Mike has two very interesting letters from jurors that helped convict Ron Weinland this week.
The foreman of the jury writes:
When I left the courthouse that afternoon, I felt very tired and physically drained by the decision that we had to make, and by the gravity of the consequences for Mr Weinland, even though we all felt that he deserved to be found guilty and that he should receive the maximum penalties that could possibly be given. Reading the comments from all of you on this blog that night, I was uplifted by the unanimous relief and gratitude from the commenters at the verdict that we had reached. We knew that the way that Mr Weinland was fleecing his members by convincing them that he was a Prophet who had the ultimate authority on Earth over the church and humanity was deplorable, and the fact the members were handing over so much of their money just to have it spent on Mr Weinland’s luxuries was repellent.
Another juror writes:
Read both entire letters here: Voice From Weinlands Jury
I was on the jury. This clown is a predator. The judge will give him the max (5yrs.) in my guess. I think Laura, Jeremy, & Audra should be indicted as well, along with some others. Seeing what this family has done makes me sick! The way I see it, what he was actually charged with is a small drop in the bucket as to how much money he has looted. The Weinland Clan riffled through $4.5 million in just over a few years.
There was not much comingling of funds. It was ALL HIS! In my mind, this pile of dung spent 90% of that money. The prosecution did not even begin to sort out what Ronald McScammer said was a church exspense on his behalf etc;. The IRS gave all of that to him. The ONLY legit exspenses I saw were very minor, as in slim to none.
The money completeley paid for any and all lifestyles for Laura, Ron, Jeremy and his wife, Audra and her husband, Darymple’s, and others. Out of the 90% of $4.5 million, the Weinlands alone, spent at least 80% of that money. We are talking Lasik eye surgery, Insight cable bills, utility bills, car insurance, global & domestic shopping sprees for clothing, art, & jewelry, homes, on and on….basically everything and then some. In a nutshell these scumbags paid any and all exspenses down to groceries and morning coffee out of these church donations! The so called “church money” equals Ron and families money.
What a brazen piece of garbage. These people are sociopaths. I feel for those of you who were ever entangled with this freak! There is nothing at all Godly about this man. That is putting it lightly.
First, let me thank the jurors who performed their civic duty.
ReplyDeleteJuror said, "This clown is a predator".
MY COMMENT - It is worthy to note that an outsider to WCG and its splinters can easily see that fraudster Weinland is a predator after just a few days of court testimony.
The Weinland conviction should be a wake-up call to all other wannabe HWA apostles in the 700+ splinters who use a church entity as their personal piggy bank.
While all of America was experiencing the Great Recession and the financial crises, fraudster felon Ron Weinland was living his delusional lifestyle of the rich and famous. There is nothing wrong with being "rich and famous" - but you must pay your taxes and funneling personal expenses through a church entity is tax evasion - plain and simple.
Ron Weinland has now brought another public negative mark on the legacy of Herbert W. Armstrong.
Richard
"There is nothing at all Godly about this man. That is putting it lightly."
ReplyDeleteWhen, though, will people learn?
I imagine the other one man theocircus types are rethinking their ethics.
ReplyDeleteM.T.Coffers
Since the HWA business model is so ingrained, they are most likely considering the implications if they were to get caught, and possibly setting up effective defenses, such as sneakier accounting practices and strategic alliances with barracuda shark type lawyers.
ReplyDeleteMT Soapdish