Ron Weinland Jurors: The Gift That Keeps On Giving

I am just like many others here in exCOG land that are reading Mike's blog about Ron Weinland. Weinland's conviction as a felon and the jurors that are stepping forward and sharing what it was like listing to this disgusting pig has been a fascinating and eye opening read.  These jurors were presented with reams of evidence, so well documented by the prosecution that took eight extra large notebooks to contain it all.  They heard the weak excuses that Weinland and his entourage presented as "truth." They heard the lies, saw through the lies, and dealt Weinland the hand he never saw coming.  Just think how amazing it will be for Ron's attorney's to be able to list this case on their resume.....

Weinland and his cult are screaming church persecution now in order to blind the members from seeing the real truth about their devious leader and his family.  The only problem with Weinland's church leadership taking this position is that the prosecution never once attacked the church or it's"teachings."  What was attacked was the misuse of funds by Ron, his wife, his daughter Audry, son Jeremy and others, all in the name of doing the work.  Three BMW's, all expense paid vacations, Vegas trips, cruise vacations, massages and Las Vegas shows, are not "the work.".

Through all of this the various splinter group leaders have been conspicuously silent.  Even more so after Ron's conviction.  Why have none of them spoken out about the abuse of funds?  Are they scared that they could be next?  It is well known throughout the Churches of God that ministry leaders and higher ups have regularly abused their positions and used tithe/offering money for their own expenses.

They have bought cars, homes, fine art, clothes, had their masters and doctorates paid for with church funds, and on and on the list could go.  Meredith got caught decades ago with his hands in the cookie jar and had to repay the church all the money he used from third tithe to furnish and decorate his home.  HWA and Rader were hauled into court for their financial abuses and not for church doctrine.  Church money paid for divorces, lawsuits (Meredith's Leona McNair debacle), European spas and penile implants.

I imagine many of these splinter group leaders are shaking in their shoes right now at the possibility that they could be next.  But, an even bigger question to be asked is, "Why do the members continue to put up with it?"  "Why do they continue to let the ministry and church leaders get away with it?"  "Why allow them continued use of your hard earned money for their own luxury life styles?"  The old Church of God mantra, "once I write that check the money is God's to use as he sees fit" no longer works.  God is not the one spending that money, corrupt men and women are.  I hope this is only the first of many lawsuits to come down the Church of God pipeline.

All of this rambling was stirred on by yet another posting tonight by one of the jurors that so wisely convicted Ronnie:

Juror#199 here…

[Juror] #215, You do have a good memory. I also would agree that Laura was added to church business just to make her vacations a little more legit, believable, and non-taxable. Even boy wonder, (Ron) admitted on stand that she did not really do much or speak on these trips, but as Ron put it, “we are a team”. One thing she did do very well was shop and spend money. Remember McBride asked “well couldn’t she counsel over the phone?” “Or couldn’t they come to your house and talk to her.” As for the so called “scholarship”, I believe that to be an afterthought to explain why Jeremy’s college courses were paid from a church account or Ron’s account that the church reimbursed. Also to clarify, Jeremy’s expenses were paid through a Citi Bank card or account and Audra’s through a Bank of KY account. The prosecution showed so many accounts it was hard to keep track of them.

As I have mention before, after the IRS Special Agent knocked on their door 7/02/08, they made some small adjustments and continued business as usual. Another observation I had was that these “church related travels” always grew with added vacation times and long (some quite long) layovers in hot spots such as Hawaii, Vegas, or places near some of Weinlands relatives, both domestic and abroad.

As for Google Adwords, Ronnie knew he was obviously under IRS investigation so he had better show some church expenses. However, this was well thought out by the criminal mastermind because I know as well as you, that these adds brought in more money as well. It was the proverbial, killing two birds with one stone.

Another great Ronism was when McBride was questioning him about his $1,700.00 + suit being bought on a church account. Boy wonder states, “I am wearing that suit today” he said with a big proud smile. Then McBride said, “Well, you are on personal business here today”. “Are you not?” “Is that the church’s suit?” PRICELESS!! This occurred when Ron was on the stand. I can not remember if that was before or after Ron was bragging (with another huge smile of confidence) about his 5 series being a “luxury car.” What a moron! Wow, look, his name is in there.

This is strictly my opinion. I find it interesting that Ron &/or Laura seem to schedule these vacations, Oops….! “church functions” in some very nice destinations and traveling hot spots. I also recall that there were not any church members present, except on very few occasions, and those members always seemed to be Johnnie Harrell and his wife, Terry and his wife, Audra and Jeremy and their better halves. I am not sure how many church members were at any of these functions except for some of the local ones that the members paid out of their pockets to attend.

Another classic was listening to Dalrymple and Ron both, but at separate times, explain about the $85.00 deep tissue massage on the Princess Cruise Line. They were both quite convinced that this was a church expense. Okay………whatever y’all say! At that point, among many others, I was ready to put my hip waders on because it was getting deep. If you know what I mean. Anyway, the entertainment factor was PRICELESS once again!

Lastly, I wish I could have gotten a dollar for every time moRON, Audra, and Dalrymple said “I don’t know” or “I guess.” I would be sitting on a heap of cash people. They all remembered explicit details when it benefited one of their lies, but when the overwhelming truth and proof set before their eyes was the subject they seemed to suffer from a terrible case of amnesia. After a long while, Audra at least had a stronger back and a bigger set of balls than the two boys, by admitting “yea, I guess.”

Ron Weinland, Convicted Church of God Minister Serrenaded

Today, convicted felon and failed prophet Ron Weinland ventured out of his home and into church services.  People in attendance at this wonderful event are posting comments as the day progresses.

