On August 25, 2021, in the Southern District of West Virginia, a jury found Jeffrey M. Reed guilty of retaliating and attempting to retaliate against a Federal law enforcement officer by false claim, and attempts to interfere with administration of Internal Revenue laws. Reed was initially indicted on May 12, 2020, for retaliating against a Federal law enforcement officer by false claim. A superseding indictment was filed November 17, 2020, and also charged Reed with attempts to interfere with administration of Internal Revenue laws.

According to the court documents, an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) revenue officer was assigned to collect a tax liability owed to the IRS in excess of $279,000. During the course of the collection activities, the revenue officer sought to garnish Reed's wages to satisfy a portion of his tax liability. Reed's employment ended and his former employer mailed a check to the IRS for $598.22, which represented the wage garnishment against him. In May 2015, in Mercer County, West Virginia, Reed filed a false lien against the revenue officer's real and personal property, for more than $4.9 million, due to the revenue officer performing their official duties by collecting Reed's outstanding tax liability.

On or about June 2, 2015, Reed filed a second Notice of Default, with the Mercer County Clerk, listing the revenue officer as a lien debtor. On or about June 30, 2015, Reed filed a Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) Financing Statement with the State of Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation naming the revenue officer as the lien debtor in reference to the aforementioned $4.9 million lien.

Reed's sentencing is scheduled for November 29, 2021. At sentencing, Reed could receive up to 13 years' imprisonment.

Source:  The facts in this case narrative comes from the following publicly available documents: S.D.W.V., Verdict, filed August 25, 2021; S.D.W.V. Superseding Indict., filed November 17, 2020; S.D.W.V., Indict., filed May 12, 2020; 18 U.S.C. 1521; and 26 U.S.C. 7212(a).