Inmate Indicted; Got Tax Refund by Error
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ATLANTA — A federal grand jury has indicted a federal prison inmate who was mistakenly sent $359,380.25 by the Internal Revenue Service and failed to return the money.
The IRS was attempting to collect $2 million in back taxes in 1985 from Joseph H. Hale, who was serving an unrelated five-year prison term for fraud. But the IRS made a computer error and a check was mailed for $359,380.25.
The indictment, returned Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Atlanta, charged Hale, 45, and a friend, Ann W. McRee, 43, of Atlanta, with seven counts of fraud. The indictment alleges that McRee helped Hale dispose of the money.
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