Press Release
Contact:
MAARTEN VERMAAT
ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY
PHONE: (906) 226-2500
DEFENDANT PLEADS GUILTY TO
OBSTRUCTING AND IMPEDING THE U.S. TAX CODE
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2009 ASSISTANT - MARQUETTE, Michigan – James Deven Harris, age 41, who is also known as James Deven Harris-El, and refers to himself as “James-Deven:Harris-El,” entered a guilty plea to a single count of corruptly endeavoring to obstruct and impede the due administration of the Internal Revenue Code, United States Attorney Donald A. Davis announced today.
Harris’s conviction is based on his filing of false tax documents on a Prosecuting Attorney who prosecuted him in 1994. That year, Harris was tried in Circuit Court in Washtenaw County, Michigan, on charges of armed robbery and possession of a firearm during a felony. He was convicted and sentenced to 15 to 25 years in prison. He has not completed that sentence and remains imprisoned in the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC). During 2006 and 2007, he was imprisoned in the MDOC facility in Kinross, which is located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. While there, he filed false IRS Form 1099's in which claimed to have paid $6,000,000 in interest and $6,000,000 in original issue discount to Brian L. Mackie, who is the elected Prosecuting Attorney in Washtenaw County, and was also serving in that position at the time of Harris’s 1994 trial. When interviewed by IRS officials, Harris said that he filed the false 1099's so the IRS would conduct an audit of the Prosecuting Attorney’s taxes.
Harris was indicted by a federal grand jury sitting in Marquette on February 10, 2009. Sentencing is scheduled for December 28, 2009, in Marquette before United States District Judge R. Allan Edgar. Harris faces a sentence of up to 3 years in prison and up to 1 year of supervised release.
Robert L. Davila, Special Agent in Charge, Chicago Field Office, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) said, “TIGTA will vigilantly investigate all allegations of individuals misusing IRS documents to harass government employees and will work with the U.S. Attorney to prosecute all proven allegations to the fullest extent of the law.”
U.S. Attorney Davis commended the special agents of TIGTA for their work in this case.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Maarten Vermaat.
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