Danny Dunagin is a professional security officer trained as an emergency medical technician. A volunteer firefighter who is active in the local community, he has been based at Golden Era Productions for over 30 years where he knew and worked with Ron Miscavige for more than two decades.
During my 30-year tenure, there are just a few people who stand out in my mind for the amazing trouble they caused. Four of these were criminals passing by our property, intent on committing violent felonies to anyone who happened to be present that day (fortunately each of these incidents was defused without any harm). And then there was Ron Miscavige, just to give you an idea of where he ranks on the scale of the obnoxious and unprincipled.
Ron himself was one of the hardest people to get along with that I have ever met. Argumentative and quick to pick a fight if he didn’t get his way, Ron acted more like an undisciplined 5-year-old brat than the staff member we all treated him as because of who he was related to, the leader of our Church. Due to the respect and admiration that we all have for his son, Ron, as his father, was afforded considerable slack. Ron certainly went out of his way to take advantage of this.
The facilities here at Golden Era Productions are top notch and the staff is very well cared for. First of all this is a gated community with a zero crime rate despite the all too common break-ins, hold ups and drive-by shootings locally that you read about in the newspapers. The staff here are very motivated in what we do to address problems the world needs help with—drug addiction, drug education for kids so they don’t get started, human rights, criminal reform, declines in morality and the like.
Ron was legendary for how little he cared for others around him, like a spoiled child. I will give a brief example that illustrates this.
Ron had been driving recklessly through the small town at speeds up to 80 mph and had almost hit several cars. He acted oblivious to the police cars with their lights and sirens right behind him for miles literally.
I was on duty one morning when I got a frantic phone call from his wife, Becky, saying that she and Ron were in town and driving in to work. Ron got pulled over by a bunch of cops and was being arrested. Becky was distraught and practically in tears. She demanded I come out and DO SOMETHING! While thinking to myself that the last thing I wanted to see was Ron in handcuffs for doing something stupid and what an embarrassment this could be for himself, the Church and his son, I quickly drove out in my patrol truck to where he had been pulled over. Four police cars were there with lights whirling. One of the officers recognized me and waved me over. I asked him what was happening and what I could do to help. He explained that Ron had been driving recklessly through the small town at speeds up to 80 mph and had almost hit several cars. He acted oblivious to the police cars with their lights and sirens right behind him for miles literally. The police officer said when he finally got Ron to pull over, Ron tried to schmooze his way out of the whole affair by telling the officer he could “just hit him and call it square.” I tried to ask if the officer could just write him a ticket and let me take him home, but the officer said that unfortunately with all the police and supervisors now involved he would have to take him down to the station and book him as per their protocols.
SEE THE VIDEO: DANNY DUNAGIN GIVES HIS FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT OF THE REAL RON MISCAVIGE.
Here’s where Ron is at—you would think after he got back home he would at least have come up to thank me for taking care of his wife and for trying to help him out in this difficult situation. Instead, he was complaining about the police officer, and a week later trying to pick a fight with me about some imagined slight. No gratitude there. But that was typical of him and how he treated others, just to illustrate a point. We would treat him nicely out of respect for who he was and go out of our way to help him. He would turn around and just be mean and inconsiderate.
He was slack even in taking care of the composing and arranging studio he was given as an office. Thousands of dollars of equipment were invested in the room he was provided as a work space, and indeed on every cleaning inspection I ever did in that specific room it was dirty and it smelled. He wouldn’t even clean his office or the expensive gear he had, and when I would point out to him that his personal cleaning standards were putting the equipment in danger, he would respond belligerently.
Ron definitely got more than enough chances to straighten himself out. He’s a self-centered, egotistical bully.
Countless times on my security rounds for the safety of the property, I would find Ron way off in some other corner of the property literally just goofing off. I would have to point out that he did in fact have work to do back in his office! Of course when sent to get back to work, he would be argumentative. Normally anyone would expect to get fired if they were consistently not doing their job, but Ron definitely got more than enough chances to straighten himself out. He’s a self-centered, egotistical bully.
This is the real story of Ron and his “memoirs.”
Daniel Dunagin
Security Officer
