NEWS

UPDATE: Jury finds Boltons guilty of some charges

Lici Beveridge
Engagement Editor

A jury found Charles and Linda Bolton of Hattiesburg guilty on some of the 20 charges in their federal tax evasion trial Thursday night, and not guilty on others.

Charles Bolton, left, has been removed as requisition clerk for Forrest County Jail and Juvenile Detention Center. Clifford O. Rudder has been named jail administrator.

Charles Bolton was found guilty of four counts of tax evasion for the years 2010-13; not guilty on one count of tax evasion for 2009; and guilty on five counts of filing a false tax report for 2009-13.

Linda Bolton was found guilty on five counts of filing a false tax report for 2009-13; and not guilty on one count of tax evasion for 2009. The jury was deadlocked on the four other counts of tax evasion for the years 2010-13. Mississippi Southern District of U.S. District Court Judge Keith Starrett declared a mistrial on those four charges.

The jury deliberated a little more than five hours before reaching its decision.

"I'm not giving you a comment," said Fred P. Harper, special assistant U.S. attorney in U.S. District Court in New Orleans, as the jury deliberated.

Charles and Linda Bolton were both taken into custody at the William M. Colmer Federal Courthouse.

Sentencing is set for 2:30 p.m. Dec. 19. A detention hearing will be held Friday with U.S. District Court Mississippi Southern District Magistrate Robert H. Walker.

Earlier in the evening, the jury sent a note to Starrett saying they were unable to reach a unanimous verdict. The judge sent them back into the jury room to continue deliberations after giving them additional instructions.

Before the jury began deliberating Sharon Lieberman, an attorney for the government, told the jurors in her closing arguments to ask themselves, "Does it add up? Does it make sense?"

She walked through the highlights of the government's case, going over the Boltons' first "test" of the "loan as capital contribution" in 2009, and seeing that it succeeded, increased the number of checks used as "loans" in subsequent years.

"You can see that in the pattern of the funds," she said.

The defense will claim the Boltons made a mistake when classifying the checks as loans, Lieberman said, but "mistakes don't happen 72 times over four years."

Robert McDuff, attorney for Linda Bolton, said yes, people do make mistakes, especially when trying to pay the least amount of taxes legally possible.

"(Linda Bolton) made a mistake, and she believed it was true," McDuff said. "But that is not proof that she was lying when did that.

"This is a civil case, not a criminal case."

The government rested first thing Thursday morning. The defense called just one witness before resting its case.

REWIND: Testimony begins in Boltons' trial

Helen Moreland, a secretary of more than 45 years for attorney John W. Lee, testified for the defense about the numerous checks written to the Boltons' businesses,

Moreland testified that Lee often would write checks for large amounts and ask her to cash them.

But she also testified that even though Charles Bolton often visited Lee's office, he never wrote a check to Bolton for cash, as the bank is across the street from his law office.

Moreland also testified that Lee purchased a lot of alcohol throughout the year, but the only time she saw the alcohol was in December.

She was questioned about Lee's direction to list the checks to Bolton as "supplies", to which she responded, "I did it, if that 's what Mr. Lee told me to do."

REWIND: Day 2 of testimony in Boltons' trial

Seven witnesses testified on the government's behalf Tuesday and Wednesday, offering testimony about some of the Boltons' business checks and financial documents called into question during FBI and Internal Revenue Service investigations.

The Boltons own two Hattiesburg businesses, Sports 22 Restaurant and Hall Avenue Package Store. They are accused of trying to hide income by "cashing tens of thousands of dollars in checks purportedly issued in payment for liquor, wine and catering services to prevent those payments from being recorded on the business bank statements."

Charles Bolton also is Forrest County Sheriff's Department chief deputy.

The government's witnesses said they either ate or bought food at the Boltons' restaurant, bought alcohol at their package store or contracted for catering services with them, but handwritten notes allegedly created by Linda Bolton show the payments bracketed with the word "loan" beside them.

Linda Bolton leaves the William M. Colmer Federal Courthouse with attorneys Robert McDuff, left, and Ben Galloway.

The Boltons each faced five counts of filing false tax returns and five counts of tax evasion. The charges, issued in an indictment filed March 22, stem from returns the couple filed between 2010 and 2014.

The indictment says the Boltons "did willfully make and subscribe to a joint United States Tax Return, Form 1040, which was verified by a written declaration that it was made under the penalty of perjury and was filed with the Internal Revenue Service."

The couple, according to the indictment, also allegedly provided deceptive records and made false statements, telling their tax preparer that some payments for goods were loans.

The Boltons also reportedly "knew and believed they did not report a substantial amount of income" for the tax years 2009 to 2013.