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Feds, officers converge on local residence
Car removed; no arrests made
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A tax fraud investigation yielded no arrests Wednesday morning as federal agents and local law enforcement officers searched a Statesboro home.While agents and officers spent several hours Wednesday morning at a Carter Drive home, they also searched other residences and locations in the Statesboro area, said Special Agent Stephen Emmett, an FBI spokesman.Bulloch County sheriff’s deputies, Statesboro police officers, Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents and FBI agents arrived at 13 Carter Drive around 7 a.m. Wednesday, according to eyewitnesses. The search lasted several hours.The search was “a culmination of the first phase of a multiple-year joint investigation into a significant tax fraud and identity theft” investigation, said Special Agent in Charge Jim Harrison, the supervisory senior resident of the FBI’s Savannah and Augusta offices.Witnesses said a black car was removed from the scene by a local wrecker service, but Harrison would not comment further except to say the investigation continues and involves several locations in the Statesboro area as well as in other cities.“This was a collaborative effort involving the Statesboro Police Department, Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office, GBI, Ogeechee Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office, FBI, Internal Revenue Service, Secret Service and the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Georgia,” he said.The home is listed as belonging to Bernice Johnson. When reached by phone, Johnson said she did not know what the investigation was about and said she had no further comment on the matter.Emmett said the investigation has been going on for three years.
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