National Baptist Convention USA Official Bernice Edwards Pleads Guilty To Tax Evasion
March 25, 1999TAMPA, Fla. - The former public relations director of the national black Baptist group pleaded guilty today to two federal tax evasion charges six weeks after a jury acquitted her of state racketeering charges.
Bernice Edwards faces up to 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine, and agreed to pay back taxes to the Internal Revenue Service. Federal prosecutors dropped 25 other charges, including money laundering, extortion and fraud.
The plea came just a week after the Rev. Henry Lyons, Edwards' co-defendant and former president of the National Baptist Convention USA, resigned his position and reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors.
In state court late last month, Lyons was convicted of racketeering and grand theft for swindling more than $4 million from companies seeking to do business with convention members and stealing almost $250,000 intended to rebuild burned black churches in the South. He faces three to seven years in prison on those charges.
Ms. Edwards, his former public relations director and alleged mistress, was acquitted of racketeering charges.
Prosecutors had said the two diverted money from the companies into secret bank accounts and used it to finance lavish lifestyles with expensive homes, diamond jewelry and luxury cars.
She took the witness stand during her state trial and told jurors the money she spent on the $700,000 home and huge diamond rings was income she had earned in her position with the convention. But she said she could not recall whether she reported those earnings to the IRS.
Under Wednesday's plea deal, she agreed to make restitution and pay the IRS back taxes for 1995 and 1996. The government says her unreported income totaled more than $500,000 and she owes nearly $200,000 in taxes.
She also agreed to forfeit the luxury items she and Lyons bought.
Ms. Edwards' lawyer, David Weisbrod, told reporters she feels "some sense of relief.''
Jury selection in the federal trial had been scheduled to begin April 7. No sentencing date was immediately set.
Ms. Edwards, of Milwaukee, was convicted in 1993 of stealing thousands of dollars from an alternative school for at-risk teens in Wisconsin.
March 25, 1999
Source: Newswire
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