Sit down. Make sure you’re in a place where guffaws won’t disrupt the scene…although, actually, the amount of money this guy was raking in with his scam might mute the laughter a bit. Here’s more information on Hovind’s arrest.
A Pensacola evangelist who owns the defunct Dinosaur Adventure Land in Pensacola was arrested Thursday on 58 federal charges, including failing to pay $473,818 in employee-related taxes and making threats against investigators.
“Defunct.” Such a sweet, sweet word when applied to Dr Dino’s Plywood Cutout Adventure land.
Of the 58 charges, 44 were filed against Kent Hovind and his wife, Jo, for evading bank reporting requirements as they withdrew $430,500 from AmSouth Bank between July 20, 2001, and Aug. 9, 2002.
They also made the withdrawals in sums under $10K a pop, to avoid federal requirements for reporting suspiciously large withdrawals. Still…over $400K/year in mad money isn’t anything to sneeze at. The creationism racket pays.
Religious fraud is a pretty easy scam, too.
The indictment alleges Kent Hovind paid his employees in cash and labeled them “missionaries” to avoid payroll tax and FICA requirements.
So the judge is taking away his money? What about his guns?
Over Kent Hovind’s protests, the judge took away his passport and guns Hovind claimed belonged to his church.
No money, no guns (what does a church need with guns, anyway)…what about his lawyer, Glen Stoll?
Last year, the U.S. attorney in Seattle filed a lawsuit against Stoll, charging him with encouraging people to avoid tax payments by claiming to be religious entities, according to news reports.
Whoopsies. Things aren’t looking happy for Dr Dino.
“Over Kent Hovind’s protests, the judge took away his passport and guns Hovind claimed belonged to his church.”
He must be taking that Left Behind video game a little too seriously.
The reverend is right: No one has ever seen a dog produce a non-dog. Of course, science does not make that claim, so his statement is balloon juice.
On the other hand, no one has ever seen a god produce a nongod…
and those folks DO make that claim.
greetings
From Hovind’s blog, July 7:August 8-23 my son Eric and I will be going to South Africa where the hosts have scheduled 6 debates and scores of speaking engagements all over the country.
Oct 31- Nov 9 is the Creation Cruise to Israel, Egypt, Turkey and Greece. There will be a creation evolution debate on the cruise ship as well.
I guess they’ll have to change plans without their passports!
Deeply heald beliefs like lying, making threats and stealing (not paying taxes is stealing you know).
Another “good” Christian who refues to do what Jesus said: “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.”
Freaking hypocrite!!
(what does a church need with guns, anyway)
“Excuse me, what does God need with a fucking star-ship?” ;-)
[Obligatory genuflection towards the altar of Due Process and Presumption of Innocence…..]
OK, with that out of the way: I’m looking forward to seeing Dr. Demented Fuckwit get his just desserts. I hope they nail him good and hard.
I’m dying to see if the next issue of the Creationist newsletter I get will have anything on Hovind’s trouble.
No guffaws here. That he makes over 400k/year for damaging science education the way he does is simply disgusting.
Who wants to bet that before long, Hovind claims that this is all part of a plot to silence him and his views on evolution?
Alexander,
I’m not taking a sucker’s bet.
An important thing to keep in mind – the ID/Creationist crowd is incredibly dishonest. Odds are this is far from the only case out there. If they have no morals about lying about science, you can rest assured they have no morals about other scas as well.
This new, secret formula oil will cure fever, rheumatism, arthritis, gout, consumption, liver disease, bullet wounds and dandruff. Only one dollar per bottle.
The preacher drags the knife across his palm to the gasps of his congregation. A long red line shows the gash. He sweats and moans and closes his eyes and prays to god to heal him. And the red line thins and fades to more gasps. And the offering plate is passed. Disappearing ink isn’t cheap, you know.
You know, I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before, but why doesn’t Hovie just get together with the red-calf DNA third-Jerusalem-Temple people and resurrect the real dinosaurs, and put them in his theme park? That would show us all. (But of course, if the fanged kangaroo were to chomp him, that would really show him.)
It kind of makes me wonder if he even believed his own garbage, or if he was just playing Dr. Dino because he knew it would make him a lot of money.
Darn, I guess this means I won’t have chance to heckle him in South Africa. Oh well… Guess I will just have to find other sport.
I know, I think I will call up his local supporters and ask them how they feel about it. Sounds like fun. I know, it reveals negative things about my psyche, but at least I am not part of the group seeking to destroy reason.
Incidentally it seems as if some of the places where “Dr Dino*” would have spoken would have been the same were his competitor Dr Wieland (the other crazy creationist, who has publicly castigated “Dr Dino*” for using arguments that creationists should not use) had spoken earlier in the year.
