn’t glamorous. Setting up my account I followed some politicians, some of my favorite rock bands, animal rights activists, nonprofit organizations, and environmental groups,” she says.About a month after creating her account, she received her first private message through the app. It appeared to be from one of the celebrities she had followed, Leonardo DiCaprio.“Leonardo DiCaprio,” they replied.Photo Illustration by Luis G.
“He learned that I loved to cook. We were texting one night when I was making homemade ravioli, and he said that Camila needed to learn how,” she says, referring to DiCaprio’s girlfriend, Camila Morrone, who in summer 2018 had just turned 21. They were soon burning up several different platforms in their long conversations: Twitter private messages, Gmail hangouts, and email. He even squeezed in a few rushed phone calls, but she preferred the online chats.
Later, that symbol took on a much more sinister aspect, she says, when “DiCaprio” told her for the first time thatAnd then, Leo leveled with her: He produced for her a letter written to him on church letterhead. “Leo” informed Denise that high-ranking members were known as “delegates” and referred to church leader David Miscavige as “his Holiness.” And he let her in on the secret way that Scientologists identified other delegates.
“Your only telephone call to me was from a man with a very strange accent, who immediately hung up on me,” she wrote then. “You lied to me several times and you refuse to prove who you are to me, not even through snail mail. And your story continues to change, almost daily. You’re not consistent, at all.”
“I learned that the Church of Scientology charges $5,000 for a Lifetime membership and the Patron-level memberships were $50,000. I accused Leo a few times of paying church fees for members that he had recruited, but he neither denied nor confirmed my accusations.” When I told Denise that it appeared “Leo” was having her sign and notarize a false business arrangement in order to hide the purpose of her payments, she objected, saying once again it was to protect “Leo” from Scientology’s interference.
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