71-Y-O Pastor, Wife Sentenced to Prison for $1.2M Tax Evasion
Ronald Joling, a 71-year-old Oregon preacher and his faithful 73-year-old wife, Dorothea, were sentenced this week to eight and four years in federal prison respectively for evading $1.2 million in taxes.
The couple had hoped to escape prison when they fled to Arizona after their trial last year, but they were captured after they used a cell phone from their hide-out to call one of their property tenants to collect rent, according to The Register Guard.
U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken, who said she was surprised that the couple fled after their trial, explained that "these were not the sentences I intended to impose" the first time around because of their ages but felt they left her with no other choice.
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Dorothea said she followed her husband down the path of tax evasion because she had vowed "to honor and obey" him more than 50 years ago.
Judge Aiken, however, did not applaud her blind commitment.
"I feel sorry for where you find yourself today," Aiken told the pastor's wife. She explained that if Pastor Joling wanted the best for her he should have taken full responsibility for the crime and not take her with him when they fled the state. Dorothea acknowledged the argument.
"He had the opportunity to stand up and exclude me. And he did not," she said.
In an hour long presentation to the court before he was sentenced, Pastor Joling said he believed he was not a U.S. citizen but simply a citizen of the land and he did not feel like he needed to pay taxes. And since the early 1990s has lived out that belief.
He said the only thing he regretted was bringing his wife down with him.
"This man has brought my faithful wife of 52 years to this place, that I believe is unjust in bondage, as she has often warned me of the evil treachery of this Washington D.C. municipal corporation and its ... legal system," said the pastor. "I believe that she understood and lived by Revelations 9:21 better than I did. She did what she was required to do by obedience to her marriage vows against many oppositions to it."
He said he fled to Arizona to protect his wife and asked God to forgive him for failing to protect her.
While he did not make eye contact with his family who were present for the sentencing, his wife tried to assure them that things would be alright.
"When I reflect on my life these last 20 years, I've wondered how I could have separated myself from the actions of my husband. But I found none. It is like a rock thrown in a pond and it creates ripples. I feel I have been one of those ripples," Dorothea said in her statement to the court.
"When my husband made the decision to go down this road, I had asked him not to do this. ... This being said, I did what I thought I should do. I am under his coverture and I was convinced at the time that this was the way to go," she added, noting that she felt her husband was influenced by outside individuals.
"Saying these things hurt me deeply and it seems I am disloyal to him. I feel I have betrayed him. I am willing to do the prison time in order to stay faithful and honor my vows 'for better or for worse,'" she said.
The couple was convicted of tax evasion late last year but were allowed to return home until April for sentencing. They decided, however, to flee the state after having "given their word" to the judge.
As a part of their sentence, they were ordered to liquidate all of their assets which includes multiple properties to pay back the $1.2 million to the federal government immediately.
