On May 10th, Diane McKinny pleaded guilty in US District court in Asheville to one count of making a False Statement. The hearing was in front of Magistrate Judge W. Carleton Metcalf in the smaller courtroom. This courtroom was not flooded with Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) members, only two others in attendance, Ramona Hall and Ann Brock.
McKinny is the fourth WOFF member to plead guilty in the ongoing Federal investigation into the Unemployment Benefits scheme hatched, at least in part, by Kent Covington. He received a 34 month sentence after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Conflicting reports abound about when Kent starts his term as a Federal Inmate. The latest reports have him reporting May 28th to a Federal Prison in Kentucky. Jane Whaley was reported as saying the facility doesn’t even have a fence.
Dr. Jerry Gross and Jason Gross pleaded guilty and were sentenced to three years’ probation with varying lengths of in-home detention.
The hearing on May 10th included McKinny’s first appearance under the new charge and her arraignment hearing. After the hullaballoo created by her attorney over subpoenas of possible witnesses, this session was anticlimactic. I was a little early and stepped off the elevator to witness the meeting between McKinny and her attorney. They spoke in hushed tones, but I could see they were reviewing documents which pertained to her plea.
By 9:36AM, the plea of guilty was confirmed. The rest of the time included Judge Metcalf taking care of the details to assure the Court that Diane knew what she was charged with and what her options were in this matter. He read several documents asking Diane to confirm that she understood the content of those documents and how her plea affected her rights. The charge carried a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine with a $100 assessment.
Judge Metcalf pointed out to Diane the hearing was being recorded and she needed to speak into the microphone in front of her.
US Attorney Bradley read aloud the Factual Basis for the charge. The four page document retold the story of the fraud and the particulars of how these actions violated the law. From the document:
“10, Notably, McKinny never made a claim herself for benefits, and she was not a shareholder in the business, so she does not appear to have benefited from the offense in any way beyond keeping her job. Her primary motivation appears to have been loyalty to her employer rather than personal pecuniary gain.”
From Bradley’s point of view, I can see why he thinks her primary motivation “appears to have been loyalty to her employer.” He has never been a member of WOFF.
Diane had to move forward with this deception and appear to like it or she risked losing not only her job, but her place to live, her connection to friends at WOFF, her spiritual support system, in essence, her salvation and assurance of a heavenly afterlife. Do ex-members agree? She had no real choice if she wanted to continue to be a part of “the will of God.”
My remembrance of Diane is one of compliance. This explains why during this hearing it was noticeably easier for her to say “Yes” to any question from the Judge rather than answer “No” to a question – even when “No” was the correct and expected answer. In her world, “No” is never a complete sentence or the end of the drama. In many cases, for WOFF members- answering “No” is where the drama escalates.
From where I sat, I could see her expression change and the visible effort to answer “no” took more energy than a “yes.” She had visible confliction over processing a “no” answer to someone in authority – such as this Judge. Can you understand why she readily went along with the illegal activity? She is a “yes” person in the truest sense of the word.
This learned response to someone in authority has kept her in the WOFF clutches and subsequently set her up to plead guilty to a Federal Felony. Her “yes” answers reinforced her view of herself. “I obey authority.” “I am not rebellious.” “I do the will of God.”
Her angst over saying “No” gave me much to consider about not only my time inside WOFF, but my years since leaving.
Diane will be sentenced at some point in the future after additional reports and assessments are made.
Follow here:
Twitter – @religiouscults #exposeWOFF, #exposeWordofFaithFellowship
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/johnhuddleauthor
YouTube- religiouscultsinfo.com
Thank you, for taking time to visit and read this blog. Please, consume the information on this site responsibly. The author is not a licensed mental health professional and encourages those that need professional help to seek it. The intent of the material is to inform and be a resource. Be sure to tell every member that you know at WOFF about this blog. There are readers at WOFF. Jane told me and Josh confirmed it.
Comments are invited from all readers, including present or former members. Polls are not scientific and no private information is gathered.
Look on the right side of any post for the option to subscribe by email for notifications or RSS feeds notifying of new postings. It is a great feature. Also, find more posts by selecting “Categories”.
Guest posts reflect the opinions of the writers. Their opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of John Huddle or any other persons affiliated with this blog.
Please, take time to read the Terms of Use for this personal blog. As mentioned, for posts written by John Huddle, any information about WOFF is from his memories and recollections as perfect as that may be or not be.
Scripture references are Amplified Version unless otherwise noted.
(Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation) This is post number 663.