The S.C. Department of Revenue arrested two additional Aiken County men on tax evasion charges, closing out a 10-month investigation that has now resulted in charges against 25 people.
Based on a release from S.C. Dept. of Revenue.
AIKEN, S.C. — The South Carolina Department of Revenue arrested two Aiken County men Monday and charged them with tax evasion, according to the agency.
Joseph Alexander Mims Sr., 37, of Beech Island, and William Paul Rogers, 28, of North Augusta, were each charged with willful attempt to evade or defeat a tax, according to SCDOR. Rogers was also charged with failure to file a return, pay tax, or keep records.
According to arrest warrants cited by SCDOR, both men failed to file South Carolina Individual Income Tax returns for multiple tax years after falsely claiming on employer tax withholding documents that they were exempt from state income tax.
Mims faces four counts of willful attempt to evade or defeat a tax for tax years 2021 through 2024. He earned income of at least $368,921 and evaded approximately $8,651 in state income tax, according to SCDOR.
Rogers faces two counts of willful attempt to evade or defeat a tax for tax years 2022 and 2023, and one count of failure to file a return for tax year 2024. He earned income of at least $233,970 and evaded approximately $9,314 in state income tax, according to SCDOR.
The arrests conclude a 10-month SCDOR investigation that led to charges against 25 defendants in Aiken, Edgefield, and Barnwell counties, including 23 arrests made the previous week, according to the agency.
In total, the 25 defendants earned $6,606,775 in wages from 2020 through 2024 and evaded $275,956 in South Carolina income tax, according to SCDOR.
If convicted, Mims and Rogers each face up to five years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine, plus the cost of prosecution, for each count of tax evasion. Rogers also faces up to one year in prison and/or a $10,000 fine, plus the cost of prosecution, for the failure-to-file count.
Both men are being held at the Aiken County Detention Center pending a bond hearing, according to SCDOR.
