Former councilwoman, tax preparer pleads guilty in fraud case

EAST POINT, Ga. — A former Hapeville city councilwoman and tax preparer has pleaded guilty in a fraud case that ties back to a 2016 Channel 2 Action News and an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation.

Ruth Barr, 64, pleaded guilty to three felony charges tied to fraudulent tax preparation in Fulton County.

The case was prosecuted by the state Attorney General’s office, and investigated by the Department of Revenue.

“It was long time coming but it was worth it,” said Josh Waites, the director of special investigations for the Georgia Department of Revenue.

Barr is already serving five years on a 20-year sentence for an unrelated theft conviction in Gwinnett County.

She was convicted of stealing $109,000 from a dying relative, and spending the money in 30 days.

With this week’s guilty plea, a decade of probation and a ban on tax preparation will be added to her theft conviction sentence.

Channel 2 Action News and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution began investigating Barr in 2016, as dozens of her clients complained of receiving state penalties for returns filed by Barr.

At the time, Barr served as a Hapeville city council member, and operated a tax prep business in the city.

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The state estimated a loss of almost $6 million loss due to fraudulent returns filed by Barr since 2013. While the exact number of victims has been kept confidential by the state, on Thursday the DOR confirmed $3.5 million in fraudulent returns that Barr’s clients were set to receive.

Waites said the state could have prosecuted Barr on hundreds of felonies tied to those cases, but there would have been a long road ahead.

“It literally would have been parading hundreds of taxpayers into court and having them go through the process, and it would have been a ‘he said, she said,’” said Waites.

So they narrowed the charges down to what they saw in an undercover video from February 2017.

Barr had not yet been convicted in the theft case. She was operating a tax prep business with her daughter out of a new location on Willingham Drive in East Point. It was months after the state raided her previous business, and her solicitation of former clients angered them.

"Are you kidding?" Marie Ledford told Channel 2 investigative reporter Nicole Carr in 2017. "I thought, here's a tax person that's going through criminal investigation who has now caused me to go through an audit and now is sending me a card, regarding a new business."

In the video, Barr complains about the media and tells the undercover clients the state has zero evidence against her.

"He (investigator) knew he wasn't going to get an indictment," Barr tells the clients in the video obtained by Channel 2 Action News.

Investigators say she goes on to explain how she keeps clients from owing the state, and filed about $9,000 in fraudulent federal and state returns for the couple.

“And it was pretty open and shut on our end,” Waites said, describing the pursuit of an indictment.

HELPING TAXPAYERS

A neighboring business in East Point told Carr that Barr’s clients still come around the building looking for her -- and their personal information.

Barr’s clients have received notices from the Department of Revenue regarding opportunities to work on a reasonable debt management plan with the state.

“We’re actually working with them individually to get the correct returns filed for each year,” said Waites. “And if there’s a bill, money that’s owed, we’re working with them to set up payment plans to get that money back.”

The DOR encourages victims to contact them, even if they haven’t received those notices.

“It’s important for taxpayers to make sure they’ve done their homework on a professional they can trust and give their confidential information to,” said Revenue Commissioner Lynne Riley.

Cox Media Group