Last Of The Pensacola Properties Will Be Applied To Kent Hovind's Criminal Penalties

The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small. Well the mills of the IRS are still grinding Kent Hovind as we see from a new flurry of activity arising out of Kent's criminal conviction in 2006.

Kent was convicted on multiple counts of "structuring" - systematically withdrawing funds in amounts slightly less than $10,000 in order to avoid bank reporting.  One of the consequences of his structuring was the forfeiture of over $400,000. Of course, he didn't have that cash having spent it on this and that including his "missionaries".

So there were parcels of real estate forfeited in lieu of the cash.  Those were mostly sold to the Hovind family allowing Eric Hovind to keep the ministry going in a different form.  That, as you may recall created some drama when Eric did not simply turn the keys back over to Kent after his return from prison.

And at least once parcel was sold to an outsider - Anthony Jaworski.  And that did not go all that well as is portrayed in this interview with Jonathan Schwartz of Interlock Media

But there were two parcels that are still yet to be sold - 116 Cummings Road and 5800 Block North Old Palafox Street.  The parcels already sold and some cash in the bank have whittled the original forfeiture balance down from $430,400 all the way to $504.70.

That would mean that any sales proceeds beyond the five hundred and change would be returned.  As this motion indicates, there would be a logistical problem returning the funds since the title was not with the Hovinds. (There is the vow of poverty and all that trust stuff.  Don't get me started.)

More to the point though included in Kent's  original sentence were criminal penalties - cost of prosecution and restitution to the IRS in the amount of $613,228.11. Kent has been paying on that since he was released at the stunning rate of $25 per month.  I'll let you do the math.

So the motion is to sell the lots and apply the proceeds to the criminal penalties.  In the footnote it is indicated that IRS - CI will handle the sale rather than the US Marshals, since they are familiar with the property.  It will be interesting to see whether the Hovindicators will take any action around the sale.

A notice has gone out to Kent and Jo giving them to sometime next week to file an objection to the sale.

I asked Rudy Davis, the strongest voice of the Hovindicatiors, what he thought of the matter.  He wrote me:

There is no surprise on my end that our government is making a move to steal property from the Hovind's after unjustly imprisoning both of them. The wickedness of this government is beyond most people's ability to imagine.   I pray that God Almighty will exercise his judgment upon the evildoers who continue to persecute the righteous sooner rather than later.   Psalms 35 and Psalms 109 come to mind. My prison ministry keeps me extremely busy with advocating for entrapped and unjustly incarcerated Chrstian prisoners. Unfortunately things are not getting any better.  However, I have no doubt the Lord will be glorified in all that lies ahead.  We will not grow weary in exposing how wicked our government has become.

Below is a video of a man (David Hinkson) who has spent 15 years in prison so far solely on the testimony of Elven Joe Swisher.  Elven Joe Swisher is a known pathological liar who wore a fake purple heart medal on the witness stand.

I also wrote to Kent's main adviser, Ernie Land who responded:

Not really. I think as a CPA you know they have 10 years and this is 12 years post conviction, so I will wait and see what happens. More corruptness in our systems.

That's one of the difference between me and Ernie.  I don't just know stuff, I look shit up.  The statute of limitations on collection of assessed tax is 10 years, but the statute of limitations on criminal penalties is 20 years starting with release.

This does raise an interesting point.  Kent has an enormous civil liability for income taxes - over three million dollars.  And that is on a ten year clock starting in 2013.  If you thought Kent's ship was going to come in eventually you would want to collect that first.  But here we may have a little bureaucracy going on.  CI might want to get credit for collecting the penalty rather than letting IRS Collections get the glory for getting something toward the income tax liability. 

You can take a look at the lots using google maps.  They didn't leap off the map and say "Buy me, buy me" when I looked but maybe you might like them. De gustibus non est disputandum.

Bob Baty alerted me to this development.  Apparently he occasionally checks the docket in the case.  Something which would never occur to me.

I almost considered this development forbes worthy, but it did not quite make the cut.  I have laid off Kent's yourtube channel, but I expect that if he had reacted to this, I would have heard.  Where is Brady Byrum when you need him?

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Peter J Reilly CPA continues to follow the Kent Hovind drama, but not with a great amount of zeal.

Impertinent Pete, Domineering Deborah And Kent's Kult Kompound

Domineering Deborah

There is a new breed of Kent Hovind critic emerging.  Unlike many Hovindologists, they are not at all disturbed by the notion that the world is only 6,000 years old and that humans and dinosaurs must have existed contemporaneously.

