HAMPTON, Va. — On Wednesday, a Hampton man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for defrauding people and evading income taxes.
According to the Department of Justice, 56-year-old Clarence M. Rice Jr. defrauded elderly people in Hampton Roads out of more than $630,000 and evaded the assessment of more than $50,000 in income taxes.
According to court documents, between 2013 and 2019, Rice told people that he was going to receive a sizeable inheritance from his father’s death, under the condition that Rice paid off all his existing debts. He tricked victims into giving him large sums of money using the false representations that he needed the funds to obtain his inheritance.
Rice reportedly stole more than $350,000 from a 75-year-old retired bricklayer and more than $140,000 from an elderly blind man.
The DOJ said Rice hasn't filed taxes since 2011, and that he defrauded the IRS between 2014 and 2019.
As part of the plea, Rice agreed that his victims were of limited financial means and suffered substantial hardship from his fraud.
