Jackson County man admits filing false tax returns

JACKSON COUNTY -- A Jackson County man has admitted he bilked the state out of thousands of dollars by electronically filing false tax returns.

Circuit Judge Robert Krebs sentenced Joseph Washington to five years in prison, suspended the prison term and ordered him to serve two years under house arrest. He was also ordered to pay $1,500 in fines, and he will have to pay restitution.

Washington pleaded guilty to two counts of computer fraud and four counts of making fraudulent statements and representations. He committed computer fraud when he or a tax preparer he solicited electronically filed the fake tax returns.

In addition, he bilked the state out of thousands more when he made false statements on other tax returns to receive additional tax refunds.

In total, he defrauded the state out of $6,896. The crimes occurred over four years, ending in January 2011.

This story was originally published October 30, 2015 at 5:22 PM with the headline "Jackson County man admits filing false tax returns ."