M E M O R A N D U M

DATE: 21 MAR 2021

From: Michael J. Merritt, USN Retired/Writer
PO BOX 187
Newton, IA 50208
cipher.hunter@cipherphoenix.com

To: Hope United Methodist Church
Attention: *** *****
2203 S 3rd Ave,
Marshalltown, IA 50158
(641) 752-5104

Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church
2301 Rittenhouse St.
Des Moines, IA 50321
(515) 974-8900

Marshalltown Police Department
909 S 2nd St
Marshalltown, IA 50158

This correspondence will be submitted to San Diego East County Court for case ED100465 as a legal declaration for the record.

Subject: Hope United Methodist Church Leadership/Continued Cyber Stalking/Harassment

I am reaching out to you because I have known you most of my life and I used to consider you a mentor. I am also reaching out to you because you violated your church’s no-member contact order (which your church does not have the legal authority to enforce) by communicating with me at the Marshalltown VA Clinic when contact with you was not sought out or desired.

We all have trials that we have to endure in our lives, but what disappointed me the most was how the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church and Hope United Methodist Church utilized the Marshalltown Police as hired muscle in full swat gear at my front door in June 2019 to suppress their involvement with someone that has concealed my children for the last 4 years utilizing false allegations of sexual assault. Hope United Methodist church’s Pastor and Worship Art’s Coordinator were involved with my ex-wife (who lived in California at the time) through communications during 2018. I have spent the last 2 years of my life studying law in 3 different states and I have subpoenaed the records from the San Diego County Sheriff that show that I am innocent. This evidence will most likely put my ex-wife in prison due to over 3 dozen counts of perjury, child concealment, child abuse/endangerment, violation of court orders, etc. This is the person I have evidence Hope United Methodist Church’s leadership was in contact with during 2018. San Diego East County Superior Court Case: ED100465 Exhibits A, D, and E support this conclusion.

I talked to the Iowa Conference Methodist leadership in Des Moines during 2019 and reported Hope United Methodist Church’s Worship Art’s Coordinator’s malicious use of social media to cause damage and injury to my life beginning in 2018, and the highly incompetent/nervous lead Pastor of the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church in 2019 told me I could not prove the triangulation of communications. A few weeks after beginning this dialog with the Iowa Methodist Conference Church Leadership our dialog began to decay because this individual refused to take responsibility for Hope United Methodist Church’s actions and I later had officers from the Marshalltown Police on my doorstep in full swat gear during the first week of June 2019 with no arrests being made. If no arrests were made what was the point in the visit? What was the point in the swat gear? What statements to the police were provided by the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church and Hope United Methodist Church to escalate this type of involvement from law enforcement toward someone that was in the process of filing a complaint against the church for unethical and harassing conduct by one of the members of its leadership?

My question for Hope United Methodist Church is why 3 years later in 2021 is your Worship Arts Coordinator’s name all over Monica Speak’s Linkedin Profile history (people who have viewed her profile/searched for her specifically) who I live with now. Why is she still cyberstalking women/people in my life and someone that I live with trying to collect information? Why is Hope United Methodist Church protecting and condoning this woman’s continued behavior while it maliciously suppressed the damage she was a part of in my life. I have zero tolerance for Hope United Methodist Church, its personnel, or its behavior in my life. I am still thinking about how I am going to deal with Hope United Methodist Church and its personnel while I line up more important dots and evidence in my case that is now in three states.

I have been told by Hope United Methodist Church leadership, the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church leadership, and the Marshalltown Police that if I step foot in Hope United Methodist Church I will be arrested for trespassing. A church for 30 years of my life that taught me to forgive trespasses. The only logical conclusion is that Hope United Methodist Church is exempting itself from this trespass it has against me for the purpose of protecting its reputation and suppressing other members from finding out the malicious actions of its leadership. I believe the public needs to be aware of what Hope United Methodist Church truly stands for and the abusive/toxic behavior it allows its leadership to execute against members before and after they attempt to file a complaint against this religious organization. I believe the public needs to know the theological essence of this Pastor’s mission and how she executes it in her daily life.

My last question is if a professional male executes malicious actions against a woman because she refuses to have sex with him as is documented in the news usually motivating criminal actions against that man. Is a woman in a leadership position of an organization executing malicious actions against a man after he refused to have sex with her the same thing? I do not know why the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church decided to use the Marshalltown Police in their attempts to cover this up in 2019. I do not know why Hope United Methodist Church has an alleged no contact/no trespassing order against me I was never served legal documentation regarding. However, the evidence supports very alarming conclusions that put the ethical motives of the leadership of the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church, Hope United Methodist Church, and the Marshalltown Police Department in question. With evidence of Hope United Methodist Church’s leadership continuing it’s cyberstalking against me and possible evidence of future planning of further malicious actions, I am taking actions to protect my life from further damage and injury from this church’s leadership.

I am fully prepared to escalate this situation to the proper legal venue if this religious organization’s leadership fails to take full accountability for this situation, take actions to correct the damages caused to my life, and provide a written apology.

Respectfully,

Michael J. Merritt, USN Retired/Writer
Founder:  cipherphoenix.com
Creative Writer/Musician
Information Warfare Specialist
Information Systems Manager
PO BOX 187
Newton, IA 50208
cipher.hunter@cipherphoenix.com