The Anonymous Webmaster

Most vocal and surprising is Theodore Valentine, who anonymously ran freekenthovind.com. Theo, as Kent used to fondly refer to him,has produced an hour and three quarter documentary warning believers about Kent Hovind

The My Little Pony Fan

The one who gets the style closest to Rudy Davis award is Billy Summer of Whatever with Billy

On the other hand I don't expect Rudy will be covering My Little Pony anytime soon.

I don't have a sense of Billy's views on science and theology, but given that he was drawn to Lenox, Alabama by Kent's videos and his issues with Kent are about Kent's behavior,  I'm assuming that he shares some at least some of the young earth creationist viewpoint.

The Theologian

Joshua Joscelyn is the smoothest of the bunch. He was one of the few people from Pensacola on the street during Kent Hovind's trials in 2015

 He takes Kent on theologically calling him a damnable heretic.

The most colorful of the new breed is Deborah Henderson. I really like Deborah.  And in order to explain that, I need to tell you a bit about myself.


What Being A Hard Core Blogger is Like

I spend a lot of time on-line.  I've got three blogs going and a lot of research goes into many of my pieces.  It gets frustrating because sometimes it is the things that I knock out quickly that get the most traffic, but as it happens I don't make my living blogging, which allows my work to have, at least in my mind, a lot of integrity.  Regardless, someone who placed a tracker on me might think that I am not very sociable, as I can go for days seeing no one other than my partner (both business and life).  I do, however have quite a few friends scattered here and there.

And then there are my "blogging buddies".  My tax blogging is mainly based on my reading of original source material, but I end up contacting a lot of different people and then there are comments on the blog that sometimes lead to other communications and various blogs and facebook sites that I end up following.

Good Friends And Friends That Are Good

Of course, Hovindology is a "blogging buddy" phenomenon.  The only Hovindologists or Hovindicators that I have met in person are Dee Holmes and Jonathan Schwartz.  And, as it happens, I recruited Jonathan who I had known for a long time.  I challenge you to find a better video summary of the Hovind controversy than Jonathan's Dr. Dino: Creationism, Conspiracy, Conceit - The Politics of Wrath.

This is a long introduction to a concept.  "Blogging buddies" are like meat space friends in this sense.  They fall into two categories.  Some of them are, as far as I can tell, very likable people.  I would be very puzzled if somebody had a strong dislike for Kelly Erb, The Tax Girl,  or Joe Kristan, who recently hung up his keyboard and rode off into the sunset of an upstream merger or the Reverend William Thornton, the SBC Plodder.

There are others, however, that much as I like them myself, I totally understand why others might not.  I'm choosing not to name any names.  The self-aware ones know who I mean.

Domineering Deborah

To make a long story short, Deborah Henderson falls in the latter category.  Domineering Deborah has managed a remarkable achievement.  She got kicked out of Kent Hovind's work camp or whatever you want to call it which motivated the launch of a youtube channel, which has been quiet for about a month.

That got her invited to Robert Baty's Kent Hovind's Worst Nightmare! facebook site.  Not long after, Bob made the following announcement.

After receiving feedback from one or more members here, I decided to give Deborah Henderson a rest and removed her from the group.

Truly remarkable - both houses wishing a plague on her.

I think the main problem the Hovindology community had with Deborah was her tendency to lash out when people did not understand what she was about and her practice of giving people handles.  Mary Tocco was the unlearned Jezebel, Billy Summers was Boohoo Billy, Dee Holmes was Deiceitful Dee and I was Pansy Peter.

In Her Own Words

Unlike most others, I sought to get a better understanding of what Deborah's point was.  Also I tested what was behind her tendency to give people handles.  I asked her if she couldn't think of something a little better than Pansy Peter.  She responded with Impertinent Pete, which I kind of like.  I dubbed her Domineering Deborah and she like that too.

DD seems to believe that her audience is not people like me who don't accept the King James Version of the Bible as God's revelation to the English speaking.  We are incapable of understanding her criticisms of Hovind which she frames as a warning to fellow believers.  I have learned to not attempt to restate her positions, since I will probably get them wrong and might end up being Poopyhead Pete.  So I had a bit of an email exchange to clarify where she stands on important issues.

Here is her response:

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KJB only in the English language, like Butthurt Baty would say...Affirm

YEC c. 6000.... Affirm

Vaccines.... BAD

Conspiracy Theories...GOOD

Income Tax IRS.... Don't care

Geocentricity..... Affirm

Flat Earth.... Hasn't tickled my fancy to investigate, as of yet...

