PSA. Kent Hovind (AKA ‘Dr.Dino’) Has had 4 ‘Wives’ in 5 Years
Following this pattern, his new ‘marriage’ to Lincoln did not last long,
A curious thing happened over Christmas, which is that Kent Hovind, ie ‘Dr. Dino’ and his ‘wife’ renewed their ‘marriage’ vows in front of friends and family as a testament to their love and devotion. Unfortunately, we have to put the terms ‘marriage’ and ‘wife’ in scare quotes, on account of some 1-Corinthians-5-man-sleeping-with-his-father’s-wife level scandal we’re dealing with here.
Hovind, also known as Dr. Dino, has a creation ministry of sorts that is run through his Alabama-based Dinosaur Adventure Land; a somewhat decrepit touristy destination where people can camp and explore the trails on ATVs and visit his creation exhibits. Routinely expressing and advocating for sovereign citizen conspiracies, he famously spent almost a decade in prison after being convicted of nearly 50 federal counts of tax fraud, at the time claiming that he didn’t owe anyone taxes (especially not Caesar) because everything he owned belonged to God.
Here’s why we look disapprovingly on the Christmas festivities: this is his 4th ‘wife’ in 5 years.
He was married to his first wife Jo Hovind from 1973 and they stayed together until their divorce in March of 2016.
He then ‘married’ Mary Tocco in September 2016, though no sexual adultery had taken place in his former marriage, making him an adulterer. They did not get a marriage license and instead entered into a public, legally recognizable common-law marriage.
However, in Alabama at the time, the state did not recognize “common-law-divorces” that can be entered and exited willy-nilly, but rather in order to legally end the marriage, they would have to undergo a formal divorce process, the same as if entered into a traditional marriage. To quote Robert Baty “Legal common-law marriages cannot be dissolved except by legal process, not by hand-waiving.”
But that’s exactly what he did. While still legally married to Mary Tocco, Kent Hovind waived his hands and declared the marriage dissolved in 2017.
Feeling restless and on the prowl, he got ‘married’ again in 2018, this time to Cindy Lincoln. This was done in the same sort of private ceremony.
However, after his first common-law marriage, Alabama changed its laws, so that the state no longer recognized any new common-law marriages as legally binding.
Following this pattern, his new ‘marriage’ to Lincoln did not last long, and he cut ties with her in 2020 by ‘divorcing her’ ie another wave of his hand. Though they publically presented themselves as married up to this point and consummating the relationship, the law treated this basically as a boyfriend and girlfriend breaking up, given the ‘marriage’ was invalid in the first place.
It is this third ‘wife’ that took an order of protection against the disgraced creationist, claiming that he physically abused her by ‘body-slamming her’ and has engaged in a pattern of psychological torture, resulting in him being sentenced to 30 days in jail for domestic violence.
Then in September of 2021, he ‘married’ a 4th ‘wife’, Sandra Sawyer, in another private covenant/ common-law ceremony. Like the ‘marriage’ before, the state does not recognize this marriage, and so legally he is still married to his second wife.
Whereas most couples renew their vows after 25 or 50 years, Hovind renewed his after a scan three months, as given his track record of being a thoroughly theologically compromised sexual deviant who doesn’t stand behind his vows, this latest marriage is probably already at the halfway point of its inevitable demise, with unlucky wife #5 somewhere on the horizon.
Editor’s Note. h/t to Robert Baty of http://kehvrlb.com/ for the info and fact-checking