Trump-loving Creationist Loses ‘delusional’ $536,041,100 Lawsuit

BEFORE he was ousted from the White House, Donald Trump issued a flurry of pardons to cronies, including Roger Stone who was indicted on charges of lying to Congress. (Stone has just claimed that the pardon happened because the former President was ‘blackmailed.’)

Excluded from Trump’s list of pardons was one of his most ardents supporters: creationist jailbird Kent Hovind, above, who was jailed for tax-related offences in 2006. He was hoping that his hero Trump would pardon him too and said as much in a YouTube video in January.

Hovind also wanted Trump to investigate the lack of progress in his half billion lawsuit against the US government.

Well, progress has been made and last week the lawsuit was tossed … to the surprise of absolutely no-one.

According to Forbes, the case began just over a year ago when Hovind and Paul John Hansen, as trustee for Creation Science Evangelism, filed a lawsuit in the US District Court Northern District of Florida.

Judge T Kent Wetherell, II – approving the recommendation of Magistrate Michael J Frank – ruled that:

All the claims in the second amended complaint are DISMISSED with prejudice, and the Clerk shall close the case file.

The judge added:

Indeed, the objections demonstrate the frivolous and delusional nature of this suit when, among other things, they assert that plaintiff Hovind and his ministry were beyond the jurisdiction of the United States and the the obligation to pay income taxes is tantamount to being conscripted into involuntary servitude as a ‘tax collector for the United States.’

The suit claimed damages of $536,041,100. The defendants were the United States of America, Margaret Catharine Rodgers, the Estate of John David Roy Atchison, Michelle Heldmyer, Scott Schneider and Alan Stuart Richey.

Some Background

Writing for Forbes, Peter J Reilly explained:

Hovind is an Independent Baptist minister best known for his advocacy of Young Earth Creationism (YEC). YEC is the notion that there is scientific support for a hyper literal reading of Genesis. Sum up all those begats and you get a world that is about 6,000 years old.

One of the implications of YEC is that people and dinosaurs must have coexisted. Hence his sobriquet Doctor Dino and the creation in Pensacola of Dinosaur Adventure Land (DAL).

Paul Hansen was the trustee of Creation Science Evangelism (CSE) the “non-statutory trust” that owned DAL.

In 2006 Hovind and his then wife Jo were convicted of a variety of tax related crimes … They were also found civilly liable for millions of dollars in income tax including fraud penalties … Hovind spent nearly the next nine years in prison.

After his release Kent went to work building a new ministry. He now owns the crappy low-budget Dinosaur Adventure Land in Lenox, Alabama where a boy aged seven drowned last year.

Despite being certifiably insane, Hovind has a pretty strong YouTube presence with over 25 million cumulative views.

Said Reilly:

You can learn there almost daily that the Bible is true and evolution is dumb. Dinosaurs always lived with man. They did not live millions of years ago.

And evolution is the dumbest and most dangerous religion in the history of the world!

Someone called Maria Resto launched a petition a while back that begged Trump to pardon the “amazing” Hovind:

Please Pardon Kent Hovind on the false charges he was convicted under. The evidence is overwhelming when fully viewed.

Kent Hovind was unlawfully convicted of 58 felonies over 13 years ago. 12 counts were alleged to be for failing to withhold taxes from workers, 45 counts were alleged to be for structuring and 1 count was alleged to be for interference with a tax official.

I researched 15 months, reading over 1500 pages of Federal Statutes, Regulations, Case law and IRS Manuals and found that Kent Hovind (and his then wife Jo) did NOT commit one single crime, and I used the acts of Congress and the unoverturned rulings of the Federal Judges to prove it.

All of my evidence is thoroughly documented and publicly posted in kenthovindisinnocent.com. The Hovinds were falsely charged, maliciously prosecuted, and judged by a biased and prejudiced judge who manipulated the jury and altered the transcript.

The petition has been signed by 230 people.

And Kenthovindisinnocent.com is now defunct, but can be bought for $1,795.