Yankees vs Red Sox.... Conspiracy

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The Yankees/Red Sox thing was a little joke.  If you had lived in New England for a while, you would get it.  I really like her answer.

I also asked her to boil down her issues with Kent Hovind.  She gave me a bonus by also laying out her issues with the Hovindologists that she considers the Booho Buzzard crew.

Peter, you have arrived late in the game and I do not consider you to be part of the Boohoo Buzzard crew. These people initiated insults, name calling, false accusing, then when I hit back they get all offended. This does not seem to be your character. I haven't checked my email for a while and just got to this. Give me a minute and I will do my best to sum it up, I will say, this I have repeatedly stated to them swarm of buzzards, this is not about attacking the Kult Kompound Klan, it is about Biblically exposing a flase teacher, a wolf in sheeps clothing. I did not speak a word until Billy Dolls decided to attack me in a video for speaking truth, now he plays the innocent. 
I do not know where I ever gave the impression that I was hurt or angry at their decision to kick me off the property, I was having a time there, but once again I remind y'all, the 3rd night I was there, the first night after my Husband left, I texted him and clearly said "This is officially a Kult," Kult and his jezebel knew I knew. Once again these buzzards will cherry pick their lies and use their lies to attack those who call them out, such as believing the unlearned jezebels lies about me, but then discredit other lies they told. 
Here is an Open Letter I sent to Butthurt Baty and Them....
May 2, 2017 An Open Letter To Robert Baty And Them: Part 1 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. Matthew 7:6 The hypocrisy of this group is exactly the babel I was hoping for, to gather the evidence needed to point out the insanity that you poses is equal to that of Kent Hovind. The main goal of climbing into a snake pit to conspire with snakes was to confirm all snakes are  of their father the devil, an enemy of Christianity, an enemy of the Gospel. Lowering myself to climb into this pit of snakes, has been of great concern by some of my fellow Christians due to God's warning.... 2 Timothy 2:16. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. God himself, whom through His infinite wisdom, has warned us to not do such things, Due to my experience in this world by being King James only and enduring the backlash of so-called Christians that attack me more then any other group, I have developed thick skin on matters of religion. God has blessed me with a wicked sense of humor and discernment to bring truth out to the open. With full support of my husband, I found it not only necessary but beneficial in my testimony exposing Kent Hovind for the false prophet he is, is to mock the mockers and expose the pure hatred for Christianity you and Hovind have in your hearts. Most of you people here are after Hovind for personal reasons for derailing your egos, you must, at any cost, including your own sanity, prove him wrong in his theology of the Young Earth to justify the misguidings you have been taught and indoctrinated into. The Bible is crystal clear on the earth being being c. 6000 years young, that is the one reason most followers of Hovind have blinders on and cannot discern truth of his deceitful ways. A quote from Hitler “If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.” My goal is to share my testimony and experience on his compound. To warn others of the ungodly ways of the happenings there. I am doing my Biblical duty to expose a false prophet. 1 Timothy 6:20 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called. One must honestly ask the question, which claim about reality is likely to produce a more harmonious world, if carried out faithfully to its logical end? The assertion "God created man in his own image," representing the Judeo-Christian tradition, or the manifesto by atheist/evolutionist Richard Dawkins, representing the ideological epitome of the atheist movement, "the universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but pointless indifference." 

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Other Comments

I asked my favorite Hovindicator, Rudy Davis, for his view on DD.

I don't really know her nor have I ever talked to her. All I heard was that she was living at Dinosaur Adventure Land for free and was asked to leave and got upset and now she is devoting a large portion of her life to helping Theodore's smear campaign against Dr. Hovind.  Other than that, I don't really have any further comment. When I asked Erin if she had anything to say regarding Deborah, she simply said "No Comment". 

Maybe after this post Erin will have something to say on DD's choice of accessorized armament.

