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Man gets year for tax fraud
The defendant plead guilty to a 10-count federal indictment.
CLEVELAND — A Boardman man, who was jailed in Youngstown in June for unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, has been sentenced to one year and one day of incarceration for filing false federal tax returns for clients.
U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. imposed the federal sentence Wednesday on Darryl L. Adams, 45, of Glenwood Avenue. The federal judge also ordered Adams to make $72,353 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.
Adams plead guilty in May to all 10 counts of the federal indictment, which alleged he claimed inflated tax refunds for at least 29 clients between 2002 and 2004. The false refunds he claimed range from $2,060 to $8,904.
Adams reported fake deductions for medical expenses, charitable contributions and tuition, claimed fictitious dependents and false filing status, and fabricated educational, child care and earned income credits, the government said.
In some cases, Adams arranged for the IRS to direct deposit the refunds into accounts he controlled and either kept the entire refund or a portion of it for himself, the government said.
To conceal what he’d done, he reportedly gave clients a copy of a tax return that was not the return he submitted to the IRS on their behalf.
In the sex case, the Mahoning County grand jury indicted Adams in April 2005 on three counts of rape involving a male victim who was between the ages of 14 and 16 when the offenses allegedly occurred.
Adams used his status as a youth pastor in the boy’s church to take advantage of him, said Dawn Cantalamessa, assistant Mahoning County prosecutor.
In a plea agreement, Adams plead guilty to a reduced charge of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and two assault counts, all misdemeanors. Adams entered an Alford plea, which means he plead guilty to those charges, but maintained his factual innocence.
Judge James C. Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court sentenced Adams to six months in county jail on the sex charge, but suspended the six-month jail terms on the assault charges.
Judge Evans also imposed two years’ probation after Adams’ confinement ends and fined him $1,000, with $500 suspended, on each of the three charges. Adams is to pay the $1,500 total within two years.
The jail term from Judge Evans, which Adams is now serving, will run concurrently with the federal incarceration, according to Justin Roberts, assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
The location of Adams’ federal incarceration will be up to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
milliken@vindy.com