RALEIGH – A Durham man pleaded guilty in Wake County District Court to tax charges filed by the North Carolina Department of Revenue.

John McCrea Jr., 28, of 419 Pine St., Durham pleaded guilty on Dec. 2, 2004 to one count of obtaining property by false pretense.

Wake County District Court Judge Paul G. Gessner sentenced McCrea to a nine-month minimum, 11-month maximum prison term. The sentence was suspended and McCrea was placed on intensive supervised probation for 36 months. He was further ordered to serve five weekends in the Wake County Detention Center as a special condition of probation. McCrea must also pay a $250 criminal fine, submit to DNA testing and complete a drug treatment program.

The state’s evidence showed that McCrea purchased a W-2 form for tax withholdings and listed himself as a wage earner at a company that he never worked for. The fictitious W-2 form indicated that he had earned taxable income and had both federal and state income taxes withheld from his wages. Based on the fraudulent W-2 forms, McCrea filed a state tax return requesting a $2,455 tax refund that he was not entitled to receive.

The charges against McCrea resulted from an investigation by the Department of Revenue’s Discovery and Special Projects Section and a special agent with the Department’s Criminal Investigations Division.

Last modified on: 10/31/07 03:44:11 PM .