According to reports in the Winston-Salem Journal and at examiner.com, Dr. Rodney K. Justin, a medical doctor from Woodleaf was convicted Aug. 26 of obstructing the internal revenue laws and of failing to file tax tax returns for several years.
A jury in U.S. District Court in Winston-Salem convicted Justin of four felony counts of sending fake financial instruments called “bills of exchange” to the Secretary of the Treasury as payment of over $350,000 in past due taxes.
The Justice Department said Justin has filed a valid tax return since 1997. It reported the doctor made more than $200,000 per year from 2201 to 2004.
He was also convicted of willful failure to file tax returns for the years 2001 through 2004.
Justin had protested whether he had a legal obligation to pay taxes, and sent letters and allegedly bogus tax returns advancing his claims as to why he could defy tax filing laws. The IRS repeatedly warned him that his positions were frivolous, and that he must file tax returns and pay taxes.
Justin was a client at Guiding Light of God Ministries, also known as the American Rights Litigators (ARL). He bought from them the four fictitious “bills of exchange” he submitted as evidence of his income tax payment.
Actor Wesley Snipes was also a client of ARL, which resulted in his going to prison for tax offenses in April 2008.
Sentencing in the case has been scheduled for Feb. 18, 2010. Justin faces a maximum sentence of 16 years in prison and a fine of up to $1.4 million.