It did not take long for Ms. Tocco to start having concerns. Back to her statement:

But it wasn’t long before I began noticing certain things that didn’t seem to add up. My list of concerns started slowly, and then began to grow.

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Finally, I requested the opportunity to address these concerns in a meeting with Kent and the trustee of the DAL board. I had learned enough to be able to ask specific questions about how the business was being conducted. Much to my dismay, their side of the discussion was a terribly disappointment, and more accurately appalling. I shook my head in disbelief as I heard statements repeatedly such as, “well, that’s a gray area” and “I think we could explain it this way to defend ourselves, if we had to in court”. I was told to forget my concerns because they would likely be civil issues anyway, not criminal. It was one of the most unacceptable discussions I have ever witnessed, especially given the past of the men speaking.

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Looking back, I was most alarmed at the Kent’s response when I questioned a particular, serious matter that could create severe consequence: “The board doesn’t answer to you, Mary.”

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That was when I realized the lesson they had strategically waited to try to teach me – there is a veil of secrecy between Kent and the board of DAL. The wife of the ministry’s patriarch is not allowed to penetrate that veil and has she no business questioning the board’s decisions.

Last Chance

Ms. Tocco left, but was hopeful she would be able to come back and arranged for a meeting with a tax attorney.  I asked her whether the subject was the not-for-profit operation or the looming civil liability.  She had no comment.  Again from her statement:

I facilitated meetings with totally impartial third-party experts in Alabama to provide an opinion on my concerns, and to help guide any necessary changes. According to Kent, the trustee of the DAL board advised him not to participate and I was informed that the board would not discuss internal matters with any professional unless they determined it was necessary. In the following months I only received continuous pressure and reprimand and I was told numerous times, “Just come home and be a Proverb 31 wife.”

Ms. Tocco told me that Ernie Land expressed the belief that the first loyalty of an attorney was to the government .  So that was pretty much that.

Under the commitment of marriage, the husband takes a vow to care for and protect his wife, and to put her before anything else under God. I was not demanding extreme protection but refused to accept decisions that blatantly and foolishly welcomed risk, easy and valid attack, and the predictable demise of the life we were building together. The most disturbing aspect is that the problems I discovered were not accidental mistakes, nor were they impossible to correct. Instead, I had exposed and was demanding a complete revision of the planned, deliberate, voluntary way that Kent and his board are dedicated to operating DAL. Who was I to think I was going to persuade them all to change?

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My marriage with Kent would have survived had I “been a good wife”, understanding that a woman’s place is in the home and her job is to support her husband without question. And a wife is certainly never to meddle in the men’s business affairs. Yes, our marriage would have survived for some time…

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For all of the people who are just bursting with curiosity about why I left Kent Hovind, I will reduce it to one sentence. I decided I don’t want to play a lead role in the next debacle.

Reaction

Ernie Land, President of Creation Science Evangelism Ministries Inc and probably Kent Hovind’s most long-term advisor, as you might expect, takes a dim view of Ms. Tocco’s version of events.

Normal drama for me.

Notice how Mary doesn’t make mention of the CPA and tax Attorney, who helped set up the structure or the fact several Attorney’s were consulted and even those Attorneys had views that were 180 degrees apart. The one thing they all told Mary was not to be involved in the Ministry, which she continued to refuse to heed their advice, even those who she went to. Plus she continued to demand of Kent that he fire the Board members. In the end Mary insisted Kent fire ALL board members, even after being told if Kent had that power it would make the Ministry an alter ego. Well, we still have the same board members and Kent does not have that power, even if he had tried to do so under Mary’s direction. This is why my opinion believes that Mary’s motive was to marry Kent and take over the Ministry. I also believe that after she realized she could not accomplish taking over the Ministry, that she then choose to leave, using the death threat that timely came in as the reason to leave.

I must say I’m not the expert on how to properly structure this Ministry and Kent’s intellectual for profit things in a way that we can safely operate without more intervention by the IRS or Government, which as you know, I believe was an attack from the now known deep state because of Kent’s teaching that destroys the theories of evolution. So my solution was to use the professionals, who instructed that having a true Ministry donors we needed a 501C3 type corporation for the Ministry, with a for profit corporation for the sale of material, which is a for profit operation that distributes the religious material. So that is what we did, in the hopes we can operate in this evil system of money and government, but without putting anyone in jeopardy of breaking laws that even the professionals can’t agree on.

To be fair to Ernie, I think that you would have a variety of opinions among professionals on how to handle the overall management of this enterprise given the high exposure.  With a bit of work though you would be able to identify someone with very good credentials.  Then in order to allay the legitimate concerns of the second Mrs. Hovind you could go with the most conservative option.

Ernie referred me to Proverbs 6:19 .  I’ll give you a bit more for context:

16 These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:

17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,

19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

Rudy Davis, probably the most passionate of the Hovindicators, wrote me:

I think it is unfortunate that Mary seems to put more trust in attorneys than the Word of God and her husband. I pray Kent’s new wife has a fearless heart and is truly devoted to her vows. Kent deserves a woman who will boldly stand with him as he leads souls to Christ, not a wife who listens to the naysayers who are more fearful of government crackdowns than they are of the judgement of God

You will note Rudy’s allusion to a new wife.  Kent’s reported third marriage is a subject towards which I am adopting deliberate disinterest.  The reason I thought it worthwhile to cover Mary Tocco’s statement is that there is an important lesson.

Think About Your Spouse And Family

The shenanigans of Kent Hovind are beyond aggressive, but the lesson here applies to people who are more in touch with the reality of the tax law.  The Learned Hand quote that I love so much retains its validity.

Over and over again courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging one’s affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everybody does so, rich or poor; and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands: taxes are enforced exactions, not voluntary contributions. To demand more in the name of morals is mere cant.

There is an important proviso.  Not everyone has the same stomach for controversy.  If I were to get audited on some issue or other, I would probably take it as an interesting challenge and maybe good blog fodder.  I would probably enjoy it in a perverse sort of way.  As it happens I don’t take aggressive positions, but if I were inclined to I would with no fear (having put money for my potential extra liability aside).  If I had a spouse signing a joint return with me, it would be a different story.  Her sensibilities would absolutely trump my carefree attitude.  And if she had some sort of business and insisted on being loosey-goosey about the bookkeeping, I’d tell her that I loved her and because of that we were filing separately, maintaining separate bank accounts and she could find somebody else to prepare her returns,

Mary Tocco had been an activist on a controversial issue for many years and had never done time.  Kent Hovind should have listened to her.