 Ernie Land, Kent's consigliere and long time friend wrote me:

Very seriously, I only met her once for maybe 2 hours at a luncheon. That is where she took her photos of me. A volunteer, handicapped and on crutches, had ridden in the passenger seat of my car to the restaurant. This lady moved in front of him insisting she get a ride back and that ladies up front. She started on Kent’s wife calling her a jezebel and asking lots of questions. When we got back to the campus, I told Br. Kent we had a problem in her we were not equipped to handle. Days later I moved to the Board with a request from myself and another Board member to ask her to leave and yes, we graciously offered her bus fare. It was me who speed dialed our Sherriff once they notified me we had an issue. I did so from 80 miles away. It got ugly quick, but it was her rebellion that made it so. She insisted she was a resident, while having signed our terms saying she was not. She wanted hours to pack her 1 small bag of possessions. That’s it, so why is this so important in the scheme of things? It seems to me this is all about spreading lies and gossip on a Ministry that is winning souls and doing a Kingdom work.

Bob Baty wrote me:

Deborah Henderson and her husband Randolf remain mysteries to me.
They appeared, seemingly, out of nowhere with no visible means of support and traveling the country and getting their pictures taken with celebrity, fundamentalist Baptist preachers; while Deborah has accumulated 4,995 "friends" on her FaceBook page.
Deborah has been accused of having a rather "seedy" history, but has not been inclined to actually detail her life story in any meaningful way that might be corroborated to some extent.
Her husband Randolf plays the shy, silent type and, allegedly, was in prison for 20 years or so and, at times (once or more), was transported with Kent Hovind.  Neither Deborah or Randolf, to my knowledge, has made an effort to document that history and I have been unable to find any record of a "Randolf Henderson" with such a history; leading me to the conclusion that "Randolf Henderson" may be a contrived name of some sort to hide his past from scrutiny.
They have become bit players in the Hovind story, and the bit they have played has yet to be fully developed.  Deborah and Randolf, despite my entreaties, have not been inclined to fully explain their involvement in Conecuh County, AL with regard to their efforts, while supporting Kent Hovind, to engage in a seemingly well-orchestrated attack on local publisher of The Monthly View, Jim Allen.
Like others, I wait and watch for the Hovind story to further develop and what, if any, further involvement there might be from Deborah and Randolf Henderson.

Always Remember

I'm not sure what to make of all this and I've got work to do, so I am wrapping it up.  The most important thing that you should keep in mind in all this is that whatever your belief on a particular issue and however misguided you think people with a different belief are, if there should be a disaster in your community, there will be an outpouring of generous support from across this great country of ours.  A significant portion of that support will be from people who believe the opposite of what you believe on creation versus evolution or geocentrism or whatever.  And a significant number of people who agree with you will ignore your plight for a variety of reasons.  Always remember that and try to be kind.

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Peter J Reilly CPA has been following the Kent Hovind story since 2012 and much to his chagrin has lost money doing so.

Theodore Valentine The Hovindicator With Buyer's Remorse

When Independent Baptist minister and young earth creationist Kent Hovind, nearing the end of a long prison term for tax-related crimes, faced a trial on new charges related to actions he took with respect to the property seized as a result of the earlier conviction, a hearty band of advocates resolved to shine light and make noise to "Free Kent Hovind".

The Open Hovindicators

Among them were Coach Dave Daubenmire, George Lujack, Wiley Drake and Pete Santilli.  Kent's long term friend and consigliere, Ernie Land coordinated legal strategy.  And most outspoken was Rudy Davis, whose Lonestar1776  became for the duration "All free Kent Hovind, all the time"  including sometimes twice daily jail interviews with Kent and weekly strategy meetings.

Behind The Scenes

The most "vocal" Hovindicator, however, was behind the scenes managing the #FreeKent website. To see #FreeKent in all its glory you need to go into the Wayback Machine, because the URL freekenthovind.com  now points to a website called "lies of the deVil" which features "New Documentary: Kent Hovind Official: Fraud, Huckster and False Prophet"

Kent Hovind aka Dr. Dino of CSE and DAL is a liar and a fraud – exposed by insider, Theodore Valentine, who helped lead the Free Kent Hovind campaign that influenced Kent Hovind’s early release from prison. 

Kent Hovind and Mary Tocco are frauds trying to build a Christian Ministry dynasty (a.k.a Dinosaur Adventure Land/Creation Science Evangelism) on lies and deceit. Is Kent Hovind a false christian? Is it all an act?

Theodore Valentine has become alienated from Kent Hovind and has more or less gone on the attack.

Investing more lifespan than I really wanted to I watched Theo's three videos.  Only the first one has anything that I find interesting.

Kent Hovind Is A Tax Protester.  It Is As Simple As That.

