Two Louisiana Men Indicted for Threatening to Retaliate Against a Witness in a Federal Tax Trial

The Justice Department announced today that a federal grand jury in Baton Rouge, La., returned an indictment yesterday charging Anthony Williams and Bobby Riley with conspiring to threaten to retaliate against a witness in a federal trial, threatening to retaliate against a witness in a federal trial and making false statements to federal agents.

According to the indictment, Williams and Riley, both residents of Baton Rouge, threatened to cause bodily injury to a witness who testified in the federal trial of United States v. Angela Myers.  The indictment alleges that Williams and Riley made a threat via Instagram with the intent to retaliate against the witness for his testimony in the Myers trial.  In March 2013, Myers was convicted by a jury of twenty-one federal felonies in a stolen identity tax refund fraud prosecution.  The indictment also alleges that Williams and Riley made false statements to federal agents in March 2013. 

An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed, and each defendant is presumed innocent of all crimes until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.  If convicted, Riley and Williams each face a potential maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison.

This case was investigated by Special Agents of the IRS - Criminal Investigation and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.  Trial Attorneys Justin Gelfand and Jason Poole of the Justice Department’s Tax Division are prosecuting the case with the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Louisiana.