NEWS RELEASE

SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE

Public Affairs Office

Contact: Danny Brazell

Phone: (803) 898-5464

Email: brazeld@sctax.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 14, 2005

Dorchester County Man Arrested on State Tax Charges

A Dorchester County man who was being held in a Florence city jail on a driving violation is facing tax evasion charges after his arrest Monday by South Carolina Department of Revenue investigators.

Joseph David McGee, 46, was charged with four counts of state income tax evasion. He was taken to the Dorchester County Detention Center Monday afternoon by revenue department investigators where he remains pending payment of a $20,000 surety bond imposed by Dorchester County Magistrate Victor G. Stephens on Tuesday morning. McGee, who also lived in Charleston County, must appear before a Charleston County magistrate later where two of the four tax evasion charges were issued when he was a resident there. His transfer to a Charleston County jail is pending.    

McGee is accused of willfully failing to file state income tax returns and pay taxes owed from 1998 – 2001. The Department estimates McGee's combined tax liability during that period is more than $11,600.

Florence police contacted the Department of Revenue Saturday about McGee's outstanding tax charges after arresting him earlier on a driving violation.  

McGee is facing up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $40,000 if convicted of all the charges.  

The Dorchester County Sheriff's Office assisted in McGee's arrest on the tax charges.

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