That was the conclusion that Theo reached after a discussion starting around the ten minute mark.  He chides himself for not doing enough research.  Frankly it does not seem like he has gone research crazy now.  The damning evidence he cites is from a post on a site called Epsilon Clue from 2006.  The big revelation was that Hovind required his "missionaries" to punch a time clock.

Ironically one of the best pieces of evidence that Kent Hovind was a tax protester were the letters from - to use the term loosely - tax professionals that were highlighted on #FreeKent.  Right before Kent's second trial I did an analysis of the letters.  I am self absorbed enough to quote myself.  Here is what I imagined I might have said to Kent about his letters.

Kent you got those letters from a lawyer, a tax consultant (not a CPA, but let's not quibble) and an enrolled agent in 1996.  Nearly a decade later the IRS is up your ass much of it about stuff that is not even addressed in the letters.  There are something like 1.2 million attorneys, 600,000 CPAs and 50,000 enrolled agents in the United States.  Did it not ever cross your mind that you might not have taken the sharpest knives out of the drawer?  I just googled Pensacola CPAs and five firms popped up.  Would it have killed you to take your letters and some of the notices that you had gotten from the IRS and sit down and talk with a couple of working CPAs in your community?

If this topic is of interest you might also want to check out my "Looking At Kent Hovind's Innocence Claims" and Is Kent Hovind A Tax Protester?.

At any rate, Theo took a few potshots at me on #FreeKent, so I guess I was hoping he might make amends by citing some of my analysis of the Kent Hovind innocence narrative, but that was probably too much to hope for.

Theo went on to say that he had encouraged Kent to work out his back tax problems with some sort of collection plan.  He has not really done much research there either but it is a good point.  Independent of his criminal conviction, Kent generated $3 million in civil liability for income and self-employment tax.  Given the brokenness of IRS collections, he might not be getting any attention from them right now, but give them time, which they have.  There is a ten year statute on collections. The ten year clock probably starts no earlier than 2013 when the Tax Court ruled.

And The Rest

Theo's three videos are not really tight logical presentations. He is very emotional and rambles a bit.  He brings up his concerns about Kent's endorsement of The Shack

He also gets into Kent's marriage to Mary Tocco and Kent's treatment of his family.  There are fairly petty things about what has been going on in Lenox.  The latter is the type of stuff that you will encounter if you look under the hood of any intentional community or family for that matter.

In the first two videos Theo promises to unleash damning evidence, but in the third he indicates that he on reflection he has decided to let it go.  At one time he flashes a folder that he indicates is full of emails. He indicates in the final video that his purpose was to warn believers not to support Kent Hovind.  If they are not able to figure that out just from listening to Kent Hovind, I doubt that many will be swayed.

I think the most likely scenario of what is going on in Lenox is that Ernie Land is struggling mightily to keep Kent out of future trouble with the IRS while Kent is probably shooting himself in the foot.  Likely, Theo has some of the shell casings in that folder.

Kent's Response

Kent Hovind has, as you might expect, responded in kind on youtube.  You can judge that for yourself.

It is very important that you know that Kent did not kiss Mary until he got the word from whoever was doing their marriage ceremony. I'm glad that is settled.

Reactions

I reached out for comments on the situations and this is what I got.

Bob Baty, the Hovind critic most attacked on #FreeKent wrote me:

Wow!
Where to begin!
How about something like, "I told you so"???
Otherwise, meaningful comments might require, at least for me, some more specific guidance as to specific subject matter.
I think Theo is a poor quality critic of Kent, but he is "the man of the hour" with the personal experience and testimony for consideration.
Hopefully, things will get better as possibly more and more come out on all sides to deal with the issues.
I have long claimed that the Hovind story needs a lot more qualified, investigative reporting.
Maybe the latest developments will result in some of that
Maybe not.
Maybe more later.
Peter, I'm looking forward to your unique and creative way in dealing with such matters.

Rudy Davis wrote me:

Theodore's channel name is "Lies of the Devil". Could it be more aptly named? I haven't spoken to Theodore since the day Kent Hovind was released from prison. There is a lot of drama that goes on behind the scenes and Theodore has long ago revealed himself to me to be immature, self-aggrandizing, controlling, manipulative, selfish and lacking discernment. Theodore lusts after fame, recognition and a bigger ministry and he has revealed his true nature for all to see in an attempt to grab his 15 minutes of fame in his so-called "exposing" of Dr. Hovind. Dr. Hovind has a long history of dealing with jealous haters and Dr. Hovind will no doubt weather this little tiff from a disgruntled employee.  Theodore suffers from tall poppy syndrome and/or crab mentality and there is no substance to his envious and bitter railings against Dr. Kent Hovind and his wife Mary.  I have witnessed a pattern of betrayal of prominent Christian patriots by those closest to them. The Lord knows the motives of the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). Proverbs 21:2 says Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts. Does anyone really think Theodore's heart is motivated to protect fellow Christians from the evil and wicked Dr. Hovind? It would be laughable if it wasn't so sad. Let the chips fall where they may, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 

