Jo Hovind, just being a "submissive wife"

[Demosthenes]

Published - July, 1, 2007

She's 'Granny Jo' to her family, but a lawbreaker to the court

Mark OBrien
mobrien@pnj.com

Last winter, Eric Hovind was in federal court, saying it was "an honor" to testify on behalf of his father, Kent "Dr. Dino" Hovind.

On Friday, Eric Hovind returned to court, this time to speak for his mother.

And he wanted everyone to know, "It is 10 times that honor to speak on behalf of my mom."

Jo Hovind - "Granny Jo" to her grandchildren - sat attentively as Eric Hovind said his mother was brought down only because she was "a submissive wife" married to Kent Hovind, a flamboyant creationist and tax protester now serving 10 years in prison.

"She did what she was told," he said.

He was one of several witnesses to describe Jo Hovind as a compassionate woman and talented pianist who was devoted to her family. They said she didn't deserve prison time for her conviction on 45 charges of unlawful structuring of financial transactions to avoid the law requiring that cash transactions above $10,000 be reported to the Internal Revenue Service.

Theoretically, she could have received five years in prison for each violation, but 225 years would be ludicrous. She's no gangster. In fact, this is her first brush with the law.

Still, there was a debate over her sentencing.

The guidelines, which aren't binding, called for up to six months behind bars. But her lawyer requested probation, and the prosecutor asked that she serve more than six months.

When it was her turn to speak, Jo Hovind sounded much like a kindly music teacher.

"I had no intention of evading the IRS," she said. "I really did not have a leadership role in CSE (Creation Science Evangelism, one of her husband's organizations)."

She offered explanations for why she often cashed checks for sums close to the $10,000 limit, and she dismissed as coincidence the fact that she sometimes cashed checks twice in one day � just before and just after 2 p.m., the cutoff for "the banking day" for reporting transactions.

"I would never knowingly do anything illegal," she said.

But the prosecutor, Michelle Heldmyer, said Jo Hovind's statement contradicted the evidence.

"I do not believe she's being truthful to the court," she told Judge Casey Rodgers.

Rodgers said more than once that a judge must fashion a sentence that will "promote respect for the law" and deter others who might be tempted to break the law.

Twelve jurors had found Jo Hovind guilty, she reminded people in the audience.

While "Mr. Hovind was the decision-making authority" at CSE and Dinosaur Adventure Land, Rodgers said, in four years Jo Hovind cashed some 200 checks, all under $10,000, for a total of $1.5 million.

The frequent use of cash was "their attempt to keep the ministry under the radar screen of the IRS" and not provide a traceable record for requirements such as paying for Social Security and withholding employment taxes.

"Mrs. Hovind was in charge of the payroll," Rodgers said, sentencing her to a year and a day in prison and ordering her to pay $8,000 in fines and costs. In addition, the government also has taken 10 properties from the Hovinds.

I'm betting that we won't see Jo Hovind in court again.

But will others learn from her lesson or will they repeat her mistakes?