Tax season cranks up with the successful prosecution in Richmond County Superior Court of a man charged with filing a false tax return.
The jury took only 14 minutes to convict Julius Valentino Williams, 70, who represented himself in Richmond County Superior Court.
Williams filed a fake income tax return for the year 2017, stating the Georgia Department of Revenue owed him $100,000, according to prosecutors and court records.
After filing the return in 2019, he “proceeded to repeatedly call the Department of Revenue demanding payment of his refund,” District Attorney Jared Williams said in a statement.
Julius Williams had a prior conviction for federal tax fraud in Maryland and was in prison during 2017, unlikely earning any income, the DA said.
“This was not the mistaken action of a misguided tax filer,” he said.
Working as a tax preparer in Maryland, Julius Williams added false deductions, expenses and credits to income tax returns he filed for clients, many of whom were workers from Jamaica on a temporary visa program. Williams also claimed the identities of those workers as dependents on his personal tax returns.
After he was indicted in Richmond County, federal authorities in Maryland revoked his supervised release.
At trial this week, Julius Williams took the stand, claiming he was acting righteously in God’s eyes and telling jurors they would have to “answer to God” if they convicted him.
ADA Kyle Davis used his own command of religion in cross-examining Williams, reminding him of God’s commandments against stealing and bearing false witness.
The jury took just 14 minutes to convict Williams. Superior Court Judge John Flythe sentenced him to the maximum sentence under state law, five years in prison.
Davis was assisted in the prosecution by ADA Joey Bacon, DA Investigators Sam Long and Thomas Brown, Victim Advocate Cristina Kalpa and Legal Assistant Tracy Ball.
