Natchez man faces habitual offender conviction in arrest on tax evasion charges

Published 12:23 pm Friday, May 31, 2024

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NATCHEZ — A Natchez man arrested Thursday on charges of tax evasion faces conviction as a habitual offender.

An Adams County Grand Jury indicted Michael Boykin, 66, earlier this month. He was arrested Thursday and released on a $25,000 bond, jail records show.

According to the indictment, Boykin “did willfully, unlawfully, feloniously, purposely and knowingly attempt to evade or defeat a tax imposed by the State Tax Commission or the Department of Revenue or assisted in evading that tax or the payment thereof.” The tax liability totals $20,810 and was incurred between January 2019 and December 2020.

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In addition, the indictment states that Boykin has two prior felony convictions from separate incidents at separate times “and that this Defendant was sentenced to at least one year on each of these convictions.”

Boykin is founder and principal of DARK|GREY Ltd., which is a company that represents furniture and textile manufacturers and sells to architects, interior designers and office furniture dealers and clients.

According to the indictment, Boykin pleaded guilty to three counts of tax evasion in Adams County in 2016 and was sentenced to five years with the Mississippi Department of Corrections. He also pleaded guilty in Madison County for tax evasion and was sentenced to five years with the Mississippi Department of Corrections.

Boykin was indicted in August 2015 in Adams County on failing to pay $9,553 in personal income tax due to the State of Mississippi for tax year 2012; $7,259 due to the State of Mississippi for tax year 2013; and not paying his 2014 individual income tax through quarterly estimated payments due on or by April 15, 2015. No amount was listed for the 2014 taxes.

Court records from the March 2016 Adams County ruling by then Circuit Judge Forest A. Johnson show Boykin was sentenced to “five years in the Mississippi Department of Corrections, with full credit for time served and to run concurrently with the sentenced imposed in a companion case prosecuted in Madison County, Mississippi.” The court ordered the five-year sentenced suspended and that Boykin serve the five years on “formal reporting supervision through the Mississippi Department of Corrections.”

District Attorney Tim Cotton recused himself from the case as he had previously been involved as counsel in a case against Boykin.

The case is being prosecuted by Adams County Prosecuting Attorney Anthony Heidelberg.