The minds of the brainwashed members are exposed in all their wacky glory.  They idea that these people would do such a thing is amazing.

Reporting live:

Reporting live from the Saturday service. When Ron entered the room five minutes ago, the attendees rose and gave him and standing ovation. Then they broke into a rousing: “for he’s a jolly good fel-on, for he’s a jolly good fel-on. It was a moving experience.

Ron Weinland Scholarship Fund Accepting Applications

Here's a little tidbit from a comment on Mike's blog that one of the jurors posted today.  I wonder how many Church of God Preaching the Kingdom members know there is a scholarship fund for their children if they show promise in being part of the "work?"

So far that scholarship fund has only been used once in it's existence.  it is a matter of court record who the recipient was.  Anyone want to venture a guess?

Juror #215 Says:

Regarding Jeremy, it was revealed that one of the Weinland’s personal credit cards was being used by Jeremy for his various peresonal expenses as well. Also, there was the whole “scholarship program” issue…

I wonder now how many PKG members are aware that their church has a college scholarship program to be used for young persons who show a promising future in the church? Mr Weinland is the only person with authority to determine who would receive such a scholarship, and according to the testimony and evidence, the only person who did receive this scholarship was Jeremy Weinland.
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Ron Weinland: More Juror Comments

One of the jurors has added more to the story of what it was like listening to Ron Weinland's trial.  This is only a partial quote, go here to read the entire posting on Mikes most excellent blog! Keep up the heat!

 Juror Comment

There are really not any applicable words to describe this extremely dirty mess. It stinks really badly!

I can not imagine the frustration and hurt of many that this low life has instilled. People giving life savings…..etc; For what? To fund this diabolical scums jet setting life style and shopping sprees. I saw receipts from restaurants that ranged between $150 to $400 a pop. Many, many, many. On a daily and weekly basis. The IRS didn’t count hardly any of these either because they could have been church and travel related. Yea, right!

 If the agent had more than three weeks before the trial began to review all of his expenses it would be staggering I am sure.Another dirty tactic the defense used was with holding their evidence until 3 weeks before the trial started so the prosecution didn’t have time to look at anything. They did not need it. The prosecution just concentrated on the simple an blatant things.

 This jackass is the king all right. The king of the Weinland Disgusting Dynasty. This man redefines many things. Better yet, he is not even a real man. Real men do not act in such a manner and prey on others. He is a spineless coward hiding behind insanity. That would have been a much better defense but would not have worked either. He is cold, calculating, and too articulate to pass as a nut case. He is in my opinion a classic example of a sociopath. Google that term. I will ensure you that he fits most, if not all, of the traits and characteristics.

 I do not feel any compassion for Jeremy nor Audra neither. They are not kids, but adults, with full knowledge what is going down with the money train. In fact, they are using it for a paycheck along with mom & dad. I suggest they go get a real job. What are they going to put on their resume? Thief in training, conspirator, money launderer, go with the flow & benefit guy or gal, or I can play dumb as an actor/actress. They are not oblivious to what is going on. They receive plenty of “hush money” though. I am confident that they are enjoying the fruits just as well.

I really do feel for those of you who have been tangled up in this mess. In simple terms, it is unjust and very wrong. I am glad to see that some have figured it out. This low life will never quit though. You need to understand that. As soon as he gets out of the pokey he will be right back at it. This tool is an addict. Instead of drugs it is green backs! Greed is his driving force and in my opinion it has absolutely nothing to do with God nor being religious. That is just the cover he chooses to use.

Further down was this:

Juror#215 says:

June 15, 2012 at 19:02

Jack365, maybe the members would like to know the “accounting process” by which Mr and Mrs Weinland handled expenses.

All of the church expenses, from book related costs, to the airfare, lodging and meals during the constant travels, all of these were placed on one of the Weinland’s many personal credit cards, each with a $50,000 credit limit. The reason they used only personal credit cards was that a “church” couldn’t get the kind of credit they needed on a monthly basis to keep up their lifestyle. These cards were not just used for legitimate church expenses, but also for their everyday personal expenses, lavish shopping trips, jewelry, art purchases, expensive meals out on the town around northern Kentucky, and all of Mr Weinland’s frequent trips to Las Vegas. Did you know that he spent a lot of time in Vegas? From what I heard, PKG doesn’t have a congregation there.

Anyway, everything that the Weinlands needed to spend money on for any reason was charged to those cards. When the bills came in, the full amount of the bill was transferred from PKG accounts into the Weinland’s personal accounts to pay each of the cards off each month. At times, Audra would have to monitor the balances mid-month if any of the cards were getting close to their $50K limits, and would make several $40,000 transfers from the PKG accounts to the Weinland’s personal accounts to keep them paid down as they continued to spend, spend, spend.

When the credit card statements came in, it was Mrs Weinland’s job to check the charges, and decide if any were strictly personal expenses. If there were, she was supposed to write a check from the personal account back into the PKG account. The defense offered no evidence that this reimbursement to PKG was ever actually done.

Now, I’m no accountant, but I do work for a living for a company that has an accounting department that has a process to track and reimburse the expenses of its employees, and I don’t think that this system would meet any kind of auditing guidelines for legal financial activity.
This process is called “co-mingling” and it makes keeping accurate financial records very difficult. It is one of the tactics that criminals use to steal large sums of money, not the way that honest people do honest business.

There’s a big chunk of the iceberg for you.

Ron Weinland Jurors Speak Out

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:

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.

 Read both entire letters here: Voice From Weinlands Jury