Local accountant pleads to fraud
A local accountant was granted a judicial diversion this week on fraud and official misconduct charges.
The defendant, Evelyn Reid Watts, was placed on a four-year judicial diversion by Circuit Court Judge Bart Stanley Tuesday after she entered guilty pleas to three counts of forgery, three counts of official misconduct and one count of impersonating a licensed professional. The diversion, which works like probation, means Watts will be eligible to have her criminal record erased provided she gets in no further trouble during the next four years.
In addition to her judicial diversion, Watts was directed to pay a total of $2,649 in fines and court costs. She will also be barred from performing any tax-related work for any business or individual and must forfeit her notary commission.
Her plea comes after she was arrested last August after suspicious documents were turned over to investigators. The documents, reportedly filed by Watts on behalf of some of her customers, bore the signature of local CPA Rufus Gonder. It was later learned the signatures had been forged and that Gonder had not given Watts his permission to forge his name.
Prosecutors said Watts had been holding herself out as a licensed accountant, operating out of a house on Chancery Street, within yards of the district attorney’s office. However, prosecutors said she was not a CPA and never had been as far as they could determine.
In another fraud case, not related to the Watts case, a local woman entered a guilty plea to separate fraud charges during the same court session Tuesday.
Tammy Webb entered guilty pleas to charges of obtaining drugs by fraud and was placed on probation for three years. She must also pay $2,000 in fines.