If you want to see what the reaction of some of my fellow South Africans was look at this link.
Link
*Hovind’s claim to his Doctorate is as valid to me, as my claim to be the “True Uncrowned Emperor of Africa Ascendant” would be to anyone else.
If he was really making threats against investigators, he’s in some deep dino doo-doo.
Since Religions are based on unprovable fantasy, it is impossible to distinguish between a real religion and a fake one. They are also tax free. So setting up a fake religion to be tax free legally is not hard. (This guy went a bit beyond.)
Which is a good argument for taxing all religions.
Still…over $400K/year in mad money isn’t anything to sneeze at. The creationism racket pays.
Of course it does. If not for the the ID conenction, a creationist like Behe, for example, would be just a poor, obscure biology professor – like me. What Hovind would be without creationism is hard to say. Any suggestions out there?
“Dragon Scholar.” Heh.
I went poking around for Hovind’s blog to see if there was anything interesting, and I came across his response to the March 2005 SciAm op-ed claiming that the magazine would start treating ID with respect (April Fools, of course). Many of you guys have probably already read Hovind’s response, but it was new to me. Damn brilliant stuff. What a loon.
Anyway, after reading about Hovind’s “dragons” theory (dinosaurs did indeed live with humans less than 6000 years ago, we just called them “dragons” and killed them), I get DragonScholar’s reference. Thanks for the chuckle.
No one has ever seen a dog produce a non-dog.
Nonsense. My family owns two dogs, and each of them produced a non-dog this morning (as they do every morning), right outside on the lawn.
Curiously, the odor of these non-dogs exactly matches that of Hovind’s legal arguments.
….those guns belonged to god himself. Besides the ascenscion to the heavens is prolly the most costly trip of all.
Perhaps Hovnd should channel the late, great Warren Zevon:
…I’m the innocent bystander
Somehow I got stuck
Between the rock
and a hard place
And I’m down on my luck
Yes I’m down on my luck
Well I’m down on my luck
I’m hiding in Honduras
I’m a desperate man
Send lawyers, guns and money
The shit has hit the fan…
No one has ever seen a dog produce a non-dog.
Phooey. I saw it happen in Alien 3.
Wow.. I guess it’s been a long time coming. How many years did this guy evade? On my talk program he alluded to the idea that he doesn’t make much money at all. Wow.. lying for da lord! Indeed Myers, creationism pays.. well.
Perhaps I’m in the wrong business. :)
failing to pay $473,818 in employee-related taxes
So the Good Christian was screwing over his employees. Nice. Jesus might not approve, but Paul would, and that’s all that matters to Good Christians.
You can’t assume that the money Hovind was withdrawing was all for himself. Apparently he was paying his employees in cash – that’s probably what that money was for. It doesn’t take that big an organization to rack up $400K in payroll. It’s only enough to pay 10 to 20 employees.
The bigger scam is probably mostly all of Hovind’s speaking arrangements. Sounds like lots of world travel, probably nice hotels, meals paid for, etc. All at the expense of his marks, who get to see a crappy slideshow presentation full of falsehoods.
All undone because Hovind’s attitude toward tax laws is as crazy as his attitude toward science. Sweet irony!
I think while they’re throwing the book at him on the tax thing the BATF should charge him for the guns as well.
In a certain court document that was floating around not so long ago, several of his statements seemed to be a pretty blatant renunciation of citizenship. He is in violation of the law to possess firearms because of that… though I’m not surprised he has them, given the fawning statments he’s made in the past about David Koresh and his flock.
I’m just glad they got him without some sort of 11 day standoff at the Hovind compound, with all those “church guns” getting the Lord’s workout against the aggressive, foreign, Judeo-satanic, One World Government expansionist forces.
I’m not worried about Kent Hovind’s arrest. He’ll beat back all 59 federal charges just like he beat back the charges Ali G made against him in this video.
you just know he left the floater.
Steve, he always has that guilty look about him. He denied leaving the floater and that’s good enough for me.
anon says, quite rightly:
” It doesn’t take that big an organization to rack up $400K in payroll”
on the other hand, it takes a much larger organization to try and get away with…
“failing to pay $473,818 in employee-related taxes”
almost half a million in taxes and deductions. we can guess that he was probably paying some of the deductions, to try and avoid notice. it looks to me as though he is in very deep and hot water with the revenuers. ask willie nelson how much they care about you and yours. couldn’t happen to a nicer dissembler.
There’s a link at the top of the DrDino web site that invites everyone to IM their questions to Hovind using the AIM screen name “drdinolive”. It’s at the top above the “Mt. Saint Helens Explosion gives Creation Evidence” graphic.
