June 25, 2004 – LAWFUEL – Attorney James Davis, age 50, of Rancho Cucamonga was arrested this morning on various charges after a federal grand jury on Thursday returned two separate indictments that included charges of tax evasion, filing a false statement in a loan application, false personation of a federal agent, attempting to carry a loaded handgun on an airplane, and witness tampering.
Davis is expected to make his initial court appearance this afternoon in the federal courthouse in Los Angeles, California.
According to the indictments, on June 28, 2002, Davis attempted to board an airplane with a concealed loaded handgun. Prior to boarding the plane, Davis filled out and signed a “Notice to Armed Individuals” form in which he falsely represented that he was authorized by the United States Customs Service to fly armed and that he met all the FAA regulations in order to fly armed. In 2003, Davis falsely pretended to be a Homeland Security employee in order to purchase an airline ticket from Southwest Airlines at a federal government discounted rate.
In a separate indictment, Davis was charged with tax evasion, filing a false statement in a loan application and witness tampering. According to the indictment, between 1999 and 2001, Davis earned more than $1 million in taxable income from his law practice, James Davis and Associates, and owed more than $360,000 in taxes to the IRS. Davis failed to file an income tax return for any of those years, or pay any taxes. Davis attempted to conceal his income from the IRS by submitting false information to his accountants, providing false information to IRS investigators and improperly characterizing income from his law practice. Davis also applied for and obtained a loan for the California Fire Marshal Officers Association (“CFMOA”), a purported non-profit corporation created by Davis, falsely reporting that CFMOA had income of $400,000.
The IRS executed search warrants on Davis’s residence and business on July 16, 2002. After the IRS executed the warrants, Davis sent threatening letters to various individuals who had information relevant to the IRS’s investigation in which he accused them of filing “false reports with the IRS” and threatened to file a multi-million dollar lawsuit against them. Davis also threatened to file criminal reports against these individual naming them as “suspects” and created a website offering a “$10,000 reward for the arrest and conviction” of these individuals. Davis was charged with witness tampering for this conduct.
An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
The case against Davis was the result of an investigation by IRS-Criminal Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security – Office of Inspector General.