Ernie Land wrote:

I have to say Br. Kent discerned Theo’s pridefullness, and desire for fame, much sooner than I. Anyone who watches his videos sees immediately how little Theo gives God any glory, instead opting to tell the world the he, Theo, did everything. I saw his great talents and stood in for him until December of last year. In the end his once superior work became inferior, causing the Ministry to replace a lot of it, at a loss to the Ministry.  Those who came to our recent open house see right through Theo’s claims of extravagant spending. I invite all to come form their own decision. We saw many come to the Lord, even having baptisms at Dinosaur AdventureLand. We are about the Kingdom work, which is why people support this Ministry. Theo seems to be pridefully, taking credit, drawing attention for his fame, as he tears down the Kingdom works with deception, and many utter and complete lies. All I can say is one will reap what they sow.

Baty followed up with some comments from a source familiar with the situation who observed "Theo was too unhinged to make an impact"

That may well be the best observation on this particular tempest in the Hovind teapot.

Kent Hovind's People Problem?

It may just be a sampling problem but it does seem that Kent Hovind has a gift for alienating people who get close to him.  Ernie Land is, of course, a notable exception.  Somewhat comparable to Theo might be Daniel Johnson, who Jonathan Schwartz interviewed in the wake of Hovind's 2015 trial.  And then there are Jo and Eric.

Someone who knows about intentional communities will be able to tell you about the problem of founders versus grounders.  It looks likely that Hovind's ministry will not outlive Hovind, which might not bother him that much since he thinks it likely that the world will end in the next decade.

Keeping Up

Regardless, Hovindologists will keep the popcorn out as this particular drama unfolds.  Bob Baty's facebook site will give you close to real time coverage if you want to follow along.  I've got a tax blog to run, so I might give this a rest for a while.

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Peter J Reilly CPA hoped his Kent Hovind coverage would be his ticket to fame and fortune.  So far he has been disappointed.

Ben Sheffler Reflects On His Time With Interlock Media Covering Kent Hovind Trial

I recently posted a piece that is somewhat of a critical of a short documentary by Interlock Media called Dr. Dino: Creationism, Conspiracy, Conceit - The Politics of Wrath

Although I have concerns about the speculations that the piece concludes with, I also think that there was some great journalism done as part of the effort.  This is a report from Ben Sheffler, who was part of Jonathan Schwartz's Interlock Media team on his part in the coverage.
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This short video beautifully encapsulates Kent Hovind and his 2015 mail fraud trial. While it does give a brief history of Hovind, I think the most interesting parts of the video are the interviews with two of the jurors, because in the end, that's whose opinions really mattered during the trial. I think we were fortunate that we got to interview them, because they were under no obligation to talk. They also knew how hostile the situation had become—security escorting them to and from their cars, being sequestered for lunch, and being the target of several protesters outside the courthouse. Their recount of the jury deliberations was fascinating.

I remember how exciting it was to identify, locate and talk to the two jurors. We started with just some names and numbers, neither of which were actually the jurors'. But one lead led to another, and we eventually reached the right people. Working with limited time, the team sat in a hotel room on Pensacola Beach and began to contact Don Zehr. We had information that he was connected to a local downtown Pensacola business. We searched the Internet for about 15 minutes trying to identify him or his family. We thought we had found the right person and business, but it was after business hours and I didn't think it was worth it to make the call. Never again will I make that mistake, because sure enough his wife answered and led us straight to him.

For Don Camacho, I made the call myself and spoke with his wife, this time just outside the lobby of the same hotel, while the others worked in a nearby conference room. She was very nice and said she'd pass along my request to speak with her husband when he got home. But I had to ask before hanging up the phone if he was the lone juror that likely kept Hovind from getting another prison sentence. To my surprise and elation, she said, with a little chuckle, Camacho was in fact that juror. I couldn't believe it. It was like winning the lottery. Of the 10 other jurors, we happened to have a connection to the one who made all the difference. I could barely contain myself when I went to tell everyone else in the conference room. Later that day, Camacho called us back.  