Hmmm. What to ask him?
Did one of you guys do this? Fess up people! ;^)
http://www.drdino.com/readTestimony.php?id=11
Paying your employees in cash not only screws you, it screws your employees as well. All of them will likely end up with large tax/FICA bills, including penalty and interest. I’ve seen this happen before (by high-tech hucksters, involving people I know), and it’s not pretty.
“the U.S. attorney in Seattle filed a lawsuit against Stoll, charging him with encouraging people to avoid tax payments by claiming to be religious entities…”
What’s wrong with that? We should all do it. Maybe that would finally force governments to tax religious organizations.
I’ve never understod why churches aren’t taxed like everything else. You only pay tax on profits. If a church is really doing good work, they shouldn’t have any profits. It should all be funneled back into the soup kitchen or something.
Unless they’re just dishonest.
Hovind in a scum-sucking welfare queen.
He’s horking the money from suckers, instead of from the system.
But it’s the same thing.
If a church is really doing good work, they shouldn’t have any profits. It should all be funneled back into the soup kitchen or something.
Being a former church member, including annual meetings where we got to look at the books and approve next year’s budget, I can tell you that your average neighbourhood church doesn’t have any profits, as the tax system would recognize them. End-of-year excess tends to get plowed back into operations, or contributed to some sort of associated Good Works, or possibly banked against a rainy day (older churches may have a substantial endowment built up in this way). In any case, there is no “owner” to distribute the monies to. From a financial stand-point, churches are non-profit groups, much like a club. I’ve never looked into it, but I believe the “tax the churches” call generally refers to municipal property taxes.
Now, I’ll grant that when you tot up the remuneration drawn by some of the more notorious evangelists, their “churches” begin to look a lot like money-making schemes for the guy with the Big Hair.
Pensacola is my town. I’m so sad for it, what with the last 30 years of news coming out of there.
At the couple’s first court appearance Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Miles Davis, Kent Hovind professed not to understand why he is being prosecuted.
That shorely made Kent feel Kind of Blue.
I like that even time is different in creation-land.
Tune into the Creation Science Hour (at DrDino.com)
(from 4:30pm – 6:00pm CST)
“At the couple’s first court appearance Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Miles Davis, Kent Hovind professed not to understand why he is being prosecuted.”
If man’s income depends on his not understanding something, he will never understand it.
Members of Creation Science Evangelism said at the time that building permits violated their “deeply held” religious beliefs.
The section on building permits, being, as everyone knows, elaborated at length in Kings, Samuel, Psalms, and even in Paul’s Letters to the Ephesians.
“At the couple’s first court appearance Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Miles Davis, Kent Hovind professed not to understand why he is being prosecuted.”
Miles then replied “you don’t know shit you white-assed Elvis listening crackers, so it ain’t no surprise you don’t understand this”, and then went back to wherever he is blowing these days.
Building permits violate religious beliefs…? Who knew? Can I get away with that? Oh, wait, he didn’t get away with it.
With regard to church profits: I belong to a small Catholic parish in California, under 1000 parishioners, and I can assure you, my parish has no profits. On the other hand, those mega-churches I keep hearing about, the ones with tens of thousands of members, have got to be raking in huge amounts of money. I wonder what they spend it on…
Their deeply-held beliefs are apparently supply-side economics..
Not to bag on Reagan, but (Who am I kidding? Man was a tool) Reaganomics. Whoo. Who thought that one up, Nancy’s astrologer? What an idiot.
Just thought I’d chime in here and comment on a couple of things. I am a pastor. I pastor a small church in Ohio. We do not have “profits” in the traditional sense, as a business does. We craft our budget each year anticipating what money will be collected and how we will disburse it. Our goal each year is to distribute all of the money that comes in. We do keep a bit in reserve to deal with emergencies that do come up, but it is not much.
We do not pay property taxes, which is what I gather people are referring to when they say that churches should be taxed. There is a very good reason for this. Seperation of church and state. There has been much heated discussion recently about political activism in the church and how it violates church/state seperation. If you think it is a problem now, start taxing churches and see how much of a problem it will become. As it stands, the best tool the government has to keep churches in check in regards to politics is their tax-exempt status. Remove that, and you’ll REALLY see politically active churches. As a pastor, I do not want to see this. We do not discuss politics in my church, I will not allow politicians to come and speak, and we will not pass out “neutral” political literature in my church. Period. While I would hope that my parishoners take an active role in the political process in this country, the pulpit is not the place for advocacy. Sadly, it only takes a couple of bad apples to taint the image for the rest of us.
