Tax Cheats' Sentence: 30 Months -- Couple's Church Alleged To Be A Prostitution Front

A Bellevue couple who pleaded guilty to conspiracy and tax-evasion charges in connection with a church network the government contended was a front for prostitution have been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.

"All I can say is I'm in shock," Jay Gearon told U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein yesterday moments before she imposed sentence on him and his wife. Joleen Gearon remained silent.

Rothstein said she found Jay Gearon's reaction surprising considering the couple had pleaded guilty to "an unusual and extensively planned scheme to defraud the government."

Rothstein, in her decision, derided the Ultimate Life Church, which the Gearons founded in 1983. The judge described it as being of the "mail-order" variety.

Rothstein also discounted defense claims that the Gearons truly believed the women they employed to do services were "ordained ministers."

The judge said she was "carefully sidestepping" ruling explicitly on the issue of whether the Gearons knowingly ran a house of prostitution. But she left no doubt that the Gearons' business had "nothing to do with a legitimate church purpose."

In February, midway through their trial on charges that they conspired to defraud the government and four counts of tax evasion, the Gearons pleaded guilty.

The government contended that, over a 10-year period, about 90 women worked for the Gearons in at least five separate church sites where usually nude male "members" paid a donation to be massaged and masturbated by seminude female "ministers."

The Gearons had posted on the walls laminated letters from the IRS indicating the church's tax-exempt status and, therefore, the right of members to deduct their donations.

But the IRS had no idea how the church was being operated, government attorneys said.

Moreover, the Gearons went on national television shows such as Sally Jessy Raphael, Joan Rivers and Geraldo saying the church had been "tested and approved" by the IRS - an act of "clear defiance," prosecutors told Rothstein.

The couple, whom prosecutors described as being driven by "avarice and greed," deposited more than $1 million in a variety of bank accounts, according to the government.

At yesterday's sentencing, Rothstein had to weigh conflicting claims by defense and government lawyers over aggravating and mitigating factors affecting the length of the sentence.

At issue were whether the Gearons had accepted responsibility for their crimes; the amount of the government's tax loss; whether the Gearons had used sophisticated means to evade taxes; and whether they could be considered organizers of the scheme.

The judge gave the Gearons credit for accepting responsibility but otherwise sided with the aggravating factors cited by the government, including prosecutors' contentions that the Gearons evaded more than $300,000 in taxes, as opposed to the roughly $70,000 admitted by the couple.

The Gearons were allowed to remain free and are expected to surrender to begin serving their sentences in the next couple of weeks. They will be subject to court supervision for three years after their release, and must comply with a number of special conditions, including making restitution to the IRS and paying the costs of prosecution.