These jurors obviously wanted to tell their stories, and the way in which we made contact with them—catching breaks—makes it seem like it was meant to be. And apparently, we weren't the only ones who had a connection to Camacho. As the video pointed out, Ernie Land made public on Facebook that he knew one of the jurors, and through process of elimination we thought it must be Camacho.

The verdict for Kent Hovind came March 22, 2015 after eight hours of deliberations. The jury said they were "hopelessly deadlocked" on several charges, including his two mail fraud charges and one attempt and conspiracy to commit mail fraud charge, and they were unable to agree on a verdict. He was found guilty of his contempt of court charge, which came from violating a 2007 court order. properties. Hovind was released from federal prison in July 2015 after serving nearly a decade behind bars.  

Much of Hovind's problems has come from people he surrounded himself with. He sought legal and professional advice from people who have little to no credentials. Glen Stoll, who set up the Creation Science Evangelism trust? He was found by a federal court in 2005 in Washington to have falsely claimed to be a lawyer who sold fraudulent "ministerial trust" plans, which clients believed allowed them to not pay federal income tax or file federal income tax returns. Paul Hansen, Hovind's co-defendant in the 2015 trial and head of the CSE trust? He once sold presentations on filing common law liens for $25 and in 2013 was enjoined by the Supreme Court of Nebraska from engaging in the unauthorized practice of law in which he had been doing. The court said that "Hansen’s conduct is deceptive and poses the type of risk of harm to the public that our unauthorized practice rules are intended to prevent." It seems that Hovind took that risk and suffered for it. Whether he did it knowingly with malice or unknowingly with naivety, I don't think we'll ever know for sure.            

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Ben Sheffler is a free lance journalist in Pensacola.  You can follow him on Twitter @bensheffler

Peter J Reilly wants to be the first tax blogger to give up his day job.  You can help by providing him with content, like Ben has.

Kent Hovind, Interlock Media And The Allure Of Conspiracy

Just as Watergate has its Woodward and Bernstein and the Boston Archdiocese abuse scandal had the Globe Spotlight team

the 2015 trial of Kent Hovind had a team of journalists covering the trial.  And they uncovered a heck of a story.

About Kent Hovind

Kent Hovind is an independent Baptist minister with pretensions of scientific expertise.  He is a Young Earth Creationist, believing, as is implied by a hyper literal reading of the Book of Genesis, that the world is roughly six thousand years old and that human beings and dinosaurs existed contemporaneously.

Acceptance of YEC requires belief in a massive conspiracy involving a large swath of the scientific community.  Not just biologists, since six thousand years is not nearly enough time for evolution to work, but also geologists and astronomers.  I'm sure there's more.

If you believe in that big a conspiracy, it is easy to believe in others.  So it is perhaps not surprising that Hovind also believed that the income tax laws as they are generally understood do not really apply to most ordinary Americans.  That requires a conspiracy that includes pretty much the entire federal judiciary and the executive branch for over a century.

In the view of the conventionally tax compliant that is what got Hovind in trouble with the federal government.  He has a fairly passionate vocal group of supporters (I call them Hovindicators) that accept his narrative that he has paid every tax that he has ever owed and was a victim of religious persecution when he served 9 years in prison on an indictment which did not include tax evasion as one of the charges.  Most of the counts were "structuring" - making withdrawals of slightly less than $10,000 to avoid bank reporting of cash transactions.

New Trial

Last year's trial was for actions he took to affect the title to property that had been seized by the government as a result of his previous conviction.  He was convicted on one of three counts and the jury did not reach a verdict on two other counts.  There was a retrial scheduled, but the government backed off and prior to sentencing the conviction, contempt of court, was thrown out thanks to work by the United States Justice Foundation.

So Kent Hovind was released on schedule and is now rebuilding his ministry.  The new Christian Science Evangelism has acquired property in Lenox Alabama where Kent and a variable team of volunteers are creating a bigger better Dinosaur Adventure Land.  Kent has been going great guns on youtube

He has also been doing speaking tours.  Kent's close friend and advisor, Ernie Land, has assured me that the new CSE will be conventionally tax compliant.  Ernie appears to be taking care of that aspect of things.

The Hovindologists

I began covering the Hovind story in 2012, when Jo Delia Hovind found herself in Tax Court.  My primary writing gig is on forbes.com.  I'm a tax blogger.  I at least look at every federal court decision concerning taxes, a large number of state decisions and a variety of rulings by the IRS.  I write about the ones that I find interesting.  Among my criteria are humor and what I call "matter for reflection", the way in which tax law intersects with other areas particularly religious liberty.

