Washington, D.C., Police Officer Indicted for Tax Fraud

An indictment was unsealed yesterday in the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia that charges a Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer with obstructing and impeding the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and evading his federal income taxes for 2009 and 2010, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

According to the indictment, Jamal A. Adams, also known as Ishmeal Heru-Bey, failed to file federal income tax returns for 2005 through 2012 while he was employed as a MPD officer and earning income.  During this time period, Adams submitted IRS forms falsely claiming to be exempt from federal income tax withholding to the MPD.  In 2010, he filed false documents signed under the penalties of perjury with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Columbia in which he failed to report the tax debts that he owed to the IRS.

If convicted, Adams faces a total statutory maximum sentence of 13 years in prison, plus a fine of up to $250,000 per count of conviction.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo commended the special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case, and Trial Attorneys Jeffrey McLellan and Erin Pulice of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting the case.

The charges contained in the indictment are only allegations.  A person is presumed innocent unless and until he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division’s website.