Tax Preparer From Snellville Pleads Guilty To Fraud

SNELLVILLE, GA -- A Snellville man has pleaded guilty in federal court to charges that, while working as a tax preparer, he steered money intended for his clients to his own bank accounts.

Okello Odongo, 36, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in New Hampshire to 19 counts of filing false tax returns and fraudulently obtaining tax refunds.

Odongo is a former resident of Manchester, New Hampshire, where he ran a business called Smart Tax Solutions Co.

According to U. S. Attorney Emily Gray Rice, Odongo filed false returns for some of his clients in 2011 and 2012.

In addition to asking for more money than the customers were owed, the indictments claim, Odongo directed the IRS to deposit that extra money into bank accounts he owned or to which he had access.

None of Odongo’s customers knew he was using their returns to defraud the government, Rice said in a news release.

He was indicted in the case in December.

The maximum sentence Odongo could face is five years for each of the 19 charges. A sentencing hearing has been set for June 22 in the case.