Local & State Headlines

Man pleads guilty to fraud

• Sentencing for a South Georgia man who pleaded guilty to tax fraud conspiracy will be held at a later date, an IRS official says.

Joshua Brown

ALBANY — A Valdosta man pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Albany to fraudulently claiming about $5 million in tax credits for himself and 10 others in a diesel fuel tax scheme, Internal Revenue Service officials said.

Clinton B. Hughes pleaded guilty Monday morning to conspiracy to file false claims with a department of the United States, IRS spokeswoman Patty Bergstrom said Monday. Sentencing will be set at a later date, she said.

Hughes prepared and filed 44 false claims totaling $5,193,860 for which the IRS issued $4,779,973.88 in refunds between 1999 and 2004 for Hughes and 10 “co-conspirators,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Prosecutors charged that Hughes filed false credits for “off-highway” fuel that was never used or never purchased.

A business can be reimbursed for “un-dyed diesel fuel” it uses if the fuel is used in off-highway business, according to U.S. Attorney’s office documents in Hughes’ co-conspirators’ cases provided by the IRS.

The businesses claimed by the co-conspirators either never existed or were not entitled to the tax credits they received, the U.S. attorneys charged.

Hughes was not formally charged by a grand jury because he was cooperating with prosecutors, Bergstrom said. While he prepared and filed the returns for others, Bergstrom said he did not operate a tax preparation business.

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