So that story was right up my alley. I thought it was hilarious. The comments section had people debating the merits of Young Earth Creationism, which made it ever more fun.  It also sealed the loyalty of my most constant commenter, Robert Baty.

Bob Baty began following me because of my coverage of the parsonage issue.  He had been trying to get me interested in Young Earth Creationism, but I would not bite until Jo Delia's Tax Court decision came along.  Thanks to all the interest I did further research on Hovind and even had some brief contact with him through the prison email system.  The result was one of the highest traffic pieces that I ever produced - Not Income Tax Evasion - Structuring - That's How They Got Kent Hovind.

Forbes.com pays based on traffic and as Dr. Johnson said "No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money". Tax blogging is much less lucrative than the underlying professional activity. You don't see tax bloggers giving up their day jobs, but one of my ambitions is to become the first.  So now I was hooked and when Hovind was charged with a new crime nearly two years ago, I was all over it.

The Hovindication movement managed to touch just about every base in the right wing conspiracy bubble, including Alex Jones

I thought there was a great chance that it would break into the mainstream media.  The Hovindicators were one step from being featured by that loudmouth on Fox, that some of my relatives fear may be related to us.  It seemed that my diligent Hovind coverage might be my ticket to the big time.  So I made a huge decision, one that for me is heart rending.  I decided to spend some money.

As I often remark I am not an investigative reporter, but it happens that I know one.  That would be Jonathan Schwartz of Interlock Media.  With my grudging, chintzy financial support Jonathan assembled a team to cover the trial after recording  a telephone interview by me with Kent Hovind

The Story Behind The Story Behind The Story


The coverage of the first trial was quite good, but it was in the aftermath that the team outdid themselves.  The Hovindicators had hoped that jury nullification might save the day for them and to a great extent they turned out to be right.  The jury hung on more serious charges and only convicted on contempt of court.  Jonathan and his team identified the hold- out juror, Don Camacho, and interviewed him

They also interviewed another juror who had butted heads with Camacho

And someone who knew both Camacho and Hovind.  Dr. Ward Dean had been in a militia group with Camacho and had become Hovind's IRS battle buddy around the turn of the millenium

Ben Sheffler has written an account of his experience working as part of the team and that will be published here on Monday.

A Bridge Too Far

Jonathan produced a short piece that pulled all the elements of the story together.  It is called Dr. Dino: Creationism, Conspiracy, Conceit - The Politics of Wrath

 At 10:38, it is really worth the investment of lifespan so I recommend that you check it out.

You will note that I am cited in the video as a "Hovind expert".  Personally, I prefer Hovindologist, but I'm not that picky. I have made a copy available on my youtube channel for convenience, but the original publication was by Interlock Media.  Although I provided substantial support for the project, I did not want to be the original publisher, because I believe that the solid journalism in the first eight minutes is marred by excessive speculation in the end.

The theory expounded is intriguing.  We do know that Camacho managed to convince the other jurors to report that they were deadlocked on two of the charges by agreeing to convict on contempt of court.  We know that Camacho was recognized as being on the jury by Ernie Land, who had some sort of acquaintanceship with Camacho.  We know that Ernie Land was working with USJF and that USJF would get the contempt conviction overturned.

So maybe USJF had told Ernie that getting contempt overturned was a slam dunk and Ernie somehow let Camacho know that that was the charge that he could vote guilty on in order to end the jury deliberations.

Laying out that theory is the last two minutes of the video.  I think it greatly detracts from its value.  The evidence is just not there and using Occam's razor you can account for what happened without assuming any contact between Camacho and Ernie Land.

The leap that Interlock made in this speculation is tiny compared to the type of things that Hovindicators will pick up and run with - like Rudy Davis indicating that prosecutor Pamela Marsh was a Jesuit because she went to Georgetown.

Cutest Jesuit I have ever seen.

Still I hold members of the reality based community, like Jonathan Schwartz, to a much higher standard.  I think that too much exposure to the Hovindicators might have had its effect.

For whatever it is worth I ran the theory by Ernie Land.  He wrote back to me:

Also on the record Camacho never recognized me at the Court, so once again that is like the theory of evolution, which is false. Camacho is a good man, who did not need any guidance in his beliefs or actions. Yes, I knew him prior to the trial, but it was just as an acquaintance.