It is hard to believe that it has been 10 years since Ron Weinland was convicted in District Court for felony tax evasion of approx $245,000.00.
False Prophet Ronald Weinland Don't Drink the Flavor Aid Served Up by False Prophets followed closely the trial of Weinland and exposed how money was being siphoned off for the Weinland family to use.The website states:
District Judge Danny Reeves pronounced sentence on False Prophet Ronald Weinland this morning:A sentence of 42 months, Ron to self report to prison on January 2.
- Followed by 3 years of supervised release
- A fine of $7,500
- Restitution in the amount of the criminal tax loss, approximately $245,000
The judge and attorneys discussed the following:
The first part of the hearing discussed the tax loss calculation of $245K. The defense attempted to reduce that below $200K which would reduce the sentence by 6-8 months. One part of that was $95K of Laura’s travel expenses which the defense argued should be deductible. The prosecution countered that this would require a trip by trip analysis to see whether Laura’s contribution was substantial, and then they would subject all of Ron’s travels to the same scrutiny which could result in an increase in the loss calculations.
The other part was the $290K deposited in the Swiss bank accounts, which the defense alleged was being held in trust for the church. The prosecution pointed out that the expenses were being held for the Two Witnesses to use in the end times for lodging, travel, etc.
After that discussion, the tax loss calculation of $245,176 held.
Then the following was discussed:
Next was discussed the two-level enhancement for Sophisticated Means. The defense argued that the Swiss bank accounts were not sophisticated as fund were wire transferred, and Ron did not keep two sets of books. The prosecution argued that Ron over a long period of time structured his church so that he had sole legal control as the only board member of the corporation and sole spiritual control in his position directly below God and Jesus and being their spokesman. Ron set up multiple church bank accounts and multiple personal bank accounts and multiple credit cards. With his legal and spiritual control total and without government oversight of church activities there was no one to put the brakes on his activities. When the defense pointed out that most transactions were legitimate church expenses, the judge likened his tax evasion to hiding a needle in a haystack, further indication of sophisticated means. That two-level enhancement remained.
I love the fact that the claimed he was the leader of a criminal organization. Best description of many COG's ever!
Next was discussed a two-level enhancement for Aggravate Role as the leader of a criminal organization. The government corrected the defenses statement that it was meant to apply to the church, rather it was meant to apply to the Weinland family. The judge responded that he regarded Ron and Laura as equal participants in the scheme and Audra as not having criminal intent. So there was no enhancement for this.
They next looked at "obstruction" by Weinland where he paid for his son's "education" with church money.
The last enhancement was two levels for obstruction. This remained, as the judge said that Ron perjured himself about material matters during his testimony when:
- He stated that he did not intend to file false tax returns
- When he claimed the church funds directly paying for Jeremy’s education were a church scholarship program.
Ron choking his chicken. AC days.
The court also discussed how Weinland manipulated members into giving money to him. Remember. Boys and Girls, once you write that check it is God's money and you do not need to worry about it! How many times have we heard the crooks in the pulpit say that?
McBride stated that the government did not question the sincerity or validity of the religious beliefs of the rank and file PKG members who wrote letters on Ron’s behalf. But Ron exploited them with complete control and with his financial activity invisible except for the false W-2s filed. The members would not question Ron.
He cited the letter on page 153 of the filing I provided in a previous posting. The woman who was given $1000 for medical expenses and later $2000 for other reasons was not given Ron’s money — it was the church’s money. Ron used the doctrine of tithing to extract money from members and taught that once given to God the member had no responsibility.
Weinland, like most COG leaders, try and pass off their mistakes as "unintended". The judge was not buying that excuse:
The judge did not believe that Ron’s behavior was an unintended mistake. Referring to the 169 letters, he indicated that they influenced him to impose the 42-month sentence at the bottom end of the 41-51 month range of the sentencing guidelines. It seems that by imposing restitution of the $245176 amount, he shut the door on the IRS going after Ron on a civil basis for those years. The fine imposed of $7500 is also at the low end of the sentencing guidelines. There is an additional assessment of $500 for the guilty verdict.
In an ultimate slam to the false prophet Ron, the judge sentences him to 3 1/2 years of prison time. The best actual fulfillment of prophetic numerology ever!
Also, see:
Tax Cheat Felon Ron Weinland is a good example of an HWA wannabe operating a low wattage Armstrongite work. Is he even still around?
ReplyDeleteI remember thinking at the time of his sentencing about how ironic and amusing that his sentence was 3 1/2 years in prison. I can't believe that Weinland's prison sentence was just a mere coincidence to the WCG belief of the Great Tribulation duration time. The Judge must have done some WCG research or perhaps picked up a copy of Weinland's 2008 book documenting Weinland's failed prophecy. The sentence was a hoot and I remember it gave me a good laugh at the time.
Richard
The late great Gavin Rumney remarked about the uniqueness of Weinland's message when Ron set some dates, and then stated that if he was wrong about his prophecy, he would admit it, and go away. And, then he never did, just as the others never did.
ReplyDeleteAs in the case of Dave Pack, some blogs emerged, and provided discussion and support groups for those whose minds were breaking over the failure of their "Apostle". Those of us here who also read those blogs got some pretty good insights into the grief Ron's followers were experiencing, and actually had the opportunity to communicate (via the blogs) with those leaving. We also had discussions with those stalwart members who posted their defenses of Weinland on the blogs.
I believe that once Weinland's church shrank to the size of Bob Thiel's "work", it was no longer considered to be consequential or viable, the blogs dried up, and nobody really paid any more attention to it. I suspect that Weinland probably does have a few followers left who support him financially, but on a vastly diminished scale. It'd be interesting to get sn update.
After a prison sentence and multiple bypass surgeries, Ron is still at it.
ReplyDeleteAwesome!