Couple in Tax Time case each found guilty on two charges

Columbus’ once-voluminous “Tax Time” tax fraud case that first had a 58-count indictment and later a 33-count indictment ended Friday night with jurors finding Ken and Lakeisha Degourville guilty only on one count each of felony theft and tax evasion.

Jurors deliberated about five hours Friday afternoon before delivering the verdict shortly after 6 p.m. Judge Gil McBride set the Degourvilles’ sentencing for 10 a.m. July 14.

McBride earlier issued a directed verdict of acquittal on many of the other counts on which the two were indicted, ruling Muscogee County was not the proper venue for charges based on documents filed with the Georgia Department of Revenue, which is headquartered in Fulton County.

After that, the jury had only seven charges to consider. Both Ken and Lakeisha Degourville were charged with theft for depriving the state of more than $5,000 between Jan. 1, 2013, and Dec. 31, 2014, and each individually faced an identical charge of state income-tax evasion involving an amount more than $3,000, for failing to report truthfully income between April 1, 2012, and Dec. 31, 2012.

Ken Degourville also faced four other charges: two counts of identity fraud and two of computer forgery. Jurors found him not guilty of those charges.

“We think it was a just verdict, supported by the evidence,” Assistant District Attorney Pete Temesgen said afterward. “The jury took their time. There was a lot of evidence to go through, and they were always an attentive jury — very expressive, very engaged, and we think they did the right thing.”

The Degourvilles ran the 3551 Macon Road business Tax Time that state and local authorities raided on Nov. 17, 2014, accusing them of falsely claiming deductions to inflate tax returns they filed for a fee, defrauding the state of revenue.

For example, one prosecution witness told the court she used Tax Time for her 2013 returns, but was never shown a profit-loss statement claiming she owned a business until state revenue agents later brought it to her attention.

She did not own a business, and never claimed to, she said.

As Chief Assistant District Attorney Alonza Whitaker went over her tax return for the jury, she at his direction noted claims that she had a direct-sales business, with a $3,920 profit, $2,905 in vehicle costs, $201 in advertising expenses, $3,309 for insurance, $4,019 in office expenses, $3,017 for machinery, $3,321 for maintenance, and a net loss of $18,107.

Attorney William Kendrick represented Lakeisha Degourville, and Mike Garner represented Ken Degourville. The attorneys argued the taxpayers who signed the returns, swearing the information on them was true, were ultimately responsible for such claims. They introduced evidence taxpayers had made similar claims on previous filings the Degourvilles didn’t handle

They also argued the taxpayers, not the Degourvilles, profited from the deductions claimed, as Tax Time charged only a fee for preparing the returns.

State revenue agent Natara Smith testified the Degourvilles collected $556,740 in such fees in 2013, but filed no income tax return on that revenue.

She said state and local authorities raided the business after questioning taxpayers who told investigators their returns were inaccurate.

Agents also talked to former Tax Time employees whose personal identification numbers as tax preparers were assigned to returns they never touched, she said. That was the basis of Ken Degourville’s identity-fraud charges.

Each defendant now faces one to five years in prison for tax evasion, and one to 10 years for felony theft, Temesgen said.

This story was originally published June 10, 2016 at 7:58 PM with the headline "Couple in Tax Time case each found guilty on two charges."