As to the megachurches, we have one in our town. They rake in ALOT of money, but they give LOTS of money to some very worthwhile causes. Again, there will be some bad apples in the group, but the one in my town does some fantastic work. I know they spent over 3 million dollars last year on literacy and health programs in India. I’m glad they’re able to do that kind of work.
Not all of us who consider ourselves Christians believe the exact same things. Yet too often we get lumped together, especially in circumstances such as these where you have an individual behaving badly. We’re a diverse group of people with different beliefs concerning different issues and from all sides of the political spectrum. Unfortunately, they never seems to be brought up when occassions like this arise.
Pastor Jon: Do you really think they care about taxes? They just want to see Hovind burn. If they could burn God they would. If Hovind is guilty…then he’s guilty. So what!
They still can’t get past that life requires a designer; that it’s irreducibly complex. But even if they understood those facts that wouldn’t change their hearts.
You should have talked about the Gospel and not garbage. That’s the problem with Pastors of every shade and color; they don’t preach the Gospel. They have to become activists on every non-issue.
Hallelujah! Finally a word of light from m. What are we doing? Who are we fighting? Is Kent our enemy? The best& most proof for evolution is foumd in the Karoo, South Africa. Kent Hovind was en route there and would have torn all the academics and their evolution teachings at their universities to shreds. Unfortunately for him, he comes from an extreme pagan nation who is murdering babies (yes, USA babies) at a rate of 4600 per day! And you are concerned about taxes? I pray that the light will someday return to you as all again.
anon says, quite rightly:
” It doesn’t take that big an organization to rack up $400K in payroll”
Is this a principle or with an outrages interest that wonderful uncle sam charges??
That could actually be $100k in taxes the rest calculation of interest and penalties. Most of us don’t know the facts of the trial and are just assuming, well you know what assuming makes… out you.
It is not fair to judge with out facts.
After all this is a free country and Kent Howind should be able to share gospel how he finds it fit. He used dinos to get peoples attention. Awesome! I love his technique.
You boys all suck!!!!!!!!!!
You boys all suck!!!!!!!!!!
Kent Hovend is right about this!!!!
I believe if someone gives K.Hovind a personal gift to support his ministry it can’t be concidered an income for the giver has alreagy paid his income tax of this money.
The other thing is not paying taxes from selling books and DVDs.
I believe if someone gives K.Hovind a personal gift to support his ministry it can’t be concidered an income for the giver has alreagy paid his income tax of this money.
That does not make sense. All money has been “taxed” again and again. That does not mean it can’t be taxed again. That’s the whole idea, right?
(Am I wrong?)
whoever is against kent hovind is a numnut who doesnt agree with the good guy in this situation all u guys suck whoever is against him im 100% for him.
alright ryan. you frikin idiot, you can’t back up ur statement can you.
hey i thought you have to turn the other cheek, ryan? you hyppocrite.
hey henry go sit on a carrot i dont wanna hear it out of ur mouth lippy ur wrong and thats all there is to it u bean pole
hey you know what, nobody can argue that Kent Hovind was definitely, trying to do all of his work for a possitive effect. not about the taxes or whatever, im talking about his whole goal in teaching creation.
Everybody knows that christianity is a kind religion; it teaches not to kill, steal, treat others how you want to be treated, etc. Therefore if everybody believed in what Kent was saying they would become christians.
what would you rather have, a country full of evolutionists and atheists who say “I’m my own God and I have my own rules for myself. I do whatever I believe is right.” well, who knows what people now-a-days claim to be correct or moral. some people today even claim that killing your baby for a sacrifice is moral and right. Or would you rather have a country full of Christians who have a set of rules that only only benefit for the country.. because it brings good and joy for everyone. God’s rules are all kind-hearted and if one followed them then he would never be truly guilty of a crime, and his life would be very moral.
In Hovind’s case.. i don’t know the whole story, but what i know is that yes he didnt pay his taxes. I dont know where he went wrong or what happened but unfortunately he slipped. You can call him criminal or whatever you’d like, but that’s not my point. my point is that if everyone believed what he taught, (believed in God) the world would be a happy and positive place. Because eventually everyone would be Christian, and would all follow God’s laws which can only bring good to this world. And please do not be stereotypical of christians. Kent is just one Christian out there who didnt pay his taxes. He was a man who only wanted to bring good to this world, and not paying his taxes… I’m sure that his reasons for not paying are reasonable, because all of his goals are set only to improve this world and bring the truth to our planet. He would not sit there and say that he didnt pay because he didnt want to, or that he hates the government. I’m sure that whatever his reason was, it was for a good cause in the big picture.
