A federal judge has cleared the way for the government's seizure of a creationism theme park in Pensacola owned by a couple convicted of tax fraud.
A ruling by U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers states that the nine properties that make up Dinosaur Adventure Land as well as two bank accounts associated with the park will be used to satisfy $430,400 owed to the federal government.
Kent Hovind, who founded the park and a ministry, Creation Science Evangelism, is serving 10 years in federal prison for failing to pay the Internal Revenue Service more than $470,000 in employee taxes.
He was found guilty in November 2006 on 58 counts, including failure to pay employee taxes and making threats against investigators.
The conviction culminated 17 years of Hovind sparring with the IRS. Saying he was employed by God and his ministers were not subject to payroll taxes, he claimed no income or property.
Hovind is incarcerated at the Edgefield Federal Correction Institution in South Carolina.
His wife, Jo, also was sentenced to a year in federal prison for her role in the tax fraud. She's currently jailed at the Federal Correctional Institution in Marianna.
Rodgers' 16-page order released late Thursday gives the government the green light to divide up the nine properties in and around the 5800 block of North Palafox Street and begin to sell them until the $430,400 forfeiture amount is satisfied.
The properties have a combined value of more than what the Hovinds owe, according to Rodgers' order, and any excess property available after the sales will be returned to the Hovinds.
The Hovinds' son, Eric, and business associate Glenn Stoll unsuccessfully tried to block the government's attempt to seize the properties. They said they are the legal owners.
Only Eric Hovind, who has managed the park since his father's incarceration, was successful in his claim, according to Rodgers' order.
Stoll said he owned nine of the 10 properties in question, according to a motion filed with the court. Eric Hovind claimed ownership of a single property, where he lives with his family. He will be allowed to keep the Cummings Road home.
Kent Hovind made a series of quick transfers to conceal his ownership of the properties at risk for seizure, according to documents filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Eric Hovind was not available for comment Friday. His secretary said he could not be reached until Monday.
I knew it was only a matter of time since Hovind got the charges brought against him, but confirmation that the bullshit excuse for a theme park is getting shut down is somehow... satisfying. I hope it all sells off at the bare minimum.
Mayabird is my girlfriend
Justice League:BotM:MM:SDnet City Watch:Cybertron's Finest "Well then, science is bullshit. "
-revprez, with yet another brilliant rebuttal.
Ahh, tax fraud. Why are so many of these "fundie gets what he deserves" stories related to their tax fraud?
Vendetta wrote:Richard Gatling was a pioneer in US national healthcare. On discovering that most soldiers during the American Civil War were dying of disease rather than gunshots, he turned his mind to, rather than providing better sanitary conditions and medical care for troops, creating a machine to make sure they got shot faster.
While this is a pretty hard setback for Kent and his ilk and does expose there lack of ethics, the bad news is i am pretty sure that there will still be some people who continue to follow this clown in spite of these convictions.
Zor
HAIL ZOR!WE'LL BLOW UP THE OCEAN!
Heros of Cybertron-HAB-Keeper of the Vicious pit of Allosauruses-King Leighton-I, United Kingdom of Zoria: SD.net World/Tsar Mikhail-I of the Red Tsardom: SD.net Kingdoms WHEN ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE ON EARTH, ALL EARTH BREAKS LOOSE ON HELL Terran Sphere The Art of Zor
Zor wrote:While this is a pretty hard setback for Kent and his ilk and does expose there lack of ethics, the bad news is i am pretty sure that there will still be some people who continue to follow this clown in spite of these convictions.
Zor
In spite of?
No, his followers will only see this as proof of persecution, and it will probably serve to reinforce their loony support. These people can't operate unless they see themselves as being persecuted by "The World"..."in the The World, but not of The World" is their operating code.
In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter if a very few crazies believe that sunlight glinting off cars is a sign of evil government mind-control lasers, or that Earth is actually flat, or Kent Hovind is actually God's Own Voice, so long as those few people don't have any influence. Hovind and his entire organization have been discredited and humiliated. At least, for now anyway. And hopefully it'll stay like that.
DPDarkPrimus is my boyfriend!
SDNW4 Nation: The Refuge And, on Nova Terra, Al-Stan the Totally and Completely Honest and Legitimate Weapons Dealer and Used Starship Salesman slept on a bed made of money, with a blaster under his pillow and his sombrero pulled over his face. This is to say, he slept very well indeed.
Years ago, the phone tap records of that scumbag talking about how he was cheating the government (not that he couched it in those words) were posted on the net. I need to find them again.
"The rest of the poem plays upon that pun. On the contrary, says Catullus, although my verses are soft (molliculi ac parum pudici in line 8, reversing the play on words), they can arouse even limp old men. Should Furius and Aurelius have any remaining doubts about Catullus' virility, he offers to fuck them anally and orally to prove otherwise." - Catullus 16, Wikipedia