Honestly what the heck do all of you guys have against Kent? to butter it off what proof do YOU personaly have that hold up these accusations etc. and honestly now a days you can sue anyone you want and put them behind bars as long as you have what all the world want! MONEY
on behalf of all your friends in ireland and uk i would like to thank you dr hovend. many stories have been told in ireland about world war two and how america saved us, brave men who fought with their lives, we will NEVER forget them, nor shall we ever forget what you dr hovend have done for us, in true americian spirit you stood your ground,a true soldier of Christ, your FREE dvd’s our being watched by many people here in my hometown in ireland,nobody has paid one penny to see them . kept up the good fight dr hovend remember ireland also have many brave men and women our sleeves our rolled up we are standing behind you. GOD bles america and GOD bless you dr hovend. as they say in america, YOUR ONE TUFF COOKIE
Dr Hovend we would like to thank you for all what you have done… Greetings from South Africa… God bless you…
Maxamus are you a christian? Alot of what you said about christians being all kind and christians trying to make the world a better places, sounds more like humanism than christianity. The excistance of a christian is not to bring man out of his missery or to better his life, but to bring the kingdom of God here on earth and to advance it. Hovind isnt trying to make the world a better place, he is simply teaching truth. For the end of mans life before he dies is not the happiness of man as humanism would have it, but rather at the end of mans life should be the Glory of God.
What Hovind is teaching regardless of him not paying tax, is still truth.
So people get over yourselves….okay, the guy is made out to be a fraud, but his ministry is doing a mighty work and I hear that lots of people are getting saved in prison thanks to Hovind. Guess you cant put Hovind anywhere without him making an impact.
I CALLED MR HOVIND MYSELF AND WARNED HIM ABOUT HIS TEACHING ABOUT GUNS ON HIS VIDEO, IT GOES AGAINST THE TEACHINGS OF THE BIBLE CAUSE THE BIBLE SAYS THAT GOD GIVES HIS ANGELS CHARGE OVER US, WHEN I WARNED HIM I ALSO TOLD HIM THAT HE HAD BEEN TOLD THE TRUTH AND THAT HE COULD CHOOSE TO ACCEPT THE TRUTH OR REJECT IT, LOOKS LIKE HE REJECTED IT, AND BECAUSE OF THAT ( THE GUNS ) THAT IS, HE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO GET OUT OF THIS, THE DEVIL GOT ANOTHER ONE BECAUSE OF PRIDE, THE MANS PRIDE TOOK HIM DOWN AND SO FOR THE REST OF THE CHRISTIAN WORLD WE NEED TO BE ON OUR FACES BEFORE ALL MIGHTY GOD AND HAVE HIM BREAK US OF OUR PRIDE AND THAT GOES FOR ME AS WELL, THANKS JAY PS PRAY FOR ME THAT I DON’T FALL AS WELL, BEING A CHRISTIAN IN A WORLD FULL OF SIN IS NOT A CAKE WALK AND ANYONE THAT SAYS IT IS PRIDE HAS ALLREADY GOT HIM AND HE IS NEXT IN LINE TO TAKE THE FALL
dr.Hovend is lieing why did no one prove evalution is true and win the $250,000 he offerd?
dr.Hovend is lieing why did no one prove evalution is true and win the $250,000 he offerd? and MR. Jay it does not say in the BIBLE that you can not use a gun for self defense JESUS said if you do not have a sword sell your garment and buy one God Bless.
Benjamin Vestrum, illiterate death-cultist troll:
Yes, Hovind is lying, thank you for admitting that. His “challenge” is rigged. Hovind has no interest in proof of evolution as any scientist understands it, the fine print on the “challenge” moves the goalposts by light-years, he’s demanding infinite amounts of evidence for a pile of strawmen that exist only in his fantasies, he refuses to even look at the evidence, or send it on to the supposed “judges”, or even offer the slightest speck of evidence that such “judges” even exist. In addition, Hovind is a known felon, a tax cheat, and BANKRUPT. He simply does not have $250,000, and even he has testified to this fact in a court of law. So even in the astonishingly unlikely event that his “challenge” weren’t a fraud to bilk gullibule christians such as yourself, he would be totally incapable of holding up his end of the bargain. Hovind is a liar, offering a prize that doesn’t exist, in exchange for meeting impossible demands for evidence he rejects without even reading. And of course, in stark contrast to his demands for proof of evolution, he has never offered even the slightest speck of evidence for his imaginary god. But then, this double standard is entirely normal for creationist frauds.
Since you’re a brain-dead Hovind disciple, I know you won’t bother reading this, but here’s an explanation of what’s wrong with Hovind’s fraudulent “challenge”:
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/hovind.html